USE OF NET. 



You need scarcely be told that the net can be placed over the butterfly 

 while it is sitting on flowers or bushes, or that you can secure them while they 

 are flying. If you place the net over the butterfly it is best to take hold of the 

 end of the net with the finger and thumb and lift it upward, for the butterfly 

 generally tries to fly upward. If you do not do this it may creep or fly out 

 below your net. When you sweep the net through the air and catch a butterfly 

 give the net a quick turn so that the upper end, which encloses the butterfly, 

 will land over the rim. The bag of the net should be long enough to pass 

 over the ring and protrude about six inches beyond the outer rim. In nearly 

 every case the butterfly will be imprisoned in the end of the net. 



KILLING THE BUTTERFLY. 



There are at least three ways in common vogue for killing butterflies; 

 pressing the thorax under the wings between the thumb and finger; pouring a 

 few drops of gasoline or chloroform over the head, thorax and body; and 

 lastly, the cyanide bottle. 



Many collectors, especially when they catch a large butterfly or moth 

 draw the folds of the net tightly over their knee< taking care that the wings 

 are folded over the back, and grasp the thorax of the insect through the sides 

 of the net between the thumb and finger, and kill it with a firm, sustained 

 pressure for a moment or two. It may be killed by this process, or stunned and 

 placed in the cyanide bottle or collecting box. If the pressure is continued 

 long enough it will be killed and may be at once dropped into a paper 

 envelope. One advantage of this method is that it prevents fluttering and 

 possible damage to the plumage. A butterfly or moth when at rest may 

 frequently be taken without a net by dextrously catching its body at the 

 thorax, just under the wings, between the thumb and finger and killing it by 

 pressure. 



This process will not answer for small specimens unless extreme care is 

 used, for the pressure will injure the plumage. When the bodies are very 

 small it requires expert fingers not to touch the wings and grind their surfaces 

 together. 



Many collectors discard the poison bottle entirely and substitute in lieu 

 thereof a small bottle of gasoline or chloroform. The liquid is put directly 

 on the insect; head, thorax, body and wings. It causes instant death if the 

 fumes are not allowed to evaporate too quickly, and this is prevented by 

 putting the insect at once in papers, being careful, of course, that the wings 

 are properly folded over the back. In using this method it is well to stretch 

 the net gently over the knee at a time when the wings are over the back, 

 pouring the liquid through the meshes of the net, and remove the dead insect 

 to the paper with a pair of forceps. 



While it is at times desirable to use one or the other of these methods, 

 I am inclined to hold to the advantages of the cyanide bottle. In sugaring 

 for moths at night where you take one hundred specimens in half an hour, I 

 consider the poison bottle indispensable. 



CYANIDE BOTTLE. 



Cyanide bottles may be made by taking wide-mouthed bottles with 

 glass stoppers, or pint fruit jars with tin covers, putting in the bottom of each 

 a quarter of an inch of cyanide of potassium, and pouring over it plaster of 

 paris and water, mixed to the consistency of cream, to a depth of half or three- 



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