﻿THE REARING OF LARV.E. 



189 



quite easily be liept during the winter piled into and shut np in 

 chip or glass-topped boxes exposed to outdoor temperature. 



About a month or more before the time arrives for the 

 emergence of the perfect insect, the pupae and cocoons should be 

 spread out in shallow pans or boxes, the bare pupae between two 

 layers of sterilized moss, and placed in a cage or large well- 

 ventilated box with rough sides and top. The atmosphere in 

 this box should be kept decidedly damp, or many cripples will 

 be bred, especially amongst the Geometers, The pupae of many 

 species do not all emerge the first year, a provision of Nature 

 which has doubtless saved many an insect from extinction ; but 

 this class of pupae does not seem to call for any special treat- 

 ment, unless it be extra care in making sure a pupa is really 

 dead before throwing it away. 



In Conclusion. 



It will doubtless be noted that in the course of these jottings 

 very little detailed descri[)tion is given of such matters as exactly 

 how to build a cage or how to obtain a desired condition — such, 

 for instance, as the dampness in a pupa box. This sort of 

 description has been purposely omitted, because its insertion 

 would have unduly extended these notes, which are long enougli 

 already, and would have tended to distract the reader's atten- 

 tion from the main points, which are to reason out the why and 

 wherefore of success and failure in the rearing of larvae, and how 

 the would-be successful breeder must vary the treatment accord- 

 ing to the habits and peculiarities of the different species. There 

 are several obvious ways of keeping pupae in a damp atmosphere, 

 and a description of exactly how 1 do it seems to me unnecessary. 

 For somewhat the same reasons I have made no attempt to give 

 the special treatment required for each individual species. A 

 great deal of information on that subject can begot from many 

 excellent works, such as Buckler's ' Larvae,' Tutt's ' Practical 

 Hints,' and that recently-published and useful ' Text Book ' by 

 L. W. Newman and H. A. Leeds. 



Before concluding, however, it would perhaps be as well if 

 I gave some indication of what I mean by such expressions as 

 " considerable success,' " excellent results," &c. To get through 

 to the pupal state anything over sixty per cent, of larvae bred 

 from the egg 1 should consider a successful result ; though I 

 have got through eighty per cent, or more with smallish batches 

 not exceeding one hundred, even with such things as Catocala 

 sponsa and C. lijchiiitis. The latter,^ though, have generally 

 been from small larvae. The last time I bred them I got 

 eighty-nine cocoons out of ninety-three larvae, most of which 

 were less than ^ in. in length when collected. As to the 

 emergence of ioiagiues, I should consider it a bad result if 

 less than seventy per cent, of the pupae failed to produce perfect 



