﻿THE REARING OF LARV.E. 149 



I got my thirty to fifty pupte from each colony ; so that in the 

 case of, say, three hundred young larvse, by dividing them into 

 five or six separate batches, I got nearly five or six times the 

 number of pupse I obtained by keeping them all together, even 

 when I used an unusually large cage. Here again, however, it 

 is impossible to lay down any law applicable to all cases ; one 

 species may be fed up in batches of seventy so easily that ninety 

 per cent, will pupate, while with another species the batches 

 must not exceed ten to twenty to obtain the best results. All 

 this points to the fact that it is better to have a large number of 

 small to medium-sized cages than a few very big ones. At the 

 same time, there should of course be some large cages for deal- 

 ing with really large larvae, and other cages so constructed that 

 they will take a good-sized iiower-pot for those species which 

 require to be fed or hybernated on the growing plant. I might 

 here point out that, apart from cannibalism, larvae of difi'erent 

 species should on no account be kept in the same cage, if it can 

 be avoided. Not only are the pupae results almost invariably 

 poor, but it also militates against the breeder obtaining any 

 useful information about the habits and the special treatment of 

 the different kinds. 



I am fully aware that after a beating expedition a collector 

 often obtains a miscellaneous assortment of odd larvae which he 

 has not the time or space to deal with separately. In such a 

 case the larvae should be carefully gone through and separated 

 into three, four, or more batches, only putting together those 

 which appear likely to have the same habits. I have still to 

 refer to one of the most useful methods of treating tree and bush 

 feeding larvae, especially in their intermediate stages — and that 

 is the sleeve. It requires, however, to be used with consider- 

 able caution when employed out of doors, unless the user is 

 prepared entirely to cover in the trees and bushes with small- 

 meshed netting. All sorts of birds make sad havoc with sleeves, 

 particularly if they are made of muslin ; tiffany is better and 

 stronger, but even with that the larvae are not quite safe ; 

 and if by chance they are left out until one or two begin to spin 

 up in the folds of the sleeve, the likelihood of a bird raid will 

 be greatly increased. Double sleeving is a greater protection, 

 but does not add to the health of the larvae in wet weather. I 

 do not by these remarks mean to suggest that sleeving is to be 

 avoided. Anyone who has a suitable garden would be foolish 

 not to employ outdoor sleeving to some extent, for it is about 

 the only way to treat certain species successfully. I only wish 

 to emphasize the fact that it is not safe to sleeve a batch of 

 larvae in the open and leave them without any attention or pro- 

 tection till the foliage in the sleeve is consumed. They should 

 frequently be inspected and watched, and should promptly be 

 removed to a suitable cage as soon as they appear to be ap- 



