An alphabetical letter file may be used for filing individual field
observations. These should be placed before the class orally or in
writing. If accepted as reliable (repeated and revised if necessary),
the observations should be filed away and credit given the student on
a regular scale. Thus will grading and marks be placed to encourage
intelligent study of nature rather than book or laboratory cram. One
per cent to be added to the final grade may be credited for every
species of pupa, every rare insect (with an observed fact as to its
habits) brought in, every bird migration observed, every instance
of protective coloration, mimicry (p. 146), outwitting of enemy,
instance of injurious insects, and how to combat them, etc. Sharp
eyes and clear reasoning will then count as much on school grades as
a memory for words or mechanical following of laboratory directions.
On scale of 100, class work = 50, examination = 25, field work = 25.
=Collecting Insects.=--In cities and towns insects, varying with the
season, are attracted by electric lights. Beetles and bugs will be
found under the lights, moths on posts near the lights, grasshoppers
and crickets and other insects in the grass near by. A lamp placed
by a window brings many specimens. In the woods and in rocky places
insects are found under logs and stones, and under the bark of dead
trees. In open places, prairies, meadows, and old fields with grass
and flowers, it will be easy to find grasshoppers, butterflies, and
some beetles. Ponds and streams are usually rich in animal forms,
such as bugs and beetles, which swim on or under the surface, and
larvæ of dragon flies crawling on the bottom. Dragon flies and other
insects that lay eggs on the water are found flying in the air above.
(In the spring, newly hatched crawfish, tadpoles, and the eggs of
frogs and toads should also be collected, if found.) Moths may be
caught at night by daubing molasses or sirup made from brown sugar
upon the trunks of several trees, and visiting the trees at intervals
with a lantern.
An insect net for catching butterflies and for dredging ponds may
be made by bending a stout wire into a circle one foot in diameter,
leaving enough straight wire to fasten with staples on an old
broomstick. To the frame is fastened a flour sack, or cone made of a
piece of mosquito netting.
Butterflies and moths should be promptly killed, or they will beat
their wings to pieces. The quickest method is by dropping several
drops of gasoline upon the ventral (under) side of the thorax and
abdomen. (Caution: Gasoline should never be used near an open fire,
or lamp, as explosions and deaths result from the flame being led
through the gasoline-saturated air to the vessel containing it.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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