26 
E. W. BOWYEE—METHODS OF MOTH-COLLECTING. 
baits for moths—different flower-heads. The common thistle and 
knapweed have a great and very seductive power; moths may be 
freely boxed from them in a perfectly quiescent state. Every one 
is familiar with the catkins of the great sallow, popularly known 
as the palm; but it would astonish those who have not had 
experience if they were to go to a sallow bush in full bloom, 
armed with an old umbrella or piece of cloth, and shake the bush 
into it. The moths will tumble literally by dozens in an almost 
stupefied state, and those wanted may be selected. There are a 
few common species out at that time of year which particularly 
frequent the sallow catkins, but here and there stragglers of good 
species may be taken. Last April I was in the New Eorest with 
some friends who took interest in the subject, but were not 
collectors; they were astonished at the result of one shake of the 
tree, and told me that they saw more moths fall from that one 
shake than they had seen in their lives before. 
Ivy-bloom in October is almost as productive, but in this respect 
my own experience has been small. 
Some good collecting may be done in the suburbs of London and 
elsewhere at the public gas-lamps. I have seen one or two of the 
lamps near All Saints’ Church in Hertford covered with moths, 
waiting peacefully, as it were, for admission. 
Again, there are various forms of moth-traps in which the moth 
is attracted towards a light, from which, by various arrangements, 
it is hard to escape. I had in working order last summer one of 
these traps ; I lit this every night before dusk, and got our watch¬ 
man to put the light out and shut the apparatus up at daybreak; 
it was always interesting to go in the morning to see what was 
there. I made a list of considerably over a hundred species caught 
in this way; none of them rare, but several of moths which I had 
hitherto been able to take only sparingly and at long intervals. 
I have still to mention one way of catchingmoths—that of sugaring. 
It is a method which has not many attractions for me personally; 
but it is a method by which many species have been first discovered 
in England, by which many species, before thought rare, have been 
taken commonly, and by which alone some insects are to be taken 
in abundance. To put it briefly, it is this: mix some coarse sugar, 
or treacle, with beer; add a little rum or a few drops of essence of 
pear or almond, or use simply the beer and sugar ; and smear a small 
patch on the trunk, on the leeward side if it is windy, of trees in 
a more or less open position, just before dusk. After dusk go 
round with a lantern and boxes; if it is a favourable night, plenty 
of moths will be there, and can easily be boxed. It is a common 
idea that they get stuck to the sugar and can be taken the next 
morning. As a matter of fact they come soon after nightfall or 
not at all, stay a limited time, and then disappear. Some common 
moths, Xylophasia polyodon for instance, of large powers of con¬ 
sumption, come early and stay late, without any attempt to move; 
others are very unsettled and will fly off or fall to the ground when 
the light is thrown on them, Moths are very capricious in their 
