270 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



net just " becl " up level with, the surface. The arms being 

 nicely adjusted, remove th.e net temporarily from th.e stick. 

 Next procure a piece of brass tube from 2in. to 22Ui. long, and 

 of sufficient diameter to slip from the point of the stick until 

 it passes th.e last hole (a -g^in. or fin. diameter will be found a 

 generally suitable size). On the extreme point of the stick 

 affix an ordinary walking-stick ferrule of such a size and 

 thickness as not to allow the tube to slip off. To fix the net, 

 slip the tube up the stick past the last hole, and placing the 

 little cranks, B and C, in their proper holes, the remainder of 

 the arms j^roperly " bedded " in the grooves, slide the tube T> 

 (Fig. 41) up to the point of the stick, as shown in Fig. 42, and 

 the net is thus effectually locked and ready for use. 



I claim for this net the following advantages : That it is the 

 most easily made, the strongest, and the most easily taken down 

 of any net known ; added to which its joint A, which does not 

 in the least weaken the frame, allows it to be folded in half the 

 space taken up by the " ring net " or the ordinary " landing net" 

 arrangement. (Note for fishermen : Landing nets, formed as 

 Fig. 41, I have found very useful, as they take up less room in 

 the fishing basket, and are quite as quickly put together as by 

 the screw and socket arrangement.) Larger nets than are 

 generally used in this country will of course be necessary 

 v/hen collecting such insects as form the genus Ornithoptera 

 cv Morplw. For collecting abroad no net will be found more 

 Ecrviceable than a large and strong one, made as Fig. 41 ; and 

 really when you have five large papilios in your net at one time, 

 as I once had, you require one a little out of the common. A 

 short handle to the net will be found more useful than a long 

 one for collecting some insects, but a brass telescopic handle 

 can be easily made by any gasfitter, and used either long or 

 short as expediency directs. 



The next figure shows apparently a more elaborate looking 

 net. The only other one known to me which folds in four, folds 

 by means of the rule joint, and is somewhat objectionable, 

 inasmuch as it must either be made of unnecessarily thick and 

 cumbersome wire, to stand the strain, or if made, as it should be, 

 of the proper sized wire and of light construction, it is sure to 

 "break out at one or the other of the joints. Experience having 



