[Summer Collecting.]—During the latter part of spring and throughout the whole summer, when the vegetation is fully developed, every possible collecting method can be carried on with success, so that the beginner hardly knows what particular method to use. There are stones to be turned over; old logs, stumps, and hollow trees to be investigated; newly felled or wounded trees to be carefully inspected; here a spot favorable for sifting claims attention; promising meadows and low herbage in the woods invite the use of the sweeping net; living or dead branches of all sorts of trees and shrubs to be worked with the umbrella; the mud or gravel banks of ponds, lakes, rivers, and creeks afford excellent collecting places; the numerous aquatic beetles are to be collected in the water itself; the dung beetles to be extracted from their unsavory habitations; in the evening the electric and other lights are to be visited, the lightning beetles chased on meadows and in the woods, or the wingless but luminous females of some species of this family to be looked for on the ground, and the trees and shrubs are to be beaten after dark in search of May beetles and other nocturnal leaf-feeding species which can not be obtained at daytime; and, finally, some of the rarest Scarabæidæ and some other species fly only late at night or again only before sunrise.
In view of this embarrassing multitude of collecting opportunities in a good locality, the beginner is apt to be at a loss what course to pursue. Experience alone can teach here, and only an expert collector is able to decide, at a glance at the locality before him, what collecting method is likely to produce the best results, and his judgment will rarely be at fault.
It is impossible to go into details regarding the various collecting methods, just mentioned, and only a few general directions can be given regarding those methods which have not previously been alluded to.
[Collecting under Stones.]—Turning over stones is a favorite method among beginners multitude of species of other families. Stones on very dry ground are productive, only early in spring or in the fall, while those on moist ground, in the shade of woods, are good at all seasons. In the Alpine regions of our mountainous districts, especially above the timber line, collecting under stones becomes the most important method, and is especially favorable along the edges of snow fields. In often frequented localities the collector should carefully replace the stones, especially those under which he has found rare specimens. The neglect of this rule is one of the principal causes for certain rare species having become extinct in the vicinity of our cities.
[Collecting in rotten Stumps and Logs.]—Success in collecting in rotten stumps depends much upon the more or less advanced stage of decay as well as upon the situation of the log and upon the particular kind of wood. If the decay is very much advanced neither the loose bark nor the interior of the log will harbor many Coleoptera excepting a multitude of Passalus cornutus and its larvæ. If the decay is less advanced, but if such log is exposed to the scorching rays of the sun, it will be far less productive than a log in a shady situation. The investigation of the bark of a favorably situated log in the right stage of decay does not need any special instruction, but the decayed wood itself should be pried off with a chisel or trowel, put in the sieve and sifted on the collecting cloth. This is the best way of obtaining the numerous species of rare Micro-coleoptera of various families that inhabit such places. A “red rotten” oak or beech log is more favorable for this mode of collecting than a “white rotten” of the same or other kinds of trees.
[Collecting in dying or dead Trees.]—Dying or dead trees almost always harbor a large number of Coleoptera and offer an excellent collecting opportunity until the wood becomes thoroughly dry, which usually takes place in large trees two or three years after the death of the tree, and in less time with smaller ones. The bark of such trees is the best collecting place for Cucujidæ, Colydiidæ, Scolytidæ, Histeridæ, etc., and it will be found that the shady side of the tree is more profitable than the side exposed to the sun. The numerous Buprestidæ, Elateridæ, Ptinidæ, Cerambycidæ, Melandryidæ, etc., which breed in the wood can be obtained only with difficulty. Some specimens may be cut out from their holes by a skillful use of the knife or hatchet; others (especially the Buprestidæ) may be found resting on or crawling over the trunk in the bright sunshine, while the more nocturnal species may be found on the tree toward evening or after dark, when, of course, a lantern must be used. A large proportion of the species living in the trunks of dead trees also breed in the dead branches of otherwise healthy trees from which they can be beaten into the umbrella, or where the use of the knife is more practicable than in the large trunks. The trunks of freshly felled trees attract numbers of Cerambycidæ and Buprestidæ and have to be carefully looked over, while the drying foliage of such trees affords an excellent opportunity for the use of the umbrella.
[Beating living Trees, Shrubs, and Vines.]—The success of beating into the umbrella branches of living trees and shrubs depends on the particular kind of tree or shrub, on the condition and situation of these, and largely also upon the season. Pine trees are very productive from early in the spring to early in the summer, but much less so in midsummer and later on. Young Oak trees or Oak shrubs are much more preferred by the leaf-eating Coleoptera peculiar to this tree than the older trees. The Beech, which, next to the Oak, is the best tree for wood-boring species, harbors but few leaf-eating species. The leaves of the Chestnut are also generally not attacked by Coleoptera; still a surprising number of species can be beaten from this tree when it is in blossom. There is not a single species of Coleoptera known to live in the wood or to feed on the leaves of the Holly (Ilex glabra); still it will pay the Coleopterist to beat this tree when it is in bloom. Trees, shrubs, and vines in the interior of unbroken forest districts are, as a rule, unproductive, while the edges of the woods, narrow strips of hedges, and especially solitary trees are excellent collecting places. In the Rocky Mountains, especially in the more southern sections, long stretches of mountain slopes are occasionally perfectly bare of vegetation with the exception of a few solitary, sickly-looking, and dwarfed trees, but every one of these is a veritable gold mine to the Coleopterist with his umbrella.
[Sweeping.]—The use of the beating net continues profitable from spring till fall, a different set of species appearing with each season. Low and swampy meadows, meadows on the slopes of mountains or surrounded by woods, low underbrush, and herbage in smaller patches of woods are very good beating grounds. Dry and sandy meadows are less productive, but harbor usually a different set of species on account of the difference in the flora. Pastures and meadows much frequented by cattle and horses are much less productive, and where a large number of sheep are kept there is usually no chance for using the beating net, since neither grass nor specimens are left. The lawns in our parks and gardens are usually poor collecting ground on account of the limited variety of plants in such places; but the few species found there occur in enormous number of specimens. The endless stretches of our western prairies swarm at the right season (in June) with numerous Coleoptera (mostly Malachiidæ, Chrysomelidæ, Mordellidæ, Curculionidæ, etc.), provided prairie fires have not swept too frequently over the place. Fires and cattle produce a remarkable change in the flora and fauna of the prairies; many indigenous species disappear or become scarce and are replaced by a much smaller number of imported species.
