ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



199 



my correspondents in the East, who has the 

 happiness to have access to the very best scien- 

 tific library in the whole conutry. At my re- 

 quest he will, I know, compare the specimens 

 sent with the descriptions to which he has free 

 access every day, while I shonld have to travel 

 a thousand miles to get to them. I do this ; and 

 now, having done my best, I will calmly and 

 peacefully await results. But by this time it is 

 10 1'. M., and I am beginning to feel sleepy and 

 tired. Suppose F adjourn to the countv of Bed- 

 foid ? 





HOW TO COLLECT AND STUDY INSECTS-No. 2. 



in- F. G. SANBORN, llOSTON, MASS. 



One can scarcely walk a mile in the country 



viflicint obtaining some object to grace his 



[ij,^ |.,., ] cabinet, or observing some fact 



- ^ in natural history to add to his 



i\# vtore-house of mental treas- 

 111 es. It should be borne in 



I -"^1 iiiiud by the student collector 



I I I hat, notwithstanding he may 



]iropose to confine his studies 

 I lo one Order of insects, he 

 should also contract a habit 

 of observing and collecting 

 tho-e of other Orders, as well 

 as such small and portable 

 vertebrates and other invei-te- 

 lirates as his opportunities 

 may enable him to capture and 

 escrve. Alcoholicspecimens 

 (it Mammals, Birds, Fishes, 

 Keptiles, Mollusks, Crustacea, 

 and fiicts concerning them, 

 are marketable commodities 

 in the Exchanges of Science. 

 Especially should this plan be 

 carried out by the collector 

 who may be established for a 

 tenn of months or years in a 

 region remote from libraries 

 and museums. Such study 

 and investigation in this field 

 as his time permits, will of 

 itself materially enlighten his mind upon the 

 secrets of Nature; and, although destitute of 

 books— those records of repeated failures and 

 few successful attempts to unmask Nature's 

 protean face — he may leani the structure, habits 

 and comparative intelligence of the creatures 

 around him. A subsequent opportunity may 

 occur for him to ascertain, if so disposed, the 

 different technical names imposed upon "Mouse 



No. 7," "Bird and nest, XII," or "Bug No. 427," 

 and accepted by the scientific world. 



Should he care only to acquaint himself with 

 the nomenclature of some limited group or 

 order, and wish to increase liis cabinet in that 

 specialty, he will find that he has the powers of 

 a capitalist to invest his miscellaneous collection 

 of specimens and facts in such manner as he 

 may prefer. Thanks to the diversity of tastes 

 implanted in us, there is always some eager 

 specialist — individual, or backed by an associa- 

 tion — standing ready to give full value for, and 

 "work up," this or that portion of such ma- 

 terial. 



The practice of noting (with ink if possible) 

 ill a small blank book, or on cards, such facts 

 and observations as he may make or discover, 

 adds immensely to the value of any collection, 

 and can not be too strongly recommended to the 

 collector. The date of capture of a specimen, 

 of the transformation from the egg, larva or 

 pupa, of the appearance or disappearance from 

 its usual haunts, and such other items of interest 

 that arise iu connection with the specimen, are 

 of importance to the student, and should be 

 therein set down. A small tag or ticket of 

 paper attached to the dry specimen, or of parch- 

 ment, leather, or soft metal to the alcoholic, and 

 bearing a number corresponding to that in the 

 note-book, renders the information thus obtained 

 available, and sufficiently identifies the speci- 

 men. As the collector pursues his investigations 

 month after month, he will find his senses be- 

 coming educated to a delicacy of touch and 

 fineness of perception that can not fail to be a 

 source of pride and gratification to him. He 

 whose attention would not at first be diverted 

 to the ragged leaves of a caterpillar-ridden tree, 

 will ill a few months notice instantly the slight 

 convexity of outline on twig or leaf caused by 

 the presence of a small insect, or the extremity 

 of a branch cleanly cut by a Prnner-beede. 



In the course of his observations he will be 

 amused by the imitative shapes and colors of 

 many forms of insect life, and will frequently 

 be deceived by the Uurculios, who successfully 

 simulate buds and' bits of bark. The caterpillars 

 of some of the moths resemble so closely cylin- 

 drical twigs, as many of the Loopers (Geome- 

 tridce) ; scales of rough or smooth bark, as the 

 Hag-moth {Liiixninhs />i//iivii(m), and the Lap- 

 pet-moths (Gks/iii/i'K'Iiii r, Z/rdit aud americana). 

 Some of the Bcttii ^ as the Cryptocephali and 

 Eiders, closely resemble seeds, as do certain 

 Bugs, among them Corimelaena, and the two 

 latter suggest such kinship as to cause them 

 almost invariably to fraternize in the cabinet of 



