160 



HARDWiCKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



&C.J will be foimd most productive : small dead 

 animals, fir-brauclies, dead leaves, &c., can be 

 examined time after time with profit in such situ- 

 ations. 



After heavy floods, as during severe droughts, 

 beetles may be found in great profusion ; in the 

 former case by sifting the refuse left by the water; 

 in the latter by diligently examining the damp 

 residuum of former ponds, and, if no damp be found, 

 ])y even searching below the surface where it last 

 occurred. 



The wet hay, often decayed and mouldy, at the 

 bottoms of stacks, which bad farmers have placed 

 directly on the ground, will be found to teem with 

 beetle-life ; as will the margins of dung and 

 vegetable-refuse heaps, wood-stacks, cut grass, &c. ; 

 and many good things may be taken by gently 

 waving a light gauze net to and fro, just before sun- 

 set, close to such places, whither the instinct of 

 nature impels the flight of myriads. 



In winter, isolated tufts of grass in wet places, 

 on the margins of streams, the crests of banks, &c., 

 must be cut close to the ground, and gently torn in 

 pieces over brown paper. Wherever many insects 

 seem to be found, it will in most of these cases be 

 found advisable to sift the fragments, and bring 

 home the beetles and small stuff unexamined in a 

 bag with a string at the neck to prevent their 

 escape. Moss should be treated in this way, and 

 the layers of black and rotting leaves found in 

 woods, especially at their outskirts. Beech leaves 

 usually produce many species, and the autumn and 

 spring are the best times for hunting for them. 



In winter, also, many species will be found 

 hybernatiug in grass at the roots of trees, under 

 bark, &c., in conditions not usual with them at 

 other times. 



In autumn, fungi, in woods especially, will be 

 found most productive. 



rJ General sweeping, except during the winter, will 

 always be more or less remunerative. No general 

 rules can be laid down for this ; in a good neigh- 

 bourhood (on chalk or sand, or both joined) beetles 

 will swarm almost anywhere in due season, and the 

 most unlikely-lookiug spots will frequently be found 

 the best in the end. In luxuriant herbage, among 

 low shrubs, in the close-growing vegetation of hill- 

 sides, the sweeping-net may be plied with success ; 

 but the best way, with all Plnjfophaga at least, is to 

 start with a fixed idea as to catching certain definite 

 species, and then, at the right time, to hunt for such 

 plants as these are known or supposed to frequent ; 

 and, such failing in the district, to try their allies. 

 Of course, the collector will not fail to sweep 

 flowers in woods and lanes, whereon, in the hot sun- 

 shine, many showy beetles bask. Many good things 

 will be found by sweeping under fir-trees, especially 

 towards evening, and even by night; in many 

 places, especially marshes, nocturnal feeders may 



be secured by the vague use of this net. By night 

 also many species may be found at sugar put ou 

 trees for moths, and on ivy or sallow-blossom. 



Beating is most productive in early summer, 

 especially in the second year's growth of young 

 cuttings in woods, and the Oak, Hazel, and Poplar 

 will generally yield many species to the tap of the 

 Slick. Good thick, and especially old hedges, must 

 also be always carefully thrashed into the net ; 

 very many good things, otherwise not procurable, 

 will reward this toil. Another scheme for getting 

 rare species is to beat the tops of trees with a 

 long pole, placing beneath a sheet or teut- 

 covering. 



Breaking away the extreme edges of banks, 

 throwing water on them, treading heavily on the 

 margins, diligently examining grass and roots close 

 to the M'ater, reeds (especially if cut and on the 

 ground in heaps), &c., will bring to light great 

 numbers of wet-looking beetles. Water-beetles, pure 

 and simple, must be dragged and dredged for, 

 especially round water-plants beneath the surface, 

 and along the sides of ponds, in eddies of running 

 streams, in the moss on stones in them, and on the 

 stones themselves, &c. 



The Coprophaga will be found readily in the 

 droppings of various Mammalia, and also in holes 

 bored in the ground beneath, often to a great depth. 

 An easy and clean way to secure them is to throw 

 droppings, ground and all, into water, the beetles 

 coming to the surface. 



As to wood-beetles, they must be sought for 

 under and in bark, in solid wood, in decaying 

 branches, and such places ; a rule to be remembered 

 is that most of these occur at the tops of trees :. 

 hence the paucity of so many species in collections. 

 Indeed, to properly hunt for the majority of them, 

 it is necessary to obtain carle blanche and a ladder^ 

 if any success be hoped for. Pelled trunks are, of 

 course, easy to manipulate ; and their freshly -TJut 

 stumps, exuding either resin or a peculiar and 

 often sweet mv.cor, are very attractive to many 

 beetles, as is freshly-cut sawdust, and, most espe- 

 cially, the (to us) fetid and acrid juice resulting 

 from the attacks of the larva of the Goat-moth. 

 Rotten fruit, &c., is also not to be passed by with- 

 out examination. Many small species occur in, or 

 can be reared from, the topmost twigs of trees blown 

 down by the wind. 



Dead animals, as before mentioned, must be ex- 

 amined, as must the vegetation and soil near them. 

 A keeper's tree in a wood will always produce 

 something for the collector, who need only hold his 

 net beneath the gibbeted fera and bang their hides 

 and bones with his beating-stick. During different 

 stages of decomposition and desiccation, beetles of 

 widely varied aflinitics will result from this method 

 of collecting. 



Ants' nests would require a special notice, so pro- 



