200 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



our present one, namely, water collecting. The water beetles are 

 a study in themselves, and require special working and special 

 apparatus. 



The net used should be made of cheese cloth, and it is best, 

 as was said in the introductory paper, to have its edges furnished 

 with rings instead of with a turned-down edge of stronger 

 material, as is often the case ; nets thus made are easily run on 

 and off the large ring of the net, and so a water-net may very 

 readily be substituted for an ordinary sweeping-net, or vice versa. 



The usual round net is quite sufficient for ordinary water 

 working, but if there is much moss or growth surrounding the 

 water, as is the case with ponds on boggy land, by far the best 

 form of net to use is an oblong or semicircular one, made with a 

 straight metal edge or edges (like a prawning-net in fact), for 

 scraping the sides, as great numbers of the best beetles, especially 

 Philhychida, are thus obtained, which would be entirely missed 

 by the ordinary net. Archdeacon Hey, of York, has designed 

 several of these nets for working Askham Bog, which he has done 

 with very great success, and taken many hitherto very rare beetles 

 in numbers. 



A few words as to setting water beetles, more especially 

 Hydropori, may be useful. The best plan is to keep them alive 

 in damp moss, kill them with boiling water, and brush them out 

 and set them at once : they are killed so instantaneously that 

 brushing out the limbs may almost be dispensed with. If, how- 

 ever, this plan cannot be adopted, they may be put in the usual 

 way into the laurel bottle, but should never be left more than one 

 day. As they are of course always damp when caught, if they 

 cannot then be set it is best to put them in muslin bags and dot 

 them on card at one's leisure, without attempting to set them, as 

 there is nothing more trying to one's patience than the attempt 

 to set a refractory Hydroporus. The hind legs, especially of the 

 Agahi and like genera, are always a difficulty; they may either be 

 drawn down and set parallel to one another, or curled over the 

 back ; the former is much the neater plan, and may usually be 

 managed by gumming the front part of the insect strongly to the 

 card and letting it dry, when the hind legs may in most cases be 

 easily drawn down to the required position. 



The water beetles, as a rule, are not very brightly coloured, 

 but we find that the brighter species inhabit running streams. 



