Butterflies and Moths (British)

by William S. Furneaux

The simplest way of putting this mode of capture into effect is to post yourself at your open window, with net and cyanide bottle at hand, while the brightest light you can command casts its rays as far and as wide as possible into darkness outside. If you use an oil lamp for the purpose, let it stand just inside the window frame, or, if a jointed gas bracket happens to be situated beside the window, bend it round so that the rays may pass over a wide area outside.

Two such lights are sometimes a very decided advantage—one quite outside the window to attract the moths from all possible points, and then another near the middle of the room to invite them inside. Whether you use either one or two lights, always see that it or they are so surrounded by a screen that the moths cannot by any possibility rush into the flame. There is nothing better for this purpose than a covering of light gauze, for this is not only a barrier for the prevention of the suicidal tendencies of the insects, but it also gives a good foothold to those who would like to rest and enjoy the luminous feast.

You will soon begin to learn that moths, like ourselves, exhibit great differences in their ways of enjoying their festal moments.

Some will satisfy themselves by flying near the light in almost a straight course, hardly slackening their speed as they pass; or will, perhaps, make a hurried curve round the light and then pass on at once about other business. To catch these you must be always on the alert, with net in hand, ready to make a dash at the right moment. But many will make straight for the flame, and then, finding a barrier in the form of gauze or glass, will either flutter round and round as if dissatisfied with your attempt to save them from an untimely end, or else settle quietly on the screen to enjoy the brightness for a long period. The flutterers are usually easily covered by a glass or the open cyanide bottle, and as for those that settle down quietly, you can take them at your leisure.

It will not do for a collector to depend solely on this method of obtaining moths, but at times when either his duties or the bad weather keeps him at home it affords him a means of capturing a few specimens that otherwise would have been missed. He may be even so busily engaged in other matters that he cannot afford the time to stand and watch with net in hand, but the insects that fly into his room and dance round the gas jet or inquisitively examine the white surface of the ceiling are easily netted or boxed without much loss of time.

The chances of success at this kind of work will vary considerably with the aspect, the season, and the weather. If your window opens on a large flower or fruit garden, on a patch of wooded country with plenty of underwood, a piece of waste ground overgrown with rank vegetation, or a stretch of heath or moor, then you may expect a very large number of visitors; but if you are situated on a level and barren country, or in the dense atmosphere of a thickly populated district, you must not reckon on many intruders.

As regards the season, this is more extended than that of the butterflies. A few species of moths may give you a call during the bleak nights of October and November, and also during the somewhat less dismal nights of February and March; but from April to September you may rely on a goodly number of captures. Of course you will not expect many of the 'rarities' and 'gems' to find you out; these are to be searched for in the open field in the manner to be presently described; but your lights will attract a large number of the commoner species of Geometræ and Noctuæ, the former chiefly during the early summer, and the latter more or less throughout the season.

A little experience will show you that the atmospheric conditions form a very important consideration. The dark and warm nights are the most productive. Very little luck is to be anticipated when the full moon is throwing down her silvery rays from a clear sky; nor will you see many while a cold east or north-east wind is blowing. Under these conditions many moths prefer to keep in the sheltered nooks where they slept away the sunny hours of the day. They love a warm and moist air such as calls forth the odours of the fragrant blossoms that provide their sweets, and show no dislike to a fine drizzling rain that you yourself would prefer to avoid. A pelting shower will generally keep them under cover, but they delight in the fresh and moist air that immediately succeeds the passing storm.