Katie R. P.
The best method of catching butterflies and insects is with a net, which can be made in the following manner: Take a common barrel hoop, and slit off a strip about a quarter of an inch wide. Of this make a hoop about a foot in diameter, and fasten it with wire to a light rod about a yard long. Then take a round piece of mosquito netting about three-quarters of a yard in diameter, and bind it firmly to the hoop. Insects captured with a net do not get broken as if caught rudely with the hand. When your treasure is secured, gather the net in your hand, thus confining the insect in a very small space. Then dose it carefully with a few drops of ether, which should be poured on the head. This will probably kill the insect at once; but should it a few moments later show any signs of life, another drop will finish it. The advantage of ether is that it evaporates quickly, and leaves the color and texture of the insect uninjured. The best way to mount your specimens is to have thin pieces of cork glued to the bottom of your case, to which the insect is fastened by a long slender pin stuck through its body. If you have no corks, soft pine wood will do. You must mount your specimen and arrange its wings and feelers immediately, as it soon becomes stiff and brittle, and will break if handled. The great enemies of a collection of insects are mice and moths. Mice will ruin the result of a whole summer's work in a single night if they can get at it. But a little care and forethought will guard against the ravages of these mischievous destroyers.
Kenosha, Wisconsin.
I had a young wild rabbit that grew so tame I could let it out in the yard to eat grass and clover. It would also eat bread and milk out of a dish. I liked it very much. When I caught it I put it in a wire cage, and fed it, and it soon got tame, and played around the kitchen most of the time. I am sorry to say that my little sister squeezed it to death. I am twelve years old, and I live on a farm one mile west of Kenosha. I have three brothers and three sisters, and I am the oldest of them all. Five of us go to school in Kenosha.
E. B. C.
Horace C. W.—See Young People No. 18, page 232.
Mattie L.—There are so many good books of the kind you require, that it is difficult to say which is "best."