can follow them up with a trowel or a knife. When excavating nests, especially those of ants or termites, be on the watch for parasites and inquelines. Species which live at the edges of ponds and streams can be flooded out of their burrows by dipping water over them till the earth is saturated. Those which live in mud already sodden, or even slightly submerged, are to be routed out by the messy but practical process known as "bog trotting." This consists of tramping through the vegetation, muck, and shallow water of marshes, and at the edges of sluggish streams and stagnant ponds, creating as much disturbance as possible. The insects, mostly ground-beetles, thus rudely aroused, will shortly appear on the surface of the mire, headed for solid ground, or climbing up the stems of plants or the legs of the collector. Since the creatures are swift, you will be more likely to see them in time if you walk back- ward, watching your wake, and inviting a mud bath. Wear your oldest clothes, and sneakers or hip-boots. Carry a minimum of equipment. The true, or quaking, bog is a dense mat of small living plants, growing on top of water from the shore outward, and sometimes completely covering a lake or pond. Although far from rigid, it is often thick enough to bear the weight of a man. If so, it is easy to drive out its numerous and largely coleopterous inhabitants by standing still. As the mat of vegetation sinks under your weight, the water, seeping through it, forces the beetles upward until you find yourself ankle deep in a puddle upon the surface of which your victims are haplessly floating. Experts who are addicted to marsh and bog collecting claim that it is so richly rewarding as to justify the personal discomfort which may attend it. In the season when night-flying beetles are abroad, great numbers can sometimes be unearthed by digging under an illuminated sign board, where the creatures, attracted to the light at night, have dug themselves in to pass the day. This is especially fruitful if the lights are blue, and far removed from other brilliant illumi- nation. When spading a garden in the spring, you are certain to unearth insects which lived upon the plants grown there during the preceeding summer. A great many of these will be in the pupal state, but if kept in damp soil will soon mature and yield perfect speci- mens. Digging at the foot of a large tree will probably reveal the pupae of species which, as larvae, fed upon its leaves. Plants observed to be ailing without ap- parent reason may be suspected of having borers or other insects at the roots. The earth under a carcass is likely to harbor insects feeding upon seepage from the carrion. These may be tidily extracted by shoveling the soil into a pail of water. As the clods melt the insects rise to the surface, whence they can be harvested with forceps. The same procedure can be employed with cow-chips and the excrement of other animals, with the soil under an accumulation of dung, or with compost or earth of any kind which is likely to contain desirable speci- mens. In arid regions the insects and spiders, like other animals, seek shelter from the mid-day heat by hiding in the coolest, dampest, and darkest place they can find. For many of them, this means among the roots of plants. If the plants of the desert are pulled up, and the roots shaken, a surprising number of creatures may be uncovered. The hollow stems of dead weeds also afford temporary shelter to nocturnal species. Square-heads, long-horns, and other boring insects, beetles, moths, and saw-flies, when young may inhabit solid wood. They are especially difficult to get at without doing damage to the specimens, and unless you have strong evidence of a heavy infestation, or are particularly interested in the larval stages of these creatures, you will be wasing your time to try. If you get them, you will probably have to rear them before they can be identified exactly. The adults are often taken by beating dead and dying branches. TRAPPING Trapping is the easy way of catching many elusive kinds of insects, most of them nocturnal. The traps range from an artful multiplication of natural hiding places to elaborate contraptions comprehensible only to their inventors. You can, for instance, "plant" flat stones, sheets of bark, and pieces of board in likely spots and wait in the hope that species normally found in such places may take up residence. In such favor- able locations as deserts and the barren tops of moun- tains they may do so overnight. In verdant areas, where there is plenty of other shelter, it may be weeks or months before conditions under the "plants" Fig. 12. Diagram of a simple trap, made by burying an empty jar. 12