1900] 277 



case, and screwing four uprights about 18 x 2 x 5 inches on at the corners, and sowing 

 on a square roof of muslin, with four walls, taking care all the joins should be 

 outside. Three sides were fastened down, the fourth was held by a wooden strip 

 which could be easily removed, the three nails only fitting in loosely. The great 

 advantage is that it forms an excellent place for the moths to emerge and dry their 

 wings in, and in which, with a little watching, they can be secured in perfect con- 

 dition ; not such an easy thing with faffi as many imagine. 



Into these four-post boxes I began to move the larvae when full fed ; the first 

 were moved on July 12th, and a few went down the next day. I continued to move 

 them in till July 29th, and by the end of the month all had gone down. I then 

 removed the sticks from the pots and tied the muslin down, leaving them standing 

 on the gravel walk in the shade ; these pots contained the first of the fagi which 

 have appeared. On August 5th happening to look at the pots as I walked past, I 

 was surprised to find some had emerged ; on examination I found eight, of which 

 two were black, utterly s])oilt, there were quantities of ova, which proved infertile, 

 nor did I succeed in getting fertile eggs, though I sacrificed several moths in the 

 hope of obtaining some. Now the disadvantage of the pots and the advantage of 

 the four-post system became apparent. Having brought them into the house, to 

 overcome the difficulty, I placed all the pots in a box and fastened muslin over it by 

 means of moveable strips of wood, so that I could lift any side and take out the 

 moths, which invariably travelled out in the roof to dry. Now my real troubles 

 began, for there is only one thing certain about J'agi, that is, that it will emerge 

 when you are not present and spoil itself when it can. As soon as the wings are 

 dry the moth will begin to quiver them as if in great excitement, then you must 

 take it quickly, for the next stage is whir-r-r-r — bang, and you know that part of 

 the down from head and thorax is sticking to the muslin on the other side of the 

 cage. The males are the worse, though the females are by no means angels. 



Now as to emergence. I should say any time from 9.30 p.m. to 4.30 a.m., but 

 they appear to come up in two flights, 9.30 being the beginning of the early one, 

 and about 1 a.m. the second. Some sample extracts from my diary will show the 

 sort of thing. " August 13th, went to bed at 12, having taken out two fagi ; up 

 again at 3.30, took out another. August 14th, went to bed at 11.30, no fagi ; up at 

 quarter to 3, found three in various stages, waited till 4.30 to take three. August 

 19th, up at 2 a.m., and again at 3 a.m., to trike fagi." And so on. 



I value my breed oi fagi highly, as they not only cost me the loss of much 

 sleep, but from August 8th to the 28th I never stayed out a single night after 10.30, 

 80 that I lost three weeks' sugaring. 



The \siitfagi emerged on August 28th, and after waiting a few days I carefully 

 removed all the leaves and sorted out the full cocoons, thus arriving at the data 

 given at the beginning of these notes. All the full cocoons have been put into the 

 four-post boxes, from which the posts and muslin have been removed for a time, and 

 the boxes, covered with fine wire netting, are standing outside for the winter. I 

 omitted to say that from the time the boxes came into the house I gave them a good 

 sprinkling of water every few days. 



Springfield, Reading : 



September 15fA, 1900. 



