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Elementary Study of Insects

<h2>Chapter II COLLECTING INSECTS</h2> <div class="cpoem" style="width: 20em;"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza" style="margin-bottom: 0em;"> "Does he who searches Nature's secrets scruple To stick a pin into an insect?" </div> </div></div> —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[17] 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. <h3>Directions for Collecting</h3> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/010.png" width-obs="307" height-obs="350" alt="" title="" /> A convenient home-made net for catching insects; note the broom-stick handle, heavy twisted wire and mosquito net bag.</div> <div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/011.png" width-obs="144" height-obs="350" alt="" title="" /> 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.</div> 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[18] as the most perfect specimen ever prepared. 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[19] the same time there is less danger of tearing such insects as butterflies. Care must be taken in handling the stinging insects. 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[20] 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. <h3>Pinning and Preserving a Collection</h3> <div class="figrightc" style="width: 317px;"> <ANTIMG src="images/012.png" width-obs="317" height-obs="300" alt="" title="" /> Method of pinning different kinds of insects.</div> After the insects, have been caught and killed, they should then be prepared[21] 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[22] 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[23] 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,[24] 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. <div class="cpoem" style="width: 700px;"><div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/013.png" width-obs="268" height-obs="300" alt="" title="" /> Home-made spreading board for spreading butterflies and moths.</div> <div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/014.png" width-obs="336" height-obs="300" alt="" title="" /> Cigar box with strip of corrugated paper in bottom used as case for keeping pinned insects.</div> </div> <h3 style="clear: both;">Rearing and Observing Them While Alive</h3> 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[25] 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. <hr style='width: 45%;' /> <div class="cpoem" style="width: 20em;"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> "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, [26] Their days were successions of joys, And the very last fad these butterflies had Was making collections of boys. </div> <div class="stanza"> "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. </div> <div class="stanza"> "'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. [27] 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. </div> <div class="stanza"> "'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!" </div> </div></div> —Ella Wheeler Wilcox. <hr style="width: 65%;" />[28] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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