COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS BANKS. 



81 



It is impossible to go into details regarding the various collecting 

 methods, just mentioned, and only a few general directions can be given 

 regarding those methods which have not previously been alluded to. 



Collecting under stones. — Turning over stones is a favorite method 

 among beginners and yields chiefly Carabida3, the larger Staphylioidae, 

 certain CurcuKonidse, and a multitude of species of other families. 

 Stones on very dry ground are productive only early in spring or in 

 the fall, while those on moist ground, in the shade of woods, are good 

 at all seasons. In the Alpine regions of our mountainous districts, 

 especially above the timber line, collecting under stones becomes the 

 most important method, and is especially favorable along the edges 

 of snow fields. In often frequented localities the collector should 

 carefully replace the stones, especially those under which he has found 

 rare specimens. The neglect of this rule is one of the principal causes 

 for certain rare species having become extinct in the vicinity of our 

 cities. 



Collecting in rotten stumps and logs. — Success in collecting in rotten 

 stumps depends much upon the more or less advanced stage of decay 

 as well as upon the situation 

 of the log and upon the par- 

 ticular land of wood. If the 

 decay is very much advanced, 

 neither the loose bark nor the 

 interior of the log will harbor 

 many Coleoptera excepting a 

 multitude of Passalus cornu- 

 tus and its larva3. If the 

 decay is less advanced, but 

 if such log is exposed to the scorching rays of the sun, it will be far 

 less productive than a log in a shady situation. The investigation 

 of the bark of a favorably situated log in the right stage of decay 

 does not need any special instruction, but the decayed wood itself 

 should be pried off with a chisel or trowel, put in the sieve and 

 sifted on the collecting cloth. This is the best way of obtaining the 

 numerous species of rare Micro-Coleoptera of various families that 

 inhabit such places. A "red rotten" oak or beech log is more favor- 

 able for this mode of collecting than a "white rotten" of the same or 

 other kinds of trees. 



Collecting in dying or dead trees. — Dying or dead trees almost 

 always harbor a large number of Coleoptera and offer an excellent 

 collecting opportunity until the wood becomes thoroughly dry, 

 which usually takes place in large trees two or three years after 

 the death of the tree, and in less time with smaller ones. The bark 

 of such trees is the best collecting place for Cucujidse, Colydiidae, 

 Scolytidae, Histerida?, etc., and it will be found that the shady side 



b cl c 



Fig. 125.— The pea weevil, Bruchus pisorum: 

 a, Beetle; 6, larva; c, pupa. 



