54 OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



which has become black with age, be beaten with a 

 stout stick, and the dust and rubbish that come out be 

 caught in a bag, and afterwards carefully examined by 

 shaking it over a piece of white paper, the beetles it 

 contains will easily be seen. They are mostly exceed- 

 ingly small, but some are very interesting forms. In 

 birds' nests, built in the gutter or under the eaves, 

 and in pigeon-cotes and fowl-houses, many species also 

 habitually live. If a quantity of the filthy refuse that 

 accumulates on the floor of a fowl-house be shaken over 

 paper, hundreds of beetles will come tumbling out, some 

 of them even sufficiently valuable to make amends for 

 the unpleasantness of the method of obtaining them. 



In country houses, if an old log be put on the fire, 

 any insects it may contain, speedily finding their quarters 

 becoming too hot for them, make their escape, and, as 

 often as not, find their way to the window, when, of 

 course, they are readily observed, and may be easily 

 captured. 



Here we may conclude the consideration of the first 

 order of insects the Coleoptera. In the next chapter 

 we shall proceed to notice the second order the Hymen- 

 optera. 



