[Vol. 11-No. 4 



62 ORNITHOLOGIST 

I would cover the entrance to his house with my 
lath. He was then at my mercy and I had only 
to place him in my bottle to number him with 
the slain. In this way I have taken twenty-five 
nice specimens in less than an hour. A little 
yater poured into the hole will usually drive him 
out, but that is not always convenient. 
The ¢ is much smaller, more slender and of a 
beautiful piceous black. She is rarely seen ex- 
cept when forced from her house, and will gen- 
erally prefer drowning to forsaking her offspring. 
This house, in which she rears her young, is a 
wonderful piece of architecture. It is a cemented 
earthen tube, running down in the ground from 
five to ten inches, thence horizontally two to 
three inches and furnished at the surface or top 
with a perfect D-shaped lid, securely hinged on 
the flat side and perfectly water tight. The 
whole inside of the house is lined with a beauti- 
ful white silken web and in the lining of the lid, 
there are two holes, in which she inserts her 
fangs to hold it shut in case of danger. It re- 
quires a practised eye to discover these houses. 
I have seen twenty men hunt a whole day (with- 
out finding one) over ground where I could aver- 
age one an hour. The males are cannibals and 
very pugnacious. It was a common amusement 
amongst the men in some places, to pit two 
against each other and let them fight it out. One 
evening I counted eighty-three pairs laying dead 
on the platform at the railroad station in Merced, 
Cal., where they had fought to the death. The 
largest specimen I ever took, I dug out of a gopher 
hole, and behind him he had the remains of hun- 
dreds of his species that he had eaten. I placed 
him in a case and put a 2? with her house in with 
him, making their condition as natural as possi- 
ble under the circumstances. The first time she 
stepped out he pounced on her and ate ber with 
a seeming relish. I tried repeatedly to keep a 
pair of them together, but it was useless, as he 
killed and ate all that were put in, regardless of 
sex. I finally sent him to Woodward’s Gardens, 
then a popular resort in San Francisco. 
CYANIDE, 
Sunni _connnEEEEeeee 
Notes on Spring Collecting. 
BY WG, He 
Spring is upon us; already insect hunters are 
in activity and many enthusiastic collectors have 
wandered over their favorite grounds in search 
for the beetles found only at this season. 
As a matter of tradition all turn over stones, 
and as many rare species can be found, this is 
well, But why not replace the stone in its orig- 

inal position when you are through? It takes 
but a moment, and if it is a good locality you will 
be well repaid for your trouble. By being care- 
ful in this respect you can preserve your ground 
the entire season and will reap more than one 
harvest. 
Why so few do this it is hard to say, but it is 
certainly a good plan to follow. 
When the sun becomes quite warm, with a cool 
morning and evening, take a few pieces of old 
tin, say a foot or two square, and lay on the 
ground where the sun will warm them thoroughly 
in the middle of the day; go once in a while and 
turn them over carefully and look on the under 
side for beetles. Never look on the ground first. 
Most of the insects you will secure by this method 
crawl out of the dead grass and cling to the tin 
for the warmth it affords; thin boards can also 
be used but are not as good, and I have used corn 
stalks with success, especially late in the autumn. 
Do not devote your time entirely to dead trees 
and stumps, though prolific in insect life. Use 
your hatchet on live forest trees; cut off the bark 
close to the ground, and work slowly or you will 
destroy many very rare species. Nearly every 
species of tree has its peculiar insects, and patient 
labor will not be lost. 
Keep your eyes open for early water beetles 
and rare Staphylinidae. Many species of the lat- 
ter can be secured, some under nearly every stone 
and stick, in old stumps, under bark, indeed ey- 
erywhere, and next to spiders will be the chief 
torment of spring collecting. 
As soon as trees are in blossom you should be 
doubly active. Good species of weevils and early 
longicornes are to be found. Your net will not 
be of much service now, unless it is your sweep 
net on low trees and shrubs. On the highest 
trees use an inverted umbrella; hold it up under 
a tree and hit the limbs with a rod or heavy cane. 
Shake the material you thus catch, bugs, dirt and 
all, into a large-mouthed bottle charged with 
cyanide, and continue your work from tree to 
tree. When you get home you can sort out your 
beetles and throw all that is useless away. 
With many trees, newspapers, or better still, a 
large sheet can be used to better advantage than 
the umbrella. Spread the sheet upon the ground 
and shake the tree well, gather up all that falls 
and dispose of as with the umbrella. 
Of course, many will fly away, and it is always 
best for two to engage in this work—one to shake 
the tree and the other gather in the too lively in- 
sects. This kind of collecting is very profitable. 
As the season advances many ways can be 
thought of to trap beetles. All know of sugar- 
ing, and the lamp or candle trap for butterflies 
