6 AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 



bag about a foot and a half square by two feet deep. About nine 

 inches from the top sew pieces across the corners so that a piece of 

 half-inch mesh wire screen can rest on them. Sift through this until 

 there is quite a bit of fine material in the bottom of the bag and then 

 retire to a comfortable place protected from the wind and spread a 

 small sheet of white muslin or canvas. Now resift, using a mesh 

 about four or five to an inch. The flat-bottomed sieves six or eight 

 inches in diameter which are used for making French fried potatoes 

 and the new wire pie-pans are excellent. Sift a very thin layer on 

 to the white cloth and examine carefully the coarse stuff for relatively 

 large things before it is thrown away. Be patient with the small stuff. 

 Insects have a habit of ''playing possum" and have plenty of patience 

 themselves. They do not seem to like tobacco smoke. If you do, blow 

 some on the htter. It will hasten matters — at least, smokers think so. 



This is a good place to mention collecting forceps as they are 

 almost necessary in picking up very small insects as well as insects 

 concerning whose ability or inclination to sting there may be some 

 suspicion. The best forceps for handling very deUcate insects do not 

 seem to be on the market. They are made of strips of German silver 

 and have small but rounded points. However, the small steel ones 

 which are on the market do very well. Steel forceps about a foot 

 long are handy for picking caddice cases, etc., out of water, but they 

 are of little use in general work. Dealers also carry forceps having 

 gauze covered frames at the tips. They are meant for holding sting- 

 ing insects while they are being examined, but they also are of very 

 little use to the general collector. 



A strong knife for cutting off galls, stripping bark, splitting in- 

 fested branches, etc., is essential. A trowel is useful in following 

 insect burrows or digging for root borers. The entrenching tool 

 used in the army is a handy all-round substitute for trowel, hatchet, 

 and large knife combined. 



There are two chief methods of night collecting in general use: 

 sugaring and at light. Another, while not so productive of speci- 

 mens, is more interesting. It consists in simply prowUng around 

 with an acetylene bicycle lamp examining the centers of flowers, the 

 underside of leaves, tree trunks, etc., to find out what the nocturnal 

 insects are doing, and also where and how the day flying insects are 

 passing the night. 



