A Collector's Experiences 



Clarence M. Waite 



Student, Syracuse, N. Y., High School. 



My emploATnent, outside of school hours, is one that few people 

 have ever heard or thought of. You know that various kinds of 

 insects, reptiles and other things, are used in the biolog}^ and 

 zoolog\' work of the schools and colleges throughout the land but 

 did }'ou ever stop to wonder where all this material came from? 

 There are quite a number of men employed in catching these things 

 and a more interesting business would be hard to find. On the 

 following pages I shall tell of a few things that I have seen during 

 my short time as "bugologist," as many of my friends call me. 



Perhaps the oddest and least known of our common insects is the 

 walking stick; there are those who have a vague idea that it is 

 peculiar to tropical countries and is never seen here outside of a 

 museum. Within two minutes' walk of my house is a hillside 

 covered with beautiful, large oak trees and it was here that I found 

 my first walking sticks. Long, thin, with legs like hinged tooth- 

 picks and colored light green or a shiny brown, they may seem 

 difficult to find but this is not the case. In the early summer they 

 may be found on the trunks of trees, hanging head downward with 

 not a visible motion. If a hand is stretched toward them they 

 flatten against the bark and then drop to the ground, even though 

 they may be several yards up the tree. It is necessary then to look 

 for them immediately for among the twigs on the ground they 

 really are difficult to find and they walk off as soon as they land. 

 They are very light and when falling spread their legs, which seems 

 to check their descent a trifle, although the legs are by no means 

 feathery or fan-shaped. In the fall they descend from their higher 

 perches and cover the bushes under the trees, hanging, as usual, 

 head downward and being extremely difficult to see. It is at this 

 time of the year that the eggs are dropped to the ground where, 

 Prof. Clarence Weed says, they remain till spring before hatching. 

 I have found many of these bizarre creatures with a half or whole 

 leg missing, which doesn't seem to bother them in the least. I 

 have found them only on the oak trees but they also eat the leaves 

 of many other trees, as peach, elm and birch, and a nearby gardener 

 says that there are large numbers on the leaves of his garden 

 vegetables but states that they seem to be doing no injury. 



