FIELD WORK ON INSECTS. 49 



device, successfulness and joy of living, such as will often 

 put us to shame. 



As to the apparatus necessary in the work, there 

 ought not to be so much of it that all the student's power 

 of initiative is taken away from him. The chance to 

 acquire the power to deal successfully with one's sur- 

 roundings is the birth-right of every human being; if we 

 teachers prepare the way too much, we rob the child of 

 this birth-right. 



Most insects run away if they are pursued, and 

 some of them have a very long jump; so it is necessary 



Fig. 21. — Diagram of insect net. 



to have some means of lengthening one's own jump to 

 keep up with them. A good insect net is made by 

 bending a piece of stout wire in the form of a circle, 

 with about five inches of both ends of the loop bent 

 parallel downward, so that the loop may be fastened to a 

 handle, preferably a round handle. This stick should be 

 about five feet long, and should have a hole bored in each 

 side about five inches down from one end ; and the parallel 

 ends of the wire loop should be bent into these holes, and 

 then fastened firmly to the stick by a binding of flexible 

 wire. This forms a frame-work for the net. (Fig. 21.) 



A piece of mosquito bar or coarse net is used for the 

 net. The piece should be long enough to sew around the 

 wire loop; and the bag should be about twice as deep as 



