70 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



worse than labour in vain. But even these " resurrection men/'' as they have 

 been aptly termed, are far from infallible, and it is nothing unusual to find 

 them digging up a name to be foisted upon us for a time until their blunder is 

 detected, and the well-known name restored. To illustrate this point, I will 

 give illustrations from the catalogues of Dr. Staudinger and Mr. Kirby, 

 and if these really painstaking industrious men can err, we need not expect 

 better from the smaller fry, who take their references at second-hand. 



(To be concluded in our next.) 



COLLECTING LEPIDOPTERA AT TANSY 

 FLOWERS. 



By WILLIAM REID. 



During the month of August, 1887, I spent several nights working the 

 flowers of the common tansy, and, as on that occasion, I was eminently suc- 

 cessful, and as it is a flower which is very seldom worked by the young en- 

 tomologist — especially those residing inland — 1 have appended a list of my 

 captures, in the hope that others may try the sign of the tansy, as 1 am con- 

 fident they will find it the best natural attraction they have ever tried. 



My hunting ground was a long stretch of waste-land, extending from 

 Pitcaple to Pittodrie Wood, a distance of about a mile, and was bordered on 

 one side by the railway, and on the other by cultivated fields, with woods in 

 the immediate vicinity. Within this narrow stripe were hundreds of tansies, 

 all in splendid flower, and on several nights their attractions proved to be 

 quite irresistible to insects of every description, and I shall not soon forget 

 the sight that was disclosed to view when the lantern was brought to bear 

 upon the flower heads There were not only moths and bees by dozens, but 

 also spiders, caddis-flies, caterpillars, snails, earwigs, beetles, and flies of 

 every description enjoying the banquet. 



Yery few require the net to capture them, the greater number sitting 

 quietly enough until they are boxed. So that all that is required is a lantern, 

 matches, and a plentiful supply of chip boxes, which can be carried to the 

 field in a satchel, and put into the pocket as they are filled. 



As it is rather a difficult operation to keep the rays of the lantern directed 

 on the plant while boxing an insect, perhaps it may not be out of place to 

 describe the way I have found best. A small pocket lantern should be got, 

 say 6^ inches by 3| inches and 2 inches deep, which should be placed up- 

 right in the palm of the left hand, and the bottom grasped between the root 

 of the thumb and the tips of the third and fourth fingers, this leaves the 



