120 THE LEPIDOPTERIST'S CALENDAR 



IMAGOS] JULY 



five to six weeks the period for a brood to hatch from the egg, attain the 

 imago state, deposit eggs, and die. Though woods and forests, 



" So thick no bird bet\vixt their leaves could fly 

 But she would smite her wings," 



are the most prolific, in the number of species they yield, barren-looking 

 places, 



" Where zephyrs wave the balmy wing, 

 And fan the buxom air," 



will well repay a careful search. Each peculiar locality produces peculiar 

 insects. While the dry land and level country should be made to yield their 

 insect treasures, as they sally forth on floating gauze, 



"No jewell'd queen 

 So rich," 



marshes and mountains, moors and mosses, hills and heaths, woods and forests, 

 cliffs and coast sands, ought all to be diligently explored, for " beauties un- 

 espied. " Tree trunks, palings, fences, and walls should not be forgotten. On 

 the latter, if old and covered with lichen, B. perla will be sure to be found, and 

 often also the rarer B. glandifera, much resembling in its mottled green, olive, 

 black, and grey markings, the lichen on the wall upon which it fed when a 

 larva. B. abietaria may be found resting on large larch trunks, in elevated 

 districts, generally at no great height from the ground. They must be care- 

 fully approached, or they will be lost. 



A large number of species may be now captured at light. Thatch-beating 

 may, this month, be advantageously resumed. Heads of rushes should be 

 examined from 9 to 10 o'clock at night, as many moths swarm at them, es- 

 pecially during the last fortnight in this month. Puddles, carrion, &c., attract 

 some butterflies, especially that king of his tribe, the Emperor, who comes, 



"flushed with a purple grace," 

 " Prouder than when blue Iris bends. " 



Even a mass of the despised stinging nettle is often worth visiting, from the 

 moths attracted to the "honey dew," on the leaves. On dull days many 

 Noctuse, as well as Geometers, may sometimes be found, at rest, on stumps, 

 stones, and leaves. 



Although the Collector's "sugar" is the great attraction to which the 

 Noctuse are drawn, 



"Swift, as with Dsedalean wing," 



to many members of this family light is equally alluring. In fact, bright 

 light seems to have a highly stimulating, dazzling, and no doubt, delightful 

 effect upon nearly the whole of the Lepidoptera : almost all butterflies, and 

 a large number of moths revel in the hottest sunshine ; while brilliant, arti- 

 ficial light seems so highly exciting that many moths "a death of rapture 

 dare" by rushing into the burning flame. Moreover, the Noctuae are not 

 alone open to the attraction of sweets ; at least some members of the other 

 great families of the Lepidoptera are equally so, whether in the form of 

 "sugar," of honey-scented flowers, or of ripe fruits. During this, the great 

 month for captures of Noctuse, the facts here briefly referred to should not 

 be forgotten. 



