S-1141001_COMPLETO.pdf

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APH0RI8MATA ENT0M0L0GICA.
The following is a much more elaborate method, invented and adopted
by my friend, the Eev. Francis Lockey, of Swanswick Cottage, near
Bath, to whom, knowing how successful he had formerly been in its
practical operation, I wrote for particulars, which he has obligingly
furnished me with, as follows:—
"Many years have elapsed since I have engaged in entomological
pursuits, but I most readily reply to your inquiry as to the mode
adopted of moth capturing at night.
The windows of my study, partly for this purpose, and partly to secure
more equable temperature, are double. Each window consists of two
pairs of sashes, with a light mullion of wood between the interior pair.
To make it more clear I have sketched an horizontal section, wherein
A represents part of the thickness of the wall of the apartment; B and
c are sections of the outer window-frame; and D and E are sections of
the inner window-frame. (See plate at end.) The outer window opens
outwards, and the inner window inwards, as indicated by the arrows near
c and E. At F and G two small rings are fixed, and to these are
fastened cat-gut strings, marked by the dotted fines which pass through
the mullion H, and enable one to open and close these exterior windows
without the inconvenience of opening the interior. I ought to explain
that when the cat-gut strings are set free, (in the room,) the windows
open freely under the influence of a weight and lever, not shewn in the
sketch, and in fact concealed in a trunk or box in the thickness of the
wall at A. The space between the two windows is about six or seven
inches.
Evening having arrived, the outer windows were allowed to open, as
in the sketch at Fig. 2, and a lamp L placed on a shelf within the
inner window. This lamp was an Argand, and moreover furnished with
a powerful Parabolic Reflector, about sixteen inches in diameter.
The moths usually announced themselves by striking against the interior
window, D or E. The cat-gut string at H was then pulled, (H F, H G,)
and the capture being thus enclosed in the space betAveen the windows was
readily reduced to a closer captivity either for examination or possession.
On a few occasions the window has been perfectly besieged by moths,
and 'at one haul,' I think it was in the beginning of one July, some
hundreds of moths were enclosed.
To effect this second or closer capture it was of course necessary to
use only one hand, which Avas armed therefore with a gauzed forceps,
or, which I found more convenient, a large bell wine glass fitted up