32 



VII. The First Night's " Sugaeing" in England. — A 

 Eeminiscence of Epping Eorest in 1843. 



By James English. 



[Kead April 30th, 1881.] 



In drawing up tliis little sketch of my first night' n 

 " sugaring " for attracting moths, I wish to state that I do 

 not claim for myself any merit as the discoverer of this mode 

 of collecting insects. The late Henry Doubleday, of Epping, 

 had observed the fact that moths were attracted to emptj^ 

 sugar hogsheads that had been turned out of the warehouse. 

 I had also noticed the same circumstance. The moths 

 (which were usually of the most common species) came only 

 in small numbers, and chiefly during the autumnal and 

 rainy seasons ; in the summer months the Bees in one fine 

 day would clear out every vestige of sugar remaining in the 

 casks. Although this fact was known to Henry Doubleday, 

 the idea was never utilised by him for the cajDture of insects 

 apart from the hogsheads. It was certainly myself who first 

 applied " sugar " practically as a valuable adjunct to the net 

 and lanthorn in the search for Lepidoptera. This experiment 

 was made in the summer of 1843. Henry Doubleday was on 

 his tour in France at the time. Previous to that year the 

 only means used to capture Xoctitce was by the use of the old- 

 fashioned clap-net, at the forest-side, hedgerow, or flowery 

 meadow, where our little flufiy friends winged their way like 

 fairy sprites as the evening softly fell, and the twilight 

 dee^Dened into night. But to net them was a diflicult task, 

 and our captures were often very meagre. Besides which 

 the condition of the specimens was by no means good, and often 

 before we could get them safely out of our gigantic nets the 

 delicate beauty of the insects had vanished, the loosely 

 attached scales being rubbed off against the rough leno. 

 We had then no " cyanide bottles " to lull them gently into 



