Introduction 



structure and haljits and ottering' sucli a fund of wonderful details should elicit 

 particular interest. 



.\ general knowledge of insect life (|uite changes the character of the great 

 out-of-doors. The student of insects need ne\er look far for di\ersihed types of 

 entertainment and instruction, b^roni the time the buds break until the frost, no 

 matter what type the country, there is always something going un ; the eternal 

 struggle for existence, the ways of the sluggard, the etlorts of the thrifty, the 

 magic of the conjurer of transformation. And \\ith the close of the da}- darkness 

 ushers in another phase of life. The songs of the nocturnal insects show otiier 

 legions ha\e awakened and a powerful light forms a magnet for m\riad forms 

 that fly only at night. 



The writer well remembers the delight of his little daughters when he first 

 demonstrated to them the possibility of caring for several crickets in a tiny cage, 

 where the insects soon commenced \-igorously singing. \\'hen the children 

 were a vear older thev had a \erital)le chorus of the singing insects in cages. 

 There were three species of crickets, the buzzing meadow locust, the chattering 

 ci;ne-head and the Katy-did adding a basso eiTect. The interest in this easily ac- 

 quired but novel collection spread like a prairie fire and my daughters' little friends 

 and their friends in turn \\ere enthused and astonished to sec their little insect 

 songsters actualh' sing bv raising and rubbing the wings. And is this not an 

 object lesson? — of the wonders going en about us. underfoot. In our busy H\es 

 we are too apt to gaze in far perspecti\-e upon the paths we trod or look upon the 

 neighboring foliage as merely something green, while actuall}- the grass beneath 

 our feet forms dense jungles with a life more elaborate than the great brakes and 

 dank forests of the tropics. 



Gi\'e the vouthful student a good 1)Ook for inspiration, a simple collecting out- 

 fit — which mav be altogether homemade — and what a world is open for study 

 and enjoyment! The collecting of the beetles alone is a fascinating pastime. 

 These are the easiest specimens to prei)are and take up the least room. The re])- 

 resentatix'es of different families of them are to be found under widelx' diPterent 

 C(.nditions. Loose, flat stones shelter many interesting kinds. Man_\' si)ecies 

 ma\- l)e dredged from ponds, ddiere are ty])es that after dark may l)e attracted 

 to a light. XTmierous species are to be found upon I)lossoms. in decaying wood, 

 or Ijurrowing into fungi. An interesting method of obtaining many s])ecies — 

 and of great \ariety — is to hold an open and inxerted umbrella beneath bushes 

 and beat the branches with a stick. Vov beetle collecting the <mly ])araphernalia 

 necessary for general work is a wide mouthed bottle filled with alcohol — for 

 the specimens — a small dredging net and an uml)rella. After the arri\al home 

 the specimens are removed from the bottle and an insect pin inserted through the 

 right wing case. The s])ecimens may now be ])inned in boxes lined with cork or 

 ]ilaced in a dee]) frame with a glass coxer — f or the colors of beetles do not lade 

 in the light and the s])ecimens need no preservati\'e except some naphtha cones to 

 ]!re\ent minute pests from entering the cases and destroying them, bdies, wasps, 

 grassho])])ers, crickets and the true bugs ( lieuii])tera — insects with a beak) may 

 lie i)re])ared like beetles without s])ecial mounting, 'idle butterth'o an<l moths must 



