208 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Sept., '02 



morning. In the morning I take a good sized pasteboard box, 

 in the bottom of which is about a dozen thicknesses of old 

 newspaper, and with a slender pair of forceps I pick the moths 

 out by the legs and lay them on the paper. I let them lie there 

 about two hours to get rid of most of the oil and water, then I 

 put them in a large shallow pan of gasoline and cover with a 

 pane of glass and leave for some hours, frequently over night. 

 Then pick them out and lay on blotting paper and the gasoline 

 soon evaporates, leaving the moths as clean and bright as though 

 never wet. The greatest drawback to this method is the " dor 

 bugs" (Lachnosterna) , which in May and June will swarm into 

 the pan and, of course, damage some of the moths. But in 

 spite of that I have taken many very fine specimens for my 

 cabinet that I never should have seen otherwise. I have used 

 the trap in my orchard about a dozen rods from my door and 

 have taken about 500 different species and varieties. Among 

 them are three species of Deltoids which are, so far as I can 

 learn, not heretofore recorded from this State. They are Hor- 

 inisa orciferalis, H. litophora and ZandognatJia pedipilalis. I 

 also took H. bivittata and Salia interpunctata. Besides the 

 above I took Paonias astylus, Hydmccia speciosissima , H. iinpc- 

 cuniosa, Hyparpax aurora and Pcrophoni melsheimerii, besides 

 others too numerous to mention. 



In using the trap care must be taken to add more oil every 

 night, and in the hottest weather the water should be changed 

 twice a week. If in very hot weather a tendency to sliminess 

 appears, it can be prevented by the addition of a spoonful or 

 two of saturated solution of alum in water to the contents of 

 the pan. If too much is added it will form a precipitate, which, 

 however, does no harm. It keeps the water clear much longer 

 than it would otherwise be, but if too strong will corrode the 

 zinc somewhat. 



And now a word about the economic side of the question. 

 A firm is advertising a cheap form of trap among farmers and 

 in seed catalogues, and claiming that by using their trap that 

 all insects which are injurious to garden products will be 

 attracted and destroyed, and that it is moiv effectual and 

 much cheaper than spraying. I think my experience has 



