140 TRANSACTIOXS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



should be covered with damp sand, in which the food-plant of 

 the larvfe may be stuck and kept fresh for several days. Larger 

 and more airy boxes, a foot square, with the sides of gauze, and 

 fitted with a door through which a bottle of water in which to 

 put the food-plant may be introduced, are good cages. Such could 

 be easily made locally. 



More than one specimen of an insect may be bred at the same 

 time in any cage, provided they have different habits and 

 appearances, i.e., a wood-boring beetle and a leaf-feeding 

 Lepidopterous larva could be reared in the same cage, since 

 there is no danger of confusing these insects. 



Breeding Traps in the Forest. 



In addition to breeding insects at home, it is also possible to 

 study the life-history of some insects in the forest itself. A 

 good plan is to fell a tree in different localities, to which it is 

 possible to pay a visit once a month. The bark should be left 

 on. Careful watching will show that the young uppermost 

 branches are soon attacked by small, white beetle larvae {Ptinidce, 

 Bujyrestidce, Scolytidce, Cerambycidce), the development of which 

 can be watched during the periodical visits paid to the tree. 

 Later on the larger wood-boring larvpe will be found at work on 

 the trunk and main branches, making flat galleries beneath the 

 bark to commence with, and finally boring down into the wood 

 (Buprestidce, Cerambycidce, Sessiidce, Cossidce, etc.). Some of 

 these larvfe may live for several years boring into the wood, and 

 a good plan would be to cut the tree into sections, slightly 

 removed from one another, and mark down in each one particular 

 class of larvae, i.e., it would be possible to distinguish the 

 Cerambycid larvae from the Buprestid, both from the Sessiid and 

 the three from the Cossid, and so on. In each section of the 

 tree one particular class would be watched. In rearing gall 

 insects, the twig containing the galls may be enclosed in a rough 

 bag of muslin. Officers who have a lot of camping to get through 

 will find that by some such plan as the above they will be able to 

 do something towards the study of the life-histories of destructive 

 wood-borers. 



Recording Observations. 



We now come to the very important point of recording 

 observations made. The greatest care should be taken to see 



