Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/401

Rh That man is feral, and a hunter by nature, is an obvious reflection, even when we step into the shop of an entomologist, such as Cooke's, in London. Nets, traps, and "fearsome gins" of all sorts and sizes meet the eye. Boxes, pins, dark-lanterns, in fact an array of implements too numerous to mention, are there displayed, and, whether we go a-hunting for game or for moths, the ingenuity of man has invented a large quantity of apparatus, by which the result may be obtained with the least exertion and the greatest certainty. Simplicity here as elsewhere is, after all, to be commended. A small folding-net which may be carried in the breast-pocket and afterward screwed to the end of a walking-cane, a poison-bottle, and a couple of boxes which may all be carried in the coat-pocket, are a sufficient outfit, and one with which great results in the moth line can be reached. The box for caterpillars should be of tin, and care must be exercised not to place too many together, since some kinds have strong cannibalistic tendencies and may devour each other before we get them safely home. But not only by day are moths captured. They fly readily to light in the evening, and the best results are obtained by spreading a bait, made of beer and molasses, with a paint-brush, on the trunks of trees standing free. In the spring and early summer this method of catching moths may be practiced with almost the certainty of taking many rarities. After this means the best plan is to watch the flowers which the moths frequent in the evening in search of natural sweets, and in which occupation we may fatally surprise them.

Having caught our moth in one way or another, it must be pinned and set, before placing it in the cabinet. In America the long German pins are used, especially manufactured for entomological purposes. The moth must be pinned directly through the center of the thorax, taking care to displace the scales as little as possible. Setting-boards are easily made by fastening two strips of soft pine-wood upon a thin board, near enough together to admit of the free passing of the body of the moth between them. They must be of several sizes, to correspond with the breadth of wing of the moths, which must be pinned with the body resting in the groove and the wings lying flat upon the strips. The board may be ruled across with lead-pencil, at different intervals, the lines serving as a guide to get the wings straight. With a bristle fastened to the end of a little stick, the front wings should be carried forward until their lower margin is about parallel with the hind edge of the thorax. They may be held in position by small three-cornered cardboard braces till all the wings are evenly placed, and then fastened down by strips of smooth paper, kept tightly in place by pins above and below the wings. It takes from a few days to a fortnight to properly dry the moths so that they can be placed in the cabinet.

Various and multiple are the store-boxes, implements, and "traps" of a moth-catcher. To describe them all would take a moderate-sized