278 ENTOMOLOGY. 



as they will eat their own offspring, thus differing from 

 dung-beetles and carrion-beetles (Necrophori), which take 

 great care of their young. By using very black earth for 

 the cages, the eggs and young larva? may be more easily 

 detected. As a matter of course, as soon as the larvae are a 

 few days old, each one should be placed in a separate box. 

 Clusters of eggs found under stones, boards, and leaves 

 may be also taken home and placed in boxes. 



Rearing of Burying-beetles (Necrophorus and Silpha). 

 These are easy to raise. In a soap-box half filled with loose, 

 moist earth place pieces of poor meat and a dozen specimens 

 of Necrophorus and Silpha. Cover the box with fine wire 

 cloth, and place it out of the way till the worst smell is 

 over ; it should be kept in the dark to prevent flies from 

 depositing their eggs therein. In two weeks there will be 

 plenty of larvae; soon after the pupae, and in two weeks 

 more the beetles may be found. The pupae are apt to be 

 infested by small parasites which hide beneath the anten- 

 nae and legs ; to remove them, says Schaupp, take a very 

 fine hair-pencil, dip the point into benzine and touch the 

 parasite, which will become dizzy and can be easily removed. 



As the larvae of Silphae are very voracious and cannibal- 

 istic, as soon as they are obtained they should be separated 

 as early as possible, placed singly in a separate small box 

 and fed with small pieces of fresh meat, sufficient for one 

 day's rations. On feeding them the following day, the 

 remnants of the former repast should be removed. 



Rearing Wood-boring Larvae, Longicorns, etc. For the 

 most part, says Schaupp, Lamellicornia, Longicornia, Elat- 

 eridae, Buprestidas, and Curculionidae are comparatively easy 

 to raise, but care has to be taken that only specimens of the 

 same species are confined in the same box. Large boxes 

 should be used, so that large pieces of wood containing the 

 larvae may be placed in them. These may be treated as fol- 

 lows : Take a piece of wood four cubic inches in size ; split it 

 in two, and make on the inside a cavity just large enough to 

 receive the grub and allow it to easily move in it, then fasten 



