Beating is most productive in early summer, especially in the second year's growth of young cuttings in woods; and the oak, hazel, and poplar will generally yield many species to the tap of the stick. Good thick, and especially _old_ hedges, must also be always carefully thrashed into the net; very many good things, otherwise not procurable, will reward this toil. Another scheme for getting rare species is to beat the tops of trees with a long pole, placing beneath a sheet or tent covering. Breaking away the extreme edges of banks, throwing water on them, treading heavily on the margins, diligently examining grass and roots close to the water, reeds (especially if cut and on the ground in heaps), &c., will bring to light great numbers of wet-loving beetles. Water beetles, pure and simple, must be dragged and dredged for, especially round water plants beneath the surface, and along the sides of ponds, in eddies of running streams, in the moss on stones in them, and on the stones themselves, &c. The _Coprophaga_ will be found readily in the droppings of various _Mammalia_, and also in holes bored in the ground beneath, often to a great depth. An easy and clean way to secure them is to throw droppings, ground and all, into water, the beetles coming to the surface. As to wood beetles, they must be sought for under and in bark, in solid wood, in decaying branches, and such places; a rule to be remembered is, that most of these occur at the _tops_ of trees: hence the paucity of so many species in collections. Indeed, to properly hunt for the majority of them, it is necessary to obtain _carte blanche_ and a ladder, if any success be hoped for. Felled trunks are, of course, easy to manipulate; and their freshly-cut stumps, exuding either resin or a peculiar and often sweet _mucor_, are very attractive to many beetles, as is freshly-cut sawdust, and most especially the (to us) fetid and acrid juice resulting from the attacks of the larva of the Goat-moth. Rotten fruit, &c., are also not to be passed by without examination. Many small species occur in, or can be obtained from, the topmost twigs of trees blown down by the wind. Dead animals, as before mentioned, must be examined, as must the vegetation and soil near them. A keeper's tree in a wood will always produce something for the collector, who need only hold his net beneath the gibbeted _feræ_ and bang their hides and bones with his beating-stick. During different stages of decomposition and desiccation, beetles of widely varied affinities will result from this method of collecting.