WESTON HAYE YOU A NATURE HOBBY 191 



Junebug. Later, when we were bigger and our radius of known 

 territory around the city increased, we became acquainted with 

 other beetles remarkable either for their size or their beauty and 

 we started to preserve them. There was a stag beetle, three 

 inches over all, with pincers half the length of the body. The 

 fiery hunter which has been introduced into this country to fight 

 the Gypsy Moth, the hero beetle, a longhom two inches long with 

 feelers longer than the body, the musk beetle with a strong musk 

 odor and many others. A book with a key and competition 

 among the boys kept interest in beetles alive until it became 

 difficult to find new ones. All our specimens at that time were 

 labelled only with their names. Now it is required that every 

 label must give time and locality besides, which makes a collec- 

 tion of scientific value." 



A Seashore Hobby 



Seashore hobbies should be especially popular in Rhode Island. 

 A study of the habits of our native fish may appeal to the boys 

 more strongly than any work along the lines of plant life. Mr. 

 Henry F. Mencke, treasurer of the Rhode Island Field Natural- 

 ists Club, writes: 



"Spending my vacations at the seashore I have been interested 

 in the strange sea creatures brought in by the fishermen. Large 

 Horse mackerel weighing seven hundred pounds are the fellows 

 that are built for speed, with their upper fins closing down in 

 just like a jack knife, even more smoothly, and their side fins 

 fitting into a depression, so that when they make that strong 

 propeller tail of theirs go they can travel fast. They will some- 

 times rip the fishermen's nets through, allowing all the market- 

 able fish to get away, and thus cause quite a loss. So also will 

 the Whip Tail Shark who will thrash around with his long tail. 



A Sttirgeon weighing in the neighborhood of three hundred 

 pounds is a profitable catch and is curious to see. His head and 

 his large bony scales remind me of an alligator. A Porpoise the 

 fishermen will generally let go, he belongs to the mammals. A 

 Sun Fish weighing three hundred pounds is an odd looking fish 

 with small and rather round mouth, large upper and lower fins 

 and skin as rough as sand paper. The fish is about as deep as 

 long with a large scalloped edge in place of a tail. 



