COLLECTING 187 



placed beneath branches while you beat with 

 a stick, to dislodge concealed specimens. 

 The chip boxes will serve to hold your 

 captures. They also serve to catch beetles, 

 if you hold the box open in front of the beetle, 

 slip it in, and close the lid. A bottle fitted 

 with a cork pierced with a quill is convenient 

 for holding small beetles. Whether you 

 adopt box or bottle, beware of confining 

 together two species, unless you are sure 

 that they are vegetarians. The enclosure 

 of two carnivorous beetles means the destruc- 

 tion of one of them, and the damaging of 

 the other. 



So soon as the sun in Spring begins to 

 shine with genial warmth, you may sally 

 forth, tapping over your net or umbrella 

 the branches of young trees, and searching 

 sandpits for specimens which have struck 

 the sides and fallen down. In Summer, you 

 may dredge with a strong net the edges of 

 ponds, and also under the banks of ditches 

 and streams ; brush the sweeping-net through 

 patches of grass and wild flowers, look under 

 stones and the bodies of dead animals, turn 

 over heaps of vegetable refuse, and closely 



