EGGS AND LARVJ2 : BREEDING AND REARING. 313 



care must be exercised not to apply such a degree of pressure as 

 will expel those tissues lying nearest to the epidermis, in which 

 the pigments are located, and in the case of hairy larvae not to 

 rob them of their hair. Practice can alone make perfect in this 

 regard. The contents of the larva having been removed, the 

 next step is to inflate and dry the empty skin. Some persons, 

 as preliminary to this step, recommend that the empty skin be 

 soaked for a period of a few hours in pure alcohol. By this 

 process undoubtedly a certain portion of the watery matter con- 

 tained in the pellicle is removed, and the process of desiccation 

 is facilitated, biit it is objectionable in the case of all larvae 

 having light colors, because these are more or less effaced by 

 the action of the alcohol. 



The simplest method of inflating the skins of larvas after the 

 contents have been withdrawn is to insert a straw or grass stem 

 of appropriate thickness into the opening through which the 

 contents have been removed, and then by the breath to inflate, 

 while holding over the chimney of an Argand lamp, the flame 

 of which must be regulated so as not to scorch or singe the 

 specimen. Care must be taken in the act of inflating not to 

 unduly extend the larval skin, thus producing a distortion, and 

 also to dry it thoroughly. Unless the latter precaution is ob- 

 served a subsequent shrinking and disfigurement will take 

 place. The process of inflating in the manner just described is 

 somewhat laborious, and while some of the finest specimens- 

 which the writer has ever seen, were prepared in this primitive 

 manner, various expedients for lessening the labor involved 

 have been devised, some of which are to be highly commended. 



A comparatively inexpensive arrangement for inflating larva- 

 is a modification of that described in the " Entomologische 

 Nachrichten," 1879, vol. v., p. 7, devised by Mr. Fritz A. AVachtel. 

 It consists of a foot-bellows such as is nsd by chemists in the 

 laboratory, or, better still, of a small cylinder such as is used for 

 holding gas in operating the oxy -hydrogen lamp of a sciopticon. 

 In the latter case the compressed air should not have a pressure 

 exceeding fifty pounds to the square inch, and the cock regulat- 

 ing the flow from the cylinder should be capable of very tine 

 adjustment. By means of a rubber tube the air is conveyed 

 from the cylinder to a couple of flasks, one of which contains 



