THE REARING OF LEPIDOPTERA, &C. 29 



the tail and a filament at each side, as do the Papilio, &c., or suspended by 

 the tail alone, head down, as do the Vanessans, &c. ; in a couple of weeks the 

 butterfly will emerge and you will thus get specimens in the greatest perfec- 

 tion ; to the entirely uninitiated I might as well mention that the butterfly, 

 on emerging, will have the wings exceedingly small, scarce one-fifth of '.the 

 length that they will be when fully developed ; all you will have to do is to 

 let the butterfly alone it knows its own business best and, as soon as it 

 finds a suitable "place to hang on by, its wings will begin to develop or grow 

 under your eyes, and in a short time, a quarter to a half hour or so, will reach 

 their full size and beauty, but it takes an hour or so longer for them to get 

 their strength. 



If yourlarvte be of the fall brood, the fly will not emerge until the follow- 

 ing spring, remaining in the chrysalis all winter ; but if you put the box con- 

 taining the chrysalids in a warm room, you can thus force them out in a few 

 weeks, but your specimens are apt to be deformed when this forcing process 

 is used. 



In obtaining eggs and rearing caterpillars of moths, a somewhat different 

 treatment is necessary. 



The female, when confined in anything, will lay her eggs on the sides of 

 her prison or in any other place, and no food-plant or other plant is necessary. 



If you capture a virgin female, or have one to emerge from the chrysalis 

 for you, of the Saturnida? or some of the Spliingidse, &c., secure her alive in 

 some convenient place out-doors, and the males will be powerfully attracted 

 and come to her, from apparently a great distance ; thereby she will become 

 impregnated and you will get fertile eggs, as well as at the time you may 

 obtain good examples of the males that fly to her ; often, when I have had a 

 female come from the cocoon, in the house, I have had the males to fly into 

 the windows to her. 



With the larva of the Saturnida? and other spinners you may pursue the 

 same course of treatment as in the case of the day butterflies, but, instead of 

 transforming into a naked chrysalis like these latter, they will spin a silken 

 cocoon and undergo their transformation therein. But the Sphingidse, t'ith- 

 eronia, Eacles, &c., which undergo their metamorphosis under ground without 

 spinning a cocoon, require more judgment and care; for these, the bottom of 

 the breeding cage should be furnished with 6 to 8 inches ground, moss, saw- 

 dust, dead leaves, &c., so that the worms, when they are ready, may go into 

 it; after they have changed to the pupa state they may be put between 

 layers of moss in an open box, about (j inches deep, and placed in the open 

 air on a veranda or in a cool room, where they will remain until the following 

 spring or summer, when the moths will emerge; it is necessary to sprinkle 

 the moss, covering the pupas, occasionally with water, or if there be drizzling 

 rain that is not freezing, as sometimes occurs, set your box out for awhile and 

 let the contents have the benefit of it. Another way is to sink a half barrel 

 into the ground and put your moss and pupas in it and let them take care of 

 themselves ; this is getting them into a position as near to nature as is possi- 

 ble, Hut you must protect them from rats, &c., by putting an old sieve over 

 the sunken barrel ; this also is necessary, in spring and summer, to prevent 

 the escape of the moths as they emerge, otherwise they would leave with no 

 thanks for what you have done for them. 



Some larva hybernate over winter ; these are the most difficult to deal 

 with, for if the situation and concomitants are not just such as suits them they 

 wither up and die. But the best rule to go by, in rearing larva, is to try, 



