38 THE YOUNG COLLECTORS 



some collectors use the young shoots or leaves of the laurel, which 

 must be gathered when perfectly dry, and chopped fine ; others 

 employ blotting-paper soaked in benzole ; or bisulphide of carbon 

 may be used in the same way, though its extremely disagreeable 

 smell is an objection. Many collectors use a bottle charged 

 with a mixture of cyanide of potassium and plaster of Paris ; but 

 the other methods mentioned above are just as useful in practice, 

 and the use of cyanide (a most deadly poison) is better avoided. 



The readiest way of killing beetles brought home alive (except 

 soft-bodied, delicately-coloured, or downy beetles) is, however, 

 to plunge them into boiling water, or to throw boiling water over 

 them, as recommended by the Rev. Mr. Fowler, in a recent 

 number of the Entomologist. The same article contains 

 other useful hints, not the least useful being that the sweeping 

 and water-nets should be furnished with small rings round their 

 upper edge, so that they can be slipped on and off the ring of 

 the net at pleasure ; thus rendering it quite unnecessary to carry 

 a large amount of apparatus. 



The implements necessary for collecting beetles are, as just 

 mentioned, a sweeping and a water-net, which can be combined, 

 and a white umbrella. The ring should be made of strong 

 galvanized wire, and of any convenient size, say about 9 inches 

 in diameter ; and the nets may be composed of any strong white 

 substance, not liable to tear by catching in brambles, and 

 sufficiently close in texture to prevent small beetles escaping 

 through it. The water-net is always made of stronger material 

 than the sweeping-net, but must not be "waterproof," as it is 

 important that the water should run off readily. The sweeping- 

 net is used for brushing grass, trees, and bushes, from which 

 many beetles will be swept ; and the water-net is used for fishing 

 for water-beetles, either by dipping them up when you see 

 them, or by drawing the net along the bottom of pools or 

 streams in search of them. The nets may be about twice as 

 long as the diameter of the ring, and all the corners should be 

 rounded off. The stick should be strong, and of any convenient 

 length. The umbrella is used to beat or shake trees, bushes, 

 or long grass over, when the beetles which fall can be picked 

 up, and those which are too small may be lifted with a wetted 

 finger. 



Fungi, tufts of moss, or pieces of rotten wood, may also be 

 examined over the umbrella in the field, or may be put in a bag 

 or a botanist's vasculum to be examined at home. Many beetles 

 will be found running on field paths, sometimes in the heat of 

 the sun, and sometimes in the evening ; others, as already im- 



