Vol. LII. LONDON. P^EBRUARY, 1920. No. 2 



POPULAR AND PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGY. 

 A Day's Beating. 



BY C. A. KROST. 

 Framingham, Mass. 



The rosy dawn of this early June morning has been followed by dull gray, 

 clouds which, slowly massing across the sky, presage rain for the afternoon. 

 A good day for the beating umbrella both for catching beetles and for shelter 

 on the way home. 



My preparations for a day in the woods are generally made the evening 

 before, or I am sure to forget something in the hurried morning start. A large, 

 wide-mouthed bottle for the bulk of the catch and several small vials for the 

 minute things or paired specimens that should be kept separate, filled with 

 alcohol (denatured is just as good for the purpose), are deposited in pockets 

 convenient for instant use. A small cyanide bottle for specimens whose colour 

 will not stand alcohol, and a large cyanide jar for Lepidoptera or other insects 

 interesting to brother collectors, are placed in side pockets or in the corduroy 

 bag that is slung over my shoulder. This bag contains: a large knife, a troM^el, 

 a drinking cup, a fine wire strainer of five inches diameter for dipping up water 

 beetles, an old pair of gloves to protect the fingers when much collecting is done 

 under stones, tw'O or three tin boxes to which I transfer Lepidoptera and Hymen- 

 optera as soon as they are dead (to prevent rubbing), a white cloth with loops 

 at each corner to hold two diagonally crossed sticks which will keep the cloth 

 spread so that it can be used in place of the umbrella if that instrument collapses 

 (as often happens) at the most interesting point of the capture. I also have a 

 net that fits into the bag, made of brass wire leaded into a brass union, which in 

 turn is screwed into a brass increaser; into the larger end of this a stick can 

 be screwed and fastened by a tack through a hole drilled in the rim of the in- 

 creaser. Nets of several sizes or kinds can be carried along, and at once inter- 

 changed by merely screwing them into the increaser. Last but not least I 

 make sure that my forceps are in the sheath that is pinned on the inside of 

 my coat at the most convenient height for hurried seizing. 



Thus equipped I hasten down the side streets to the railroad tracks that 

 lead to Sherborn town. Half a mile brings me to an interesting swamp beside 

 the track and, although within a stone's throw of a busy foundry, I am seldom 

 able to get past it without investigating its possibilities. In this swamp all the 

 wood has now been cut ofif but a few old willows, and the dead and dying bushes 

 and young trees often yield some very good things. It is here that I take 

 Pogonocheriis saUcicola Casey, and the species was determined for me by its 

 describer from specimens that emerged from dead twigs collected from these 

 willoyvs. 



Splashing through the ankle-deep brown water I cannot resist an attempt 



25 



