HAUDWICKE'S SCIEN CE-GOSSIP. 



151 



ductive are they : their material can be sifted and 

 their neighbouring "runs" or pallis examined, 

 traps laid near or on tliem, and periodically cleared 

 out, &c. Bees' and wasps' nests also produce good, 

 though fewer species, and are, moreover, not quite so 

 easy of access. The nests of birds, especially if the 

 latter are gregarious, and, indeed, the habitations 

 of any animals, will be found to harbour many 

 beetles, amongst other insects. 



In gardens, the beetle-collector should lay cun- 

 ning traps of cut grass, twigs, planks, bones, &c. ; 

 by a periodical examination of which he will secure 

 many good things. If there be a hothouse about 

 the premises, it and its belongings will always act 

 as a bait. 



Large tracts of waste land and commons, though 

 superficially apparently unproductive, often contain 

 congregations of good species, in some little oasis 

 of damp or vegetation ; moreover, on them several 

 peculiar beetles occur. Hills and mountains will 

 often suddenly repay tbe toil of the collector, who 

 has despondently worked his way up, turning over 

 stones, and finding comparatively nothing. The 

 moss, &c., attending the channels of any streams in 

 such places should be carefully searched, and the 

 stones on the top especially not neglected. River 

 banks and salt marshes are invariably frequented by 

 good insects, and the very heaps of seaweed, dry or 

 wet, on the shore harbour countless beetles. In 

 sucb places small sand-loving plants should be 

 pulled up by the roots, and, with the neighbouring 

 soil, shaken over brown paper. The sand itself 

 may in many instances be scraped, and buri'owing 

 beetles brought to light ;■;' but if the hunter comes 

 upon a dead fish or bird, a full bottle will be his. 



Thus it will be seen that almost every locality 

 contains beetles, if the collector can only detect 

 them (and it may be as well here to impress on him 

 that it is better to bottle a dubious insect and ex- 

 amine it at home, than to reject it for being appa- 

 rently common). Still there can be no doubt that 

 certain soils and districts are much more productive 

 than others; for instance, most of the midland and 

 western counties, and some of the south-western, 

 are not by any means so pi-olific as the eastern, 

 southern, and many parts of the northern districts 

 of Great Britain ; clay being the worst of all soils 

 for the Coleopterist. 



The collector will do well, after a first hurried 

 "burst" at all beetles that come in his way, to 

 select a special group, and lay himself to work it 

 carefully, buying or borrowing the works of autho- 

 rities upon it, and making himself master of the 

 botany connected wi^i it, if it be a group of plant- 

 frequentiug habits. By such a way of working, he 

 will more quickly, though step by step, acquire a 

 good collection, and a stock of useful knowledge, 

 Thau by any other. He will of course keep a regis- 

 ter of the date and place of capture, and any pecu- 



liarity of habit of each insect he takes. Figures of 

 the date of the year (usually the last two are sufli- 

 cient), followed by -another set, commencing with 1, 

 will usually be quite enough ; corresponding entries 

 being made in the first column of a ruled diary. 

 These figures may be written ir ink on the under- 

 side of the card of a mounted specimen, or on a 

 circular disc of paper, pierced by the pin of one too 

 large to be carded. 



THE pirate: 



{Aphrodederus sayanus, Cuv.) 



By Chakles C. Abbott, M.D. 



/^VER and under the pebbles and roots, through 

 ^^ grassy hill-top meadow, and dashing down a 

 dozen feet of sober-sided rocks, sports, with never- 

 ceasing cheerfulness, that glorious streana Belle 

 Brook , laughiug a sweet rippling laugh at the cen- 

 tury-old hemlocks that lean their towering trunks 

 over and far above it, and then, in a quiet nook, 

 kissing their feet as if to atone for its presumption, 

 and off to."i.fresh woods and pastures new," rushing 

 in hot haste over scores of opposing boulders, and 

 then, worn by the wild play with ten miles of 

 mountains, languidly seeking a rest in the bosom of 

 the Delaware. 



In a wondrously crooked arm of this Belle Brook, 

 I captured the savage customer here figured, as he 

 is figured. I had always considered this "arm" 

 the most interesting stream of its size, in an ichthy- 

 ological view, I had ever visited ; for, from trout, 

 the pisciau prince, to lampreys, the fag-end of 

 findom, there is everything that the waters of the 

 whole county can boast. Now, I am sure, this 

 " arm " must take the lead. 



In Science-Gossip for February of the present 

 year, I briefly referred to capturing this peculiar 

 fish at odd times, with a hook and line ; but verily ! 

 I never imagined that an adult "pirate" could be 

 taken in such a plight as this one is; although 

 swallowing smaller fish is no unusual practice with 

 them. I had been taking some small cyprinoids 

 and a few large etheostomoids for specimens, when 

 suddenly down went the little cork far out of siglit, 

 and the little ash whip, that 1 used as a pole, bent 

 nearly double with the strain upon it. I supposed 

 a small pike or large sun-fish had seized the hook, 

 or a pestiferous spotted turtle, which seems to 

 delight in exciting the ire of the best-natured 

 anglers ; and I was not a little astonished when 

 this fine pirate, with a full-grown hybopsis sticking 

 from his mouth, made his appearance. He bad 

 contrived somehow to suck in the hook at the angle 

 of the jaws, and then put off wath it, determining, 

 I suppose, to season his fish diet with warm sauce. 

 Yv''el], I landed him, took his picture just as he ap- 

 peared, and here it is ! Never had a fish a more 



