Butterflies and Moths (British)Furneaux, William S.
Science
Butterflies and Moths (British)
Furneaux, William S.
Butterflies -- Great Britain; Moths -- Great Britain
After satisfying yourself concerning the amount of sugar distributed,
retrace your steps, examining every patch of sugar as you go. It will
not be long before signs of life appear. Earwigs, spiders, centipedes
and slugs will soon search out the luscious feast, but unless the time
and the locality are ill chosen, the lantern will soon reveal a goodly
number of moths, with eyes glaring like little balls of fire, greedily
devouring the bounteous repast. These will consist chiefly of _Noctuae_,
but _Sphinges_, _Geometrae_ and numerous small species also join the
company.
Some will exhibit a restless disposition, either darting off before you
make a close approach, or keeping their wings in rapid vibration as if
to be fully prepared for a hasty retreat when occasion demands. These
must receive your attention first; and, having secured them, proceed to
box as many as you require of the more lazy and gluttonous species.
As a rule, moths thus engaged are easily pill-boxed, but the livelier
ones will not submit to such treatment without attempting to escape. The
best way to secure these is either to cover them with the opened cyanide
bottle (or its substitute), and replace the cork as soon as a favourable
opportunity occurs; or to perform the same feat with a glass-bottomed
pill box.
The advantage of the latter over the ordinary boxes will be seen at
once. After the insect is covered, its movements can be watched, and so
a favourable opportunity can be seized for snapping on the lid.
As already stated, some moths feign death when in danger, allowing
themselves to fall in places where they are often quite safe from
capture. Others allow themselves to fall simply because they have so
gorged themselves with the intoxicating sweet that they can no longer
maintain their hold. Both these classes of sugar seekers may easily be
secured by means of a net commonly known as the 'sugaring net.'
[Illustration: FIG. 54.--FRAME FOR THE SUGARING NET.]
This implement is so simple in its construction that anyone can easily
make his own. The frame may consist of two straight wires or canes fixed
in a metal Y, and the other ends joined by a piece of strong string or
catgut as shown in fig. 54. The net itself need not be deep. As soon as
you reach a tree where moths are feeding on the sugar, press the string
of the net against the bark just below them. The string at once assumes
the form of the trunk so well that you may be sure of every insect that
falls while you are boxing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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