208 Psyche [December 



come to my light. I have used an ordinary kerosene lamp with a 

 reflector, sometimes turned to throw the light out of the window, 

 but more often to reflect onto my work; and the insects seem to 

 come in just as readily. I have also tried setting the lamp on a 

 chair before the window with a sheet of glazed paper hanging over 

 the back behind the lamp, with some success. Nothing comes to 

 light on moonlight evenings and a dark, muggy night is, of course, 

 the best. I have taken many Lepidoptera during a pouring rain. 



The most abundant species of moths belong to the genera 

 Leiicania, Hadena, Mamestra, Feltia, and Cramhus. Certain Geo- 

 metridse, as Xanthorhoea fernigata, Gypsochroa designata, and 

 Hydriomena imdtiferata, have been common in the past but they 

 have almost disappeared during the last few years. 



It is a matter of much regret that I have not kept a complete 

 record of the many species of Lepidoptera taken on the table and 

 the walls of my room. Many of the species immediately hide 

 behind the boxes and in obscure nooks and appear next morning 

 on the screens or between the curtain and the glass of the windows. 

 Others are never seen until picked up dead on the floor. Nearly 

 all the specimens fly about the light for a time and then, especially 

 the micros, settle down on the table or fly to the ceiling to remain 

 until disturbed. A favorite resting place for the species of Hadena 

 and Leiicania is the dark varnished door to the hall, perhaps on 

 account of the draft through the crack next the jamb. 



For some time I used to identify the moths as they came in, 

 and then paper at once or reserve for mounting the next morning, 

 but one evening a robust Hadena entered an open double box of 

 Lepidoptera and quietly remained there until the box was shut up 

 and replaced on the shelf. Some days later on opening the box I 

 found that its work had sufliciently identified it as devastatrix. 



I have generally collected from dark to midnight but have re- 

 mained as late as 2 a. m. on especially favorable nights. The 

 specimens come intermittently — in bunches best expresses it — 

 and sometimes a dozen specimens will be bumping about the room, 

 then hardly one for half an hour or so. On some evenings the 

 ceilings will be dotted with hundreds of minute Diptera and Hem- 

 iptera, and yet it is seldom that a mosquito finds its way in. I 

 once counted 94 specimens of small Diptera stuck on a quadrant of 

 the base of the lamp, a total of 376 for the whole base. I thought 

 it a hopeless task to count those on the table. 



