246 1 April, 



Notes on Light, as a means of attracting Lepidoptera. — The following notes are 

 not intended as an essay on the subject, but are published simply in the hopes of 

 inducing entomologists in various parts of the country to try, during the coming 

 season, a method of collecting, which at present is far from receiving the attention 

 it deserves. I could have wished to make them more complete, by waiting another 

 year, during which I hope to make a trial of a more powerful light — the magnesium 

 — which has, I understand, been applied to this purpose by Mr. Thornthwaite, witli 

 startling success ; but enough has been done to show that with ordinary lamps, and 

 at a cost within the means of all, grand results may be achieved, and I am anxious 

 that another season should not pass without a more general experiment. Considering 

 how long it has been known that moths are attracted by light, and how much has 

 been done by collecting the insects that come to stationary lamps, it is strange that 

 80 few sliould have attempted to take the light to the insects. Of course, there is no 

 originality in the idea, and that such a method of capture is feasible, is, doubtless, 

 generally known, but I think it is not generally known how great the results of such 

 work sometimes are, nor how many species, formerly of excessive rarity in our col- 

 lections, may be taken almost with certainty in this way. 



In September, 1872, I made my first attempt by taking to one of the Norfolk 

 Broads a parafine lamp, " warranted to burn in the open air." The night was dark 

 and warm, but very windy, and, need I say, the " warranted " lamp alternately flared, 

 smoked, and went out : moreover, only one solitary moth was rash enough to leave 

 the shelter of the thick reed-beds to reward the attempt. First impressions rre often 

 lasting, and had that moth been a " common beast," very probably I might not have 

 been eager to try again ; but as luck would have it, it was a fine specimen of 

 Nonagria oannce, at that time quite new to my collection, and always a great rarity, 

 at least in Norfolk. After this I tried that lamp several times within the month, 

 but always with the same result, as far as the beliaviour of the lamp went, and 

 always without result, in the shape of rarities. That winter I manufactured a 

 huge contrivance, hexagonal in form, to carry six colza lamps with reflectors, the whole 

 hoisting on a pole. The first opportunity for trying it occurred in June, 1873, when, 

 in company with my friend Mr. C. G-. Barrett, I embarked (lamp and all) for a two 

 daj's' cruize among the Norfolk Fens. The first night, at Ranworth, a thick fog 

 came on, and nothing was to be seen ; the lamp attracted, however, two iV. ziczac, 

 and a few P. Ugnata. Next day was wet and dull, and the evening still threatened 

 rain, but was free from fog. We worked along the shores of Barton Broad, hoisting 

 the lamp about 10 p.m. The first moth to turn up was Melianajlammea, and, tliough 

 nothing else of that character put in an appearance, we found the night lively enough 

 with swarms of C. phragmiteUus and P. Ugnata, with a fair sprinkling of C. gigan- 

 tellus and mucroneUus. During the year I tried the lamp twice more in Norfolk, 

 and several times at Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, always with good success. Next 

 year, 1874, I introduced some furtlier improvements into the lamp, but retained its 

 style intrinsically the same ; during July and August of that season, I was staying 

 within six miles of Wicken Fen, and was therefore enabled to work this locality with 

 some degree of rcgidarity, and without that, very little can be done towards ex- 

 ploring a collecting ground. One good night is worth weeks of average weather, and 

 only by constant work, while living on the spot, can these opportunities be ensured. 

 The labour was very severe, and many a time, aft*' walking over at dusk and working 



