HOW TO MAKE A COLLECTION. 
27 
HOW TO MAKE A COLLECTION. 
COLLECTING BUTTERFLIES. 
To make a successful collector of diurnal lepidoptera requires 
agility and a practised eye. One soon learns to manipulate the net 
so as to capture the specimens on the wing almost exclusively. This 
is preferable as the net is less liable to be torn and the insects are 
taken in more perfect condition than when captured while at rest. 
After capturing a butterfly and retaining it in a fold of the net, 
carefully place its wings together back to back, and give the thorax 
a sharp pinch between the thumb and finger. This will in most 
cases render the insect inactive and it may be turned out and into 
the poison jar without injury. It is a good plan to put the speci¬ 
mens in collecting papers before placing them in the poison jar if 
they are large and fine, as this will protect them from injury by 
rubbing together. Another scheme which answers admirably is to 
place small pieces of tissue paper over the specimens as they are 
put into the poison jar, so that fresh additions may not injure the 
ones already captured. There will be little necessity to touch the 
wings of specimens with the fingers when once accustomed to the 
work; and as more damage is likely to be done at the time of col¬ 
lecting than at any other, care in handling will make a marked dif¬ 
ference in the appearance of the collection as a whole. It will 
rarely be necessary to run much for the insects one desires to capture, 
for by watching favorable opportunities they may be swept into the 
net with little more than a few quick steps and a rapid movement of 
the hand in guiding the net. Some butterflies, however, fly long dis¬ 
tances when once on the wing, and one will sometimes get a long run 
and a glorious.sweat in making such a capture. One soon learns to 
distinguish, while the insects are flying, between fresh specimens and 
those which are worn or torn; and this, it is scarcely necessary to 
say, will save the collector many needless steps. Collecting with 
the net may be commenced very early in the spring, as some species 
make their appearance before the snow is all gone and from that time 
on one may find new species coming out every few days. 
Low, grassy meadows, with clumps of bushes, are generally favor¬ 
ite haunts of many butterflies. The different species of Argynnis, 
