924 THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



or ten days longer. For the last three autumns I have bred a fair 

 number of specimens and have only had one chrysalis that failed to 

 emerge, although my last imago in 1901 only appeared on Decem- 

 ber 25th, "presenting" itself appropriately on this date to an en- 

 thusiastic admirer of the species. 



I am fortunate enough to possess a small room, facing east, which 

 I can devote entirely to the rearing of larvae. It is lift, longx 7^ ft. 

 wide X Oft. high, and running round three out of the four sides, are 

 three tiers of wooden shelves, each 9in. wide, distant, respectively, from 

 the floor, 3ft. 9in., 4ft. lOin, and 6ft. 2in. All along these shelves are 

 ranged boxes, the bodies of which are made of stout cardboard, and the 

 lids of a cardboard frame filled with fronts entirely of glass — such 

 boxes, in fact, as drapers use for displa.ying neckties in their shop- 

 windows. These boxes are made specially for me by Messrs. Hugh 

 Stevenson and Sons, Victoria Mills, Pollard Street, Manchester, and 

 are of three different sizes, so as to nest into each other when not in 

 use, the size of the largest being 14in. longxT-iin. wide x Sin. deep. 

 In order to obtain ventilation I cut out small oblong pieces of the card- 

 board from the middle of the N.E. and W. sides, and by means of secco- 

 tine, fasten pieces of line white muslin over the apertures. The boxes 

 must be kept upright and arranged at a short distance from one another 

 all along the shelves. After sprinkling some sand on the bottom of each 

 box, I insert a small bottle full of water, containing a piece of food- 

 plant large enough to pretty well fill up the interior of the box. Thus 

 treated, urufiHitlariata larvae seem quite happy, and thrive amazingly. 

 The advantage of this system over ail others known to me is, that one 

 can, in an incredibly short time, walk round a large number of boxes 

 — I have over 100 — and see at a glance which larv^e want feeding and 

 what imagines have emerged. 



For the purpose of pairing (which generally takes place about 

 9.30 p.m., or, failmg that, about 3 a.m.) I use a muslin covered frame- 

 work of wire, stuck in a flower-pot about three-quarters full of light 

 soil, the whole being placed out-of-doors about 7 p.m., before the 

 moths begin to fly. Next morning I kill off the male and remove the 

 female to one of my smallest sized cardboard boxes, in which I have 

 already placed a sprig of currant for the reception of her eggs. Should 

 this sprig wither before the eggs hatch, I put another sprig (ui a second 

 small bottle) alongside the old one, and the young larvfe crawl off" 

 on to the new food without giving me the trouble of moving them. 

 I thus avoid a serious waste of time at an extremely busy season. The 

 young larvffi remain in this same box from the time of their birth 

 until about the following April, when, after a month's feeding from 

 the beginning of March, they are ready to be transferred into a 

 middle-sized box. They then grow very fast, and, if they are a large 

 healthy lot, I generally transfer the greater part of them, before 

 pupating, into a box of the largest size, where they have plenty of room 

 to spin up. 



The perfect insects resulting from larvae thus plentifully and 

 regularly fed, generally emerge at least a month before their time, so 

 that from these one has a far better chance of rearing a second brood. 

 Although there can be no doubt that this species is more variable in some 

 parts of England than in others, yet I feel confident that good aberra- 

 tions may be reared in almost any locality, if a sufficiently large 



