OAK-EGGAR. 46 



She may be at once known by lier pale colours, 

 and by the simple antennae, which have not the 

 beautiful pectination which distinguishes those 

 of the male insect. 



This is a common Moth, but, owing to the 

 swift flight of the males, they are more obtained 

 by rearing from the larva than by capture with 

 the net. 



Should the collector possess a female, he may 

 capture as many males as he likes. All he has 

 to do is, to put her in a box covered with gauze, 

 take her to the borders or the open spaces of a 

 wood, and put the box on the ground. Ey some 

 strange faculty the males are enabled to detect 

 her presence at an amazing distance, and will 

 come in numbers to the box, over which they 

 will crawl with such entire devotion to the pri- 

 soner that they may be picked up with the fingers. 

 I have caught numbers of male Oak-eggars, merely 

 by placing in my chamber a box containing a 

 newly-bred female, and leaving the window open. 



This mode of catching the males is called 

 " sembling," and can be used with several other 

 species of Moths. 



The wings of the male are of deep chocolate 

 brown, with a broad pale ochreish band a little 

 beyond the centre, extending through both wings, 



