The Collector at Work 
So I have found it not a bad plan to shake the large 
flower-heads of the Ragwort over the open net—every- 
thing will fall in—7sen turn on the lamp. Thus nothing 
is lost—not even earwigs and other undesirables, 
Beautiful examples of the value of protective colour- 
ing are common amongst the moths. The reason for 
it is apparent. Moths rest during the day, just when 
their enemies are most active. They must either con- 
ceal themselves in dark corners, or so blend with their 
surroundings in the open that their detection is a matter 
of great difficulty. During the summer, rocks, walls, 
and tree-trunks, are the favoured resting-places of a 
regular succession of species. On the granite boulders 
of a rough hillside where Heather and Whortleberry 
abound, these moths may be found resting in dozens. 
They evidently find it safer there than in the Heather, 
which, truth to tell, is generally well stocked with 
lurking spiders, Moth-collecting under these circum- 
stances is something of a fine art. The pearly grey 
and gold of lichen, the weather-beaten mosaic of the 
granite, and the pattern on the moth’s wing, all blend in 
such a harmony of colour that even the most ex- 
perienced eye often fails to locate the prize it is search- 
ing for. But what the eye fails to detect a puff of the 
net will reveal, and many an alarmed insect, which 
would have lived to tell the tale had it sat tight and 
trusted to its disguise, is captured by the crafty collector. 
There are few places, from the summits of our highest 
mountains to the bottom of a mine, where moths of 
some kind may not be found. 
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