Geoffroy says that moths may be taken in great plenty by means of a candle or lanthorn carried into or near some wood, towards dark. Independent of the recommendation of authority so respectable, the well-known propensity that moths have to fly towards, and even into candles, has induced some collectors to adopt this method with success; many of the most valuable caterpillars have also been thus obtained.
THE METHODS OF COLLECTING INSECTS OF THE BEETLE KIND.
By these are meant all such, as are included in Linnæus’s first order of insects, under the term COLEOPTERA; these have generally been called scarabæi or beetles: some few of them have obtained distinct English names, as the chaffer, lady-bird, earwig, &c. and all have been divided by Linnæus into genera and species.
The insects of this, as well as the preceding and following order, may be found in their caterpillar or grub state, in which they often prove extremely destructive to the roots of plants; and may in like manner be brought to their perfect or fly state, regard being had to their different manner of feeding. The time and care, however, required for this purpose, is probably more than can be spared by the generality of collectors; the curious entomologist, possessed of both leisure and abilities to engage in the pursuit, will be enabled to establish with certainty the different genera of insects. These insects are generally collected in their fly state: some creep and fly in the day-time when the sun shines warm; others, like the moth, fly in the evening and the night only.
Their habitations are exceedingly diversified: some are found in rotten and half decayed wood, and under the decayed bark of trees, as the lucanus cervus, flying stag, scarabæus cylindricus, and many of the cerambyces; others, among the dung of various animals, particularly of horses, cows, and sheep, as the dermestes, leather-eater; hister, mimic beetle; scarabæus fimetarius, &c. Many of them make holes under the dung three or four inches deep, it will therefore be necessary to have an iron spade to dig them out, when in search of this kind of insects; some reside in the bodies of animals that are become putrid, as the silpha vespillo, carrion beetle, hister, &c. also in moist bones that have been gnawed by dogs, or other animals, on flowers having a fetid smell, and on several kinds of fungous substances; others may be found in the morning about the bottoms of perpendicular rocks and sand-banks, as the curculio, weevil; and brachus, sand-beetle. Great numbers are found on the leaves and stalks of plants, as the scarabæus melolantha, chaffer; coccinella, lady-bird; chrysomela, curculiones, &c. others delight more particularly in the flowers of plants, as the scarabæus auratus: some reside altogether in woods, as many of the cerambyces; some are found swimming on the surface of standing waters, as the gyrinus natator; others in ditches, ponds, &c. as the dytisci; many may be caught in rivers, lakes, and standing pools, by means of a thread net with small meshes, in a round wire hoop fixed to the end of a long pole; some are discovered by the light which they emit, as the lampyris noctiluca, glow-worm; and vast quantities are found on dry banks, sand-banks, sand-pits, &c. particularly when the sun shines warm; numbers may be found in houses, dark cellars, damp pits, caves, and subterraneous passages, as the tenebrio, stinking beetle; or on umbelliferous flowers and in timber-yards. Multitudes live under stones, moss, rubbish, and creeks near the shores of lakes and rivers; these are found also in bogs, marshes, moist places, pits, and holes of the earth, on stems of trees, and in the evening they crawl plentifully along pathways after a shower of rain. Some may be discovered in the hollow stems of umbelliferous plants, as the forficula, earwig.
These insects, as soon as caught, may with a pin of a proper size be stuck through the body, close to the suture that runs down the middle of the back, and then placed in the pocket box, taking care that they do not injure one another from being placed too close together. Or, if the collector be disposed to procure this class of insects, he will find it very convenient, and certainly much less cruel, to carry a number of small pill-boxes in his pocket, in which the insects may be readily secured and kept till he return home, without their suffering any pain; they are then to be immersed in boiling water, that being a most expeditious mode of killing them, and far preferable to their immersion in spirits, in which many of them will live a considerable time;[163] they may afterwards be stuck through in the manner above-mentioned, being careful to make the pin pass a sufficient length through the body of the insect, and then placed on a piece of smooth cork. When they have remained in this situation two, three, or four days, or longer, according to their size, the legs, antennæ, &c. are to be extended with a pair of fine nippers or tweezers, and placed in a natural position; in which they will, if proper care be taken of them, always remain: particular caution should, however, be used not to place them in the store box or cabinet till perfectly dry, as otherwise they will be liable to be infested with animalcula, by which they will soon be destroyed.
[163] “The best method is to inclose them in a chip box, and kill them by exposing the box to the heat of a fire; this treatment will rather absorb than add to the superfluous juices of the insect, and greatly contribute to its preservation.” Donovan.
THE METHOD OF COLLECTING INSECTS CALLED HEMIPTERA.
The genera contained in this order of insects are principally these: viz. blatta, the cockroach; mantis, camel cricket; gryllus, locust, grasshopper, cricket; cicada, flea locust; cimex or bug.
The first of these, the cockroach, has been imported from warmer climates, where these insects are extremely numerous, and far more troublesome.[164] They are found in the greatest plenty here in bakehouses, particularly in the night, their usual time of feeding; they likewise abound in corn-mills, in ships, and in all places where meal is deposited.