272 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
plans a hunting-trip before going into the field has the game half- 
way into his bag. 
Whe)i to collect. — A few species of Orthoptera (Acrydiinae — 
Pygmy Locusts) pass the winter as adults, are common in spring 
and fall, and scarce in midsummer, being then chiefly in the egg 
stage. Several others (Coral-winged, Green-striped, and Spring 
Yellow-winged Locusts) hibernate as nymphs and mature in 
early spring; the adults become scarce in midsummer and die 
off before autumn. The majority of species spend the winter in 
the egg stage, hatch in the spring, grow rapidly, become mature 
in midsummer, and are to be found as adults during the remainder 
of the season. Consequently from mid-July to October is the 
most favorable time as a whole for securing specimens. 
Where to collect. — Speaking generally, the greatest number of 
species will be secured where the greatest variety of habitats 
occurs within a relatively small area. Such conditions are offered 
by the borders of fields and woodlands in diversified unimproved 
surroundings. One must, however, explore seashore and moun- 
tain top, salt-marsh and dune, sand-bank and swale, cave and 
crag, before he can claim to know the orthopteran fauna of a 
district. He must wander by day and night with ears and eyes, 
mind and muscles alert to seize the opportunity that may not 
come again. He must stand ready to learn all that is possible 
from books, from the observations of experienced collectors in the 
same and other areas, to adapt these data to his needs, and to 
correlate his observations with theirs. 
Collecting apparatus. — For collecting specimens a net is indis- 
pensable and the first important piece of apparatus to be secured. 
There are many patterns on the market and the collector should 
take into consideration the exact character of the work involved 
before purchasing; beyond that, it is a matter largely of individ- 
ual preference, aside from certain necessary details. For per- 
sonal use I have found some of the various landing-net frames 
made for anglers and sold at sporting-goods stores very satis- 
factory. The net of the orthopterist receives much harder 
use than that of most other collectors of insects and needs to be 
able to stand rough work. In the West, for capturing the large, 
alert, rapidly flying Oedipodinae, etc., I used to advantage a cane 
('bamboo') handle fully six feet long with a fifteen-inch ring at 
