Another favorite method of collecting moths early in the evening, or as late as or later than midnight, is by sugaring. This consists in smearing a mixture of sugar and vinegar, or some similar compound, on the bark of trees or on the boards of fences, and visiting the spot from time to time to collect the moths attracted to the bait. It has been found that the use of beer or some other alcoholic liquor, as rum or brandy, with the sugar or molasses water, greatly adds to its efficiency in attracting the moths. This method of collecting moths will be found especially efficient on warm, moist, cloudy nights. The collector should be provided with a dark lantern and a good net, and a number of wide-mouthed cyanide collecting bottles. The smearing should be done just before dark, and I have always found that better success attends this method of collecting when two are engaged in it—one to hold a bull's eye lantern while the other bottles the specimens. Experience will soon teach the surest way of approaching and capturing the specimens.
For collecting Microlepidoptera, in addition to the ordinary net, some special apparatus will be found very essential. Lord Walsingham makes use of a special glass-bottomed pill-box, with which to capture specimens, and the satisfactory nature of the work done with this box, and the dexterity acquired by practice with it, I can vouch for by personal experience. These glass pill-boxes are useful, also, in admitting of the examination of specimens, so that worthless or common species can be discarded and only desired forms kept. The method of holding these boxes is illustrated in the accompanying illustrations. (Figs. 72, 73.) A drop of chloroform on the bottom of the box at once stupefies the capture so that it can be taken out and otherwise disposed of.
Fig. 73.—Same, showing method of closing pill-box
after the specimen is secured (original).
The necessity of rearing to obtain perfect specimens is even more important in the case of the Microlepidoptera than with the larger forms, and many species are very easily reared and can thus be obtained in quantity. The Micros are abundant from early spring to late fall about shrubbery, in open fields, and along the edges of woods. They are, for the most part, day fliers, being on the wing chiefly in the latter part of the day and early evening. As soon as collected they should be transferred to pill-boxes and the greatest care should be exercised to avoid mutilating them, as the slightest touch will denude them of a portion of their scales or break their limbs or antennæ. Lord Walsingham thus gives his experience in collecting Micros:
I go out with a coat provided with large pockets inside and out, containing an assortment of pill-boxes, generally of three sizes, glass-bottomed pill-boxes preferred, a bag slung over my shoulder, and a net. Unless searching for particular day-flying species, I prefer the last three hours before dark. As the sun goes down many species move which do not stir at other times. I watch the tops of the grass, the stems of the flowers, the twigs of the trees; I disturb leaves and low-growing plants with a short switch and secure each little moth that moves, taking each out of the net in a separate pill-box, selected according to the size of the insect, as he runs up the net to escape. Transferring the full boxes to the bag I continue the process until moths cease flying or night sets in. Many species can be taken with a lamp after dark.
[Collecting the early States.]—The careful entomologist who prides himself on the appearance of his specimens, will, as stated above, rely largely on collecting the early states and on rearing the insects, for his material. The Macrolepidoptera have either a single or two broods, or more, in a season, and the collection of the early states will be greatly facilitated if a knowledge of the insect's life-habits is first obtained. The eggs are often found on the food plants of the species, and where they are deposited in masses they afford a very easy method of getting the larvæ in numbers. In many cases, however, the eggs are deposited singly and their discovery then becomes a difficult matter.
More satisfactory in some respects is the method of obtaining the eggs from captured gravid females, and the general collector should always be on the lookout for females of rare species from which he may be able to obtain eggs. A single battered female may, in this way, be the source of large numbers of excellent reared specimens. Many rare Lepidopterous larvæ may be obtained by the use of the beating net and by beating foliage over an umbrella. A very satisfactory method consists in collecting pupæ, which may frequently be found in numbers about the bases of the trees on which the larvæ feed. Many larvæ of the large family of Owlet Moths (Noctuidæ) are found either on the surface of the ground or under various substances, while others burrow into the stems of the different herbaceous plants, some being subaquatic and feeding on the underside of leaves or in the stems of aquatic plants. In the case of Microlepidoptera, their habit as larvæ, of mining leaves or tying or webbing them together, affords an easy means of detecting their presence in most cases. The miners are easily noticed by the discolored spots on the leaves or the wavy, pale, or brown lines marking their burrows. The presence of others is indicated by the leaves being drawn together and united with webs, or withered and brown from being skeletonized by the larvæ. Many species are case-bearers, and live upon the leaves and branches of trees and plants, dragging their cases along with them. Others burrow in grasses or in the stems of plants or the trunks of trees, or in fungi. In the case of the leaf-miners and leaf-tiers, little difficulty is experienced in rearing the imagoes.
The care of the larvæ, the outfit required, and the methods of breeding will be described in later sections.