166 CAPTUKING INSECTS. 



siderable distance. Scolnp/iilu porphyrca, being a heath niolli, must 

 come nearly a mile. 



" It may likewise be worth while to say a word on my method ol' 

 securing my prey. Suppose that, either with or without a bag-ncl^ 1 

 I have imprisoned a moth under an inverted wine-glass, I then light a 

 small piece of German tinder, half the size of a sixpence, or less, and 

 introduce it under the edge, and by means of the smoke the insect is 

 stupified almost inunediately. It is then wholly in my power, though it 

 would quickly revive : — I pierce it; and, by means of a piu dipped in 

 oxalic acid, and thrust into the body beneath tlie thorax, I prevent its 

 revival, and hx it on the settling board. The German tinder does not 

 injure the color, as brimstone would, whilst it puts the moth so com- 

 pletely in my power for a few moments, that the specimens I thus lake 

 and kill are often as perfect and beautiful as if I had bred them. Of 

 course, I use it for insects taken in the day, or bred, as well as for those 

 captured by the lamp." 



The other method is that of P. J. Selby, of Twizel, England, and has 

 been attended with the most complete success, as will be seen frcjm the 

 subjoined account, which we give in his own language : 



''In the course of my entomological pursuits," says he, "my at- 

 tention was first directed to the mode 1 have since adopted for the cap- 

 lure of nocturnal lepidoptera, by the extraordinary success thai I under- 

 stood had attended the exposure of a sugar-cask, recently emptied, in a 

 favorable situation ; and by means of which attraction a great variety of 

 moths, some of them of very rare occurrence, had been secured. As 

 sugar casks are not easily procured in tliis country, I bethought myself 

 of some succedaneum, and it presently struck me that a beehive, or as 

 it is generally called here, a skc]), recently emptied of its honey, or well 

 anointed with the same, might answer the purpose, as it was evident the 

 insects were attracted by the saccharine matter and smell. I according- 

 ly had one prepared, and the very first evening was convinced that it 

 would prove a very efficient trap, as several moths of difierent species 

 were seen and taken upon it. 



"The skep should be well anointed on the exterior with honey (the 

 refuse will answer perfectly well,) and should be supported on a forked 

 stake about four feet from the ground, or so lliat the insects can be easi- 

 ly got at and enclosed in the flappers as they alight and settle upon it. 

 In this way they may be taken in as fine and perfect condition as if they 

 had been bred Irom the larvae within doors. I generally select a shel- 

 tered situation and near to wood ; ol' late I have had il near a service 

 tree, whose berries, I had previuusly observed, attracted the moths." 



