108 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



moderately dry, when they may he returned to the tins, until about a month of the 

 time of the appearance of the insects ; they ought then to be placed in a box, 

 with a hole cut in the lid, and covered with wire or gauze. 



Larva} that feed in leaves such as nepticulae require the leaves to rolled in 

 soft paper ; when the larvae are full-fed, they will quit the leaves, and make their 

 cocoons either among them or upon the paper ; the latter require to be cut out 

 (attached to portions of either leaf or paper), and kept in small, tightly -corked 

 bottles. 



Of Lithocolletis, the portion of leaf containing the pupse requires to be cut out, 

 and the pupos (still in the mined portion of the leaf) enclosed in a tightly-corked 

 bottle. In this manner they may be kept the whole winter, without drying up, 

 provided the bottle is kept constantly moist. 



The extremely- interesting genus Coleophora require, to insure success, open- 

 air feeding. The plan I adopt is the following : I obtain several round tin cases, 

 about nine inches deep, by five in diameter, with lids whose rims slip on outside 

 the cases ; I then cut out the whole circumference of the lid, to within about half 

 an inch of its edge, and, procuring a piece of calico or linen, I place it flat over 

 the mouth of the tin case ; I put on the lid, pressing it down, which, necessarily, 

 draws the calico tight, and your Coleophora breeding-cage is then complete. When 

 wanted for use, put about two inches of earth in the bottom of the tin ; in the 

 centre of this put a small tumbler, or wide-mouthed bottle, containing the food, 

 placed in water ; put the larva? on the top of their food ; cover them (as before 

 explained) ; put the whole out into the open air, in a cool place, out of the reach 

 of the sun, and you will have no reason to complain of want of success, if they 

 are supplied with sufficient food. 



LARVJE THAT FEED IN BUDS OR SHOOTS OF PLANTS. 



Place the buds or shoots containing the larvae upon the bottoms of one or more 

 tumblers ; tie them tightly over with a piece of old calico or linen, and place them 

 out in the air, away from the sun. As the larvae devour the shoots or buds they 

 originally inhabited, they will begin to crawl about in search of food ; place some 

 fresh food upon the top of the old ; and, as they leave the old, they will enter 

 the fresh shoots, which they must be supplied with, until full fed, in the same 

 manner. 



Larvae in the roots of plants require the food-plant to be replanted, either in the 

 open ground or in large garden- pots, until the end of spring, when they must be 

 taken out of the ground, and placed, with moist earth, in a deep breeding-cage 5 

 or, if planted in pots, both pot and plant can be conveniently set standing in a 

 large breeding- cage, until the perfect insects have been bred. The best time for 

 collecting larvae in roots is in January and February. Larvae that feed in the 

 folded leaves of plants (such as the larvse of Peronea hastiana upon sallow) re- 

 quire somewhat different treatment. 



The method adopted by the London entomologists in rearing the larvae of Peronea 

 hastiana is as follows : 



Procure a large box, say of the following dimensions : two feet long, eighteen 

 inche n wide, and one foot deep, fitted with a frame about one inch and a half wide, 

 droppnig into a rabbet in the edge of the box, in the same manner as the glass 

 frame fits into the rabbet of a cabinet drawer ; the open space of this frame must 

 be covered with a large piece of old calico, fixed to the bottom with glue ; both 

 ends of the box must also be bored with two or three large holes, two or three 

 inches in diameter, covered with calico or gauze. Into this box throw all your leaves 

 containing Peronea larva?, as collected (I have had as much as a bushel of sallow 

 leaves in one box, at one time) ; and place upon the top of the picked leaves small 

 branches of sallow, in order that the larvae, when they leave the picked leaves, may 

 find fresh food as they rise to the surface ; moisten the leaves in the box if they 

 appear to get too dry, "and stir them up, with both hands, two or three times a 

 week, in order that those leaves which lie at the bottom of the box may be brought 

 to the top ; and, to prevent fermentation taking place in such a mass of leaves, 

 when you think they have attained the pupa state (which may be known by exa- 

 mining a few of the leaves), turn a portion of the leaves out of the large box into 



