32 
species absolutely resent the least disturbance. I think that for seven or eight 
successive years Dr. Riley and I tried in vain to obtain the imago of a beautiful larva 
found every autumn in greater or less numbers on Gnaphaliwm, and occasionally 
on the Asters and some other Composite. Not being able to associate it with 
its species we designated it the “pretty cut-worm.” It was Dr. Riley’s practice 
to have the earth in his cages sifted occasionally during late autumn and winter 
to see how the pupz were faring, and to have each species collected into its 
particular corner or side of the cage, which was designated by the label on the 
door. 
But in the case of this particular species this orderliness was fatal. After 
Dr. Riley went to Washington, I resolved on the “let alone” policy. I put the 
larvee into a cage with clean earth with an admixture of sand which I dampened 
slightly and only at considerable intervals during the winter, kept the cage in a 
very cool place, and the next summer was rewarded with several fine specimens 
of Mamestra legitvuma, my only disappointment being that it was a species by no 
means uncommon. 
With me Scopelosoma sidus behaved in an almost equally capricious manner, 
but was, after many trials, finally reared by adopting the same methods as with 
leqgitima. I now make it a practice to sift or change the earth in my cages only 
in the spring and autumn before the hibernating pupz are formed. Of course, 
if I wish to note pupal characteristics, I have to run the risk of the disturbance, 
but this is only occasional. Ihave found that frequent dampening when the cages 
are kept in doors, is also detrimental, and that hibernating larvee and pupe are 
far less likely to suffer from drought than from dampness. 
In rearing the Micro-lepidoptera—in which I have an especial interest— 
various tactics must be pursued, and the imagination is often vainly taxed to 
suggest a provision which the delayed changes and general unrest of the insect 
plainly call for. 
Under natural conditions it is very difficult to keep track of these small 
creatures. The leaves or flowers or fruits on which they may be found feeding 
on one day will be deserted by the next, and during the darkness they will have 
betaken themselves to parts unknown, the most assiduous search failing to 
discover them. In the rearing jar some species adapt themselves very kindly ; 
others will crawl about for days spinning threads of silk over sides and cover 
and finally dry up without effecting their transformations. 
An accident to which the student is liable, and against which he can with 
difficulty make provision, is to have the larva, which he has perhaps just 
described and figured, escape. How often have I taken up a bottle in which I 
had been rearing a particularly precious unknown, and found a tiny hole in the 
muslin cover, or perhaps a little flap cut at the edge of the bottle, telling only 
too surely of the loss and delay which a further examination verified. The 
annual brooded species which appear in the spring are the betes novr of the 
Micro-lepidopterist, especially such species as pupate on or just beneath the 
surface of the ground. They have to be cared for during the long, hot summer, 
as well as the autumn and winter, and to keep the safe middle course between 
the Scylla and Charybdis of drought and of the dampness which would promote the 
equally fatal mould, requires most careful attention. The annual brooded species 
which later fold or mine the leaves, or feed in the fruit capsules of various plants, 
or bore the stems, are comparatively easily reared, with a few exceptions. It 
was a number of years before I succeeded in obtaining the moth from an inter- 
esting larva which fed in the capsules of Pentstemon. This was owing to the 
peculiar change of habit during hibernation. After eating all the seeds from 
a 
