THE BEST METHODS OF PRESERVING BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS ; 
AND OF 
REARING THEM FROM THE CATERPILLAR OR THE EGG. 
To capture Butterflies and Moths in their perfect or winged state, it is necessary that the 
collector be provided with a small gauze net, attached to a hoop of strong iron wire at the end 
of a light cane handle about three feet long. Nets of this kind are sold at Messrs. Gardner’s. 
in Holborn, and Messrs. Shepherd’s, in the Strand; who manufacture articles of this kind of 
better quality than can possibly be the result of home fabrication. Boxes lined with cork for 
securing the insects when taken, as well as many other entomological conveniences, are to be 
purchased at those establishments, and also at many others of the same kind. 
The collector will soon find out the hour of the day at which the insects he is seeking 
generally appear on the wing ; and it is almost useless to seek them at any other. It is also in 
vain to attempt collecting insects on the wing in a cold easterly wind, especially such as fly 
early in the morning, or towards the hours of evening. Butterflies, with very few exceptions, 
will be found more plentiful in the sunny hours preceding, and those immediately following the 
heat of the day; while for a short period, during the sun’s greatest heat, they disappear for a 
short time. Some fly principally in half shade of woods and deep lanes, wile others seek in 
preference the bright open sunlight. Others take their flight high above the tops of the lofti- 
est Oaks, as the Purple Emperor, and these must either be secured by means of a small light 
net at the end of a very long rod, or some little stratagem must be had recourse to in order to 
effect a capture. I recollect an experienced Lepidopterist telling me that he took his two finest 
specimens of the Purple Emperor in an Oak wood, rather late in the day, after a morning of 
fruitless attempts, by watching the trunks of the trees as a storm was coming on. He had 
heard that these insects, on the approach of a storm, descended from the region of their lofty 
flight to seek shelter on the trunks and beneath the lower branches of large trees ; and as the 
sky darkened, and the thunder began to rumble in the distance, he found that his information 
had been correct, for he perceived two magnificent specimens descend with a swoop, and settle 
upon an old gray trunk close to him, where he was so fortunate as to capture both. 
As an example of what an earnest collector may expect in an excursion of a few days, 
even without much experience, I append a letter received this season from a young collector, in 
which it will be seen that, as far as Purple Emperors are concerned (from knowing a good 
locality to go to), he was by far more successful than my friend of the thunder-storm ; and his 
other captures form a very tempting list. 
“T captured on Friday last, in St. Osyth Woods, Essex, a very fine specimen of Vanessa 
Antiopa ; the borders of the wings are a rich cream-colour, the points of the upper wings are 
slightly marked with blue. I took it off a bramble. I also took at the same place a female 
specimen of the Large Copper (Chrysophanus Dispar). In the neighbourhood of this place 
(Monk’s Eleigh) and Savenham, I have found this summer a greater number of varieties 
than usual ; amongst others, Chrysophanus Phlwas (female); C. Virgauree ; Thecla W-album ; 
Meliteea Cinaia ; Argynnys Adippe; A. Lathonia ; A. Paphia ; Grapta C-album ; Vanessa Urtice ; 
Cynthia Cardui ; Apatura Iris (of which I also took thirty at St. Osyth) ; Limenitis Sibilla ; 
Arge Galathea ; Leucophasia Sinapis ; Papilio Machaon ; Colias Hyale (two taken this morning) ; 
and Aporia Crategi. The Vanessa Io is extraordinarily numerous this year, as much so as 
Pieris Brassice.” 
To take Moths on the wing, other devices must be had recourse to ; a few, it is true, fly by 
day in the bright sunshine like Butterflies, but by far the greater number take their flight at 
early dawn, in the dusk of the evening, or during the successive hours of the night, each 
species having a special-period of activity, from which it does not depart. 
The following are a few of the species which may be attracted, in succession, by a lighted 
candle. Pheosia Dictwa, popularly called the Swallow Prominent, may be easily distinguished ; 
in its fitful flight when agitated by the candle, this insect continually darts towards the ground, 
