^qS new YORK STATE MUSEUM 



plate 5. On the sandy bottoms of these quiet waters it was specially 

 advantageous. Extensive use was made of white wash bowls, soup 

 plates and saucers in the examination of our catch. We habitually 

 placed teneral specimens of most orders, when found in the cages newly 

 transformed, in paper bags to await the maturing of their colors. 



For rearing purposes, the screen cage, a simple cylinder of wire screen 

 with a loose cover (described on page 7 of the above mentioned bulletin 

 and shown in operation in plate 5) was most useful. The larger cages of 

 this sort were set down in the sand of the bottom of the creek; smaller 

 ones were set in the hatchery troughs. These, of course, needed a bot- 

 tom, which was supplied by inserting a piece of cloth laid over an open 

 loop of spring wire; the wire when released holding the cloth tightly 

 against the sides of the cage. A still farther modification of this cage 

 consisted in making it smaller, and of fine brass screen, and attaching 

 cork to its sides . to float it. Mr Betten made a very good egg-hatching 

 cage out of it by seahng a watch glass in the bottom of it with paraffin, 

 and attaching the cork floats. The eggs were thus kept in flowing water, 

 but could be at once removed to the stage of the microscope without 

 disturbance, 



I devised for our work at Saranac Inn another type of floating cage 

 that proved so generally useful for minute insects, and was so easily and 



rapidly constructed that it may be 

 worth while to give a description of it. 

 The accompanying figure shows its 

 construction in the main. With the 

 five little pieces of wood (which 

 ™ , xi, « r, , A fr.^ -^o.i«„ should be cut from dry pine) at hand, 



Fig. 1 Floating cage, designed for rearing j xr / i 



small Diptera ^ cdigt of this sort can be put up and 



ready for use in 10 minutes. The cloth is attached to the wood by 



means of paraffin, which is melted and applied with a brush. The loose 



end of the cloth is attached, and the door closed by 



means of a rubber band stretched between two 



tack heads over the convex upper edge of one of 



the wooden side strips (fig. i). This sort of cage ^ 



was most successful with small Diptera, but not i^ 



with small May flies, such as Caenis; for these whS ctn ^bTufef lucS 



,,. 'iirii-^ 1 >_ ij* i. fully for rearing insects That 



would invariably fall into the water and die at uve in standing water. 



Wooden kit with covering 



once on transformation. of netting tied on 



The trap lanterns we used (pi. 4, 5) were also very simply constructed. 

 The idea of them, however, was borrowed from some lanterns I found my 



