536 ENTOMOLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS, &C. 
spread on the grass in the open parts of a wood I have 
known allure several scarce insects: a lady's white dress 
is equally attractive. An old mattress, laid at night upon 
a grass-plat, if suddenly reversed in the morning, will 
supply the Entomologist occasionally with good Cole- 
optera. No better trap for the Silphidcc, Dcnnes/idtf, 
&c, than a piece of carrion, a frog, or mole, &c. The 
numerous insects that inhabit excrement of every kind, 
especially that of the cow and the horse, may be best 
taken by immersing their pabulum in water : for this 
purpose, let a boy carry a spade and pail to the scene of 
action, and filling the pail nearly full of water begin the 
operation, and all the insects lurking in the submerged 
dung will come to the surface, and may be easily taken. 
Another object of the collector of insects, when he has 
once entrapped them, is to bring them safe home. The 
Entomologists on the Continent, I believe, generally 
transfix their prey, of whatever Order, with a pin, as 
soon as they are caught : but as hard ones, such as Co- 
leoptera, Hemiptera, &c, may be destroyed without in- 
jury by immersion either in spirits of wine or boiling 
water; and as large beetles, if transfixed (not to mention 
the unnecessary cruelty of so serving them), are apt to 
whirl round upon the pin in spite of any precaution, and 
injure themselves, and destroy other insects that are in 
their way, it seems best to kill them by other moi'e effec- 
tual methods. With regard to those that would be 
injured by immersion in any fluid, as the Lepidoptcra, 
Hymenoptera, Diptera, &c, they must be secured as 
soon as taken ; and after having disabled them as much 
as you can without injuring them, by pressing the trunk 
below the wings with the finger and thumb, they should 
