The Library of Work and Play: Outdoor WorkMiller, Mary Rogers
Philosophy
The Library of Work and Play: Outdoor Work
Miller, Mary Rogers
Agriculture -- Juvenile literature
Some surprising facts are often discovered by accident. A breeding-cage
containing a female _Cecropia_, one of our largest and most beautiful
moths, was accidentally left near an open window over night. The next
morning between twenty and thirty moths of that species were found
fluttering about the cage. They had evidently been attracted from some
distance, but found their way to their imprisoned sister unerringly.
Collectors have many ways of capturing night flying moths. One way
is known as "sugaring." This consists of daubing a sticky, sweet
preparation on the trunks of trees and visiting the baits later in
the evening with cyanide jars and capturing the specimens which are
attracted by the odour to the feast set for them. It is unsportsmanlike
and entirely unnecessary to put any poisonous substance in the bait and
this practice should be darkly frowned upon.
The best places for sugaring are these: a strip of woodland edging a
stream, the rim of the woods adjoining an open field or pasture, old
roadways through woods of beech, oak, chestnut, or any mixed growth,
wooded slopes in city parks where there is some protecting undergrowth,
anywhere about the old groves surrounding country homes. Windy or wet
nights are not the best for sugaring, neither are moonlight nights.
The ideal night for this is the evening after a hot, sticky day in
late summer, the sky overcast and dark but not foggy. You will need a
lantern to work by. Keep calm. Quick, nervous movements frighten away
more moths than the light.
The following is the unspeakable concoction recommended by one
collector as "the best ever" for baiting moths:
Four pounds darkest sugar.
One quart New Orleans molasses.
One pint stale beer or ale. (This should have been allowed to stand
uncorked in a warm place for a week, before using it.)
Mix all together and heat gradually. Boil till about as thick as
varnish, which takes about five minutes. When cool add four ounces of
Jamaica rum. Cork loosely and keep in a cool place. The strong odour
of this mixture pervades the air for a long distance, and proves
attractive to the olfactories of moths though none of us would care to
have it about.
A good evening's work at sugaring ought to furnish moths enough to
keep you busy spreading all the next forenoon. A night in the cyanide
jar will do them no injury. It is well to have a pair of light pincers
to take specimens out with. If all are emptied out at once some will
dry too much before you are ready to spread them. Every time they are
handled they lose part of the scales and become slightly defective. If
practical, put the very large specimens into the jar hinder end first.
This will make it easier to get them out head first.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account