• Apkil 1,1868.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



75 



the contents being lost. To this wire a net of 

 similar stuff and binding to the sweeping net must 

 be fitted, and can easily be made so as to slip on and 

 off. A similar net, of stouter wire, larger dimen- 

 sions, and wider-meshed canvas, and fastened to a 

 much longer and stronger stick, can be made for 

 water-beetles ; and it will be found efficacious then 

 to fasten the canvas to the frame with small wire 

 rings. 



The insects, when caught, must be conveyed home 

 in a collecting bottle, of which it is best to be always 

 provided with two ; it is usual also to provide one's 

 self with divers small strong glass test-tubes, fitted 

 with corks, for special captures. The ordinary 

 collecting bottle should be of strong clear glassj 

 with a wide mouth, lipped (so that it can be at- 

 tached by string to the coat), and flat-bottomed ; it 

 need not exceed three inches in length, and if 

 covered with white paper on one side will be less 

 likely to get broken, — the paper, moreover, affording 

 a background for the easier examination of its con- 

 tents when collecting. It must be provided with a 

 stout cork, perforated bya wide quill, which should be 

 level with the cork at its bottom, but must project 

 about an inch and a half at the top, where it may 

 advantageously be cut across diagonally, instead of 

 straight. This quill can be fastened in with sealing- 

 wax at its points of junction with the cork, leaving 

 of course a free passage for the beetles captured. 

 It is stopped up with a long wooden plug, fitting 

 accurately, but easily, and with a knob at the top to 

 allow of its being taken out with the teeth— the 

 hands being often both occupied. The object of 

 the quill is to avoid handling the beetles when 

 captured, as they can be easily bottled through it ; 

 if, however, a specimen must be taken by hand, 

 the best way is to touch it with a damp finger and 

 put it on the back of the hand, then bottling it 

 through the quill. A piece of fine muslin or 

 crumpled blotting-paper should be kept in the 

 bottle and tubes, to afford foot-hold, and prevent the 

 contents rattling about. The other bottle above 

 mentioned should be larger, and need have no quill 

 through its cork ; indeed, I find the common wooden 

 screw top, fitting outside, is more secure than a cork. 

 It must be about one-third full of young shoots of 

 laurel, bruised and chopped up, which effectually 

 quiet (and, if fresh, kill) almost any beetle. Into it 

 all voracious insects must be put— e.g., all the larger 

 Geodephaga, Ilydradephaga, and Brachelytra, the 

 Telephorida, and many others, whom a sad ex- 

 perience of misplaced confidence, testified by the 

 broken limbs or utter absence of smaller and more 

 precious captures, will soon impress on the young 

 collector's memory. 



Having now mentioned the principal instruments 

 required, I can continue my hints as to the haunts 

 of Coleoptera ; and I may here observe that at the 

 time when insects fly much, in the spring and early 



summer, as above mentioned, sand-pits, especially 

 if their sides be straightly cut, will be found most 

 excellent traps for very many species, which, when 

 dashing wildly about on the wing, knock against 

 them and fall, stunned, but uninjured, to the bottom. 

 Many species live constantly also in such places 

 such as Gronops, some Bledii, Dyschirii, Sibynes, &c. 

 Charlton, Shirley, Weybridge, Hampstead, and 

 Reigate are all good sandy localities near London. 

 At this time, also, beetles may often be seen crawling 

 on wooden palings, especially if they are unpainted, 

 and freshly put up. Sandy places formed by 

 diversions of the currents of rivers, or on the sea- 

 shore, harbour very many beetles, which even occur 

 in places that for a portion of the day are covered 

 by the tide. Some of these come to the surface at 

 sunset, others during the blaze of mid-day, and very 

 many will be found by shaking heaps of seaweed and 

 other tidal refuse on paper, pulling up and shaking 

 plants (especially disturbingtheground attheirroots)," 

 and examining dead birds, fishes, &c. On chalky 

 parts of the coast, stones should be carefully turned 

 over (this applies also to inland chalky districts, such 

 as Box Hill), as many good Geodephaga, Brachelytra, 

 Rhyiicophora, &c, are found in such places. '* Chalk 

 pits also harbour some few good things, readily to be 

 detected crawling at the bottoms of the sides, and 

 under stones. Stones and logs of wood may always 

 be turned over with possible advantage ; and every 

 pebble or boulder on high hills or mountain-tops 

 should be rolled out of position, and the cavity 

 beneath it, and moss (if any) round it, carefully 

 examined. 



Assemblages of beetles, of many species and in 

 great numbers, will be often found in refuse at the 

 edges of rivers after floods or unusually high tides, 

 and also on bushes or palings after the prevalence 

 of winds in particular quarters. These, however, 

 are lucky accidents for the collector, and cannot be 

 reckoned on or explained. By shaking and sifting 

 (with the sieve) the damp stuff at the bottoms of 

 haystacks, beetles of numerous species and genera 

 {Cryptoplwgus, Monotonia, Atomaria, Latridiws 

 Heterothops, Haploglossa, Stilicus, Quediits, &c.) 

 will be found in abundance, and at all times of the 

 year. Dead leaves, especially of the beech, that 

 have dropped in hollows and remain undisturbed 

 until the bottom layers are black and damp, must 

 never be neglected ; here the sieve is a sine qua non. 

 Very many good species haunt the sappy exudations 

 of trees (those from oak, elm, and pine being very 

 attractive), and most especially when these are 

 caused or increased by the ravages of the caterpillar 

 of the Goat-moth, the damp frass of which full- 

 flavoured beast appears exceedingly to the taste of 

 certain Coleopterous aristocrats, many of the best 

 Brachelytra and Nitidulidte being only obtainable 

 in this way. It may, indeed," be shortly remarked 

 that any diseased part of a tree or plant is almost 



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