178 



hence, it is necessary to keep it as much as possible 

 equally moist. 



For those species which spend the winter, or any 

 lengthened portion of the summer in the pupa state, either 

 under ground or amongst moss, &c., the following is an 

 admirable cage : Take a large flower-pot and fill it one- 

 third full of fresh, sweet moss, then place it upon a 

 soup-plate full of water, and tie book-muslin over it. 



The evaporation of the water, passing throiigh the 

 hole in the bottom of the pot, keeps the moisture in the 

 moss nearly at the right point, so that the trouble of fre- 

 quent waterings is obviated; but an occasional one is 

 nevertheless advantageous. A number of flower-pots, 

 fitted up in this way, enable the entomologist to keep 

 each species of larvfe separate ; to treat each as it re- 

 quires ; to watch each through its several transforma- 

 tions ; and to arrive at conclusions more readily than he 

 could do by keeping all in one large box. The pots also 

 may be kept either in or out of doors ; whereas, a box 

 would soon be flooded, and the larvae andpupas di-o\vned, 

 if kept where rain has access. The box, moreover, 

 would soon be destroyed. 



When the cages are tenanted by larvae, care should be 

 taken to keep them airy, sweet, and clean, otherwise 

 diseases are generated which prove fatal to the moths in 

 one or other of their stages. When many caterpillars have 

 been reared in one cage it necessarily becomes charged 

 with refuse, so that, when the insects are all hatched, 

 fresh moss shoidd be substituted for the old, taking care, 

 of course, that no good pupas are thrown away in the 

 change. 



It sometimes happens that individual specimens re- 

 main in the pupa state for some time after the majority 

 have flown, and odd ones of good species are valuable. 



Such domiciles are alone necessary for the rearing of 



