decaying, or in the Fungi which grow on such wood; and others again only in that which is quite rotten. At times, when searching such trees, the perfect insects are met with; but the way to make sure of good species is to get the wood containing the larvæ and keep it until the beetles appear. All the beautiful tribe of long-horn beetles, several of the Elateridæ and others are wood-feeders.

Bark-beetles are numerous, rarely in sound, healthy bark, but in the dead or dying bark of unhealthy and old trees. Some take to the bark itself, some to the wood immediately below it, others live between the two. It is necessary, in stripping the bark off a tree, to have an eye to those insects that may not adhere to either, and to intercept their escape by a net or umbrella, or by a white cloth laid at the foot of the tree. The rare Nemosoma elongata, the genus Rhyzophagus, Cicones Carpini, Synchita Juglandis and Tryphyllus bifasciatus are examples of bark-dwellers. Thanasimus formicarius and other allied beetles are found under the bark, especially that of felled timber that has lain some time, where they feed upon the larvae of the bark-eaters. Under the bark of birch stumps at Darenth Wood, in the month of April, I have taken the ferocious-looking larvæ of Pyrochroa coccinea; they very soon became pupæ, and the beetles came out in May and June.

The ivy, which loves to twine about old trees, has its heart eaten out by the larva of Ochina Ptinoides, a small beetle, which, when once it has taken possession of the wood, never leaves it, but eats on from generation to generation until the stems crumble into dust; aided in its destructive work by some of the Anobia.

Mr. Samuel Stevens, some years ago, thus drew the attention of collectors to the capture of Coleopterous insects at night:-"I would strongly urge collectors of Coleoptera to search more by night than they have probably hitherto done, as I am convinced, from the great success I met with myself last season, there are a great many rarities to be found at that time which are not to be obtained in the day. It is a well known fact that most of the Geodephaga are nocturnal ramblers, hiding themselves under stones, &c., in the daytime; but it is not, I believe, generally known that at least two-thirds of the British Curculionidæ have the same habit, to which I can bear testimony. I found it almost useless, in the hot months of July and August last year, to search after Coleoptera in the day-time. The plan I generally followed was to ramble out into the fields and woods as soon as it was getting dusk, and instead of examining my net, as I should have done in the day-time, to throw all the contents into a large bag, and examine it the next morning; and I have always been well rewarded, both in quantity and quality. I have frequently swept till as late as eleven o'clock at night."* The Rev J. F. Dawson has lately followed in the same strain, and says in addition :-"I would call attention to a plan adopted by Baron Chaudoir, which is, to spread a white cloth on the ground at night in some promising locality, with a brilliant light in the centre, and the insects being attracted thereto, may be secured in numbers; and many species, which had not previously been suspected to exist in the locality where the plan is adopted, may by that

*The Zoologist,' 1844, p. 700.

means be discovered. Such has been the result; and certainly the contrivance is a good one, where it can be practised without arousing the jealousy and displeasure of gamekeepers and revenue officers."

Some of the most celebrated woods are, the New Forest, Sherwood Forest, Bewdley Forest, Whittlebury Forest, Hainault Forest, Darenth Wood, Birch Wood, West Wickham Wood and Black Park.

* The Entomologist's Annual,' 1856, p. 69.

§ X.

THE WATERS.

"Where creeping waters ooze, Where marshes stagnate, and where rivers wind."

"Where the pool

Stands mantled o'er with green, invisible

Among the floating verdure millions stray."

THOMSON.

THE popular notion about the inhabitants of water is that they are fishes and fishes only; a few persons are perhaps aware that frogs breed in stagnant pools. Take your waternet, and go to a pond or stream in quest of water-beetles, and the passers-by, if they notice you at all, will invariably think you are fishing, or, if they see what you are taking, will ask you if your captures are for baits. If you say "yes," they will think yours a profitable employment; if you say "no," you may add as much more in exculpation as you like, you will only pass for a fool. So much for the popular appreciation of Natural History,—and for your encouragement.

T

But presuming you are above the prejudices of ignorance, and that you are resolved to see the creatures that inhabit the water, go to the nearest pond, ditch, brook or river, always excepting those frequented by domesticated ducks and geese, draw your net quickly two or three times under and around the weeds and grasses, down to the bottom and up again to the top, pull it towards you with the mouth uppermost, let the water drain off, and then see! That large olive-green fellow, marching so conqueror-like over his fellowbeetles, is a Dytiscus, the tyrant of the waters, as savage as Nero and as gluttonous as Heliogabalus. Those several degrees less in size, but similar in shape, are Colymbetes, probably of several species. Take out all these, and if you want to keep them alive to observe their habits, put them into a large wide-mouthed bottle or jar of water; if you only want them for cabinet specimens they may go into a bottle full of cut laurel-leaves or of weak spirit, where they will soon die. There will then probably remain in the net a lot of small beetles, similar in form to the larger ones, Hydropori and Halipli; all very much alike, but belonging to several species. All these beetles are carnivorous, feeding upon the various forms of animal life in the water, including probably their own kindred. The section of water-beetles to which they all belong is called Hydrocantharidæ, and represents in the water the Geodephaga, or carnivorous beetles of the land. There will also be in the net, no doubt, some of the Philhydrida, or vegetablefeeding beetles: they are of a rounder and more convex form, and, like their representatives on land, are far less. active than the Carnivora. All the water-beetles are fond