86 WORK AT HOME AND IN THE FIELD 



Some will satisfy themselves by flying near the light in almost a 

 straight course, hardly slackening their speed as they pass ; or will, 

 perhaps, make a hurried curve round the light and then pass on at 

 once about other business. To catch these you must be always on 

 the alert, with net in hand, ready to make a dash at the right 

 moment. But many will make straight for the flame, and then, 

 finding a barrier in the form of gauze or glass, will either flutter 

 round and round as if dissatisfied with your attempt to save them 

 from an untimely end, or else settle quietly on the screen to enjoy 

 the brightness for a long period. The flutterers are usually easily 

 covered by a glass or the open cyanide bottle, and as for those that 

 settle down quietly, you can take them at your leisure. 



It will not do for a collector to depend solely on this method of 

 obtaining moths, but at times when either his duties or the bad 

 weather keeps him at home it affords him a means of capturing a 

 few specimens that otherwise would have been missed. He may 

 be even so busily engaged in other matters that he cannot afford 

 the time to stand and watch with net in hand, but the insects that 

 fly into his room and dance round the gas jet or inquisitively 

 examine the white surface of the ceiling are easily netted or boxed 

 without much loss of time. 



The chances of success at this kind of work will vary consider- 

 ably with the aspect, the season, and the weather. If your 

 window opens on a large flower or fruit garden, on a patch of 

 wooded country with plenty of underwood, a piece of waste ground 

 overgrown with rank vegetation, or a stretch of heath or moor, 

 then you may expect a very large number of visitors ; but if you 

 are situated on a level and barren country, or in the dense 

 atmosphere of a thickly populated district, you must not reckon on 

 many intruders. 



As regards the season, this is more extended than that of the 

 butterflies. A few species of moths may give you a call during 

 the bleak nights of October and November, and also during the 

 somewhat less dismal nights of February and March ; but from 

 April to September you may rely on a goodly number of captures. 

 Of course you will not expect many of the ' rarities ' and ' gems ' 

 to find you out ; these are to be searched for in the open field in 

 the manner to be presently described ; but your lights will attract a 

 large number of the commoner species of Geometrce and Noctuee, 

 the former chiefly during the early summer, and the latter more 

 or less throughout the season. 



