COLLECTING IMAGOES. 



325 



placed in the jars appropriated to them and left there until the 

 return from the fields. "With the Lepidoptera it is necessary to 

 exercise greater care. The smaller specimens, such as the Tor- 

 tricidfe and Phycitidae and Tiueidse should be '"boxed" in the 

 pill-boxes provided for this purpose. The Lycaenidse, Hes 

 peridae, and most of the moths, should be caught in the large 

 jar in the manner just described, and when stunned, pinned and 

 placed in the cork-lined box, where the process of completely 

 depriving them of life will be completed. The larger, and even 

 some of the smaller, butterflies may be killed while in the net 

 by gently pinching them through its folds, between the first 

 finger and the thumb 

 at the point where 

 the wings are attach- 

 ed to the thorax (see 

 Fig. 93). The press- 

 ure should be applied 

 when the wings are 

 folded back to back, 

 as the insect sits 

 when in repose. If 

 applied in any other 

 way the specimen is 

 likely to be seriously 

 damaged, and moths 

 should never be thus 

 killed. In pinning specimens in the tin box used for trans- 

 portation while upon the hunt, the storage power of the box 

 will be increased by pinning a number of specimens upon one 

 pin, thrusting the pin through the insect horizontally and not 

 perpendicularly through the upper surface of the thorax. 



The labors of the collector should not be confined to the day. 

 Multitudes of the rarest and most desirable species are noc- 

 turnal in their habits. Some of them are readily attracted to 

 light, though, strangely enough, the individuals among the 

 lepidoptera thus attracted are mainly of the male sex. By 

 placing a lamp at an open window many moths may be secured. 

 Klectric lights are good points for the collector, if they are 

 within reach. The burnt and ragged refuse which the cleaner 



FIG. 93. Method of Pinching a Bm.terfly. 



