﻿166 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



tenths of burying larvae. It can also be moistened easily, and 

 to almost any degree, without becoming lumpy or sloppy. This 

 moistening is a very important matter with many species; 

 some larvae, indeed, seem quite unable to go down in anything 

 at all dry, simply crawling about and rolling on it till they 

 shrivel up and tlie. For most species it is best to moisten the 

 compost just enough so that when lightly pressed down a pencil 

 can be pushed into it and withdrawn without the hole imme- 

 diately filling up. 



There are, of course, species which require the compost to 

 be much wetter, such as Noctua stigmatica. The larva of this 

 moth does not pupate for a long time after going down ; and 

 during this period the compost in which it has buried requires 

 to be kept quite wet, otherwise the larva is liable to shrivel up 

 and die. Then there are other species with which dryness seems 

 necessary for real success, as with some of the Cucullia. It was 

 a long time before I found out how it was that in breeding C 

 lychnitis I got such a small proportion of pupae in comparison with 

 the number of larvae which went down. Thinking the matter 

 out I realised that one of my best places for finding lychnitis 

 larvae in nature was a spot where at that time of year there was 

 nothing but the driest of material to pupate in. I therefore 

 decided to try these larvae with something absolutely dry, and, 

 as anything peaty would be dusty in that condition, I gave the 

 next batch of li/chnitis pure dry silver sand with admirable 

 results, and have had no difficulty since in getting the larvae to 

 pupate. 



Of course, there are other materials preferred by different 

 species ; I have known Dasypolia templi to pupate in a sloppy 

 mess of chewed carrot, while others seem sometimes to prefer 

 their own frass. Then there are the seashore larvae that should 

 be given sea-sand. In that connection I may mention what I 

 believe to be a rather important point with reference to those 

 larvae which bury in a dry substance like sand, and make no 

 appreciable cocoon, and that is, that the receptacle in which 

 they have gone down should on no account be subsequently 

 jarred or shaken. Once when on a visit to a friend who lived 

 close to the sea, and was generally a successful breeder, he 

 enlarged on how difficult he found it to breed Agrotis ripce, 

 and said that he had come to the conclusion that they went very 

 deep for pupation. On that account he had tried drain-pipes 

 full of sea-sand, but even they did not seem to be deep enough. 

 Judging from where he kept his larvae, I thought it possible that 

 the real reason of his non-success was that his receptacles got 

 jarred, so that the larva, not making anything more than a sort 

 of pocket to rest in, was smothered by the sand falling in on it, 

 when in its almost helpless state of resting prior to pupation. I 

 therefore collected some ripa larvae, filled a large biscuit tin with 



