MOTH TRAPS. 



All collectors testify to the value of moth traps. Dr. William Barnes says: 

 "To get a good representation from any locality one must work night collecting 

 as well as sugaring and also day collecting, on flowers and other things." A lamp 

 set close to a closed window will often attract rare specimens, which may be taken 

 outside the glass, or they may fly into the house, if the window be open, or be 

 gathered on the show-windows along a sidewalk or around electric lights. All 

 traps are constructed upon the principle of the light in the window. They usually 

 consist of an oblong box, one end of which contains a lamp and reflector, and the 

 other end is open and contains a couple of panes of glass which reach from the 

 bottom of the box to within a couple of inches of the top. The panes are sepa- 

 rated by a space of three or four inches, incline inward at an angle, of say forty- 

 five degrees, and their edges rest in grooves in the two sides of the box. A third 

 pane of glass forms a partition in the box in front of the light, and just in front 

 of this partition is a circular hole in the bottom board of the trap, in which fits 

 the open mouth of a cyanide jar, or a funnel leading down to the jar. The moths . 

 climb up the inclined surfaces of the panes of glass, fly to the partition and drop 

 into the bottle. All the supply houses sell moth traps, but after seeing one any 

 carpenter can duplicate them. 



EFFICACY OF TRAPS. 



The late L. E. Ricksecker, of San Diego, wrote me: "I cannot sugar here, 

 for there are no trees to sugar on. I am using lantern traps and my catch in one 

 year was twenty-five thousand specimens. Of course there are many thousand 

 Micros, but they were all sold." Dr. William Barnes writes: "Some of our col- 

 lectors use a trap a good deal and catch an immense number of Micros. It is no 

 special effort to collect them, one merely fixing the trap at night and in the morn- 

 ing pinning up or laying the specimens between layers of cotton. They very 

 often get from five hundred to a thousand specimens a night." 



A HOME MADE NET. 



Elizabeth Lowrie, Mission San Jose, California, has made the following 

 excellent net: "The handle is a fifty-cent shotgun rod, the joints of which screw 

 together. A wire swab screws into the ferrule at the end, but we removed the 

 swab and soldered the screw to the loop of heavy wire. Any plumber can make 

 the loop and attach the screw or it can be done by a handy man at home. Of 

 course there are cheaper gun rods. This net frame, while strong, is much lighter 

 than those sold by the supply houses." 



SUGARING MIXTURE FOR DRY TOWNS. 



Miss Lowrie adds: "I find that when I make a mixture of berry pulp, from 

 which jelly has been made, and molasses, and spread it on the trees the moths come 

 better than when I use the beer mixture. I have used apple pearings and plums 

 cooked and mixed with molasses with some of the beer mixture added just before 

 using." 



A HANDY MORGUE. 



Miss Lowrie also adds: "We have a very handy 'morgue' made of a Cotto- 

 lene pail well paraffined before the cyanide was put into it. It is light to carry 

 about and the cover fits tightly. We also use powdered milk cans and jelly glasses 

 with tin covers for small cyanide receptacles. My brother has set glass in the 

 covers of some of our cans so we can see when a fly is ready to be put into the 

 morgue." 



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