frequently, the specimens are almost sure to rend, rub, and crush one another before they are removed. "Sugaring" is another traditional method of nocturnal collecting. It is employed chiefly for moths, although a few other insects do come to the bait. The idea is to distribute a sweet odorous syrup in likely places, and wait for the specimens to come to supper. In practice, it goes like this: Obtain a quart of molasses and, if need be, thicken it with brown sugar until it is distinctly "slow." To improve the allure, spike it with a little rum, stale beer, spoiled fruit juice, or asafoetida. It is difficult to understand how any creature could enjoy asafoetida, but the insects appear to do so! Put this mixture into a paint pail or other readily portable container and, armed with a paint brush about two inches wide, set out late in the afternoon to lay your trail. This trail should be a circuit around which you can walk in half an hour or thereabouts, leading through forest paths, along the edge of marshland or in any place where trees are plentiful but not dense, and the footing is sure. Remember that you will be making the rounds after dark, and will not be thinking of avoiding pitfalls. At intervals of 15 to 50 feet around course, select accessible trees, not too rough of bark, and at the most convenient height paint upon each trunk a patch of syrup about as big as your hand. If the trees are so thick that you anticipate trouble in finding the right ones in the dark, mark them with strips of white adhesive tape, or with slips of paper fastened with thumb tacks. When the circuit is completed, return to your base and provide yourself with several moth-killing bottles, large and small, one jar for other insects, packing boxes, labels and pencil, forceps and aerial net, and a good strong flashlight or lantern. If possible, secure the services of an ac- complice to carry the lamp and net. If you use cyanide bottles, fortify each by pouring a teaspoonful of ether or ethyl acetate onto the porous bottom filling, for quicker action. As soon as dusk has fallen, begin to walk around the trail, inspecting each baited tree with the flashlight as you go. You will find the insects sitting on the bark, their proboscis extended into the syrup like straws into a soda. Some of them will start away as soon as a bright light falls on them. These you must take with the net if you can. Some of them will be, at least to all appearances, quite drunk. These you may knock into the jar with a flick of the finger. If the collecting is good you will be strongly tempted to overcrowd the killing bottle. Don't! Take the time to pack the in- sects properly. If you cannot leave them in the killing bottle long enough to be sure they are dead, put a little killing fluid on the packing of the storage boxes to finish them off. Continue making the rounds until your feet give out, the moths go back to sleep, or the packing boxes are all full. Like other nocturnal collecting, sugaring is most successful on nights when it is hot, humid, dark and still. Cool, windy, or brightly moonlit nights produce few insects. WINTER COLLECTING Many amateur collectors seem to think that, with the first frost, all the insects and spiders de-materialize. This is not true. Adults of some species do die in the autumn, but their eggs survive, and can be found by the observant and interested collector. They are often very beautiful and worthy of attention. Other species pass the winter in the mature form, or as larvae, nymphs, or pupae, hidden in snug underground chambers, beneath debris, under bark, in caves and hollow trees, under stones, in attics, cellars, and out- buildings, or in almost any nook or cranny into which they can contrive to wedge themselves. All of these you can find if you care to take the trouble. Do not, however, make the attempt in really cold weather. The colder it is, the deeper the creatures bury them- selves. Wait until a sunny day when the temperature is a little above freezing or, better yet, one after a succession of such mild days. The insects will then be astir, albeit sluggishly. You will find a few hardy species sunning themselves in the open. Many more will have come almost to the surface, and can be taken by sifting, digging, turning over stones, and stripping loose bark from dead logs. There are a few kinds of insects which are commonly seen only in the winter or very early spring. One, a springtail, is a minute species which you may see in great numbers hopping over the snow. Another is a stone-fly which matures while there is still a film of ice at the edges of the swift streams where its larvae live. Truly domestic insects, which live in heated houses, and parasites infesting warmblooded animals, naturally are active the year round. Immature insects found in the winter can be brought into the laboratory for rearing if their food is such as is obtainable out of its proper season. And, when there is no collecting to be done, the serious student can spend his winter hours happily in mounting, sorting and, identifying his summer's catch. PACKING INSECTS FOR SHIPMENT Sooner or later every collector of insects and spiders will have to pack some, if not all, of his collection for shipment through the mail or by express. This is an hazardous undertaking, unless approached with ex- treme precautions, which differ according to the nature of the material. Alcoholic specimens in vials may be treated in two ways. You can wedge them into the vials with wads of cotton to prevent violent agitation, fill the vials, cork them tightly, and pack them between layers of 15