282 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



firmly into the india-rubber tube; the weight of the metal is 

 a disadvantage ; the Y would be better made of india-rubber.* 

 To each of the branches attach about a foot of india-rubber 

 tubing, and at the free end of each tube fit the spring-tubes, 

 each holding a larva ; these will lie side by side on the cork 

 tray and dry together. 



Mr. Auld has already described how larvae should be 

 mounted, — each on its particular food-plant; mounting upon 

 straws looks very neat, but is not suggestive. Should the 

 apparatus not be at hand when some special larva occurs, it 

 is possible, though not recommended, to prepare the skins 

 and put them by in cotton-wool, relaxing them in warm 

 water later. If this be done the skins should be rolled very 

 smoothly, or they will contract unevenly, and not expand in 

 a satisfactory manner afterwards. We have not tried this 

 with hairy larvae. Perhaps a drop or two of glycerine mixed 

 with water and injected into the skins would be a good plan, 

 as it would prevent their drying up, only then the glycerine 

 would have to be removed by syringing with warm water 

 before they are baked, or the skins would not dry. For 

 beginners it would be disheartening to set to work on a 

 larva which even one accustomed to the work could not turn 

 out to his own satisfaction. In their seasons Abraxas 

 grossulariata, Mania typica, Orthosia ypsilon, and Nyssia 

 zonaria, are easy to work upon ; but this is foreign to our 

 purpose now, as is also the preservation of colour. We will 

 only add that larvae are best chosen a few days after their 

 last moult. The presence of ichneumons in the larvae does 

 not unfit them ; though occasionally, if they have crawled 

 out, the skin will be distorted. 



It requires a good deal of resolution to kill a choice larva, 

 especially when you would like it to figure in your cabinet as 

 a perfect insect (an instance of one of the many cakes that 

 we cannot both eat and keep) ; but then, when the die is 

 cast and the skin rolled out, how great is your satisfaction 

 when you dislodge some scores of ichneumons, of whose 

 existence you had had no suspicion ; and you rejoice both in 

 "doing" the ichneumons, and in preserving as a larva what 



* This can be easily doue by cementing three pieces of india-rubber tube 

 in the required position with gutta-percha dissolved in chloroform or 

 bisulphide of curbon. 



