296 



MASOX ; 



LIXCOLXSHIRE HEMIPTERA-HETEROPTERA. 



An umbrella and a sweeping-net, with a stout pocket-knife for 

 ground exploration, not forgetting a camel's-hair pencil for the 

 pygmies, are tools enough. The vapour of a few shred leaves of 

 laurel in a small wide-mouthed bottle quickly kills the captures. Let 

 the laurel be covered with a piece or two of thick wrapping paper, 

 cut to ht evenly and closely to the sides of the bottle, and fill it up 

 with bits of muslin or crumpled blotting-paper to provide retreats for 

 the insects and prevent their being shaken together, thereby 

 endangering the legs and antennc^ of the more delicate. A quill 

 passed through the cork and cut oft square at the bottom, but 

 sloping at the upper end so as to be readily placed over an insect, 

 provides access to the interior of the bottle for all but the larger 

 species. Take care that a stopper, a full inch or more in length and 

 having a knob, is provided to ht — not too tightly — the quill. On 

 taking hold of the knob with the teeth, the stopper can be 

 extracted, and yet both hands left free for work. None but the 

 more robust species should be touched with the fingers. 



In two or three days the insects should be mounted with gum on 

 narrow parallel-sided strips of stout white card, or on a piece -svhich 

 can be so cut with them upon it. 



A specimen dropped sideways on a dab of gum so as to show 

 both the upper and the underside is much better for work than the 

 trim arrangement of the tidy man. The larger species may well be 

 gummed across a narrow slip, the insect then lying to the right and 

 left of the pin and having ahnost the whole of the underside free for 

 examination. Use pins of the same size (I use No. 5), and let every 

 slip be at the same height from the bottom of the cabinet-drawer. 



Above all things keep an accurate record of the date, the locality, 

 and the circumstances of every capture. It is a safe plan to mark 

 the two first items on the underside of each slip. Hundreds of 

 collections of insects are almost valueless for want of these details. 



Particulars given in the list show that almost eveiywhere bugs 

 may be looked for. On trees of all kinds, on low herbage, under 

 moss, and on water both stagnant and running, and also in it and at 

 bottom, and even on mud. 



Many of the tree-loving kinds are very active, and a supplementary 

 net about the width of one's expanded palm will be found very useful 

 to intercept their escape from the umbrella or beating-net. Most of 

 the Saldidcd are very hard to catch. For their especial wariness and 

 activity I have devised a very ettective weapon which I can commend 

 for trial to Coleopterists when hunting on mud or soft ground out of 

 arm's reach, such as is found about and in the delphs, which, generally 

 speaking, are the deep pits or mere hollows made at the land-foot of 



Naturalist, 



