90 WORK AT HOME AND IN THE FIELD 



After a time, however, the lantern will have to be brought to 

 your assistance in making known the whereabouts of the later 

 species, consisting chiefly of the Noctuce, many of which do not 

 make their appearance till it is quite dark. If now you carry your 

 lantern in your left hand, your work will be rendered somewhat 

 difficult and tedious, for, although one hand is sufficient to manage 

 the net properly, you are compelled to rest your light on the ground 

 every time you make a capture, as it is impossible to box your 

 specimens unless both hands are quite free. This difficulty is easily 

 overcome by suspending the lantern by means of a string or strap 

 placed round your neck, allowing it to hang on your chest ; and a 

 further advantage is gained by having a second strap round your 

 chest to prevent it from swaying about with every movement of 

 your body. This arrangement gives you both hands perfectly free 

 during the whole time, and also prevents the necessity of con- 

 tinually bringing yourself into a stooping or kneeling posture 

 while you are examining or boxing the specimens you have 

 netted. 



There are now two courses open to you. Either you can kill 

 and pin the moths as you catch them, fixing each one securely in 

 the collecting box, or you may simply shut each one in a separate 

 pill box and leave the remainder of the work to be done at home. 

 If the ordinary collecting box only is used, a little of your time is 

 necessarily occupied in pinning and transferring, and if many 

 insects are about such an occupation may appear to you to be a 

 waste of valuable time. But this is not all. Often and often will 

 you find that while thus engaged a splendid moth will come and 

 flutter round your light ; and, before you have time to drop your 

 collecting box and pick up the net, the fine creature you would 

 have prized has darted off again. This certainly seems to speak in 

 favour of the pill-boxing method, but it must be remembered that 

 a few of the moths will continue to flutter after they have been 

 boxed, so that when you arrive home they are more or less 

 damaged, a large number of the scales that once adorned the wings 

 now lying on the sides and bottom of the boxes. Perhaps the best 

 plan is to take both the collecting box and also a quantity of pill 

 boxes, and a little experience will soon show you which is the 

 better accommodation for certain kinds. 



Particular attention must be paid to flowers, some of which are 

 very attractive to the Noctuce especially. Sallow blossom in spring 

 and ivy bloom in autumn should be carefully and frequently 



