Butterflies and Moths (British)Furneaux, William S.
Science
Butterflies and Moths (British)
Furneaux, William S.
Butterflies -- Great Britain; Moths -- Great Britain
The apparatus required is extremely simple: A satchel or large pockets
full of small metal or chip boxes, a small garden trowel, and a strong
chisel.
If metal boxes are used they should be perforated; in fact, nothing is
better than the ordinary larva boxes of the dealers. All the boxes, of
whatever kind, should be lined with moss previous to starting work.
The trowel and chisel do not pack well with a number of small boxes,
therefore it is a good plan to fix them in a couple of leather sheaths
attached to your belt. In this position they are far more handy for use,
and the boxes are also in less danger of being crushed or damaged, as
they probably would be if in contact with hard and heavy tools.
A note book is also a valuable addition to your outfit, as it enables
you to make memoranda concerning the trees and localities from which you
obtain your pupae.
The best localities for pupa hunting are clearings in woods, parks with
numerous large timber trees, and meadows in which large isolated trees
are scattered; and the best trees include willows, poplars, oaks,
beeches, birches, elms, and hawthorns.
The best thing you can do on arriving at the selected hunting ground is
to make at once for isolated trees of large size, and work each one as
follows:
First examine well the crevices of the bark, for many caterpillars
descend the tree to within a short distance of the ground, and then seek
out a snug little crevice in which to spend the winter, often protecting
themselves with silken cocoons, or constructing a neat little shelter of
gnawed fragments of the wood cemented together.
If there is any loose bark, very carefully force it out with your
chisel, and examine both its inner surface and the wood from which it
was removed. The wood thus exposed may reveal openings of the galleries
of wood-eating larvae, in which case, unless the material is too hard to
be broken up with the chisel, you may be able to trace out a few pupae.
Where these exist, they are usually to be found very near the entrance,
sometimes even protruding slightly from the opening, for the larvae
generally place themselves in this position of easy escape when about to
change.
Next give your attention to the moss, if any, covering the lower portion
of the trunk. This affords a very favourite shelter to many species.
Tear it off very carefully, beginning at the top, and watch for loose
pupae and cocoons as you do so. Then hold the clumps you have removed
over a patch of bare ground or over a spread handkerchief, and pull it
to pieces, in order that any pupae it contains may fall out; also examine
the fragments carefully for others that may remain attached.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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