24: TUE RETROSPECT. 



when the tree is once well saturated, a very little to renew it will suffice; 

 but of this more hereafter. Sugar is decidedly better than treacle, and beer 

 superior to water. It is certainly preferable to boil it, but T do not adopt 

 this plan, as it wastes the liquor, and it answers well without it; but 

 sticks better to the trees if it is. 



Quantity on each tree. — With regard to the quantity on each tree, I am 

 quite sure your friend Mr. H. does not anoint his trees sufficiently. One 

 tree well soaked is worth a hundred with only a little dab on each; for 

 that reason always stick to the same trees. I have tried both plans, and 

 I now only sugar two trees; they are near together, close to my house, in 

 my garden. This saves infinite trouble if nothing else. I put the mixture 

 all round the tree, from six feet high quite down to the root of the tree, 

 and there frequently take the best flies. In addition to this, if a fly, 

 (which it frequently does,) at the approach of the bottle suddenly drops 

 to the ground, you are nearly sure to find him in an hour's time feeding 

 near the root of the tree; if no bait had been there he might have taken 

 wing, and having been once disturbed, made off" for good. 



I have tried more than once trees at a distance from home, but never 

 succeeded so well as I did upon my old trees in the garden. The sense 

 of smell is great in Moths, and when once the air is impregnated, they 

 may be enticed, I am sure, from great distances, from the quantity of 

 flies I have found on a single tree. I had forty-five one night in the 

 summer, and nearly as many only a few nights ago; among which were 

 Exoleta, Siiffusa, Meticulosa, Oxycanthce, C-Nigrum, Satellitia, and many 

 specimens of Plstacina, etc. 



Situation for Sugaring. — Though I have taken flies on all, the stem of 

 a tree is decidedly better than a rail or piece of board fixed in the hedge, 

 which I have tried; 1st., there is always a side of a tree sheltered from 

 the wind; 2nd., it is easier to capture flies upon. 



Best nights. — The best night of all is a damp dull one; all the better 

 if it rains, and I do not care how hard, provided the sugar is not washed 

 off. Wind too is all in favour of the entomologist, one side of the tree 

 at least will be sheltered. A moon-light night is bad. A very frosty 

 one will be probably a failure altogether, if clear and bright. In fact the 

 finer the night the worse chance. 



I am afraid these few remarks will not be of much use to any one, 

 but at all events, if any of your readers has not already done so, let 

 him try a wet night. A tree once well soaked, will last two or three 

 nights, and require but very little of the mixture to renew its enticing 

 qualities in future. 



Atalanta has been very common in this neighbourhood this year, but 

 I have not seen Cardui. — R. P. A lington, October 26th., 1865. 



