24 HUNTING AMONG THE 



object itself, and it would take many minutes to discover what had 

 been seen only a few seconds before. There were also cases in 

 which the eye had seen the object, but had not communicated 

 the fact to the reasoning power until I had passed a considerable 

 distance beyond the spot. It then came as a vivid remembrance 

 of having seen a very suspicious object a short time before. This 

 was the most curious case to investigate, as the mind had only 

 taken hold of the appearance of the object itself, and it was 

 seldom I could recall whether it was on a tree, or a fence, or on 

 the ground. On such occasions, after a fruitless search, I have 

 walked and re-walked past the spot in the hope that it would 

 catch my eye again, but without avail. After several experiments 

 on this phenomenon, I have come to the curious conclusion that 

 the sight is most sensitive when the mind is thinking strongly on 

 some other subject, and it would be an interesting thing for a 

 psychologist to determine whether the phenomenon should be put 

 down to objective or subjective intuition, or that old waste-paper 

 basket for all mysterious workings of the brain, " unconscious 

 cerebrationr It would be also interesting to hear whether others 

 have experienced similar phenomena. 



I have now mentioned the principal methods used for captur- 

 ing insects in their perfect state. There are, however, many 

 species which have seldom, if ever, been captured in the imago 

 state, and until breeding cages came into vogue these were con- 

 sidered great rareties. There are three other states besides the 

 imago in which they can be captured — namely, ovum, larva, and 

 pupa : — The searching for ova, except in special instances, is not 

 worth the candle, it being preferable to allow the young larvre to 

 hatch out and feed up to near maturity before taking them in 

 hand. For the capture of larvae there are, however, several 

 methods. Many feed only at night, hiding themselves under 

 leaves, stones, or even burying themselves in the earth, during the 

 day. A walk round a garden in the daytime will show signs of 

 larvce on almost every plant ; the stalks, leaves, flowers, and 

 seed-pods are all tell-tales of the workings of the mandibles of 

 some species or other ; but the depredators are nowhere to be 

 found, even with the most careful search. Take the same walk, 

 however, at night with a lantern, and you will find hundreds of 



