19° [Proc. B.N.F.C.,. 



first year, and among them as a certainty S. Carpini, L. Quercus> 

 and Rubi, which, with the Tiger moth and the Ermines caja y 

 Plantaginis, fuliginosa, Jacob cece, will make an attractive drawer. 

 Time would not permit me to go through all the families thus. 

 I would, therefore, briefly summarise. An energetic collector 

 should in this immediate neighbourhood be able to place in his 

 cabinet the first year, 17 Butterflies, 5 Sphinges, 80 stout-bodied 

 Moths, Bombyces, and Noctuae, and 35 or 40 Geometrse. 



I must now say a few words with respect to the mode of capture* 

 and this I will consider under three heads — capture of imago, 

 pupa, and larva. 



I. — As to the capture of the day-flying imago, I always use 

 a ring net, two or three tight-fitting tin boxes, with false bottoms 

 of perforated cork, and a small collecting box, corked both above 

 and below, made like a backgammon board. The net is made 

 of strong brass wire, with a joint in the centre, so that when folded 

 it is in the form of a sickle, and hooks on my shoulder under my 

 coat, where it may be carried without inconvenience and without 

 observation. When it is opened two rings, formed by the ends 

 of the wire, come into line, and fit on the end of an ordinary 

 walking-stick. This net can be unfolded in a moment, even when 

 the collector is at full speed, and can be used, either in the hand 

 without a stick or fixed on a stick, without a moment's delay. 

 Its simplicity and cheapness also commend it. The close-fitting 

 tin boxes I use as killing boxes — two or three of these will be 

 found sufficient. They may be made with a perforated bottom 

 of tin, as described in Mr. Greene's Insect-hunter's Companion. 

 I use a bottom of perforated cork. Under this bottom is placed 

 poison, and when an insect is captured and shut into the box 

 a very short time is sufficient to render it insensible. It should 

 as soon as possible be removed to the cork collecting box, and 

 then transfixed with a fine entomological pin, to prevent the down 

 on the wings from being rubbed off by knocking about loose in 

 the box. There should be poison also in a corner of the collecting 

 box, to prevent the return of the insect to life after it has been 



