COLLECTING. 99 



Burghfield, by means of a sinumbra lamp; and in the fifth, 

 volume of the same work, is a delightful detail of Mr. 

 Doubleday's nocturnal entomologising, during his resi- 

 dence at Trenton Falls in the United States. 



The berries of the yew are most attractive to moths. 

 When these berries are thoroughly ripe, the moths will so 

 completely gorge themselves with the luscious saccharine 

 juice, that they make scarcely any attempt to escape when 

 approached by the entomologist. A bull's-eye lantern is 

 indispensable in seeking moths while thus engaged : a 

 strong light must be thrown on the tree, and every twig 

 carefully examined. When a moth is seen, if within reach, 

 it may be taken with the forceps, pinned, and at once trans- 

 ferred to the pocket box : if beyond reach of the forceps, 

 a bag-net on a long stick must be carefully held beneath 

 it, and the twig on which it is settled must be gently 

 touched with another stick held in the other hand, when 

 it will almost invariably fall into the bag-net, whence it 

 must be taken with the forceps, and then pinned as before : 

 the singular instinctive propensity which many insects have 

 to feign death when alarmed, contributes greatly to the 

 ease with which moths are thus taken. A very pleasant 

 account of this mode of entomologising is given by Mr. 

 Walton in the second volume of the i Entomological Ma- 

 gazine. 1 At Norbury Park, near Dorking, Mr. Walton 

 captured in this way eighty moths per night, from the 10th 

 of October to the 14th of November. 



Sweets of all kinds, as honey, sugar, &c., appear to at- 

 tract moths quite as well as the more natural juices of 

 flowers and fruits. An empty sugar-hogshead is an unfail- 

 ing lure : the plan is simply to place in some open situa- 

 tion, as a meadow, a large garden, or an open space in a 

 wood, a sugar-hogshead which has just been emptied, and 

 to which, of course, some small quantity of sugar still ad- 



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