BULLETIN 39, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



[50] 



Mght Collecting.— The beating of trees and shrubs after dark is a good method of 

 obtaining Lachnosternas and other species, and here the collector will do well to 

 secure the assistance of a compauion, who takes charge of the lantern and the col- 

 lecting bottles, while the collector himself works the umbrella. 



Fall Collecting. — From the first of August the number of species gradually 

 diminishes, but late in the summer or early in fall cxuite a number of other species 

 make their appearance, e. </., some Chrysomelidfe, Cerambycidte, and many Meloidse. 

 Many of these frequent the blossoms of Golden-rods, umbelliferous and other late- 

 flowering plants. The fall is also the best season for collecting Coleoptera living in 

 fungi. Although puff-baUs, toadstools, and the numerous fungi and moulds growing 

 on old trees, etc., furnish many species of Coleoptera also earlier in the season, yet 

 most fungi, and more especially the toadstools, flourish best in the fall, and conse- 

 quently there is then the greatest abundance of certain species of Coleoptera. Decay- 

 ing toadstools are especially rich, and should be sifted, and the collector should also 

 not omit to examine the soil beneath them. 



During the "Indian summer" there is usually a repetition of the "spring flight" 

 of Coleoptera, though on a smaller scale, and collecting on the tops of fence posts 

 and on whitewashed walls again becomes good. The first really sharp frost causes 

 these late species to disappear, and winter collecting co mm ences again. 



COLLECTING LEPIDOPTEEA. 



In this order the importance of collecting the early states and of rear- 

 ing the adult insects rather than of catching the latter should, if the 

 collector has the advancement of knowledge and the greatest pleasure in 



mind, be insisted upon. Collected speci- 

 mens, in the majority of cases, will be 

 more or less rubbed or damaged and un- 

 fit for j)ermanent keeping, and will al- 

 ways be far inferior to freshly reared 

 specimens. All Lepidopterists, there- 

 fore, rely to a great extent upon breed- 

 ing rather than upon field collecting. 

 There are, however, many species of 

 which the early states are still unknown, 

 and these can only be taken by field col- 

 lecting, and by attracting to various 

 lights or traps. This subject, therefore, 

 naturally falls into two categories — (1) 

 the general collecting of the adult, and (2) collecting the early stages 

 and rearing the perfect insects. 



Collecting the Adult.— The implements for the general collecting of 

 butterflies comprise the collecting net, and in some cases the beating 

 net, although the use of the latter will not often be called for. The 

 Ehopalocera or Diurnals may be taken about flowers, and the best 

 season is in the early spring. Most of them are double-brooded, and 

 the second brood Avill be in the greatest abundance during July and 

 August. They are, however, to be found throughout the summer. 

 They are also to be looked for in the neighborhood of the food-plants of 

 their larv*, and in the case of many species, examination of such plants 



6 



Fig. 70.— The Eight-spotted Forester 

 (Alxjina, octomaculata) . a, larva; 6, en. 

 larged segment of same ; c, moth. 



