-OF THE- 



fftofklgii i^ntomola^ical locicttn 



BROOKLYN, SEPT. 1S78. No. 5. 



PRACTICAL HINTS ON COLLECTING 

 COLEOPTERA. 



BY II. SCUMEI.TEU. 



Continued. 



Woodboriug coleoptera may be captured, often in large numbers, 

 by sawing off' the dead branches of trees in spring, gathering plants 

 with pithy stems, such as the elder, also reed, etc., and piling up 

 these materials in an empty room with tightly closing door and 

 windows, the latter best made of wire screen, so as to admit of a 

 free circulation of air. If a special room for this purpose is not at 

 disposal, a large box connected with a small one of which several 

 sides should be made of glass will answer. The insects after hav- 

 ing made their way out of the wood during spring and summer 

 will be attracted by the light to the windows of the room or into 

 the smaller box and can there be easily captured. 



Another opportunity for wholesale capture of beetles is often af- 

 forded to the New York collector during summer on the beach of 

 Coney Island and Rockaway. At any time insects washed ashore 

 by the tide may be found there, but after a strong easterly wind 

 the number and variety is quite remarkable. Mcst of them are 

 certainly swept by the wind into the sea at the Highlands on 

 the Jersey coast and carried by the tide to the opposite shore, but 

 some are evidently carried a long distance, Omophron nitidum, 

 Lee. Alaus myops, Fabr. Tragidion coquus, Linn, and other evi- 

 dently southern species having been found on the beach. 



Besides these a great many other species living under seaweed, 

 or pieces of wood and other objects cast up by the tide may be found 

 there. A specification of these sea-shore species, which may not 

 be uninteresting, I shall reserve for a future occasion. 



But many species of coleoptera can not be captured in the man- 



