62 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



which can be easily and cheaply made as follows: A light wooden box 

 al)oiit 9 in. by 7 in. may be had at any drug store ; the bottom is knocked 

 off and replaced with a piece of wire-Aveb of four meshes to the linear 

 inch ; the sides must be cut down with a fine saw to a depth of three 

 inches, and strips about ]i in. Avide nailed along the sides beneath the 

 wire to keep it from touching the table. 2. A sable or camel hair pencil 

 of the size known as duck (juill, on a wooden handle. 3. A pair of 

 flexible tweezers with fme points. 4. A small palette knife, the use of 

 which is when a small insect is covered up among the dust and debris of 

 the moss, to take up a jjortion and scatter it on a bare place on the paper, 

 when the beetle will become accessible. 5. A hand or pocket magni- 

 fier. 6. Two cyanide bottles, without saw dust. 7. A basket or box to 

 receive the spent moss. 



The operator will place the sieve upon a sheet of strong white paper, 

 — cartridge paper is best, — and taking up a moderate handful of moss, 

 tease and shake it well over the wire ; he will then lift the sieve, giving a 

 couple of smart taps on the end to dislodge any clinging insect — and look 

 out for the " bugs." The Carabidae and Staphylinidaj will first run at 

 racing pace over the paper : the Pselaphid?e and Scydma;nid?e will pro- 

 gress more deliberately, though still pretty rapidly, in a steady, straight- 

 forward march, with their prominent antennae stretched out before them, 

 while the Trichopterygidte will circle about, like the Gyrini upon the sur- 

 face of a still pool, at an astonishing speed for such molecules of beetles. 

 The larger insects may be cajjtured with the fingers or the forceps ; the 

 smaller ones by moistening the brush between the lips and touching them 

 with the point, to which they will adhere ; the brush with the insect 

 attached is introduced through the neck of the bottle, when a slight fillip 

 with the fingers will dislodge the ca])tive. In the meantime the Curculios, 

 Chrysomelas, Tenebrios, etc., will recover from the shock, and betray their 

 presence in their own slow, deliberate manner, when they too can be 

 secured. Along with the beetles there will be seen numerous spiders, 

 ants, mites, poduras, etc., and now and then a few small Diptera and 

 Hymenoptera. 



To display the smaller captured beetles to the best advantage, they 

 should be suffered to remain twenty-four hours in the bottle, when the 

 cyanogen vapor will have caused their limbs to be limber and relaxed. 

 They may then be attached to a strip of card-board by a small portion of 

 mucilage, previously thickened by evaporation till it will not spread out 



