54 
O&TfrOPTERA. 
them in flowers, under stones, among decaying vegetation and fallen 
leaves, among debris on the beach. Some are found in houses, especially 
in damp places, such as bathrooms in the hot weather ; others will be 
found at the roots of plants in the cold weather. Many come to sap, 
or are found in bored canes or in other situations where the sap of a 
plant is exposed. A few come to light, but this is rarely a useful me¬ 
thod of collecting them. When caught, they should be killed in a 
cyanide or B. C. bottle and pinned through the right wingcase. Care 
is needed to open the left lower wing, though this is not usually 
necessary. 
WHERE INSECTS LIVE. 
Insects are small creatures and very abundant; where are they all? 
At some times in the year one can easily gather at least one hundred 
thousand insects within one day over a space of, say a few acres; at 
another time there would not appear to be an insect obtainable in that 
space and yet the insects must be somewhere. It is when one comes to 
try to answer this question that one realizes the absolute truth of the 
statement that insects are to be found everywhere on the surface of the 
earth within a narrow zone which includes 20 feet of the solid soil, the 
vegetation that stretches up from the soil for some 100 feet, and to a 
slight extent the air above. Excepting for the moment the artificial 
erections of man, we are not far from the truth in saying that this zone 
is very completely occupied by insect life in some form or other. It may 
be hoped that light will be thrown on this point some day by the very 
careful investigation of the fauna of, say one square mile of the earth’s 
surface, including this zone we speak of, covering average areas of fallow, 
crop, grass land, bush, jungle and forest. The number of actual living 
insects in some form or other will be surprising. Commencing, say 20 
feet down, there are the deeply burrowing insects, the termites, the dung 
beetles, the Cicadid nymphs, and the crickets ; within six feet of the sur¬ 
face we come to the insects that burrow, but do not go so deep; the ants 
are conspicuous examples, as are all the above-mentioned insects which 
cannot go deep in some soils; Scarabaeid grubs are near the surface, as 
are Tipulid maggots, Cicindelid grubs ; nearer still to the surface are 
the surface crickets which only make tunnels as shelters, the many 
digger wasps and other boring Aculeates, the burrows of some Carabids, 
such as Anthia; quite near the surface our fauna might be immense if we 
dug in winter, as we should find the countless pupae of the hibernating 
beetles, of moths, of Diptera ; we should also find the many adults 
which seek shelter there, as well as abundant egg masses and many 
half-grown larvae not yet ready to pupate. At any season there 
