SCIENTIFIC SURVEY. 



175 



fringed branches. They are found in July and August, in herbage. 

 FterojjJiorus marginidaclylus is a common species, and flies in at 

 light in July and August. 



For collecting and preserving these minute and delicate moths, 

 which are called by collectors, micro-lepidopiera, especial instruc- 

 tions are necessary. When the moth is taken in the net, it can be 

 blown by the breath into the bottom. " Then by elevating the hand 

 through the ring, or on a level with it, a common cupping glass of 

 about two inches in diameter, or a ivine gl&ss carried in the pocket, 

 is placed on the top of the left hand over the constricted portion, 

 the grasp relaxed, and the insect permitted to escape through the 

 opening into its interior. The glass is then closed below by the 

 left hand on the outside of the net, and may be transferred to the 

 top of the collecting box, when it can be quieted by chloroform." 

 Clemeijs. Or the moth may be collected in pill boxes, and then 

 carried home and opened into a larger box filled with the fumes of 

 ether or benzine. In pinching any moths on the thorax, the form 

 of that region is invariably distorted, and many of the scales 

 removed. In searching for " 3Iicros" we must look carefully on 

 the lee side of trees, fences, hedges, and ujidulations in the ground, 

 for they avoid the wind. 



In seeking for the larvae we must remember that most of them 

 are leaf miners, and their burrows are detected by the waved brown 

 withered lines on the surface of leaves and their " frass" or excre- 

 ■■ ment thrown out at one end. Some are found between united leaves, 

 of which the upper is curved. Others construct portable cases 

 which they draw about the trunks of trees, fences, &c. Others bur- 

 row in the stems of grass, or in fungi, toadstools, in the pith of 

 currant or raspberry bushes. Most are solitary, a few gregarious. 

 A bush stripped of leaves and covered with webs, if not done by 



Glisiocampa, (the American Tent Caterpillar,) will witness the work 

 of a Tiueid. Buds of unfolded herbs suffer from their attacks, such 

 as the heads of composite flowers which are drawn together and 

 consumed by their larviB. 



After some practice in rearing larvre it will be found easier and 

 more profitable to search for the leaf miners, and rear the perfect 

 fresh and uninjured moths from them. In this way many species 

 never found in the perfect state can be secured. 



In raising micro larvae it is essential that the leaf in which they 



they mine be preserved fresh for a long time. Thus a glass jar. 



