REARING BEETLES. 277 



grubs of wood-borers. " Carabus, Chlsenius, and Galerita 

 are fed witli veal, and it is very interesting to lo^k at the 

 twelve Carabus limbatus (six males and six females) while 

 devouring the meat, tearing and lifting it, all standing 

 around it like the members of a poultry-yard around a 

 trough."* He bred Dicceliis dilatatus from the larvae 

 by placing them in a bottle half filled with dry earth, wet- 

 ting it daily with three or four drops of water. 



All the materials put in the cage, viz., sand, earth, rotten 

 wood, moss, etc., should be baked or passed through a 

 bath of boiling water to destroy any insect-life (eggs or 

 minute larvae) that might be present, and thus lead to mis- 

 takes or result in injury to the creatures being bred. When 

 a sufficient number of eggs are laid in the breeding-box 

 the beetles should be removed. The beetles, while in con- 

 finement, should be kept during the day in a dark, cool 

 place, and their cage should be placed during night before 

 the window in the open air, Ciciudelas of course excepted. 

 The larvas of the latter must be reared singly, as they other- 

 wise would destroy one another. Also cover the box with 

 tin cloth and place it in a dark closet or large box, or else 

 flies and ichneumons will destroy them. The larvae feed 

 for four or five weeks, while the pupge require for their 

 development about ten days. The best food for Cicindela 

 larvae is beheaded wood-boring grubs, which will not bite. 

 All remnants of food should be carefully removed from the 

 breeding-box, as any decaying matter is harmful. The 

 earth should be moistened only once or twice a week. 



In raising Carabids, place earth in the cage in which the 

 young may burrow for protection from each other. A few 

 days after mating the males should be removed, and a few 

 days later still the females should be put in another cage, 



* Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society, i. 2. Mr. 

 Schaupp suggests that to procure food for carnivorous larvte a 

 piece of meat be left for a while in the cage, with flesh-flies deprived 

 of their wings ; these will lay eggs, and the maggots will at once 

 hatch and serve as food for the larval beetles. 



