Insect Collecting

level Kings the Sea of these Littles is a cyan necessary insects than all other forms of life combine so the valuable thing about insect collecting is that everyone because everyone regardless of where he lives can find insects living by but before a specimen can become part of a collection it must first be caught and that's what our story is about the necessary steps of finding and collecting these interesting yet often unnoticed members of the animal kingdom The Collector must sometimes go to where the insects are for example flowers attract insects that feed on nectar so that's where you go to secure this particular insect one of the most widely used methods of collecting insects that fly is with a neck once the insect is captured it can easily be confined in a container and later prepared for mounting some insects come out only at night a way to secure many of these is to attract the animal to The Collector all that's needed is an attracting light and a light background such as a sheet nocturnal insects are accustomed to very little light and so they're attracted into the bright area that stands out so well in their world of Darkness life collecting is one of the finest many insects are difficult to find even in the daytime so well do they resemble the plant upon which they live that you can look right at them and not see them at all a good way to collect these protected little animals is by the beating method a sheet is placed beneath the plant upon which the insects live the contrasting sheet is not the same color nor form as the insects that reside above when the sheet is in place the limbs of the food plant are beaten with a stick dozens often hundreds of insects may be dislodged from their protective perches onto the sheet below each insect now stands out clearly against this unfamiliar background and can easily be caught Fallen plant particles are also collected in bags later examination of this material May reveal smaller creatures or it may reveal the eggs of a generation of insects yet to come eggs soon hatch into tiny larvae which can be added in larval form to a collection or raised into adults but more about raising insects a little later while some insects feed and live upon a growing plant others feed and live among the fallen and decaying material from the same plant many of these insects are so small that they can neither be seen nor collected in the field so the decaying material in which the insects reside is collected and taken home for separating by the berlazi funnel method a funnel is suspended over the workbench some alcohol is put in a small bottle and placed beneath the funnel a fine mesh screen to prevent larger particles from falling through is placed in the top of the funnel the material that was collected in the field is placed in the screen a bright light is placed over the top of the material any tiny insects contained in the material move downward to escape the light within a few hours many of them Crawl Through the fine openings in the screen and drop into the alcohol below being quickly killed and preserved at the same time a microscope must be used to observe these minute animals magnified many times you can see that these tiny animals are true insects and differ only in size from their more easily observed counterparts home for many insects is under the dead and crumbling bark of the host plant one may find the adult insects but may just as often find them in one of the immature stages of life such as the growing stage this is called the larval stage of life cleverly hidden from view nearby you may find the rest of cocoons of the same animal now the insect is in the pupil stage of life the cocoons may be collected and later an adult insect will emerge some cocoons will probably be occupied by parasites which have eaten the original inhabitant in this case you'll add not a moth to your collection but a small parasitic wasp the cocoons of different insects can sometimes be found beneath the same bark this particular one develops into another colorful adult moth some insects are found within the wood itself this grub-like larva develops into an interesting adult beetle many varied specimens may be gathered at one time by this important method of investigating dead areas of host plants although most insects are terrestrial that is they live on land some are aquatic living in water some aquatic insects live on the surface such as water striders and water beetles beneath the surface of the water you may find among others the larvae of mosquitoes some aquatic insects live on top and below the water such as the back swimmers many of these insects are easily collected by simply scooping them up with the bare hands still other Aquatic insects live at the bottom of the pond to collect these a container of water is first prepared in which to put the specimens then an aquatic Dip Net is used the net is drawn slowly and firmly along the bottom of the pond this disturbs the insect inhabitants so that some of them wander into the net the specimens can then be removed by hand insects in all stages of life can be collected in this manner there is much at home in the container as they were in the pond one of the most fascinating ways to collect insects is to take them in the larval stage and raise them into adults many colorful larvae can be found on their own particular food plant such as the tent caterpillar on Oak the morning cloak butterfly larvae on Elm The tussock Moth lager on many kinds of plants swallowtail butterfly larvae on sagebrush of course not all the larvae will reach adulthood notice the white egg just behind the head of this one this egg will become a parasitic lava which will feed upon and destroy the larger animal the final result is not the host but an adult parasitic fly whenever larvae are taken for raising some of their food plants should be taken as well and fresh food should be provided every day or two until the larvae enter the pupil stage the larvae can be kept in cages made of window screen and tin cans raising your own insects has its rewards for with care perfect adult specimens will emerge such as this swallowtail butterfly the actual emergence from the pupil to the adult stage can often be seen by observant collectors who raise their own specimens foreign [Music] the wings of this new adult are small at first gradually they fill with fluid and slowly open until the mature adult is developed occasionally a rare insect can be raised such as this swallowtail insects are everywhere and sometimes the unexpected occurs for even the wood upon which this swallowtail rests has its inhabitants [Music] this animal resembling a wasp is actually a moth raising your own specimens is certainly one of the most interesting and productive phases of collecting insects insects can be collected by other methods limited only by the resourcefulness of The Collector what we have seen here are some of the more widely used methods collecting winged insects with a net collecting insects at night with a light collecting insects by beating the plant upon which they reside collecting microscopic forms of insect life and separating them at home um collecting insects from under the dead bark of trees collecting insects that lead an aquatic life and collecting