COLLECTING APPARATUS. 6 



ally procured." Excrementitious matter always contains many 

 interesting forms in various stages of growth. 



The trunks of fallen and decaying trees offer a rich harvest 

 for many wood-boring larvae, especially the Longicorn beetles ; 

 and weevils can be found in the spring, in all stages. Numer- 

 ous carnivorous Coleopterous and Dipterous larvae dwell within 

 them, and other larvae which eat the dust made by the borers. 

 The inside of pithy plants like the elder, raspberry, blackberry, 

 and syringa, is inhabited by many of the wild bees, Osmia, 

 Ceratina, and the wood-wasps, Crabro, Stigma, etc., the habits 

 of which, with those of their Chalcid and Ichneumon para- 

 sites, offer endless amusement and material for study. 



Ponds and streams shelter a vast throng of insects, and 

 should be diligently dredged with the water-net, and stones 

 and pebbles should be overturned for aquatic beetles, Ilemip- 

 tera and Dipterous larvae. 



The various sorts of galls should be collected in spring and 

 autumn and placed in vials or boxes, where their inhabitants 

 may be reared, and the rafters of out- 

 houses, stone-walls, etc., should be care- 

 fully searched for the nests of mud-wasps. 



Collecting Apparatus. First in impor- 

 tance is the net. (Fig. 1.) This is made 

 by attaching a ring of brass wire to a 

 handle made to slide on a pole six feet 

 long. The net may be a foot in diameter, 

 and the bag itself made of thin gauze or 

 mosquito-netting (the finer, lighter, and 

 more durable the better), and should be 

 about twenty inches deep. It should be sewed to a narrow 

 border of cloth placed around the wire. A light net like 

 this can be rapidly turned upon the insect with one hand. 

 The insect is captured by a dexterous twist which also throws 

 the bottom over the mouth of the net. "The frame of the net 

 which I use is illustrated herewith (Fig. 2), and will be found 

 strong and serviceable and conveniently portable. It is con- 

 structed as follows : Take two pieces of stout brass wire, each 

 about 20 inches long ; bend them half-circular^ and join at one 

 end by a folding hinge having a check on one side (b). The 

 other ends are bent and beaten into two square sockets (/) 



