HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



161 



Many larvae will not thrive on cut branches when 

 kept in water ; the moisture in the foliage seems too 

 much for them. Such larvae will feed and grow 

 rapidly up to the last stage, and then they unaccount- 

 ably die. They should be fed on growing trees if 

 possible, if not, on cut branches kept dry ; these may 

 be kept fresh much longer than usual if the cut end 

 be sealed over with wax. The families of Vanessa 

 and Catocala, and often Dicranura, are subject to the 

 above. But experience alone will teach the tyro 

 which larvae this mode of feeding affects. 



Let pupa? alone altogether this month. It will be 

 as well, for there is too much else to be done. With 

 regard to the proper way to keep pupae ; the natural 

 way is the proper one. Let them take their own 

 course when in the larvae state, and they will provide 

 much better accommodation than you ever can. This 

 of course applies to those that spin, and also to the 

 butterfly chrysalids. Subterranean pupae will be 

 treated of later on. 



Now as to imagos. Many and varied are the 

 methods of taking these, the perfect insects ; those 

 recommended last month are equally applicable to this. 

 The mainstay this month however, will be the net by 

 day, and the treacle-pot by night. It is a magnificent 

 sight to see forty or fifty fine insects fighting and 

 struggling on a space of six or seven inches or more, 

 their eyes reflecting the light of the lantern like so 

 many stars. A word here as to the preparation of 

 this "bait." The following mixture I have always 

 found the best, and moreover it is easily made : Half 

 a pound of common treacle (not golden syrup), a 

 wineglassful of commonest rum, and three or four 

 drops of oil of aniseed ; brush on the tree thinly, in 

 a streak about a foot long by two inches wide ; let it 

 be about as high as your head, it will be all the 

 easier to get at. I always strap the lantern on to my 

 hat. Some collectors recommend a net shaped so as 

 to fit round the trunk of the tree, to be held just 

 below the treacle-spot. To an " expert hand " I need 

 scarcely say this is unnecessary. Turn the light on at 

 the foot of the tree and gradually raise it up to the 

 treacle. If flashed too suddenly on to the moths, 

 they will dart off in alarm — that is, of course, the 

 good ones ; the commoner moths do not seem to 

 mind it so much. " Light," too, may be advantage- 

 ously used this month. Do not, however, be so 

 foolish as to purchase so-called " moth-traps," which 

 are merely an invention to benefit the inventor, and 

 not the person who buys one. In a country place, 

 put a candle in the bedroom window, cr a lamp, and 

 then go to bed. Of course you leave the window 

 open. On rising in the morning you will find the 

 moths your light has attracted, on the ceiling or walls. 

 A white sheet hung up in the woods or fields, and a 

 lamp placed behind it, will attract a wonderful number 

 of insects. The same minus the lamp, will also prove 

 an attraction in the daytime, while doorsteps, white 

 stones, etc., will often be found to attract insects. 



During this month, too, that glorious fellow the 

 purple emperor (Apatura iris) is on the wing. To 

 secure him as he flies around the topmost branches of 

 the oak-trees a very long rod is needed to the net ; 

 and even then he easily eludes the net, for he is very 

 swift. However, we may take advantage of a little 

 weakness of his to secure him ; he is very fond of 

 foetid matter, and a dead animal in an advanced state 

 of putrefaction will assuredly bring him down, when 

 with care he may be netted. 



Thatch-beating may be resumed this month. The 

 tops or heads of rushes will often be swarming with 

 moths about ten o'clock at night, and should be well 

 looked after. Stone walls covered with lichen will 

 produce many pretty insects if closely scanned. B. 

 perla and B. glandifera may thus be found. 



158, Arkzvright Street, Nottingham. 



SCIENCE DIRECTORY. 



T^ASTBO URNE Natural History Society. Presi- 

 Jllr dent, Rev. W. A. St. John Dearsley, M.A. ; 

 Hon. Secretary, F. G. Cooke, Esq., 6 Trinity 

 Buildings, Seaside Road, Eastbourne. 



Leys Natural History and Science Society (includ- 

 ing Meteorological, Chemical, and Astronomical 

 branches) ; President, C. W. Kimmins, Esq., B.A., 

 B.Sc. ; Hon. Secretary, Philip H. Hadfield. Weekly 

 lectures are held each Saturday during the winter, 

 and excursions are held during summer. 



Middlesex Natural History Society and Field Club. 

 President, the Rt. Hon. Viscount Enfield, Lord 

 Lieutenant of Middlesex ; Hon. Secretary and 

 Treasurer, Sidney T. Klein, F.R.A.S. 



Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society. Officers 

 for 1886 :— President, Charles Belk, Esq ; Secretaries, 

 Messrs. Edward Birks and H. C. Sorby, LL.D. &c. ; 

 Librarian, Mr. D. Parkes. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



That the metropolitan county should have been 

 so long and exceptionally without a natural history 

 society is curious. This anomaly is, however, now 

 removed. A Middlesex county society has been for- 

 mally constituted, of which Lord Enfield has been 

 elected president. 



Mr. A. Stroh has described before the Royal 

 Society a new form of stereoscope, which can enlarge 

 pictures to such an extent as to appear equal to, or 

 even larger than, the original objects from which 

 they were taken. 



Mr. W. Baldwin Spencer has minutely figured 

 and described in "Nature" the parietal eye of the 



