XXX 
THE HABITS AND STRUCTURE OF MOTHS. 
boiled together until the preparation becomes thick. There 
are two ways of applying the bait. It may be smeared with 
a brush on the trunks of trees, fences, &c., in a suitable 
locality, or slices of dried apple or pear may be soaked in it 
and suspended from branches by a string. The sugar should 
be applied about dusk, and the best time is on dark sultry 
nights in summer. The collector goes round at intervals of 
an hour or two with a lantern and a poison bottle, into which 
the sluggish moths can easily be pushed by a touch of the 
finger. 
The attraction which a light has for moths and other 
nocturnal insects is well known to every one. It is used by 
entomologists to entice moths. A strong lamp fixed in a 
lantern and raised on a pole is the best. The moths which 
come to the light can then be netted by the collector who 
stands underneath. It is well to spread out a white sheet on 
the ground under the lamp, in order that fallen moths may 
readily be seen and captured. 
Moths must be set as soon as possible after they have been 
taken, as they very quickly become rigid, especially in hot 
weather, or if chloroform has been used to kill them. Two 
kinds of setting-boards are in use. The best of these consists 
of two flat pieces of smooth soft deal about a foot long, half 
to one inch deep, and varying from half-an-inch, or smaller, to 
4 or 5 inches in breadth. These are fixed to a board in such 
a manner as to leave an interval equal to the breadth of the 
moth’s body between them. Sometimes they are made with 
a sliding action so as to accommodate them to the thickness 
of the body. At the bottom of the groove thus formed is 
placed a strip of cork or turf. The moth is pinned through 
the middle of the thorax at such a level that when the pin 
is placed in the groove the wings are flush with the sides of 
the setting-board. The body is supported by a little bit of 
card on a pin, or by a paper brace fixed by a pin on each 
side. The wings are now spread out, being drawn open with 
a blunt pin or needle, fixed on a pen handle, which must be 
used carefully so as to avoid tearing the wings. When set, 
the wings are kept in position either by narrow strips of 
paper with pins at intervals, or by wedge-shaped braces of 
thin cardboard, each of which requires only one pin in its 
thickest part, the narrow end of the wedge being placed 
over the wings. The other form of setting-board has sloping 
sides and a shallow groove, so that the insects set by it are 
low on the pin. The great advantage of the first kind of 
setting is that the moths are well out of the reach of mites. 
Setting-houses fitted up with a number of setting-boards 
