PRESERVING OF COLEOPTERA. 
103 
vest a hundred yards from his own door than by taking a 
“return ticket” (which involves, moreover, the loss of 
time) for a hundred miles into the country—perchance into 
some cold clayey region where his exertions will prove com¬ 
paratively fruitless. 
Let the moss be carefully examined (for the minuter 
tribes), wherever it can be procured, though more especially 
from off the trunks of trees. The best plan in the winter 
months is to shake it over a large bag, the contents of which 
may be gradually turned out, on a sheet of white paper, at 
home; and if overhauled in front of a window, nothing will 
be lost, as those species which escape will almost invariably 
fly or run to the light, and may be immediately secured from 
off the glass. 
The fungi in woods, and agarics from off the trunks of 
trees, must never be neglected, as they occasionally teem 
with life—though more often of the smaller than the larger 
kind—and where they are observed to be full of a species 
which is usually rare, it is better to bring away a portion of 
the substance itself, aud leave the remainder for another day, 
than to destroy the whole by endeavouring to procure in situ 
all the specimens which it contains. 
Dead animals, partially-dried bones, as well as the skins 
of moles and other vermin which are ordinarily hung up in 
fields, are magnificent traps for Coleoptera; and if any of 
these be placed around orchards and enclosures near at 
home, and be examined every morning, various species of 
Nitidulce, Silphidce , and other insects of similar habits, are 
certain to be enticed and captured. 
Planks and chippings of wood may be likewise employed 
as successful agents in alluring a vast number of species which 
toight otherwise escape our notice, and if these be laid down in 
grassy places, and carefully inverted every now and then with 
little violence as possible, many insects will be found adher- 
