296 PRACTICAL TAXIDEBMT. 



tlie next morning. On this night everything swarmed, a 

 hundred or more common things on one patch of sugar being 

 of frequent occurrence. Moonlight nights are, as a rule, blank 

 ones for the " sugarer " — (Do the moths fly high to the light ?) 

 — but I once had a grand capture of many specimens of the 

 "sword-grass" {C. exoleta) on a bright moonlight and very 

 windy night in February; and Dr. Knaggs says that on one 

 occasion he met with night-flying moths literally swarming on 

 a sugared fence in a field once in his possession, whither, in the 

 small hours, he had taken a stroll with a friend on the brightest 

 moonlight morning it was ever his lot to behold. 



Many nights which appear the most favourable will, on the 

 contrary, be unaccountably disappointing; not a single moth 

 will make its appearance. The presence of ground-fog, " honey- 

 dew," more attractive flowers, or a coming change of wind or 

 temperature (nothing caring to stir in an east, north, or north- 

 east wind) will sometimes account for this. 



" Showers, rain, thunderstorms, provided they are accompanied 

 by warmth, are," says Dr. Knaggs, " very favourable, and the 

 catch during these conditions of the atmosphere will generally 

 repay the inconvenience of a wet jacket. On one terrible night, 

 when the lightning was perfectly terrific, almost blinding even, 

 though my companion's eyes and mine were kept upon our work, 

 an incredible profusion of moths of various kinds were hustling 

 one another for a seat at the festive board, and continued thus 

 to employ themselves until a deluge of rain swept both sweets 

 and moths away from their positions. On another stormy 

 night, I well remember having counted no less than a hundred 

 and fifty moths of several sorts and sizes struggling for the 

 possession of two small patches of sugar. Perhaps the best 

 condition of the air may be described as cloudy overhead, but 

 clear and free from ground-fog near the earth ; and when this 

 state of things has been preceded by sultry weather, and a 

 steady west, south, or south-west wind is blowing at the time, 

 the collector need not fear the result, for he can hardly fail to 

 be successful." 



July is usually one of the very best months for sugaring, 

 and, if warm, what can be more charming than to select a fine 

 night at this season of the year and to spend it in the woods ? 



