HARDWICKE'S 5 C lEN CE- GO S S I P. 



lis 



COLLECTING AND PEBSEEVING. 



No. VI.— BEETLES. 

 By E. C. Eve. 



^^ 11 E general rules, 

 so ably expounded 

 by Dr. Knaggs in 

 his recent article on 

 Lepidoptera in this 

 Magazine, as to con- 

 stant alertness and 

 making "the reason 

 why " the starting- 

 of investigation, apply 

 equal force to the col- 

 ot' Culeoptera, and need 

 here recapitulated. But 

 not, in the instance of 

 latter, require generally to 

 be observed, except as to the 

 perfect state of beetles ; for, 

 owing to Ihe hidden earlier 

 conditions of life of most of 

 those insects, and to the long 

 period during which these 

 conditions exist, it is but sel- 

 dom that the pursuit of rear- 

 ing them, so universally and 

 profitably adopted by the Lepidopterist, is found 

 of much use to the collector of beetles. And this 

 is very much to be regretted ; because, in the 

 majority of cases, if the latter succeed in rearing 

 a beetle from its earliest stage, and keep proper 

 notes of its appearance and habits, he will probably 

 be adding to the general stock of knowledge, as the 

 lives of comparatively few, even of the commonest 

 species, are recorded from the beginning. It may 

 be, also, in addition to the reasons above mentioned 

 for the usual want of success attending the rearing 

 of beetle larvse, that the fact of bred specimens 

 being frequently (from the artificial conditions 

 attending their development, and from their not 

 being allowed that length of time which, in a state 

 of nature, they require after their final change 

 before they are ready to take an active part in their 

 No. 91. 



last stage of life), not nearly so good as those taken 

 at large, militates considerably against the more 

 general use of this method of adding to a collection. 

 In this respect, of course, the Lepidopterist is 

 actuated by precisely opposite motives ; as for him 

 a bred specimen is immeasurably superior to one 

 captured. And the fact of so few beetle larvae being 

 known at all, or, if known, only to the possessor of 

 somewhat rare books, renders it very likely that a 

 mere collector, finding a considerable expenditure 

 of patience and trouble result in the rearing of a 

 species of which he could at any time readily pro- 

 cure any number of specimens, may very probably 

 abandon rearing for the future. 



These observations, however, are not in the least 

 intended to dissuade any one from breeding or en- 

 deavouring to breed beetles. On the contrary, it is 

 obvious from them that it is precisely by attending 

 to these earlier stages that the earnest student 

 (novice or expert) has the most chance of dis- 

 tinguishing himself, on account of the more open 

 field for discovery. And in the instance of many 

 small, and especially gregarious, beetles, breeding 

 from the larvae is frequently very easy, if only the 

 substances (fungus, rotten wood, roots, stems of 

 plants, &c.) containing them be carefully left iu 

 precisely the same state as when found, and be ex. 

 posed to the same atmospheric or other important 

 conditions. In fact, to insure success and good 

 specimens, it is best that in their early stages beetles 

 should be "let alone severely." 



It may be here observed, that we have been lately 

 in this country indebted to the minute observations 

 and great tact of some of our best students of 

 Micro-Lepidoptera (in which branch of entomology 

 we are second to none in Europe), for some most 

 interesting additions to our knowledge of habits, 

 and for long series of insects usually rare in col- 

 lections. 



Dismissing then the earlier stages of beetles, the 

 following observations will apply only to the imago, 



H 



