Sett. 1, 1SGG.] 



IIARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



207 



INSECT VIVARIUM. 



I" REALLY must indulge iu a little gossip about au 

 ■*- insect home which my husband, anxious to gra- 

 tify my naturalist propensities, had constructed for 

 me about two years since. The accompanying sketch 

 will give some slight indea of our Insect Vivarium, 

 which, besides being a really pretty object in the 

 drawing-room, is admirably suited for all the re- 



Fig. 202. Insect Vivarium, 



quirements of its inhabitants, and is so simple in 

 form, that an ordinary tinman can make up one at 



Fig. 203. Zinc frame, with its inner frame. 



a trifling cost, and the glass shade necessary can be 



' purchased for four or five shillings. The framework 



is made of perforated zinc, with a bottom of the 



same, on which rests an inner circle, also of zinc, 

 but perforated much closer. This is not fastened to 

 the bottom of the outer frame, but can be raised at 

 will, and is covered with a round piece of fiat glass; 

 on it stands a saucer or small plate half filled with 

 well-moistened clay, and stuck round the edge with 

 such leaves of trees and plants as the various cater- 

 pillars feed on. In the centre of this saucer is a 

 small vase filled daily with fresh flowers and grasses 

 for the butterflies. This inner case is for keeping 

 the baby caterpillars and their food, and for such 

 small ones as are frequently found in leaf-buds : 

 during winter it forms quite a comfortable cradle for 

 the chrysalides of the past season, by placing a little 

 dry moss in it instead of bran, for them to rest on. 

 I have omitted to mention that our Vivarium fits on 

 a green japanned stand,— indeed it was the loose 

 bottom of a Swiss birdcage, and adds greatly to the 

 pretty effect of the whole. 



This plan of a Vivarium being altogether our own 

 idea, we feel quite proud of its success, and doubt not, 

 if those readers of Science Gossip who desire some- 

 thing inexpensive will only get one made up in this 

 way, they will, like us, be perfectly charmed with 

 the result. And now having described the Vivarium, 

 I must say a word about its various tenants,— 

 those creatures of beauty, a never-ceasing source of 

 pleasure to watch their interesting changes and 

 " wise ways." I think it is Rogers who says of 

 them in the following lines, which I venture to 

 quote — 



" Child of the sun, pursue thy rapturous flight, 

 Mingling with her thou lovest in fields of light, 

 And where the flowers of Paradise unfold, 

 Quaff fragrant nectar from their cups of gold ; 

 There shall thy wings, rich as an Gvening sky, 

 Expand and shut with silent ecstasy ; 

 Yet wert thou once a worm, a thing that crept 

 On the bare earth, then wrought a tomb and slept ; 

 And such is man, soon from his cell of clay 

 To burst a seraph in the blaze of day." 



We have got a dear little home fairy, whose bright 

 eyes and deft little fingers are ever the first to dis- 

 cover and capture all the prettiest and strange ca- 

 terpillars. At present we have got Caterpillars of 

 Wood-Leopard Moth (Zeuzera JEscul'i), Puss 

 Moth (Centra vinula), Privet Hawk Moth (Sphinx 

 Ligttsfri), Emperor butterfly, and many others. 

 These we have reared, in most instances, from the 

 egg, and have watched with wonder the many 

 changes, from the casting of the old coat as each 

 increase of growth called for larger dress, till at 

 last they have industriously spun it up into the com- 

 fortable cocoon, or, as in the case of the Cabbage 

 Carterpillar, who unfortunately for himself is not a 

 woolly bear, but dons his almost transparent armour 

 at first of light green, and then changing in a few 

 hours to the strangely-shaped semi-opaque grey- 

 green shell we so often see in the crevices of some 



