262 TIIE BUTTERFLY VIVARIUM. 



till one or two in the morning. Several other kinds 

 may he taken at the same season. 



But earlier in the autumn, and especially during 

 the period of high summer, a good collection of 

 Moths may he made any evening hy sitting quietly 

 in a well-lighted drawing-room; the only imple- 

 ment necessary heing a light gauze net fixed at the 

 end of a long slender handle. The scaly-winged 

 visitors will not cease dropping in in rapid succes- 

 sion from early dusk till dawn, each species having 

 its unvarying period of flight, so that, with a little 

 practice, the watcher might tell the time of night 

 pretty accurately hy the arrival of the different 

 species. Much amusement is afforded to the really 

 interested student, hy ohserving the peculiarly 

 characteristic flight of each insect; some dart to- 

 wards the ground, as JPheosia Dictcea, known as 

 the " SAvallow Prominent," in consequence of its 

 resembling them in the swiftness of its flight and 

 also in the tones of its colouring. It belongs to 

 a class of Moths Avhich have a slight prominence on 

 the hinder margin of the anterior wings, and the 

 Caterpillars having also curious humps on some of 

 the segments ; the class has been popularly distin- 

 guished by collectors as the "Prominents." One of 

 these, in fact, bears the specific name of Drome- 



