DfRECTIONS TOR COr.I.KCTING, ETC. j.,., 



corresponding with a numher attaclicd to tla- dnuviiig; and by this system, not only every butterfly wUl be assigned 

 to its proper caterpillar (which has not always boon the ease), but even the male and female caterpillars may 

 perhaps bo distinguished by unvarying markings, as distinct, no doubt, in many instances, as those of the perfect 

 insects themselves ; a fact wiiich it would be highly int(!rcsting to prove satisfactorily. 



The caterpillars, when taken, should be touched with care, as they will not bear rough liandling. A large box 

 should be prepared for them with a gauze lid, and should contain several divisions, each distinguished by a 

 number ; each division should also have a little earth mi.xed with rotten wood at the bottom, which may be 

 prevented from getting too dry and dusty by keeping a layer of damp moss upon it. In the corner of each 

 division should be placed also a phial of water, in which a branch of the plant which the insect feeds upon will 

 be kept fresh ; it should, however, be renewed every day, or even twice a day, if possible, care bein" taken not 

 to disturb the caterpillars at the time they are casting tlieir skin, which occurs several times before tliev 

 attain their full growth, varying in diiferont species. It will be understood that the earth at the bottom of the 

 divisions is for the use of such caterpillars as undergo their change in the ground. 



To rear caterpillars from the egg is much more difficult ; but the most certain method is to place the eo-o-s 

 securely upon a branch of the jiroper food of the species, in the o])eii air, and, to prevent escape, inclosin<' the 

 branch in a gauze or muslin bag or frame. It will be found necessary, however, to remove them to other 

 branches as often as the leaves are destroyed, or become unfit food. Caterpillars, when takin nearly full-<rrown, 

 may also be treated in this way with gi'eat success, but groat care must be taken in removing the chrysalides to 

 a box covered with gauze as soon as they are formed, and they nuist in all cases be examined frequently, as, if the 

 perfect insect remains long in the box without being secured, the wings will become injured by its endeavours to 

 escape, and one great advantage of rearing them from the caterpillar state is, that more perfect sjiecimens are 

 secured than could possibly be obtained by capturing them in the winged state, as even the exercise of flying 

 destroys the downy bloom which they exhibit on first emerging from the chrysalis. 



To capture the winged insect flying, or settled upon a flower, or on the ground, gauze nets are used of two or 

 three sorts, which will be found described in Mr. Ingpen's little work, or Mr. Westwood's Entomologist's Tcxt- 

 Book : for instance, to capture the high-flying purple emperor a net is sometimes used fixed to a rod or pole 

 twenty feet long ; but Jlr. Ingpen mentions that he is sometimes, in common with other strong flyers, brought 

 to the ground by throwing up a piece of stone or tile, in his course, which he follows in its fall, and sometimes 

 alights upon it, when he is easily taken. 



When captured and killed, care being taken not to rub oft' the down from the wings, a pin must be passed 

 through the thorax, and the wings kept expanded by thin braces of cord until the insect is pcrfeotly dry. This 

 requires several days, varying according to the weather, after which it is ready to be placed in the cabinet. 

 When the season is past, both for taking the insects in the larva or imago state, the leisure hours of late 

 autumn may still be occupied in search of chry,«alidcs. These may be sought, as the garden flower-beds are 

 dug over, upon the plants on wliieh tliey have fed, and cm walls and palings ; but in the latter situations it 

 frequently happens that they are diseased individuals, which, pierced by the ichneumon fly, have wandered from 

 their food, and in their malaise sought a shady and solitary retreat, instinctively, perhaps, endeavouring to escape 

 their enemy, who generally pierces thorn in the bright sunshine. Chrysalides taken in such situations will 

 frequently, when they burst, instead of the expected butterfly, discharge a hundred small silken cocoons, each 



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