316 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



pressure they spread apart, and after the shellac has dried the 

 skin is firmly held by them. They may then be attached to 



pins by simply twisting the free 

 end of the wire about the pin, 

 or they. may be placed upon ar- 



FIG. 85.- Wire Bent into Shape for Mounting tificial imitations of the leaves 

 Larva. (After Riley.) . . 



and twigs ot their appropriate 



food-plants. This method of preparation is applicable to the 

 larva? of Coleoptera and Diptera as well as to those of the Lepi- 

 doptera. 



An account of the manner of preserving- larvae would not be 

 complete without an account of the manner of rearing them. 

 In rearing the larvae of Coleoptera, Diptera, and Hymeiioptera. 

 the student must be left in a large degree to his own devices. 

 A few large glass jars capable of being closed with a gauze top 

 are necessary, though in the case of the Hymenoptera reliance 

 must be mainly placed upon finding the larvae in their nests. 

 Bees and wasps construct various larval edifices, and these must 

 be explored as found in nature for a knowledge of the immature 

 insect. Breeding them in captivity is attended by difficulties 

 which are rarely overcome by the most expert, except in a few 

 isolated cases. This is also true, but to a less extent of the lar- 

 vae of the Coleoptera. The larvae of many beetles which are ear 

 nivorous may be reared in glass jars, 'or boxes, covered with fine 

 wire gauze, at the bottom of which earth or sand has been placed, 

 and in which a supply of appropriate food can be put, such . as 

 the soft larvae of beetles, maggots, and bits of meat. It is best 

 to previously scald the earth and sand placed at the bottom of 

 the breeding cages in order to destroy the eggs and small larvae 

 of other species which might be introduced. The cages should 

 have a sufficient supply of moisture, and, so far as possible, tin- 

 circumstances should be made to approximate those under which 

 the larvae were found. The larvae of wood-boring beetles may be 

 bred in portions of the wood which they frequent. A tight 

 barrel with a cover made of wire gauze fitting closely over the 

 top is a good device. In the fall of the year it may be filled 

 with fallen twigs and pieces of branches from the forest, on 

 which beetles have oviposited, and in the spring there will IK* 

 generally found a large number of beautiful specimens of species. 



