ong gauze. Procure as many yards of this as
will make a loose bag when sewn on and around the framework of
holland, when the net-rods are folded together; bagging especially at
the bottom part, so as to fall down some inches when the net is held
up.

You have now a portable bag, or "clap-net," of over 5 ft. high by 2
ft. 6 in. or more wide. To use this machine, you simply stretch it to
its full extent and run out in front of any insect you wish to stop,
clapping it smartly together and securing your captive in the bag
formed when the net is shut. Some little practice is needed to do this
neatly, especially with such dashing, fast-flying moths as the
"Emperor," or "Bee Hawks." Laying down the net, and confining the
insect to one part, is the best way to get it out uninjured. To take
this net to pieces, the tapes at the bottom and the cords at the top
require only to be loosened, when the rods can be drawn out,
unjointed, and slipped into a bag or a pocket specially sewn in the
breast of the coat to receive them.

When portability is not a desideratum, the rods may be easily made of
green hazel (or nut tree) wands, bent and secured into shape and dried
in the sun, or up a chimney, or otherwise a strong cane may be steamed
(or boiled) and dried in like manner; few people, I opine, however,
care to carry out from a town two long roughly-shaped rods of 5 ft. or
6 ft. long in this clumsy fashion.

I did not wish to describe this net at all, as it is, in my opinion, a
most unsportsmanlike or un-entomological weapon, as nothing can escape
it. Indeed, a friend of mine not inaptly describes it as the "gobbler;"
and it does really "gobble" up any insect it is used against.

The continental or ring net is now generally used. For one variety a
tin or brass Y is made, into the bottom arm of which a stick fits. The
spreading arms serve to hold a cane, which is bent round, and each end
thrust in. A net of gauze or leno, is attached. My objection to this
net is that the cane often slips out of the arms of the Y, which
latter also breaks at the junction; added to which it takes up a great
deal of room, not being very easily doubled without the risk of
breaking. The points which a net should possess in perfection
are--first, strength; secondly, portability; and, thirdly,
adaptability to more than one use. I shall endeavour to show by the
next two figures my ideas of a perfect net.

Fig. 41--Plan of "ring" net.

Fig. 41 shows a str