POPULAR ASTRONOMY 



289 



which the centre of the moon will have 

 the position relative to the shadow as 

 indicated. Take a dime and move it 

 along the line of the moon's path, as 

 shown by the arrows, and one should 

 see at a glance the exact appearance of 

 the moon at any specified time. All of 

 the times are exact for all localities 

 where Eastern Standard time is kept. 

 If Central time is used, subtract ex- 

 actly one hour from the times given. 

 For Pacific time, subtract three hours. 

 Mercury, Venus and Mars are too 



close to the sun to be seen during the 

 month. Jupiter rises an hour and more 

 before the sun and is a morning star. 



Saturn rises about sunset and is in a 

 splendid position for observation. It is 

 still in the constellation of Aries, and 

 near no bright stars. 



Uranus is low down in Sagittarius, 

 with a large southern declination of 22 

 degrees. 



IV Arrest's comet, discovered nearly 

 two months ago, is still observable as a 

 twelfth magnitude star. 



j^^^%^^^&^^^^^^^^^^<^^&&i 



Beetles and How to Collect Them. 



BY MARTIN BOWE, PROVIDENCE, RHODE 

 ISLAND. 



I This article contains good, definite direc- 

 tions for the beginner in the collecting of 

 beetles. Mr. Bowe does not assume the pos- 

 session of expert knowledge, and therefore per- 

 haps has been better able to come into helpful 

 and sympathetic relations with the beginner. 

 — E. F. B.] 



If you want to get in close touch 

 with nature, make a collection of in- 

 sects. Tbe quest will take you away 

 from the beaten paths; it will induce 

 you to disregard the wire fence for 

 the sake of the woods beyond ; it will 

 make you acquainted with trees and 

 flow r ers and will provide you with 

 plenty of healthful exercise. Of all 

 insects, beetles are perhaps the easiest 

 to collect. They do not require so 

 much time and care in mounting as do 

 the butterflies, and they will keep un- 

 changed for a long time, if protected 

 from too much light, dampness and 

 injurious insects. 



The order of Coleoptera or beetles 

 is divided into numerous families, and 

 these again into genera and the genera 



into species. There are more than ten 

 thousand species listed in the United 

 States, divided into one thousand 

 genera or from seventy to eighty 

 families. Some of them may be found 

 anywhere, although most of them have 

 their geographical limits. The check 

 list of the District of Columbia con- 

 tains three thousand species and that 

 of Rhode Island one thousand. 



While there are many books on 

 moths and butterflies, books on beetles 

 are scarce. Comstock's "Manual for 

 the Study of Insects" contains a key 

 for the families. Another is "Beetles 

 of New England and their Kind," by 

 Edward Knobel, published by Bradlee 

 Whidden, 18 Arch Street, Boston. 

 This book is out of print but may be 

 occasionally found in the bookstores. 

 It is illustrated and is useful to those 

 wholly unacquainted with beetles. 



The best way in which to make an 

 orderly collection is to arrange the 

 beetles in groups, with the different 

 families in the succession in which they 

 are named in the check lists. These 

 lists may be obtained from the mu- 

 seums of the different states. For 



