2 THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



whicli have ceased to interest them. The first class, of those which I have 

 mentioned, is rare, liardly even local. Number two is fairly common 

 in the London district, and turns up casually in many of our larger 

 towns. The third and fourth classes are generally distributed, and 

 further information can be obtained from the exchange columns of the 

 Record, the latter of the two being distinguishable by the general 

 preponderance of bred specimens of common insects. The last class is 

 still rare, but spreading. I expect that many of us know pretty well 

 which locality it originally started from. Also the various classes inter- 

 breed pretty freely, so that interestinghybridsare comparatively common. 

 I fear tliat'l am digressing. I generally do. I should like to say that 

 digression is the mark of a great intellect and the source of all merit, 

 just as divergence from the type is the secret of the origin of species 

 and tlie im^jrovement of the race. But I am afraid that the parallel 

 will hardly hold. I wish somebody would write and say that my view 

 is the right one. It seems difficult, now-a-days, to advance an opinion 

 that does not find some supporters. 



« That colour is grey, sir ! What say you? 

 Does it seem to you black or white ? 

 I wasn't quite sure, but I like your view ; 

 Yes ! I'm pretty well sure you're right." 



Well ! As to larvaj. I used always to sleeve them from the very beginning, 

 but I don't now. A brood of Taeniocampa opiina walked through the 

 meshes of a tine gauze sleeve and vanished, all but one, who stuck. I bred 

 him all right in a pot. That was lesson number one. A brood of about 

 sixty Acronycta tridens dwindled down to twenty — the places of the 

 missing forty being taken by four fat earwigs. Lesson number two. No ! 

 Sleeving requires more care and attention than many pots. But it is 

 useful if you are going to be away for a week or so, and have no one 

 to feed your larvae, though even there I have had a lesson. I had to 

 stay away an extra week, and found that half of a sleeve of Boarmia 

 coiisortarid had wanted to pupate, and had died for lack of earth. 



" I've known men sometimes put inside the earth 

 Because they died ; 

 These died because of soil there was a dearth 

 To get inside." 



Excuse these traces of the cloven hoof. Where was I ? Oh, yes ! 

 Larvae, I remember. But really I know awfully little about them. I 

 keep the young ones in tin boxes, because the food keeps fresh for a 

 long time. Only it must be put in pretty dry, or it goes mouldy. In 

 fact, with all Noctu.^ larvas, I am being driven to make it a standard 

 rule, 'Give them no drink." Dry all moisture off the food, or they 

 die. In fact, some insects insist on perishing because of the moisture 

 in the food. Tlierefore, if there is any choice of food-plants, pick that 

 which is naturally the driest, and give Noctu^ lots of sun on the pot, 

 so long as you do not roast them. Geometers will stand much more 

 wet ; in fact, they like a good deal, provided that they can dry them- 

 selves in moderate sun afterwards. But, whatever larvse you keep, 

 there is no doubt that endless care and attention is the best way to 

 keep them healthy, and they dearly like plenty of I'oom. I can't go so 

 far as to say that I keep each larva in a tumbler by itself, as one 

 entomologist, at any rate, is said to do. But I do think that ten or 

 twelve to a good-sized flower-pot, wlien they are moderately grown, is 



