5006 Insects. 



Cercyon and Sphaeridium (with few exceptions) in decaying vegetable 

 substances. 



Heteroceri are found in profusion on the muddy banks of pools or 

 rivers, by digging them out of their burrows just below the surface; 

 Parous abound at the roots of grass in almost every wet muddy 

 locality : Georyssus was taken some years ago by Mr. Waterhouse at 

 Southend, on wet banks of a little stream trickling down the cliffs to 

 the west of the town ; the insect covers itself with a coating of mud, in 

 which it appears to live, and which adheres to it after death ; it was 

 taken plentifully in 1835, running about, as atoms of wet clay, on the 

 margins of the stream; Octhebius also is found on mud, but below 

 the surface of the water: the collector should provide himself with a 

 stick or stout branch with which he may thoroughly stir up and 

 disturb the whole of the mud at the bottom of the water ; by this means 

 the insects lose their hold and float up to the surface in great numbers : 

 they are then readily secured by the water-net. 



The moss-loving groups of Elmis and Hydraena require quite a 

 different mode of operation ; they have been met with in the utmost 

 profusion by the Rev. W. Hey in Yorkshire ; Dr. Power in Northum- 

 berland ; and myself in several localities in North Wales. In searching 

 for them the entomologist will look out for mossy stones, which abound 

 inand at the sides of the channel of mountain streams ; for, though the 

 stream itself will often supply occasional examples, these mossy stones 

 are their metropolis. If the stream flows over the stone to be examined, 

 let the net be placed on the lee side, so that when the moss is disturbed 

 all the contents may be carried by the stream at once into it ; then, by 

 raking up the moss with the fingers, all its inhabitants are of course 

 secured. If the moss is dry, or only partially under water, either the 

 stream must be made to flow over it, or it may be torn off and washed 

 in the net. 



In this group, more perhaps than in any other, neatness and care in 

 setting out the insects for the cabinet is requisite : 1 attach the greatest 

 importance to this point : a single example of an insect well displayed 

 on card is more valuable than twenty imperfectly mounted. I am 

 satisfied, from a careful consideration of Mr. Stephens' cabinet, and 

 from a comparison of its state with the species which he has sought 

 to establish out of its contents, that not a few of the errors into which 

 we have fallen in nomenclature are owing simply to the little time and 

 care allotted to mounting examples. The naturalist who has captured 

 but little during the season, but who has not spared pains in preparing 

 that little as perfectly as possible, so that the insects on his card repre- 



