1. _Boxes_ for carrying insects. 2. A _net_. This may be homemade,
using mosquito netting or fish net and a stout wire. If it is to be
used for a dragnet for water insects, the wire must be stout and the
netting strong. Make the net twice as long as wide. 3. A _cyanide
jar_ for killing insects. 4. A few _paper triangles_ for carrying
butterflies. 5. A _notebook_.
_Note._--Your instructor will give directions for obtaining the
material called for in 3, 4, and 5.
_Directions._
Look carefully and quietly in the various situations noted below. Do
not be in a hurry. Weedy meadows or vacant lots and neglected
roadsides are good places for your first trips. Note concerning each
insect found: (a) its name or something by which to identify it, (b)
where you found it, (c) what it was doing, (d) its probable food.
Record these observations in your notebook. Make a special study of
such insects as your instructor may designate.
Where to look for Various Insects
_Grasshoppers, locusts, katydids._ Look along roadsides, waste
places, gardens, especially weedy ones, weedy lots, and grassy
meadows and pastures.
_Crickets._ Under old boards, along the edges of board or stone
walks, along fences.
_Beetles._ Same locations as for crickets, and also on flowering
plants, under loose bark of trees and stumps, in rotten logs, etc.
For _water beetles_ drag edges of ponds and streams.
_Dragon flies._ Along water-courses, ponds, and swamps. Drag ponds
and ditches for larvæ.
_Bees._ On flowering plants, especially on large patches of wild
asters, golden-rods, and thistles.
_Wasps._ Sandy stretches,--especially along the water,--among
flowering plants, under the eaves and roofs of outbuildings. Nests
may be found in these latter places.
_Butterflies and moths._ In fields where there are many flowering
plants; look carefully on the leaves of plants for caterpillars, and
for eggs. Also look very carefully on the under side of leaves, on
twigs, and on the bark of trees for chrysalids of butterflies and
cocoons of moths.
_Bugs._ In same locations as for bees and grasshoppers and water
beetles. Also on fruit.
_Aphids._ On the fresh growing tops of plants.
_Tree hoppers._ On trees and shrubs. Hold your net on the under side
of branches and shake the branch vigorously.
_Flies._ Around decaying substances, as garbage, fruit, etc.; on
flowering plants.
_Ants._ Sandy waste places, decayed logs, along walks, often in
kitchens.
_Note._--At night many kinds of insects fly around electric
lights or into open windows, attracted by the light and may
easily be collected.
Form for Field Trip Report
The notes taken on a field trip may be conveniently tabulated for
permanent record in the form indicated below:--
FIELD TRIP REPORT
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