40 



STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



nature's fairy -lands, made doubly so by the very fairy-like creatures which we 

 are so eagerly seeking. As tlie warm nights of summer come on, the collector 

 visits the previously sugared boards hid among the foliage, and is made joyous 

 by the capture of our beautiful noctuids or night-flying moths, which are not 

 onlv the crems of ni2:ht, but as trulv of the collector's cabinet. Nor have we 

 to stop here, for with the dredge net we may repair to the pool, stream or 

 morass in successful quest of the strange larvie and pupa3 of the dragon-flies 

 and other neuroptera, and the boat-like beetles and bugs, while the maggots 

 of our mosquitoes, and many other of our most curious diptera, will also be 

 added to our collection. If perchance we take a row-boat to bear us over the 

 waters of any of our great lakes, we can gather up from the surface of the 

 water manv rare weevils and other beetles that have been blown over the water, 

 and, too tired to fly longer, have given themselves up to the waves. On resin- 

 ous buds and viscid leaves we may also find insects; around carrion and all 

 kinds of filtli, from the ordure of our stables and the various kinds of decay- 

 ins: oriranic matter to mushrooms and other fun2:i, as Avell as about the oozins; 

 sap from wounded trees, we can hardly ever look in vain for insects, and often 

 from the most repellant and disgusting matter we obtain the rarest and most 

 beautiful specimens. Sometimes the collector makes rare captures in the 

 stomaclis of insectivorous birds. Such additions are none the less welcome, 

 though taken at second hand. In the various grains and fruits that are at- 

 tacked by insects, and also in the solid trunks of trees and in the numerous 

 galls so widely scattered on herb, shrub and tree, are to be found insects as 

 varied and curious as the locations harboring them. In all the places last 

 mentioned the insects may be taken in their various stages, may be reared and 

 studied, and to the careful and attentive student will furnish information, not 

 only new to himself, but often, very often, new to science. 



THE collector's OUTFIT. 



The apparatus necessary in the capture and pres- 

 ervation of insects is more simple and inexpensive 

 than that needed by the collector in any other 

 order of animals. The ease, safety, and cheapness 

 of transporting specimens, when collected away 

 from home, when sent to specialists to be named, 

 or when it is desired to make exchange of speci- ',!1 

 mens for the mutual advantage of collectors, as ■ 

 well as the small space required even for extensive 

 collections, and the ease and safety of preserving 

 the treasures of our cabinets, specially recommend 

 this field to him who would become familiar with 

 the glories of iiature, who desires the most whole- ij 

 some recreation and who wishes so to employ his 

 spare moments that he shall gather a rich harvest 

 of valuable knowledfre for himself and for others. 



The collectors apparatus may well be considered 

 under two heads : that for makinor the collections 

 and that for preserving them. 



P1E„1. 



CvAKiDE BouLE.— Side Removed 

 TO Show Cyanide a, andJPlas- 

 TER OF Paris h. 



