THE GOI1I1ECTORS' pNTJiliY. 



"Tf Devoted to Ornithology, Oology and Entomology. ^^v / 



A Bug-Collector's Outing. 



We were to spend the day in the hills — 

 collecting-. Naturally enough, I was con- 

 siderably excited over the prospect. I at 

 once proceeded to "load up" for •'big- 

 game." The number of pill-boxes and 

 pill-bottles that T stored away in my 

 pockets was something astonishing. I 

 filled the bottles each about half full of 

 alcohol and pasted a little label on the 

 outside for data. The boxes I intended 

 for pupa?, bunches of eggs, larvae, and all 

 "sich like;" the bottles were to be filled 

 with the unlucky inhabitants of rifled 

 ants' nests, and with various other in- 

 sects. It was too early for butterflies 

 and moths, so the nets were left behind. 

 After providing myself with several cya- 

 nide bottles and a pair of tweezers — for 

 picking up the "wee oues" — I was ready 

 to embark. 



A pleasant drive over the intervening- 

 prairie country brought us to the hills, 

 and we drove up a canyon (which the 

 sun shone down into, bright and warm,) 

 for some distance. The ends of the "hog's 

 back" rose up steep and rocky on either 

 hand. A spring bubbled up on one side, 

 and on the other was an irrigation reser- 

 voir with a little stream running from it. 

 I first turned my attention to the spring. 

 I found that numerous unlucky little 

 beetles, attracted by the reflection from' 

 the water (or perhaps they were thirsty af- 

 ter their winter nap), had fallen in. I res- 

 cued them from the "drink," but only 

 to commit them to the cyanide bottle — 

 "out of the frying-pan intothefire." Run- 



ing swiftly over the muddy spot border- 

 ing the spring, I found numerous little 

 Bembidii — many of which were new and 

 interesting to me. Hopping about very 

 lively among thegrass and over the mud, 

 were found numerous specimens of a cu- 

 rious Heteropteron (Heinifitrr.t). A 

 small, very agile, coal-black leaf-hopper 

 {Jassidie Henriptern) was also found, but 

 it was difficult to capture them. 



I now went up onto the roadway and 

 began to turn over stones lying along it. 

 Here I began to collect in real earnest. 

 Every stone covered a treasure — some a 

 perfect musuem of insects. Leaf-beetles, 

 lady-birds, ground-beetles, snout-beetles, 

 tenebrionids, spiders and myriapods, 

 wereone and all hustled out of their snug 

 winter quarters and intotheeyanidebot- 

 tle, or vial. Pupa and larva- were picked 

 up carefully and deposited in pill-boxes, 

 to be taken home and reared. The spi- 

 ders were placed in vials provided with a 

 liquid which I had prepared before start- 

 ing, by mixing three parts of alcohol, 

 one of water, one of acetic acid, and one 

 of glycerine. The acetic acid counteracts 

 the shriveling effects of the alcohol and 

 prevents bleaching to a certain extent. 

 Where I found a certain kind of larva 1 

 quite numerous. I placed specimen* of it 

 in the above mixture. Where only a few 

 of a kind were found, they were saved for 

 rearing. 



On the opposite side of the canyon . un- 

 der some stones lying by the edge of the 

 stream — half in the water — I found large 

 numbers of water bugs and beetles. Nu- 



