1865.) ^J 



or, better still, the growing plant should be inserted) may be substituted for the 

 pan of sand, and as for the cylinders, old lamp shades, broken tumblers, and other 

 make-shifts may be used, though the neatest, cheapest, and most transparent 

 cyUnders are certainly the cut-oflf bottoms of glass shades, which can be procured 

 at the warehouses, at prices varying from a penny upwards, according to size. 



With a view of getting rid of the damp sand, which seemed to be objectionable, 

 I sometime since suggested the use of an unglazed earthenware plate, perforated 

 at the centre for the food plant to pass through into a jam pot, containing water, 

 beneath, the gauze-topped cylinder above resting on the rim of the plate, but it 

 was soon found that the porcelain was too good a conductor of heat to suit the 

 prolegs of such larvae as might pass a night upon its surface ; a piece of musliu 

 was therefore strained from the centre perforation, where it was fixed, by means of 

 a sail-eyelet (nautically termed a 'thimble '), to over the circumference wherein it 

 was pasted firmly down, and thus a non-conducting floor of muslin was formed, 

 which permitted the passage of air underneath the cylinder, thereby giving a 

 considerable amount of ventilation without draught. 



A still further improvement, by making the floor of the cage slope downwards 

 from the centre to the circumference, so that frass, &c., are thrown from the centre, 

 and larvge, which may have left their food, have to crawl up-hill to regain it, has 

 been achieved by my friend, Mr. Horn ; it is carried out as follows : — 



(1.) Take a piece of book-musUn, and from its centre-part cut out a circular 

 aperture of the diameter of the small end (bottom) of a jam pot ; force the latter 

 nearly through the aperture, and then tie the musHn firmly (underneath) to the 

 groove which is under the lip of the jam-pot. 



(2.) Fix the bottom of the jam-pot, by means of elastic glue, to the centre of 

 an inverted Ud (wooden) of a round box, and strain over and fasten the muslin, 

 before mentioned, to the hoop of the hd. 



(3.) Insert a moveable water vessel in the jam pot above alluded to, and fit 

 the latter with a bung which is to be perforated for the pm'pose of allowing the 

 ends of the food to pass through into the water vessel below. 



(4.) Place the gauze-topped cyUnder on the muslin stage and the cage ia 

 complete. 



By means of a little decorative ingenuity, a really handsome ornament may 

 be made of this breeding cage, and that, too, at an incredibly small outlay. 



Having disposed of the cages suitable for ordinary feeding purposes, it will 

 be well to say a few words on those contrivances which are appropriate for larvae 

 when about to prepare themselves for assuming the pupa state. 



For those which go to earth, the old safe-like cage may be fitted with a trough 

 of zinc or tin for holding the soil ;* or a flower-pot may be used, its porous com- 

 position being far preferable to the metals above named, the presence of which is 

 decidedly objectionable. But if neatness be desired, a modification of the cylinder 

 cage (either with or without the muslin stage) will be found both useful and orna- 

 mental. — When the muslin stage is used, instead of being tied to the groove of the 

 jam pot, the borders of the central aperture are stitched on a ring of wire, having 

 a diameter of, say, two inches more than the jam pot, and supported by radiating 



\ 



* The different kinds of Foilc, &fi., suitable for tlie purpose, will be rnentioned hereafter. 



