84 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



over the shoulders in pairs and can be carried without trouble or discom- 

 fort. 



Even in the depth of winter many insects will be found moving at 

 the bottom of open water, in streams, etc. Large water beetles and bugs are 

 frequently dipped up by farmers through holes made in the ice for water- 

 ing their cattle in winter. The curious case-bearing larvae of Caddice 

 flies can easily be secured by raking together the debris from the bottom 

 of the water. In addition to our bags of frozen moss we should always 

 take home with us some twigs and dead boughs from any dead trees we 

 may notice. In these, when split and examined at home, we may get 

 many kinds of bark beetles, or even a colony of the interesting Ambrosia 

 beetles, or Shot-hole borers, the males and females all crowded so closely 

 together in their burrows that it would be impossible to force another into 

 the space. These interesting little creatures will richly reward anyone who 

 will give them special study. It has only recently been discovered that 

 they have a social life somewhat approaching in interest that of the social 

 wasps, bees and ants, a tunnel being bored into a tree by the female for 

 the purpose of rearing her young, not upon the wood of the tree, but upan 

 special kinds of fungi which she cultivates there for her young brood. 



In those more favoured localities where the ground is not covered 

 with snow in winter there are, of course, many more opportunities for 

 collecting than in colder districts with a heavy snowfall. The sifting of 

 moss from swamps, from the sides of trees and of dead leaves from woods 

 and along fences, will give an endless number of species of small beetles, 

 flies, leaf hoppers, mites, spiders, etc. In looking for these, the material 

 can be collected and carried home in bags for examination at any 

 convenient time, when it should be sifted over a large sheet of paper with 

 a good light and with several small bottles close at hand so as to catch 

 the many specimens as they revive and begin to move. By using a large 

 white pie-dish with a sloping edge some of the exceedingly active 



species will be prevented from escaping. It will be required that every 

 sense be on the alert to secure all the material brought home even in a 

 small bag. Every collection, for a long time at any rate, will give useful 

 information concerning the life-histories of insects with which we were not 

 fully acquainted. Anything which seems stranges, hould be noted down 

 at the time. The specimens themselves should be sorted out and mounted 

 at once. Those of interest to the collector should be put carefully away 

 where they will not be injured by dust or museum pests, and all not 

 required should be sent off at once to anyone else who is known to be 

 interested in the various orders represented. 



