184 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



for taking Moths, which may afford a hint to those who are 

 desirous of studying this interesting and extensive group. 

 He says: " My success in obtaining Lepidoptera, to which 

 I ain particularly attached, I owe to the use of a lamp : 

 during the moonless nights of summer I sit with a Sinumbra 

 lamp, and perhaps one or two smaller ones, placed on a 

 table close to the window. The Moths speedily enter the 

 room, if the weather be warm, and I have had a levee of 

 more than a hundred between the hours of ten and twelve. 

 I have, for experiment's sake, sat up till three o'clock, 

 when the whole heaven was bright with the rising sun, 

 and Moths of various kinds have never ceased arriving in 

 succession till that time. In the spring and autumn I have 

 been frequently very fortunate, though generally having 

 my patience sufficiently tried. If at any time of the year 

 a warm mist pervade the air, there is almost a certainty of 

 success ; but should any one be induced by this account to 

 try the lamp, he must make up his mind to experience more 

 unfavourable evenings than favourable. There is, however, 

 this advantage in my sedentary plan of mothing, that it 

 can be combined with reading or writing ; and the intervals 

 between the arrivals need not be lost." 



The extensive family Ichneumonidce presents many very 



