xxxvi European Butterflies and Moths. 



Beating for Larva. — The larva; wliich feed on trees, slirubs, and tall plants may be obtained 

 by beating either with a thick stick or with a mallet. The latter should be of a size which can be 

 conveniently held in the hand, but with a rather long handle, and must either be made of heavy 

 wood, or loaded with lead, and the striking part should be covered with leather or gutta-percha, to 

 avoid damaging the trees. The whole mallet might be covered with gutta-percha, but it is then 

 very liable to split. This instrument is used to strike the stems of young trees, or such branches of 

 taller ones as may grow within reach, while an inverted umbrella, a sheet, or a large sweeping-net 

 is spread below to catch any larva; which may be dislodged. At the same time, we must be on the 

 look-out for any larvae which have let themselves down by a thread upon being disturbed. The 

 higher branches should be jerked suddenly and violently with a hooked pole. Bushes and slender 

 branches and plants may be beaten over an umbrella with a common stick. A sheet is more 

 inconvenient than an umbrella, but is more productive, and is particularly useful when hedges or 

 large trees are beaten, or when trees are shaken with the hooked pole. The best time to beat for 

 larvae is at twilight, for the larvae of many Noctuce do not leave their hiding-places to feed till then. 

 For instance, the larva; of the genus Valeria can only be obtained by beating after dark, and those 

 of Catocala can then be most easily procured. 



Sweeping for Larvce. — Larva; which feed on grass and herbs are to be obtained most readily 

 and in most abundance by means of a sweeping-net similar to that used by coleopterists when 

 collecting beetles. This is a ring-net with a stronger ring, the edge of which is sharp instead of 

 rounded, and the net is composed of stout linen instead of green gauze. As the collector walks 

 slowly forwards he brushes the grass and bushes sharply in opposite directions alternately, and now 

 and then examines the contents, and transfers the larvae which may have been captured to his 

 boxes. Larvae may also be swept off any trees which are sufficiently low for the net to reach. 

 The most productive time for sweeping for Noctua larvas is after sunset, and the best localities are 

 openings in woods, level heaths, grassy slopes, meadows, and moors, and, in general, anywhere 

 where the vegetation is thick or varied. In sweeping after dark, the collector must either use a 

 lantern, to enable him to sort his captures on the spot, or else turn the whole contents of the 

 sweeping-net into a well-secured bag, to be examined on reaching home, which can best be done 

 by turning a small portion at a time into a white dish, and sorting it over. Sweeping for larva; 

 may be pursued at any time of year when vegetation is sufficiently advanced, but it is most 

 productive in May and June, and again in autumn. 



Food-plants. — There is no difficulty about the food of larvae which we discover feeding or beat 

 from any particular plant, but there may be some uncertainty about those which we discover in 

 their hiding-places or sweep up. Fortunately, most Noctita larvce which are obtained in this 

 manner are not particular about their food, but will eat grass, primrose, lettuce, chickweed, plantain, 

 heath, bilberry, or any other low plants. But it is true that many are confined to a particular food- 

 plant, and will die if they cannot obtain it. We must therefore note carefully what plants grow on 

 the spot where we have found any particular larva, and offer it these, if it will not eat the food we 

 have given it in the first instance. We should always take a supply of food home with us for the 

 larva; we capture, which can be most conveniently carried in a botanist's vasculum, which will keep 

 it fresh. An entomologist wlio wishes to do any good with breeding insects should possess some 

 knowledge of botany, or should at any rate be able to recognise our common plants at sight. 



Searching for Pupa:. — The pupae of Lcpidoptera are found in the places where the larvae have 

 undergone their transformations. Those of the butterflies are generally fixed to branches, the 

 trunks of trees, or walls ; those of the Zyganida:, most Bombyccs, many Geometra;, and many Micro- 

 Lcpidoptcra are formed in cocoons, or between leaves which they have spun together ; and those of 



