INTRODUCTION. 105 



above account refers is the vicinity of Reading, in 

 Berkshire. The list given by Mr. Bird of the spe- 

 cies taken in the manner described, includes many 

 of the rarer and most beautiful kinds found in this 

 country. 



Another method of capturing moths has recently 

 been practised in the north of England by P. J. 

 Selby,Esq. of Twizel, and has been attended with 

 so much success, that we have much pleasure in 

 being enabled to subjoin the following account of 

 it as communicated by that distinguished natu- 

 ralist. " In the course of my entomological pursuits 

 for that fascinating department of Zoology has 

 for the last year engrossed a great part of my leisure, 

 my attention was first directed to the mode I have 

 since adopted for the capture of nocturnal lepidoptera, 

 by the extraordinary success that I understood had 

 attended the exposure of a sugar-cask, recently 

 emptied, in a favourable situation ; and by means 

 of which attraction a great variety of moths, some 

 of them of very rare occurrence, had been secured. 

 As sugar casks are not easily procured in this 

 country, I bethought myself of some succedaneum, 

 and it presently struck me that a beehive, or as it is 

 generally called here, a skep, recently emptied of 

 its honey, or well anointed with the same, might 

 answer the purpose, as it was evident the insects 

 were attracted by the saccharine matter and smell. 

 I accordingly had one prepared, and the very first 

 evening was convinced that it would prove a very 

 efficient trap, as several moths of different species 



