48 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE 



and placing the food-plant on the dirt or setting it up 

 against the sides, the conditions can be made very nearly 

 what they are where the larvae feed unconfined on the 

 grass or tree in their freedom ; and this making their 

 condition as nearly as possible what it is in nature is 

 essential to successful breeding. 



It is a mistaken idea that larvse will not bear confine- 

 ment in close vessels. Being obliged to leave home 

 for a time when two species were about half grown, I 

 had some of each put into jelly-dishes with their food- 

 plants and took them with me. They were kept in 

 these dishes till they reached maturity by being fed each 

 day, and they produced the imagines without the loss of 

 a single individual ; and this is not the only instance 

 in which the writer has kept them in this way. 



In an article in the " Canadian Entomologist" on 

 rearing larvse (vol. xvi. page 116), Mr. W. H. Edwards 

 says, " Larvse bear confinement in tight glasses well, and 

 I often receive them from correspondents as distant as 

 Florida or California, through the mails, in good condi- 

 tion. The plants keep well in this sort of confinement 

 also. I have never used what are known as breeding- 

 cages, which are expensive if purchased, and are trouble- 

 some to make at home." Farther on in the same article 

 he says, " As for large larvse, as of the Papilios, I 

 generally use powder-kegs (wood), or nail-kegs, one or 

 the other of which can be had anywhere. Remove the 

 top hoop, and use the second one to bind down the 

 cotton-cloth cover ; put a little earth in the bottom, and 

 in it set a two-quart glass fruit-jar filled with water, in 

 which branches of the food-plant are placed. No 

 further care is required than to substitute fresh branches 



