The accompanying cut will show you how the eyes are turned and riveted, and how the nut is fixed in the tube which the tinsmith will make for you, and he will also solder the nut in the narrow end for a few coppers. Or you can get him to make the whole concern, as I have done for a friend of mine. I simply gave the tinsmith mine for a pattern, and in a few days he handed me over an exact duplicate, and only charged one shilling and sixpence for it.
Details of Folding-Net.
1, Ring open, about 16 inches diameter; 2, tin tube with nut soldered in at narrow end; 3, net complete, showing wooden handle fitting into tin tube. Detail A shows how eyes are turned; B, larger eye for passing over screw; C, screw soldered in position.
The net itself is easily made. You will need 1-1/2 yards of the best and strongest muslin and a piece of stout twilled cotton, with which to make the hollow binding round the wire for strength. This binding must be at least 2 inches deep, so as to slip off and on the ring easily when you wish to repair the ring or wash the net. Get green muslin if you care for it; I tried green, too, but speedily gave it up, as I found the white net more effective for seeing and handling moths in after dark.
Do not shape the net down to too fine a point; rather make it more of a cup-shape and nearly the depth of your arm. And, lastly, while we are on the subject of the net, always carry a few strips of gum paper with you on an excursion; they are very handy and effective for repairing a damage, say, after contact with a bramble-bush.
Most butterflies are very impatient in the net, and strongly resent their imprisonment, so either double your net over the instant a capture is made, or catch the net by the neck, so to speak, with your left hand, leaving your right free for the pinching process. Pinching must be very carefully done, or your specimen may be spoiled. It can be done only when the wings are closed; you give the insect a sharp nip between your finger and thumb nails, right under the junction of the wings and the body—i.e., on the under side of the thorax, always taking care not to crush or mangle the specimen. Do not attempt to actually kill it; just give a sufficient pinch to stun it; then you may open the net, remove your specimen, and pin it in your collecting box, which should be as nearly air-tight as you can make it, and lined with sheet cork. Place some freshly pounded laurel-leaves secured in a piece of muslin at one end of your box. The fumes given off by the bruised leaves soon kill the insects. Don’t use ammonia for killing butterflies; it alters their colours, and, in fact, ruins some altogether. Cyanide of potassium or laurel-leaves are the best killing agents, and the latter are by far the safest for boys to handle, as cyanide is very poisonous.
PLATE 3.