1864.] ^ 667 



Taken in September, on the Maple. T have not been able to obtain 

 the Iviago from the above, but from its close resemblance to the excse- 

 catns larva, it is probably that of gemhiotu^. which is not confined to 

 the iciUow, upon which it usually feeds. — having been taken also on 

 the ivhite ash by W. H. Edwards. Esq. 



I have succeeded but rarely, in carrying the Smerinthus larvse tbroixgh 

 their transformations, perhaps in conse(pience of an unnatural pupation, 

 to which most of those that I have attempted to rear have been sub- 

 jected. Placed in a box, on carefully prepared earth, they readily bury 

 themselves in it, but speedily emerge, — again enter the ground, — again 

 emerge, — and continue thus to repeat the operation, until their ap- 

 proaching change unfits them for its continuance, when they are com- 

 pelled to transform on the surface of the ground. If subsequently 

 buried, my experience has been, that the pupse seldom survive the 

 winter, but if wintered in subterranean cells constructed by the larvae, 

 they are usually alive the following spring. It has recently been sug- 

 gested to me, that there may not have been sufficient depth of earth 

 furnished the larvse, — my boxes permitting them only to penetrate about 

 lour inches. 



T am indebted to W. H. Edwards. Esq., for a statement of his method 

 of treating Sphinx pupae, and as he has found it remarkably successful 

 — rarely loosing a pupa which survives its transformation a couple of 

 weeks — even of Smerinthus, — with his permission, I make it public, 

 believing it to be preferable to any published method, and a desidera- 

 tum to those who are pursuing the study of insects in its most agreea- 

 ble and instructive manner — ab ovo. 



When the larvae, which bury in the ground for their transformation 

 by well known indications, are in readiness for pupation, they are placed 

 in a box, containing six inches of earth mixed with rotten dust from 

 an old apple tree, or if that cannot convenientlj^ be obtained, with hard- 

 wood saw-dust. The apple-tree dust should be previously baked, in 

 order to kill the eggs or larvae of such insects or centipedes which might 

 otherwise destroy the pupae. 



If the larvsB are not known to the collector, they should be jdaced in 

 separate boxes, or at least, compartments, that they and their pup;t? 

 may be identified after the change. 



