What are the best ways of making an insects collection for study? (Insects Habitat)
You can learn most about insects by watching them in the wild. For more serious . Study and correct identification of the range of insects there is a lot to be said for making a collection, but this must be done well and neatly so that you take a pride in your collection and do not treat it as a temporary whim that you eventually give up, so wasting all the specimens which you started to collect. You need a nicely made store box with white paper lined cork in the lid and base, or a glass-topped display case. Buy or make something neat like this as it will encourage you to keep and arrange your collection properly. Winged insects can be mounted on setting boards as shown in the illustration and dried for a week or two. Smaller insects are mounted on pieces of card, gummed, with their legs properly arranged and pinned as illustrated. Be sure that you label each specimen with Its name very neatly and with data showing place and data of capture be sure also to arrange the insects logical groups, such as families or types of habitat. Otherwise they just form a meaningless conglomeration of assorted specimens with little scientific value or interest. Identification books of insects are likely to be available from your library and more detailed information on mounting insects will generally be included.
How can I learn most from a collection?
You will find it very absorbing making a collection and one of the greatest merits is that you become much more familiar with the insects because of the amount you handle them and because you come to learn the family likenesses and relationships much more readily. Field observation teaches most about habits and behavior but forming a collection is a surer way of coming to identify the species correctly. You can explore the infinitely variable structure of the different kinds of insects: look to see if you can find the tympanum, or ear, and where is it situated? Is the specimen adapted for life in or on water and how? Many exploratory questions like this can be answered from your collection and this adds enormously to the interest and the knowledge that you build up about insects.
Is there any harm in collection insects?
When you collect insects do not take specimens you do not really want. It is unnecessarily wasteful to kill a moth, only to find that it has a chunk out of its wing and it has to be thrown away. Before putting an insect into the killing jar, box it in a pill box and have a good look at it. Do not pile in the contents of the beating tray, be selective. If you use a moth trap, never use a killing agent, just take the few you want and release the rest in the long grass where they will not be eaten by birds. It is only necessary to have a few of each kind : a male and female (if they differ) and any special forms or variations, not row after row of the same kind merely for the sake of acquisition. Above all, do not deliberately take insects which you know are very rare. Several butterflies are now rare or actually in danger of extinction. Most of these you could only find if you went specially to look for them and it is a temptation that must be resisted. Most insects, providing you only collect a few, are common enough not to be endangered by collecting but you do need to take a responsible attitude and not be the cause of a species being wiped out, possibly for ever.
What kind can be kept alive home?
insects do not live very long. A butterfly or moth will live on average for 2 to 4 weeks, beetles about the same time or a little longer and the longer-lived insects for a year or two. If you want to keep insects it is necessary first to know about their life-cycle and the individual requirements of the species. You need to be sure that you have got the time and opportunity to provide the food and care that they need. Most need rather more care than a goldfish or budgie; they need a certain amount of understanding and skill. Stick insects are one of the easiest to keep. They take 8-12 months to grow from egg to adult and then live for about a year, laying masses of eggs from which you can continue to breed. A great many butterflies and moths are suitable for rearing from eggs and caterpillars through to the adult. A few can be bred, producing more eggs, but the majority are a little difficult actually to breed until you have gained some experience.
Two easy species are the Poplar Hawk Moth (Laothoe populi) and the Indian Silk Moth (Antheraea pernyi) which is very large and exotic but very easy to keep in all its stages. These can be bought, and so can Locusts which are quite easy to keep and breed. It is interesting watching the young locust hoppers grow and develop, to watch their gregarious habits and eventually to breed from the adults. Other, perhaps less attractive, insects that can be kept at home so as to study the changes they go through include the Fruit Fly which is kept in a “culture medium” of fruit pulp, House Fly which can live in a less smelly medium than meat, the Flour Moth, Honeycomb Moth and Mealworm (this produces a beetle), all of which live in their food which is dry, not smelly and all of these require much less than usual attention. The Cockroach, in spite of its reputation, is not at all a dirty or disease-ridden creature and Cockroaches are interesting to keep, with the minimum attention. Praying Mantids are particularly interesting to keep at home and if you are keeping some of these cultures of flies, locusts, etc. the mantids have a convenient supply of food as they need living insects.
Can these be found or how are they obtained?
The most convenient way of obtaining stocks of living Insects is by buying them. Names of insect breeders can be had from entomological societies. When you learn a bit more about insects you can try keeping ones you find wild yourself. In addition to those I have already recommended it is possible to make up special containers so that you can keep ants and watch their intricate workings; it is also possible to set up your own observation bee hive and even wasp nest. These insects are intensely interesting but need to be handled with care. You can find and bring back your own caterpillars to rear to adult butterflies and moths – some are very easy as long as you have the correct food plant. As a general rule try feeding the caterpillar on the food you find it on but it is better to try to identify the caterpillar and look up its food plant in a book. Another very interesting world of insects can be seen in aquatic life. With a little experience, and perhaps some help from an entomological friend, you can set up an aquarium with insects from the pond, such as water boatmen, water beetles, larvae of mayflies and even dragonflies.
