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THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



exclusively shallow and rather dark receptacles only ventilated 

 at the top. I experimented with a shallow box, and thereafter 

 found little difficulty in rearing such low-feeding Noctuae, Then 

 there are the night-feeding spring larvae, which hide during the 

 day but feed on the foliage of bushes and trees after dark. For 

 these a fairly dark upright cage with plenty of sand and moss at 

 the bottom is the best possible treatment. " My friend, Mr. G. B. 

 Coney, has devised an ingenious way of treating a wooden lard- 

 tub so that it forms an ideal house for rearing such larvse, and 

 also for hybernating certain kinds of Noctuae and Geometers. 



It comes to this that anyone who desires to breed a large 

 number of different species successfully should possess a great 

 variety of cages, so that he can choose the one most suitable to 

 the habits and food-plant of the species to be dealt with. There 

 are, of course, many excellent cages — from the glass-topped 

 metal-box to the glass cylinder type — sold by the various dealers, 

 which are useful for the larvae of many species ; but to get 

 the necessary variety it is almost essential to have also a number 

 home-made. As already mentioned, fiower-pots and small 

 wooden tubs are most useful, jam-jars and cake-tins are not to 

 be despised, and box-cages of all sorts and descriptions can 

 easily be constructed by anyone who can handle a saw and a 

 hammer, for the refinements of the carpenter or the cabinet- 

 maker are quite unnecessary for the construction of efficient 

 larva cages. A flat wooden box some six inches or eight inches 

 in depth will make a splendid home for many of the low-feeding 

 Noctuae, if some perforated zinc is let into two of the sides and a 

 lid of the same material is also provided. My own favourite 

 cage for bush and tree feeding larvae is of my own design, and 

 consists of three parts : a plain box without a lid for the bottom ; 

 on this is imposed a framework of wood with two sides fitted 

 with glass and two with perforated zinc, with a lid of the latter. 



In referring to these home-made cages, I do not in the least 

 wish to depreciate the value of the cages sold by the dealers ; 

 for instance, glass-topped metal boxes are practically indis- 

 pensable ; but most of us entomologists are not millionaires, 

 and therefore we cannot afford to buy more than a few cages, 

 however good they are. And my point is that a breeder requires 

 to have a large assortment ready to hand to be really successful. 

 Another question to consider in relation to cages is the most 

 suitable size. This, of course, depends on the number to be 

 placed in each cage. Quite early in my experience of larva 

 rearing I noticed the curious fact that with many species, 

 whether I started with three hundred young larvae or only sixty, 

 if I kept them together throughout, the number which pupated 

 was generally about the same — somewhere between thn-ty and 

 fifty. I tried, therefore, dividing the larger batches into two or 

 more colonies according to their number, and I soon found that 



