156 Method of Bearing Leindoptera. 



fed, and have gone down in the jar, wet a thick piece of woodland 

 rqoss, put it over the top of the jar, and set them, as above stated, in 

 a cool, moist cellar, and they will be in good condition for "'planting^ 

 in the spring. 



This last operation is necessary, in order that your specimens may 

 be perfectly expanded, and that they may be carefully watched during 

 the season of the last metamorphosis, from the pupa to the imago. 

 Fill a large jar nearly full of the same mellow loam ; thrust the finger 

 in this to the depth of an inch and a half or its whole length (accord- 

 ing to the size of your pupa), and at an angle of about sixty degrees. 

 In the hole made by the finger, put your chrysalid, head uppermost, 

 and beside it a small, smooth stick, letting the latter project from the 

 earth five or six inches. Having continued this operation until as 

 many chrysalids are planted as the jar will accommodate, cover them 

 over with the loam to the dejith of an inch or more, set your jar and 

 its contents in a breeding cage, sprinkle the surface occasionally with 

 pure rain water, and in due season your imago will leave its pupa 

 prison-house, ascend the little stick, dry and expand its wings, and 

 you can then kill and mount it for your collection (by a process to be 

 explained in a future paper), or use it for the further propagation of 

 the species. If your larvae are those of species which spin cocoons, no 

 jar of earth, or removal from the vivarium will be necessary, as they 

 spin their cocoons to the branches, and among the leaves of the food- 

 plant, and may be left undisturbed until the following spring, in the 

 same position, by placing the cage in a cool, moist cellar, or outhouse* 

 free of mice. In the spring these will crawl out of the cocoons, clinging 

 to the cocoon or the branch to which it is fastened, and when the wings 

 are fully expanded, may be treated as before mentioned. In the way 

 above described the writer has reared, from the ega-s of a sinojle female, 

 fifty four images of the T. polyphemus, being at liberty to observe all the 

 moults, feeding habits, resting and sleeping habits, and other points of 

 interest connected with their growth and development. It is well to 

 remember, that young larva?, just hatched, often refuse the food-plant, 

 unless confined. In such cases put them in a glass bottle, with tender 

 leaves of their food, and cork the bottle. They will soon commence 

 feeding, and may, in a day or two, be removed to the cage. The 

 cages should be kept out of the sun, and where there may, at all times, 

 be a free circulation of air. These conditions may genei-ally be found 

 at the north side of houses, where the cage may be suspended to a nail 

 driven in the wall. 



The writer intends to follow this j^aper with others, giving notes of 

 habit, time and place of collecting, food-plant and appearance of species, 



