CHAP. V.] 



HOW TO CATCH MOTHS. 



135 



Date. 



No. of 

 Mollis. 



Remarks. 



Brought forward 



1,245 





Jan. 12th 



56 



Showery. 



„ 13th 



44 



Showery ; some moonlight. 



„ 14th 



4 



Fine ; moonlight. 



„ 15th 



24 



Rain ; moonlight. 



„ 16th 



6 



Showers ; moonlight. 



„ 17th 



6 



Showers ; moonlight. 



„ 18th 



1 



Showers ; moonlight. 



Total . . 



1,386 





It thus appears that ou twenty-six nights I collected 

 1,386 moths, but that more than 800 of them were col- 

 lected on four very wet and dark nights. My success here 

 led me to hope that, by similar arrangements, I might in 

 every island be able to obtain abundance of these insects ; 

 but, strange to say, during the six succeeding years I was 

 never once able to make any collections at all approaching 

 those at Sarawak. The reason of this I can pretty well 

 understand to be' owing to the absence of some one or 

 other essential condition that were here all combined. 

 Sometimes the dry season was the hindrance ; more fre- 

 quently residence in a town or village not close to virgin 

 forest, aud surrounded by other* houses whose lights were 

 a counter-attraction; still more frequently residence in a 

 dark palm-thatched house, with a lofty roof, in whose 

 recesses every moth was lost the instant it entered. This 

 last was the greatest drawback, and the real reason why I 

 never again was able to make a collection of moths ; for 



