COLLECTING INSECTS
"_Does he who searches Nature's secrets scruple
To stick a pin into an insect?_"
--A. G. OEHLENSCHLAEGER.
In the life of every normal human there comes a time when he wishes to
make a collection of some kind. It may be a collection of coins, postage
stamps, post-cards, shells, relics, birds' eggs, pressed flowers or
insects. If the child grows up in the country, the result of this
craving is usually three or four cigar boxes of insects or an almanac or
geography stuffed with the most attractive wild flowers of the field. A
collection of this sort may be small and poorly kept and yet it is worth
while. In later life one will search in his mother's closet or attic
for the old cigar boxes which contain the remains of youthful efforts,
usually a mass of gaudy wings, fragments of insect legs and bodies and a
few rusty pins. This desire to make a collection is natural and should
be encouraged in the child. It tends to make him observe closely and
creates an interest in things about him, and if properly directed it
will add a store of information which can be gotten in no other way.
_Directions for Collecting_
Many boys and girls of the rural schools will have little time or
inclination to provide themselves with apparatus for collecting insects.
An old straw hat or a limb will serve their purpose. From their point of
view what difference does it make if they tear off most of the legs and
break the wings? They succeed in securing the "bug" and when pinned in
the box it will mean just about as much to them as the most perfect
specimen ever prepared.
[Illustration: A convenient home-made net for catching insects; note the
broom-stick handle, heavy twisted wire and mosquito net bag.]
This method of catching insects will prove effective where nothing
better is available, but any child can easily make a small insect net by
attaching a loop of fairly stiff wire to a broom handle or other stick
and sewing a bag of mosquito netting or other thin cloth to the wire. By
means of such a net one can catch insects more easily and at the same
time there is less danger of tearing such insects as butterflies. Care
must be taken in handling the stinging insects.
[Illustration: A cyanide jar for killing insects; note the lumps of the
deadly poison potassium cyanide in the bottom covered and sealed by a
layer of plaster of Paris.]
The country boy and girl will have little trouble getting hold of
insects, but they are often puzzled when it comes to killing them. It
seems cruel to pin up an insect alive and have it squirm for a day or
two and some means of killing them should be devised. Most of the soft
insects, such as flies, butterflies, etc., can be killed by pressing
their body, in the region of the wings, between one's thumb and
forefinger. Such forms as beetles and wasps can be quickly killed by
dropping them into coal oil or a strong soap suds. Any method which can
be devised for quickly killing the insect, and which will not seriously
mutilate it, can be used.
A convenient killing bottle can be made by sealing a few small lumps of
the deadly poison, potassium or sodium cyanide, in the bottom of a
strong, wide-mouthed bottle, with plaster of Paris; or a few drops of
chloroform or ether on a wad of cotton in a similar bottle, will also
serve as a convenient killing jar.
_Pinning and Preserving a Collection_
[Illustration: Method of pinning different kinds of insects.]
After the insects, have been caught and killed, they should then be
prepared for the permanent collection. Most insects such as wasps,
beetles, flies and grasshoppers should simply have a pin thrust through
their bodies until they are two-thirds the way up on the pin and then
put them away in a box. Such forms as butterflies and moths make a much
better collection if the wings are spread so as to bring out their gaudy
markings. In order to spread butterflies' wings, one needs a spreading
board, which can be made in ten minutes by taking a pine board two feet
long, and six inches wide and on this nail two strips an inch thick, so
that there is a crack between them. The crack should be half an inch
wide at one end and a quarter of an inch wide at the other end, and in
the bottom of it press strips of cornstalk pith so as to have something
soft in which to stick the pins. After a pin has been stuck through the
body of a dead butterfly between the wings, it is then pinned in the
crack so that the back of the butterfly is on a level with the strips.
Then the wings are drawn forward until they stand straight out from the
body when they are pinned down by means of strips of paper and left to
dry a few days until they become perfectly rigid. In this way a most
beautiful collection can be made very easily, but where time and
materials are not available, simply pin them up like other insects,
leaving the wings to hang as they will. After the specimens are pinned
they should be put away in cigar boxes in the bottom of which is pinned
or pasted a layer of cork or corrugated paper similar to that which
comes between glass fruit cans. These make ideal cases for keeping small
collections as the odor of tobacco helps keep pests from getting in to
destroy the collection.
[Illustration: Home-made spreading board for spreading butterflies and
moths.]
[Illustration: Cigar box with strip of corrugated paper in bottom used
as case for keeping pinned insects.]
_Rearing and Observing Them While Alive_
While studying an insect it is advisable wherever possible to first
study it where it is found in the field and later bring it home and keep
it alive in a jar where it can be fed and observed and its various
habits studied. Cages for breeding insects consist simply of a few glass
fruit cans and jelly glasses with tin or cloth covers. A child can
borrow one or two of these from his mother's fruit cellar. A layer of
moist sand or soil should be put in the bottom of the jar to provide a
retreat for those forms which go into the ground before changing to
adults. Before an insect is placed in one of these breeding cages its
food plant should be determined by observations in the field, and every
day or two a fresh supply should be gathered. Most of the forms
discussed in the following chapters can be kept in jars and reared to
the adult stage. Rearing insects is both interesting and instructive.
Every child should be given an opportunity to rear a few forms either
during the school year or during the summer vacation.
* * * * *
"_I happened one night in my travels
To stray into Butterfly Vale,
Where my wondering eyes beheld butterflies
WITH WINGS THAT WERE WIDE AS A SAIL.
They lived in such houses of grandeur,
Their days were successions of joys,
And the very last fad these butterflies had
WAS MAKING COLLECTIONS OF BOYS._
"_There were boys of all sizes and ages
PINNED UP ON THEIR WALLS. When I said
'Twas a terrible sight to see boys in that plight,
I was answered: 'OH, WELL THEY ARE DEAD.
WE CATCH THEM ALIVE, BUT WE KILL THEM,
WITH ETHER--A VERY NICE WAY:
Just look at this fellow--his hair is so yellow,
And his eyes such a beautiful gray._
"_'Then there is a droll little darky,
As black as the clay at our feet;
He sets off that blond that is pinned just beyond
In a way most artistic and neat.
And now let me show you the latest,--
A specimen really select,
A boy with a head that is carroty-red
And a face that is funnily specked._
"_'We cannot decide where to place him;
Those spots bar him out of each class;
We think him a treasure to study at leisure
And analyze under a glass.'
I seemed to grow cold as I listened
To the words that these butterflies spoke;
With fear overcome, I was speechless and dumb,
And then with a start,--I awoke!_"
--ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.