268 GRAMMAR OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



CHAPTER III. 



ON CAPTURING INSECTS. 



858. Having equipped the collector, we must 

 accompany him to the chase. As soon as the sun 

 has warmed the earth by those brilliant and cloud- 

 less days which we always have in March, earth, 

 air, and water, teem with insects : in May the num- 

 bers seem doubled ; from that month they decrease 

 to November, when they have again almost en- 

 tirely disappeared. 



859. As to the respective numbers, size, and 

 beauty, of the different classes, we must say a few 

 words. Of known species, the Hymenoptera far 

 exceed each of the others in number, and pro- 

 bably all of them put together ; almost every 

 species of the other classes has one Hymenop- 

 terous parasite. 



860. Next to the Hymenoptera in number, the 

 Coleoptera and Diptera appear to excel; then 

 the Lepidoptera : the Hemiptera are about a 



