fen, or moor, should furnish ample employment and keep the collector actively engaged until the time arrives for a first round of the trees upon which he has spread a dainty repast for the night-flying Noctuidæ, and those members of the Arctiidæ and Geometridæ, etc., that frequently look in where sweets are to be obtained.
Fig. 12.
A Ride in the New Forest.
Fig. 13.
Moths at a Sugar patch.
This sugaring business is perhaps the most exciting phase of collecting. Having prepared a fine compound of coarse brown or "foots" sugar, treacle, and beer, by boiling down these ingredients to a suitable liquid condition, this is taken to the scene of action in a sugaring tin, a receptacle fitted with a brush which is fixed in the screw-on top; or the attracting medium may be carried in any kind of convenient bottle providing a paintbrush (sash tool) and a jampot or some such article accompany it. Arrived on the ground, preferably a wood, a ride is selected along each side of which are convenient trees. A glade such as that in the New Forest, photographed by Mr. W. J. Lucas, and reproduced in Fig. 12, is an ideal pitch. Just before using, a very small quantity of rum may be added to the mixture, but if "foots" can be obtained the rum is not required. In the autumn I have found a drop or two of the essence of
jargonelle pear, or of ribstone pippin, an effective addition. Now comes the initial stage in the night's venture, the "sugar" is put on each tree in a streak extending downwards about a foot from the level of one's chin; if thin enough to spread easily the mixture is almost certain to run further down the trunk. Whilst employed in this somewhat messy preliminary we meditate on the possible result, and hope that if visitors are not numerous they may at least be select. Lighting the lantern, the first round of inspection of the sugar patches is made, but this may not be altogether encouraging; on only one tree are there any moths and these but three in number, and not uncommon kinds (see Fig. 13). The second and even the third rounds do not
give the satisfactory results we had anticipated, and we feel inclined to retire discomfited; but as a sort of forlorn hope we try once again, and this time we secure one or two really good things. Another night moths arrive quite early and in large numbers, chiefly commoners, but with a sprinkling of the better sorts among them. Just what meteorological or other conditions are most conducive to a successful sugaring expedition I have never been able to ascertain. Often blanks have been drawn when the weather has seemingly been the most favourable, and quite as frequently good bags have been made when exactly the reverse was thought to be more likely. If the natural attractions