COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS. 85 



SO at dusk, when many species ai-e found ^ing, and in the 

 night, the collector will be rewarded with many rarities, many 

 species flying then that hide themselves by day, while many 

 caterpillars leave their retreats to come out and feed, when the 

 lantern can be used with success in searching for them. 



WoUaston (Entomologist's Annual, 1865) states that sandy 

 districts, especially towards the coast, are at all times prefer- 

 able to clayey ones, but the intermediate soils, such as the 

 loamy soil of swamps and marshes are more productive. Near 

 the sea, insects occur most abundantly beneath pebbles and 

 other objects in grassy spots, or else at the roots of plants. 

 In many places, especially in Alpine tracts, as we have found 

 on tlie summit of Mt. Washington and in Labrador, one has to 

 lie dovi^n and look carefully among the short herbage and in 

 the moss for Coleoptera. 



The most advantageous places for collecting are gardens and 

 farms, the borders of woods and the banks of streams and 

 ponds. The deep, dense forests, and open, treeless tracts are 

 less prolific in insect life. In winter and early spring the moss 

 on the trunks of trees, when carefully shaken over a newspaper 

 or white cloth, reveal many beetles and Hymenoptera. In the 

 late summer and autumn, toadstools and various fungi and rot- 

 ten fruits attract many insects, and in early spring when the 

 sap is running we have taken rare insects from the stumps of 

 freshly cut hard-wood trees. Wollaston says, " Dead animals, 

 partially-dried bones, as well as the skins of moles and other 

 vermin which are ordinarily hung up in fields are magnificent 

 traps for Coleoptera ; and if any of these be placed around or- 

 chards and inclosures near at home, and be examined every 

 morning, various species of Nitidulce, Silphidce, and other 

 insects of similar habits, are certain to be enticed and cap- 

 tured. 



"Planks and chippings of wood may be likewise employed 

 as successful agents in alluring a vast number of species which 

 might otherwise escape our notice, and if these be laid down 

 in grassy places, and carefully inverted every now and then 

 with as little violence as possible, many insects will be found 

 adhering beneath them, especiall}- after dew}'- nights and in 

 showery weather. Nor must we omit to urge the importance 



