Tips on the collections: ................................. are four different things to collect: butterflies, ss, pebbles, and beatles. There are 12 different items of each collection. Once you have finished the collection for an item (like pebbles) you receive an increase in your maximum allowed population. You will receive many duplicates of items before completing your collection. Keep picking them up because each duplicate is worth tech points (usually 100 points) You do not get points for the first of each item.
...Ss. Ss are only found on the beach you can find all of them without upgrading exploration.
...Butterflies. Butterflies, like mushrooms, can be found anywhere in your village. I believe you can find all of them without any upgrades.
...Pebbles. You cannot start finding pebbles until you have the second exploration, and you probably won't find all of the different items until you have the 3rd level.
....Beatles. You cannot find any beatles until you clear away the thorns in front of the gong case (top center of your village). Clearing away the vines requires level 2 of technology. Once it is clear beatles will start appearing, but you won't be able to find all the pebbles until you advance to the 3rd in technology