SALLOWS AND IVY. 69 



near, and you will soon have a chance of catching the rover ; 

 but, as he conies like a whirlwind, it is most likely you will 

 miss him if you strike too soon : the Fabian policy is the best, 

 and you will succeed by delay." It is a common plan with the 

 collectors in the north, when they have reared a female of the 

 Fox-moth, or any of its allies, to take her to some locality fre- 

 quented by the species, and, by means of her attractive powers, 

 gain possession of many of her gallant admirers. The lady, of 

 course, is safely secured from her suitors, who, with a marvellous 

 power of discovering her whereabouts, come hurrying on from 

 all points of the compass, and crowd about her cage perfectly 

 regardless of their own safety. There are several of these wild, 

 day-flying Moths, including the beautiful Kentish Glory (Endro- 

 mis versicolor") the males of which may be taken by this means 

 far more readily than by any other, though it generally happens 

 that their headlong flight has considerably damaged their ap- 

 pearance. 



In addition to these modes of capture, which the collector 

 devises for himself, twice in the year, at least, he finds a glorious 

 opportunity of adding to his store provided ready to his hands. 

 The first of these comes with 



" The satin-shining palm, 



On sallows in the windy gleams of March," 



and the second, towards the close of autumn, when the ivy puts 

 out its rich clusters of colourless blossoms. " Sallows " and 

 " ivy," therefore, are most suggestive words to the collector of 

 our nocturnal Lepidoptera, reminding him of occasions when, 

 with little trouble, he may gain possession of several much- 

 coveted species, not otherwise easy to obtain. The truth is, that 

 the " palm" of the sallows, and the more ordinary blossoms of 

 the ivy, not only attract the Moths in great abundance, but seem 

 to have the same intoxicating influence over them as the pre- 

 pared " sugar," so that the collector has but to go with his lantern 

 after dark and beat the bushes over his net to make sure of a 

 plentiful supply of incapables, from which he can select the prizes 

 at leisure. 



Nothing is more curious than the striking differences which 

 obtain with respect to the area over which certain insects are 



