40 I July. 



and modification, and may be useful enough in its way ; but the difficulty of mani- 

 pulation, added to a want of cleanliness, which, however expert and attentive the 

 breeder may be, can hardly fail to exist, are the chief drawbacks. 



Hat boxes, children's toy and other boxes, the lids being covered with gauze, 

 form useful and handy cages, when better are not obtainable ; into these the food- 

 plant, plugged into a phial of water, or stuck into a juicy potato, may be inserted, 

 and the larvte placed thereon ; in the case of flat shallow boxes, however, it is 

 evident that the food, in its water vessel, would not stand upright ; this difficulty 

 is at once overcome by attaching a loop to one end of the back of the box, and by 

 this hanging it to a nail on the wall. 



A favourite plan of rearing, with many, is an air-tight process of feeding, by 

 which the food is kept fresh for a considerable length of time. It is usually effiicted by 

 grinding the lip of a jam-pot so that it may be accui'ately fitted with a piece of 

 smooth glass, and into this receptacle the food and larvae are placed ; but the close 

 unhealthy atmosphere, which, in spite of every caution and attention, must in 

 greater or less degree be engendered, seems to me to render it unfitted for genei-al 

 purposes, though T can strongly recommend it (as well as air-tight feeding in 

 a closely stopped bottle) for accommodating very young larvae, until they have 

 attained sufficient size to be removed to a more appropriate cage : with this proviso, 

 however, that both cage and food be dry, otherwise many of the young larvae will 

 be ' found drowned ' in the moisture which is apt to condense on the sides of the 

 too readily heat-conducting material of this cage ; great care, also, should be taken 

 that the temperature be not raised by the heat of the hand, or by the admission of 

 sun-rays. 



Lamp-chimneys, cucumber-glasses, &c., fitted at their open extremities with 

 bungs, are sometimes employed, as also are tin boxes. These latter, however, have 

 the farther disadvantage of being opaque, and so preventing observation. The 

 chief use of air-tight feeding comes into play when the larvae of Micro-Lepidoptera 

 are the subjects of attention. 



Another contrivance is carried out by suspending the food, the cut off ends 

 of which have been securely plugged into a phial of water, within a wide mouthed 

 bottle or jar ; the chief drawback is that any hapless larva which chanced to drop 

 would find itself much in the position of Daniel — barring the lions. 



A flower-pot, with the hole at the bottom stopped, and the top covered with 

 gauze or leno, kept in place by a piece of ' elastic,' offers an exceedingly cheap and 

 simple cage, which, though laying no claims to perfection, the breeder will do well 

 to think of in the hour of need. 3 



A method, which has long been followed by my frieml, Mr. Doubleday, consists ^ 

 in the use of a glass cylinder, the upper end being fastened over with muslin, the 

 lower resting on a pan of damp sand, which latter, in the case of juvenile larvae, is 

 covered with thick writing paper. The cylinder being lifted off, the cut ends of 

 the plant are stuck into the damp sand (through perforations in the paper when 

 the latter is used), and the larvae having been put on their food, the cylinder is 

 replaced, thus, in a simple manner, producing a cage which offers the advantages 

 of admitting light and air, security, free observation, and not only keeps the food 

 fresh, but readily allows of the operation of ' changing ' when necessary. If it be 

 desirable to economize, a flower-pot filled with mould (into which the out food. 



