My office duties prevent me, unfortunately, from going afield during almost the entire month of July in each year, and perhaps a few notes on my last ramble, 29th June, may interest the inexperienced, and indicate some of the insects to be found at this time. The special aim of this ramble was to visit a grove of hickories, Carya amara, and investigate the insects occurring in these trees, but I desired also to obtain Coleoptera and Hymenoptera, especially sawflies.

My outfit consisted of a flat beating-net constructed so as to be folded up snugly when not in use; a sweeping-net on a folding pocket-ring; a bottle containing coarse sawdust, with a morsel of cyanide for beetles; a wide-mouthed bottle lined with blotting paper, and having some cyanide in a cavity in the cork, for Hymenoptera, Diptera; a couple of boxes for larvæ, and last, but not least, a note-book and pencil. The day is favorable, the sun shining hotly, yet tempered by a slight breeze.