72 BEGINNERS' ZOOLOGY 



Collecting Insects. — Tn cities and towns insects, varying 

 with the season, are attracted by electric lights. Beetles 

 and bugs will be found under the lights, moths on posts 

 near the lights, grasshoppers and crickets and other in- 

 sects in the grass near by.' A lamp placed by a window 

 brings many specimens. In the woods and in rocky 

 places insects are found under logs and stones, and under 

 the bark of dead trees. In open places, prairies, meadows, 

 and old fields with grass and flowers, it will be easy to find 

 grasshoppers, butterflies, and some beetles. Ponds and 

 streams are usually rich in animal forms, such as bugs and 

 beetles, which swim on or under the surface, and larvoe 

 of dragon flies crawling on the bottom. Dragon flies and 

 other insects that lay eggs on the water are found flying 

 in the air above. (In the spring, newly hatched crayfish, 

 tadpoles, and the eggs of frogs and toads should also be 

 collected, if found.) Moths may be caught at night by 

 daubing molasses or syrup made from brown sugar upon 

 the trunks of several trees, and visiting the trees at in- 

 tervals with a lantern. 



An insect net for catching butterflies and for dredging 

 ponds may be made by bending a stout wire into a circle 

 one foot in diameter, leaving enough straight wire to 

 fasten with staples on an old broomstick. To the frame 

 is fastened a flour sack, or cone made of a piece of mos- 

 quito netting. 



Butterflies and moths should be promptly killed, or 

 they will beat their wings to pieces. The quickest method 

 is by dropping several drops of gasoline upon the ventral 

 (under) side of the thorax and abdomen. (Caution: 

 Gasoline should never be used near an open fire, or lamp, 

 as explosions and deaths result from the flame being led 

 through the gasoline-saturated air to the vessel containing 

 it.) 



