Directions 



FOR 



Collecting and Preserving Insects. 



There is no rest for the entomologist. Early in the morning when the 

 dew is on the leaves, insects are sluggish and may be easily taken with the 

 hand. They literally swarm during the day as observation in the garden, 

 fields, and groves will prove. At dusk many species fly, and to secure many 

 others, one must be out at night with a lantern. The sunny days of the warm 

 seasons are the gala days for insects, yet one may entomologize successfully in 

 the -winter, under the bark of trees, in moss, on trees, &c. 



The best places for collecting are gardens and farms, the borders of woods, 

 banks of streams, and ponds. Fungi and rotten fruit attract many insects, as 

 do also partially dried bones and skins of dead animals. Planks and chippings 

 of Avood hide many species, and are traps to be extemporized everywhere and 

 in the greatest abundance. Trunks of fallen and decaying trees must be seen 

 to, stones upturned, and the ponds dredged with a water net. Lures may be 

 prepared by saturating trunks of trees with rum and molasses half and half, 

 or with ale and sugar. 



A few specimens can be handled conveniently only with forceps. A net 

 for winged species is indispensable, and may be made of mosquito-bar, a foot 

 or more in diameter and two or three feet long, closed at one end, the other at- 

 tached to a ring of heavy wire or other material, of diameter equal to that of 

 the net, fastened securely to a handle four or six feet long. Never go out 

 without small bottles or boxes in the pocket. Kever come in without having 

 them at least partially filled. 



Kill butterflies, moths, &c., by pouring a little benzine on the abdomen 

 and thorax. Beetles, &c., may be put in alcohol: or put a little potassic 

 cyanide (remember it is poison) in the bottom of a wide-mouth bottle, fur- 

 nished with a good stopper, and cover it with "plaster of Paris" made into a 

 paste with water. Into this put insects when captured. Larvae may be put 

 into glycerine or dilute alcohol. 



