Collecting and Rearing Insects 66 1 



" Ponds and streams shelter a vast throng of insects, and should be diligently 

 dredged with the water-net, and stones and pebbles should be overturned 

 for aquatic beetles, Hemiptera, and Dipterous larvae." 



Much collecting may be done at night. Many nocturnal moths and 

 beetles are attracted by bright lights: the city's lamp-posts or your own 

 brilliant bicycle-lamp of acetylene gas may be relied on. "Sugaring" 

 for moths on warm nights, a favorite trick of moth-collectors, consists of 

 smearing a mixture of stale beer and sirup in patches a foot square on the 

 trunks of various trees, and then making repeated rounds of these trees 

 with a dark lantern. Throw the light on the smeared spot and any feed- 

 ing moth there will tarry long enough to be covered with a wide-mouthed 

 bottle or swooped up with the net. 



Numerous small insects may be found in galls, in rolled-up leaves, and 

 in bored canes. Where a plant shows leaves ragged or full of holes, there 

 look for the hole-makers. In this kind of insect-hunting one is likely to 

 get the immature stages of insects rather than the adult. So much the better. 

 A collection should not be limited to grown-up insects alone, but should 

 include eggs, larvae, chrysalids, cocoons, nests, and specimens of insect archi- 

 tecture and industry, and specimens showing the character of the injuries 

 to plants caused by insects. Any specimen which illustrates anything of 

 the life, the biology, of insects should go into the collection. And everything 

 should be labeled, accurately and fully. . Locality and date, notes telling 

 of such evanescent conditions as color or of such ecologic relations as character 

 of the surroundings should be put on the specimen, or written into a " collec- 

 tions" book under a number corresponding with one on the specimen. The 

 collecting of immature stages of insects leads naturally to attempts to rear 

 these caterpillars, etc., at home or in the schoolroom or laboratory. 



Rearing insects. While in ordinary collecting the insects are killed 

 immediately after being caught, the collector going afield to obtain specimens 

 to keep alive and rear must bring back his trophies unharmed. It is neces- 

 sary that he modify his field equipment somewhat. He needs empty boxes 

 and little jars, more than killing-bottles and cork-lined pinning-boxes. Do 

 not trouble to punch air-holes in box- lids; enough air will get in through 

 cracks and loose-fitting covers. Aquatic specimens, however, are easily 

 suffocated by filling the water-jar too full and then screwing a tight cover 

 on to prevent splashing. The jars and pails should be carried uncovered 

 if possible, and they should be broad and shallow rather than narrow and 

 deep. Do not try to bring too many water-insects back in one jar; crowd- 

 ing is always fatal to them. With log-burrowing grubs and larvae bring in 

 some chips and dust of the home log; with underground larvae bring in 

 some soil. Simply because you find such larvae in a certain place is sufficient 

 proof that their surroundings are of the right sort for them. 



