CATCHING BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 



91 



watched, and at other times the blossoms of heather, ragwort, 

 bramble, clover, and various other flowers must be searched. 



As you cast the rays of the lantern on the feasting moths some 

 will prove themselves very wary, and dart away at your approach ; 

 but others will take but little notice of your advance, and will 

 continue to suck the sweet nectar, their eyes glaring like living 

 sparks. 



As a rule the Noctuce thus engaged are easily pill-boxed or 

 caught direct in the cyanide bottle ; but a few of the more restless 

 species are to be made sure of only by a sweep of the net. Some 

 will feign death as soon as disturbed, and allow themselves to drop 

 among the foliage, where further search is generally fruitless. 



Another common difficulty arises 

 from the inconvenient height of many 

 of the attractive blossoms often so 

 great that it is impossible to reach 

 them with the net, and very difficult 

 to direct the rays of your lantern on 

 them. This is particularly the case 

 with sallow and ivy, the 

 flowers of which are two 

 rich sources of supply 

 to the entomologist. 



Those who intend 

 giving special attention 

 to these blossoms should 

 be provided with some 

 form of apparatus that 



will enable them to extend their operations as high as possible. 

 Perhaps the most effective arrangement is the well-known combina- 

 tion here figured. It consists of a long and stout stick, at the top of 

 which is a tubular joint (fig. 52) that might be termed a T-piece 

 were it not that the smaller part does not stand out at right angles 

 to the other. In this is fixed, in a straight line with the stick, a 

 short rod on which hangs a lantern an ordinary bull's-eye answers 

 well here ; and in the smaller tube is another short rod carrying a 

 shallow basin-shaped net, and of such a length that the net is just 

 in advance of the lantern. 



At first sight this arrangement will strike you as being very 

 unsatisfactory, there being no kind of trap to prevent the escape of 

 the insects. But it must be remembered that moths are more or 



FIG. 52. 



FIG. 53 NET AND LANTERN 

 FOB TAKING MOTHS FROM 

 HIGH BLOSSOMS. 



