can be as large as you care to manage. An ordinary big black umbrella with a crooked handle makes a serviceable beating cloth, if held bottom up; while the crook is handy for pulling down branches too high to reach unaided. The black color may be an advantage, as it is said that, although they are harder to see, the specimens are not in so great a hurry to leave a black cloth as a white one. A sweeping net will also serve and, though rather small, it is so deep that few of the specimens which drop into it are able to climb out before you can seize them. The beating net, wide, shallow, heavy, and very strong, serves as both cloth and club. It is operated by ramming its rim against branches and the trunks of slender trees, but it is so exhausting to handle that few collectors find it worth the effort. Beating is most productive when applied to solitary trees, or to those in hedge-rows and at the edges of woods. Dead and ailing trees should be beaten, as well as flourishing ones, since they attract a different fauna. Blooming trees are particu- larly rich. funnel, made for filling canning jars, and is closed by a large cork. Sweeping is most successful in neglected fields, abandoned meadows, marshes and the edges of woodlands. In the deep forest, or in grazed and cultivated areas, it is less productive. More insects are taken by this means in the early morning and late afternoon than in the middle of the day. BEATING Many insects not otherwise obtainable can be jolted out of trees and large bushes by thumping the branches vigorously with a club. The specimens dislodged will inevitably be lost unless provision is made to receive them. The larger the receptacle provided, the greater the proportion that will be captured. If a party of collectors work together, they may appoint one member to do the beating while the others station themselves around a bed-sheet spread upon the ground, ready to seize whatever may fall onto it. An individual collector will probably prefer something less cumbersome, a square yard of muslin or a bridge-table cover, for instance. So small a beat- ing sheet is more efficient if it can be spread upon a light collapsible framework and held immediately under the branch which is being beaten. A very simple frame is shown in fig. 7. It consists of two strips of wood crossed at right angles and feasted at the intersection with a small bolt and wing-nut. Such an arrangement can be improvised in the field with a couple of saplings and a piece of twine. The cloth is fastened to the frame by means of tapes or loops of strong elastic sewed fast to the corners, and Fig. 6. Diagram of a separator for collecting positively photo- tropic insects and spiders. A. Metal box containing sweepings. B. Replaceable glass jar. C. Receiving hole with funnel and cork. Fig. 7. A simple collapsible beating cloth. AQUATIC COLLECTING The insects which cling to rocks, pebbles, logs, and plants beneath the surface of water can easily be caught with forceps, once seen and brought within reach. Half-submerged tree trunks and rocks too large to lift must be inspected as well as may be pos- sible where they lie, but stones, sticks, and vegetation small enough to handle can be picked up and examined thoroughly. When exposed to air, the specimens will soon betray themselves by their activity. Approach the swimming species suddenly, from below, using a dip-net, or a kitchen sieve lashed to the end of a pole. Drag this net through aquatic vegetation to secure the beetles and bugs which lurk in such places. In still water, the bottom-dwelling forms may most readily be taken by dredging with a scrape-net, which is flat 9