202 Dr. Wallace on 
about 10 a.m. and a few about 2 or 3 p.m.; those born before 
9 p.m. generally flew and paired that night. 
That the cocoons should be suspended in chaplets or strings is 
I think desirable for this reason, that it is requisite that the large 
limp wings of the newly-born insect should hang perpendicularly 
prone, so that their own gravity may further their expansion ; 
the abdomen, being lax, is bent at first downwards, but afterwards 
slightly upwards, the under surface of the insect being uppermost 
during thé operation; and this is exactly the natural position 
assumed by the insect at the base of its cocoon. But should the 
moth rest against any perpendicular object, this help of position 
is entirely lost: as the wings expand, they are folded back over 
the thorax, having now to support their own weight; and the 
experience of this position proves that a great many so resting are 
more or less crippled. 
Now supposing the chaplets to be suspended in festoons, and 
the moths to be emerging, how best are we to attain our next 
object, their coition and the deposition of eggs? The imagos 
during the day are extremely tame, bear handling very well, and 
seem inclined even if let go to fly back again for shelter whence 
they were dislodged; but if once escaped and fairly on the wing 
they soon soar away over trees out of sight. A very pretty and 
graceful movement to and fro of the wings is a common salutation 
when any one approaches, and the same waving of the wings more or 
less accompanies all their proceedings. One variety of the French 
“ boites aux mariages” is a three-chambered box, not less than 
eighteen inches high by eighteen inches wide and about three feet 
long. It may be made larger or smaller; the sides and top are 
open, but lined with canvass or zinc; the top is so constructed, in 
three pieces, as to enable each compartment to be examined sepa- 
rately. Divided into three separate chambers, it serves first to 
hold the cocoons, whence issue the insects ; secondly, as a receptacle 
(the middle chamber) for the emerged insects to pair; thirdly, to 
keep fertile females apart for the deposition of their eggs. 
But this plan does not answer so well as a design of my own 
of zine cylinders (which I will presently describe) for these reasons : 
first, that the insects just born have not the same facilities for 
expanding and drying their wings, and consequently will be more 
crippled ; secondly, that it is larger and more cumbrous to move 
about where space may be limited; thirdly, that it does not afford 
equal facilities for coition or egg-laying, or for close observation 
during these actions; fourthly, that manipulation of the insects and 
the collection of eggs is not so easy. 
