The Scottish Naturalist. 3 5 



The 7 " blanks" were caused by bright moonlight on 2 rights ; prevalence of 

 attractive flowers on 2 nights ; cold east wind on 1 night ; frost on 1 night"; bad 

 locality on 1 night. 



The 57 "fews," by bright moonlight on n nights ; prevalence of attractive 

 flowers on 10 nights ; cold east wind on 16 nights ; want of wind on 5 nights ; 

 unseasonable cold or frost on 4 nights ; bad locality on 2 nights ; obscure causes 

 on 9 nights. 



In conclusion, I give some remarks made upon the first half of this paper :— 



" In July (towards the end), and for the first ten or twelve days of August, 

 before the autumnal change of temperature makes itself fait, (here, in the south), 

 strong moonlight nights are particularly good ones for sugaring ; and, if it were 

 not for very weariness, collecting might be successfully pursued, I have no doubt, 

 until dawn of day. On the few similar occasions I have been sugaring, one's 

 whole stock of boxes have been filled by half-past one o'clock, and the arrivals 

 still going on ; but after the period I have named, moonlight only insures one a 

 bad night. I have tried sugared rags many times, but never found a moth come 

 to them ; but ragwort and yarrow flowers, cut and kept in water, and taken out 

 — tied on a stick, and sugared— to barren places attract wonderfully; and, with 

 care, they will keep good for three nights nt least. Another thing I must tell 

 you is, that he who uses a drop of aniseed in his sugar mixture might as well 

 stay at home, nor attempt (even with the proper sugar) again until he has thrown 

 away his pot and brush, and taken to new ones without the least trace of the 

 abominable oil. This suggestion of aniseed was originally made, I always 

 thought, to prevent any captures, and was truly a very wicked one. Having 

 proved it, I have always been content with sugar or treacle, or both, mixed with 

 a little rum to perfume and stupify, without trying any other material, beyond 

 beer or water for dissolving the sugar." — W. BUCECLRR, Lumley House, Ems- 

 worth, Hants, Jan. 13. 



" I find that on moonlight nights the moths come freely at dusk, but leave very 

 soon, so that many (or most) are gone away again in three quarters of an hour ; 

 and any one waiting as you recommend would go home almost with empty 

 boxes. Perhaps this is more especially the case with autumn sugaring." 

 E. N. Bloomfield; Guestling Rectory, Hastings. 



' We were scarcely prepared, even in a Scottish Journal, to find whisky men- 

 tioned as a probable substitute for rum, in concocting the bait ; but, possibly, 

 Scottish NoctucB have Scottish peculiarities. "We are careful not to say that the 

 " Dew of Ben Nevis" is useless, because when we recently suggested to a Ger- 

 man friend that " beet-sugar" was of little avail, we were met by the sarcastic 

 remark (Stett. Ent. Zeit. 1871, p. 95) thac, "Die englischen Xoctuen bewiesen 

 aber darin sehr feine Nasen, dass sie zwischen Runkelruben und Rohr Zucher 

 sehr genau unterschieden.'' [English Noctuce showed very fine noses in this, 

 that they discriminated very accurately batwaen beet and cane sugar.]" — Ento- 

 mologist' s Monthly Magazine, Feb., 1871. 





