COLLECTING AND REARING INSECTS. 225 



pebbles and other objects in grassy spots, or else at the roots 

 of plants. In many places, especially in alpine tracts, as 

 we have found on the summit of Mt. Washington and in 

 Labrador, one has to lie down and look carefully among the 

 short herbage and in the moss for Coleoptera. 



The most advantageous places for collecting are gardens 

 and farms, the borders of woods, and the banks of streams 

 and ponds. The deep, dense forests, and open, treeless 

 tracts are less prolific in insect life. In winter and early 

 spring the moss on the trunks of trees, when carefully 

 shaken over a newspaper or white cloth, reveals many 

 beetles and Hymenoptera. In the late summer and 

 autumn, toadstools and various fungi and rotten fruits at- 

 tract many insects; and in early spring, when the sap is 

 running, we have taken rare insects from the stumps of 

 freshly cut hard-wood trees. Wollaston says: " Dead ani- 

 mals, partially dried bones, as well as the skins of moles 

 and other vermin which are ordinarily hung up in fields, 

 are magnificent traps for Coleoptera; and if any of these 

 be placed around orchards and inclosures near at home, and 

 be examined every morning, various species of Nitidulce, 

 SilpMdcB, and other insects of similar habits, are certain to 

 be enticed and captured. 



" Planks and chippings of wood may be likewise employed 

 as successful agents in alluring a vast number of species 

 which might otherwise escape our notice; and if these be 

 laid down in grassy places, and carefully inverted every now 

 and then with as little violence as possible, many insects 

 will be found adhering beneath them, especially after dewy 

 nights and in showery weather. Nor must we omit to urge 

 the importance of examining the under sides of stones in 

 the vicinity of ants' nests, in which position, during the 

 spring and summer months, many of the rarest of our native 

 Coleoptera may be occasionally procured." Excrementi- 

 tious matter always contains many interesting forms in 

 various stages of growth. 



The trunks of fallen and decaying trees offer a rich 



