INSTRUCTIONS IN LEPIDOPTERA. 21 



the continual agitation of the branches, and may afterwards be 

 found endeavouring to regain their position by crawling up the 

 trunk; in the spring many larvae may be found after dusk feed- 

 ing on the semi-expanded leaves of sallows and birches. 



The larva collector should be provided with one or more 

 tin canisters of convenient size, in which to put the larvae he 

 may meet with, and should with each, place some of the food- 

 plant on which he has found it ; he must, however, early 

 learn to avoid the larvae of Cosmia trapezina, and Crocallis 

 elinguaria, as these prefer making a dainty meal of other 

 caterpillars to a more orthodox vegetarian diet. 



How to rear Lepidoptera from the pupa or larva state. 



To rear pupae collected is comparatively an easy matter. 

 " The collector should take with him a box (rilled with moss) 

 in which to convey the pupae, and when brought home they 

 should be placed in a large box, with the inside surface rough, 

 and covered with gauze or wire frame; at the bottom of the 

 box should be some fine earth, on which the pupae are to be 

 placed and covered with a thick layer of moss, which may 

 or may not be occasionally damped. J3e sure to heep them 

 from the sim" so writes Mr. Greene. 



To rear larvae requires considerable care and attention : the 

 larva must be kept well supplied with fresh food ; if its food 

 is allowed to become withered or mouldy, the larva cannot 

 be expected to retain its health. The plan used by Mr. 

 Doubleday of Epping, our most successful rearer of insects, 

 is, to get a glass cylinder and sink one end of it into a flower 

 pot in which is some white sand, the sand is kept moist and 

 the food is stuck into it, so as to keep it fresh for some time ; 

 the larva is then placed on its food, a bit of gauze is tied over 

 the top of the cylinder, and the flower-pot and cylinder being 



