CAPTURING BEMBIDIUM AND OTHER SMALL 



COLEOPTERA^- 



It may prove a help to some of our numerous Coleop- 

 terists to know how to easily collect these active little 

 beetles which are so common along the shores of lakes and 

 rivers. Is there a collector who has not endeavored to 

 pick them up between his (her?) thumb and forefinger 

 and transfer the specimens to the cyanide or alcohol 

 bottle, only to find them non est just as he supposes they 

 are safely inside. Here is a method that worked very 

 successfully with me while at Chautauqua, N. Y., during 

 July and August of last summer. Procure a two-drachm 

 vial one-quarter full of chloroform. Now, having found 

 a locality where the beetles are plenty, drop the brush in 

 the ether and apply to the specimens wanted. It is sur- 

 prising to see how quickly they are put to sleep. Almost 

 immediately they may be transferred to the alcohol 

 bottle on the tip of the brush and you are ready for more. 

 In this manner hundreds may be taken within a short 

 time, and I am sure it would work admirably with the 

 insects of other orders besides Coleoptera, especially where 

 the species are minute, but too quick to take in the usual 

 manner. Try it. 



^Reprinted from Entomological News, vol. 3 (1892), pp. 155-156. 



