Any one who wishes to study the life-histories of these insects, and has
leisure to do so, can easily obtain various larvae by digging for them in
suitable places. If, for instance, during the summer, bees, etc., have been
noticed entering holes in a certain bank or sandy spot, their larvae or
nymphs can be got in the autumn by digging down for about a foot in the
direction of the holes, and if they be brought home and put into glass-top
boxes they will generally emerge at their right time without giving any
further trouble; it must, however, be remembered that the grubs are very
soft and tender skinned, and it is better to avoid handling them if
possible; they should be moved with a small soft camel-hair pencil, and it
is well to put something soft at the bottom of the box so that if they fall
in they will not be damaged. If the wood-boring {114} species are being
collected, care must of course be taken in splitting the wood; most of
these make a pupa case over themselves, and are in that respect easier to
deal with. A label should be put in each box to show where the larvae,
etc., were found. An old rotten stump of a tree will often produce a good
number of species. Then there are the bramble-stem borers; these can be
left in the stems. I have generally found it convenient, after arriving
home, to split the stems down, to see if there are any living creatures in
them, and, if there are, to close them up again, and, tie a little very
fine net or gauze bag over the top of each stem; in this way one can find
out exactly what insects come from what stem, and determine the cuckoos (if
any) which belong to each. As the season advances towards May, it is well
to give all the larvae, etc., an occasional glimpse of the sun; they should
not be left in the sun long enough for them to get dried up too much, but
the sun is a very important factor in tempting them to emerge; naked larvae
and nymphs, in glass-top boxes, should be treated very carefully in this
respect, as they are deprived of their {115} natural surroundings, in which
the actual sunshine would never reach them--it would be better to place
them in a sunny room, screened off from the actual rays of the sun, so that
its warmth only would be felt. If they do not emerge the first year, it
should not be taken for granted that they are dead, as very likely they
will appear in the following spring. I have bred leaf-cutting bees several
times with great success, and others I know have been successful with many
species. The fear is to get them dried up too much; it is therefore not
desirable to keep them in a very hot room. When first the insects emerge,
their hairs are often more or less matted together, and they should be put
in the sun in a larger box, so that they can crawl about and clean
themselves; portions also of the skin in which they have been enveloped
frequently adhere to them for some little time, but as a rule, unless the
creature be too weak, these are very soon cleaned off. Breeding is a
fascinating amusement, but it requires a great deal of attention when the
emerging season begins, as the boxes want constant watching, or the insects
will emerge unnoticed, and, if not given proper {116} air and sunshine, may
die without cleaning themselves properly.
If it is desired to preserve the specimens, they should be killed either
with cyanide of potassium, ether, or chloroform. If the first of these
agents is used, a piece of about the size of a small hazel nut should be
put at the bottom of a bottle (for collecting purposes, an ordinary
"Coleoptera bottle", which can be obtained from any naturalist's shop, is
the most convenient) and should be kept down by a wad of blotting paper,
well pressed down upon it; this prevents the cyanide, as it liquifies, from
wetting the hairs, etc., of the insects. Over this a piece of white paper
should be placed; this will get stained at once when there is much damp,
and should then be changed. The objections to cyanide are its very
poisonous nature, and the stiffness which is caused by its use to the
specimens killed by it, and also its tendency to turn yellow colours red. I
always use it myself as I think it is preferable to the other insecticides,
notwithstanding its demerits, but then I do not extend the legs and wings
of my specimens, but simply leave them in whatever position they happen to
{117} die. Ether is a very favourite method of killing with many; a few
drops in a bottle with some paper in it is sufficient to last for some
hours; it however soon evaporates in hot weather, and it is necessary to
carry a small phial of it in one's pocket to replenish the supply when
exhausted; this makes one smell of ether perpetually, which is more than I
can stand. But the insects killed in this way are beautifully supple, and,
for those who wish to set their captures as they would _Lepidoptera_, it is
an excellent medium, i.e. if they don't mind its smell; it has also the
benefit of not affecting colour. Chloroform acts much as ether does. When
killed, I strongly recommend collectors to pin their specimens through the
thorax with a very fine pin (those used for micro-lepidoptera are the
best), and then to pin this through a narrow strip of card, mounted on a
long stout pin; in this way the insect can be moved about by the strong
pin, and the thorax of the insect itself is not destroyed, as it often is
in the case of the smaller species by the use of thicker pins. The cards
should be cut as small as possible; they need not be more than a quarter of
an inch long. The insect {118} should be pinned at right angles to the long
axis of the card, and the long pin should be inserted on the right-hand
side of the insect so as not quite to touch it. In this way the insects
look quite as neat as if they were pinned direct. Locality labels, etc.,
should be affixed to the long pin, and the insects should be stored in
cabinets or boxes.
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