668 Collecting and Rearing Insects 



scavenger beetles; back-swimmers; water-boatmen; dragon-fly and May-fly 

 nymphs; mosquito larvae, etc. 



Other animals may of course be kept in the aquarium. Common pond- 

 snails will live easily, feeding on green slime, roots of water-plants, bits of 

 cabbage, etc.; minnows will eat bits of fresh meat, and also the insects; 

 quarrelsome little sticklebacks will eat the pond-snail eggs and small crusta- 

 ceans, as cyclops, etc. ; frog and salamander larvae feed at first on vegetable 

 matter, later on bits of meat, tiny earthworms, mosquito larvae, etc. 



Remember that an aquarium needs daily care to keep it in good condition. 



The foregoing account of collecting, preserving, and rearing insects has 

 been made short and only a general course of procedure indicated, with the 

 hope in mind of avoiding the confusion to the beginner likely to result from 

 a longer account, including many "specialties" and refinements in collect- 

 ing methods. Numerous excellent extended directions for collecting, pre- 

 serving, and rearing have been published. Two such accounts are those 

 by Comstock in "Insect Life" (Appletons), pp. 284-335, an< ^ ^7 Packard in 

 "Entomology for Beginners" (Holt & Co.), pp. 224-288. 



