COLLECTING BEETLES. 275 



Special attention should be given to the collection of the 

 larvae of beetles, called grubs. They are found in soil, un- 

 der the bark of trees, in nuts, etc., and in fresh- water 

 pools. 



A ready method of collecting beetles, etc., in autumn, 

 winter, or early spring, is to sift the leaves collected in hol- 

 lows in the ground and near the edge of woods. Mr. H. 

 Schmelter uses a sieve consisting of a wire ring of about one 

 foot in diameter, to which a bag of coarse muslin of about 

 the same length is sewed, the bottom of which is formed of 

 a piece of brass-wire cloth about 10 inches in diameter, 

 and with spaces about 5 mm. square. The sifting can be 

 done over a sheet of white muslin or paper or, better, by 

 placing the sieve in a bag 1 feet in length, fastened to a 

 ring of the size of that of the sieve. The sifted matter will 

 fall into the outer bag, and can be examined at one's con- 

 venience.* 



Wood-boring beetles, such as longicorns, etc., may be 

 captured, says Schmelter, often in large numbers, by saw- 

 ing off the dead branches of trees in spring, gathering 

 plants with pithy stems, such as the elder, reeds, etc., and 

 piling up these materials in an empty room with the door 

 and windows tightly closed, the latter best made of wire 

 screen, so as to admit of a free circulation of air. " If a 

 special room for this purpose is not at one's disposal, a 

 large box connected with a small one, of which several sides 

 should be made of glass, will answer. The insects, after 

 having made their way out of the wood during spring and 

 summer, will be attracted by the light to the windows of 

 the room or into the smaller box, and there be easily cap- 

 tured." (Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc.,i. 33.) 



A writer in "The Entomologist" (London) finds that 

 coarse tufts of grass which are to be found in almost 

 every field "are very productive if cut round with a sharp 

 knife, lifted gently, and then inverted and shaken over 



* Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc., i. 17. 



