BUGCOLLECTING

For years and years, bugcollecting has been a favorite pass time for children, and adults. Running, jumping, frolicking thru the tall grasses with a clean mayonaise jar in hand chasing grasshoppers, searching for catapillars, moths, butterflies and the such.

As a child I remember the warm summer nights just as it was getting dark the lightning bugs(Fireflies) soaring up in the air and running to catch them and put them in a jar so I could watch them closer as their little lites flickered off and on. I even recall my dad making a butterfly net for me from an old wooden baton, a metal clothes hanger, and a large piece of 1-ply cheesecloth my mother had stored away.

I had big fun running and chasing after the tiniest moth to the large Monarch Butterflies. Watching a butterfly slip his tongue into a flower to remove the nectar was pretty interesting to be. Those tongues were coiled up tight until they started sipping at the flowers and they were very long. I was careful not to touch the wings with my fingers because if the powder from the wings is removed the butterfly isnt able to fly.

Now a days a new trend in bug collecting is to purchase the cute little screened containers with the handle. This contraptions can be purchased at small novelty stores and some department stores mostly found in the toy section, or even the sporting goods depatment. This new concept is very good because the screened containers can be left outside and the eliments will not hurt the container or bugs.

Some cool places to look for bugs is look under big fallen tree limbs, or a decaying tree trunk. Some bugs like the dampness of the ground and can be found under flat rocks, buckets, and garbage cans. Mud puddles, streams, and creeks are a good source as well. At nightime when the outside lights are on you will see swarms of different night bugs. Another cool place would be along side of the rode where traffic has been plentiful at night but not much during the day. At night bugs fly towards light and cars sting them and you can find hugh black beetles and dragon flies there.

Check into your local listings for Universities that study Entomology, or local museums that have entomology exhibits, you can get some idea about how involved you want to get in bugcollecting.