138 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



crawl up the loose shifting sand, and 

 never seem to have the idea of resort- 

 ing to their wings to escape, and they 

 may be seen in such places, a tumbling 

 crawling mass of imbecility, apparently 

 without sense enough to use the special 

 means of escape nature has given them. 

 Traps of this sort may be made with 

 great success, and very little experience 

 will teach the collector whereabouts 

 they ean be formed witb best results. 

 A dead fish, or bird, in similar places 

 will generally produce as good results 

 as inland. Heaps of sea-weed should 

 always be turned over. Water Beetles, 

 of course, must be sought for in ponds 

 and streams. These must be captured 

 with the net already described. When 

 you see a water beetle, its capture is 

 easy, but by passing your net among 

 the growing water plants ; along the 

 sides ; or over stones at the bottom, 

 especially wh<m moss-grown, many 

 unseen species will be obtained. Other 

 beetles frequent the wet ground at the 

 edges of streams, swamps, &c, and 

 must be searched for in their respective 

 habitats. Mr. Mosley has been speak- 

 ing with some degree of feeling of the 

 destruction of rare birds by the game 

 keepers of our county, but when the 

 coieopterist comes upon one of their 

 barn doors hung with Boiicdi-les^ed 

 Buzzards, or other scarce birds of prey, 

 he feels that their is no evil without 

 something to counter-balance it, and 

 as he uses his beating stick on the sus- 

 pended bird, and picks up the beetles 

 that fall from it, he is thankful he is 

 only a coieopterist. 



From what has been said it will hi 

 I seen that Beetles are almost everywhere 

 I and the collector who uses his eyes car 

 scarcely walk about but he will tint 

 them. One of the commonest siglitJ 

 of autumn is to see a "staph"" hurrying 

 across the footpath. Pick it up, anj 

 it will turn up its tail as if to sting you 

 and will perhaps seize your ringer ii 

 it.- jaws, for the ,( Devil's coach-hoiDe^ 

 can be savage whan in despair. Th< 

 "best locality"* for beetlesi s probably 

 as already said about Lepidoptera 

 that nearest your own home. Soinj 

 species, of conhned to ground o 

 ' certain character. Water beetles art 

 not found on the sea sand; moorlanc 

 species are not to be had in woods 

 nor tho.^e from a salt marsh far awaj 

 ' from their actual home ; but there ar< 

 ! always so many to be found at tin 

 i place that is most convenient, that the 

 I diligent collector will surely do wel 

 wherever he is. Vv T e do not know how 

 I many species of beetles are saidto be 

 native of this country, but certainly 

 j several thousands.* The beginner will 

 j do best who, after collecting 

 | promiscuously until he has obtained i 

 I good knowledge of the principal group: 

 I of the order, confines his efforts to one 

 I special group, works at it diligently 

 and endeavours to master it. Whei 

 he lias done this he can take uj 

 another. By this means he will bofcl 

 obtain a better knowledge of th( 

 order, and a better collection than 

 continuing all his time to colled 

 indiscriminately. 



In the foregoing article we have no ! 



