April, '04] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. I3I 



for collecting the perfect insects. Skill with the net is easily 

 acquired, and slipping the cyanide tube into the net and se- 

 curing the moth requires no particular explanation, a half- 

 day's work will result in both operations becoming very easy. 

 But bear in mind that more than two or three specimens in 

 each tube will probably cause all to lose much of their fresh- 

 ness. When this number is in each tube, sit down on a log, 

 rock or fence-rail, with back to the wind, open collecting box 

 and place on knees, then gently' tilt one tube so that the moths 

 drop into the upturned top of box ; with forceps lift up and 

 pin as described on pages 90 and 91, sticking the pinned speci- 

 mens in the bottom of the box. If any of the moths stick to 

 the cotton in tube, either shake it gently or use the fine-pointed 

 forceps. It is not well to empty the moths from all of the tubes 

 into top of box before beginning to pin, for fear of the moths 

 coming in contact, wind blowing them around, or the fence- 

 rail breaking ; expose just as few at a time as possible, and 

 remember that a day's work which consists of only a dozen 

 perfect and flawless specimens is of far more real value than 

 one in which two hundred are brought home in any old 

 condition. 



While Micro- Lepidoptera can be taken every hour of the 

 twenty-four and almost every day of the year, there are, of 

 course, times and places more favorable than others, and a 

 reference to some of these and the general habits may be 

 of interest. 



Pyralids are easily disturbed in the daytime, when walking 

 through the undergrowth of thickets and light woods, and 

 while the flight of some species is swift, the majority do not 

 fly more than twenty feet before seeking a new place of rest, 

 which is almost invariably on the under side of a leaf ; to catch 

 them, the eye must be kept on the leaf, and after approaching 

 it quietly drop the net almost to the ground, and with a quick 

 upward sweep and a turn of the wrist, the game will usually 

 be found inside. 



Tortricids are as a rule even slower flyers than the pyralids, 

 and unless a wind is blowing to assist them, will rarely fly 

 more than five or six feet ; they are as easily disturbed as the 



