BEETLES. 301 



in£f ; if there is niiy <liffereiice, the head shmiM Ik^ sliLilitly elevnted, Imt not endiiu'li 

 so MS to lie iioti<-e.-ilile. Some eollectoi's t;ike |i:iiiis to spreail out th<' niiteiin;e, ]i:il]ii, 

 mill letjs of theiv l)eetles, hut this is useless worls, :iiii.l renders these orunns more Halile 

 to he hroken off in handling the s]ieeitnens. 



Very min\ite beetles are yunimed ujion small slips of paper or (if mica, and these 

 slips then pinned in the collection. A convenient kind of slip is a narrow trianji'le of 

 stiff white paper, the triangle about one-fourth of an inch long, and one-sixteenth of 

 an inch wiile at the larger end. The beetle is giniinied — willi a mucilage of gum 

 tragacanth or of shellac — neatly across the ])oiute<l end of the triangle, which is then 

 pinned through its broad end, and arranged in the <-ollection. 



The cabinets used for collections of insects vary with the taste of the collector : 

 some use boxes arraniicd on shelves like books, others cases into which lioxes are slid 

 as <lrawers. The e~-sential coinlitions are that the boxes have a depth of a little over 

 one and a half inches, in order to admit the insect-jiins erect ; that the box close very 

 tiii'htlv, to exclude museum ]iests, those little beetles which dannige or <levour sjiecimens ; 

 and that the boxes be made with very soft wood bottoms, oi' be lined on tlie bottom, 

 inside, with cork, felt, jiith, or some soft material in whicli the pins can lie stuck with- 

 out difHc\ilty. S)iecimens should not be kept exposed to light, for many of their colors 

 lade, and in a few years the collection which has been thus exposed loses its beauty as 

 well as its scieutitic value. Good taste forbiils the use of bright-colored surroundings 

 or colored pajier to line boxes for an insect collection ; white jiaper lining exhibits the 

 colors of the specimens best. Insects should be labelled in the collection neatly, and 

 with small labels. Anyone who wishes to study insects scientitically should add the 

 locality of capture on the label of each S]iet-imen, and a number liy which to refer to 

 a note-book, in which may be recorded the date of capture, haliits, food, and <itlier jiar- 

 ticulars of interest concerning th(^ s]iecimen. 



The thoutiht of obscrviuii' the habits of beetles leads one (pute naturallv to a con- 

 sideration of rearing lieetles, for l)y rearing them, and keeping careful notes on their 

 habits, one not oidy advances science materially, but also di'rives beautiful speOimens 

 for the collection and ]ileasure from the occupation. Some beetles are easilv reared, 

 taking but a few weeks to undergo all their transformations, others require several 

 years for their metamorphoses, and are very difficult to rear. Even in Europe, where 

 entomology has been longest and most thoroughly jmrsued, only a small proportion of 

 all the species of Coleoptera have been reared, and their earlier stao'es observed. In 

 other countries still less has been done. Without elaborate directions, filling many 

 pages, it is im]iossible to exjilain the devices used to rear beetles; the only general 

 directions that can be given are to keep the immature beetles in conditions that are, 

 as far as possible, the same as those in which the same species live in a free state. To 

 estalilish and maintain these conditions in breeding-jars, or in other jilaces where the 

 different stages of the insect can be oliserved, requires much skill, and adds pleasure 

 to successful beetle-raising. Fungus, liark, decayed wood, dead twi<j;s, acorns, nuts, 

 and in fact almost any vegetable substances collected at certain seasons of the year, 

 and put into fruit-jars, the contents of which should be now and then somewhat moist- 

 ened, avoiding an excess of moisture, which often causes mouMiness, will disclose 

 beetles whose larvse feed on the substances put in the jars. The leaf-feeding larvre of 

 beetles usually attain full growth in a short time, and are conveniently bred under a 

 bell-glass, or tumbler, inverted over a plant-j)0t full of slightly moistened earth. The 

 larvre of water-beetles are reared, without much difticulty, in small aquaria, feeding 



