32 NATURALISTS' ASSISTANT. 



Having prepared the box the larvae should be collected and 

 placed in it. With each larva should .he collected portions 

 of the plant on which it feeds and these should be placed in 

 the box, inserting the ends of the twigs in the earth. When 

 they show signs of wilting new leaves should be collected 

 and the old ones removed. 



Drawings should be made of each species of larvae at its 

 various stages, and in the notes which every naturalist should 

 keep, should be noted the food plant of the larva, the dates 

 of pupation and of the emergence of the imago, and every 

 other item which will serve to elucidate the life history ot 

 the insect. Frequently it is well, when a female insect has 

 been obtained, to attempt to rear others from the egg. The 

 insect should be furnished with that kind of food most 

 relished by the larva and allowed to deposit its eggs on it. 

 The date of oviposition, the size and shape of the eggs with 

 their markings and ornamentation and the date of hatching, 

 should be carefully preserved by means of notes and drawings. 

 Many of the coleopterous and dipterous larvae are car- 

 nivorous and should be supplied with meat. Other larvae are 

 aquatic and these must be reared in aquaria, over the top of 

 which gauze or musquito netting has been stretched. The 

 breeding cage should be kept in a light, airy position but 

 should not be exposed to the direct rays of the sun. The 

 earth in the bottom should be kept moist, otherwise the 

 health of the larva is endangered. 



Mcst larvae enter the pupa stage in the fall, some climbing 

 up the wall of the cage and spinning a cocoon, while others 

 burrow in the earth and there pass the chrysalis portion of 



