668 Collecting and Rearing Insects 



scavenger beetles; back-swimmers; water-boatmen; dragon-fly and May-fly 

 nymphs; mosquito larv;c, etc. 



Otlicr animals may of course be kept in the aquarium. Common pond- 

 snails will live easily, feeding on green slime, roots of water-plants, bits of 

 cabbage, etc.; minnows will eat bits of fresh meat, and also the insects; 

 quarrelsome little sticklebacks will eat the pond-snail eggs and small crusta- 

 ceans, as Cyclops, etc. ; frog and salamander larvae feed at first on vegetable 

 matter, later on bits of meat, tiny earthworms, mosquito larva;, etc. 



Remember that an aquarium needs daily care to keep it in good condition. 



The foregoing account of collecting, preserving, and rearing insects has 

 been made short and only a general course of procedure indicated, with the 

 hope in mind of avoiding the confusion to the beginner likely to result from 

 a longer account, including many "specialties" and refinements in collect- 

 ing methods. Numerous excellent extended directions for collecting, pre- 

 serving, and rearing have been published. Two such accounts are those 

 by Comstock in "Insect Life" (.\ppletons), pp. 284-335, and by Packard in 

 "Entomology for Beginners" (Holt & Co.), pp. 224-288. 



