THE BEGINNING OF A COLLECTION. 23 



In the case of city schools that are remote from 

 parks or other good collecting fields, excursions into 

 country places can be made on Saturdays, and the 

 specimens collected on such an excursion can be kept 

 for study till the following Monday. Much more 

 progress in attaining real knowledge will be made in 

 this way than by daily recitations based on a study 

 of a book about insects. 



With a little effort living insects can be kept in 

 breeding cages or aquaria, so that the specimens col- 

 lected on a single excursion may serve for daily ob- 

 servations for a long time. 



Each pupil should be encouraged to make a per- 

 manent collection for himself. With such a collec- 

 tion there is little danger of his losing his interest in 

 the subject ; and the facts that he has learned will be 

 remembered more easily. Moreover, the making of 

 additions to a collection and the frequent rearranging 

 of it will be a source of great pleasure and instruction. 



If for any reason it is impracticable for the pupils 

 to make private collections, a collection should be 

 made for the school. If the specimens in such a col- 

 lection are labeled with the names of the collectors, 

 the pupils will be stimulated to make additions to it. 

 And if, as soon as the older pupils have learned to 

 handle specimens carefully, each is appointed curator 

 of some group of insects, a personal interest in the 

 collection will be stimulated, and each will acquire a 

 more thorough knowledge of the group collected 

 than he would otherwise. 



The group assigned to a student may be some 

 order or family of insects, or an artificial group based 

 on habits. Some experience with the local con- 



