424 Dr. Wallace on the Oak-feeding 
This attempt closely resembles my own failure previously re- 
corded, the cause of which I am inclined to attribute to, Ist, a 
deficient vitality among the eggs, causing them to emerge during 
a protracted period; 2nd, a want of aération, and of care to ob- 
serve the various minutiz of treatment which are evidently neces- 
sary, and with which I was then unacquainted ; and lastly, the 
great heat and drought experienced by the larvee at the end of 
June. 
‘The box* in which the eggs were sent to me on the 23rd 
January had a little hole on four faces; the eggs were placed 
in a box having two sides of canvass, and suspended in the 
oolest and dryest place in the house, temperature about 46° in 
the sun. On the 12th February the weather got warmer, and the 
thermometer rose to 75° in the sun, 65° in the shade; that even- 
ing a hundred worms emerged ; these died for want of food. The 
box was placed in the cellar at a temperature of 50°. On the 
13th February I received a paper by Mons. Jaquemart, recom- 
mending the eggs to be kept from the influence of the atmosphere 
by being shut up in a bottle sufficiently large to supply air to the 
eggs; I determined to test this, as the other mode had already 
resulted in the birth of some worms; I therefore divided my eggs 
into four lots, each lot was wrapped up in a piece of muslin, 
placed in a bottle, and suspended to the lower part of the cork; 
the cork was then sealed over, so that no air could enter. Diffe- 
rent places, each having a different temperature, were then se- 
lected in order to observe what difference, if any, resulted, for 
future guidance. 
«No. 1 was placed in the coachhouse in a hole, twenty inches 
deep, and covered over. 
« No. 2 was placed in a corner of the court-yard, at a depth 
of 32 inches. 
*‘ No. 3 was placed in a large terracotta vase filled with fine 
dry sand, covered with a strong flagstone, and placed under an un- 
used staircase, having a north aspect, where, the door being shut, 
there was little circulation of air. 
‘* No. 4 was placed in the earth in a cellar, at a depth of 16 
inches; in all cases the earth removed from the hole was used 
to fill it in. 
«“ The temperature was, February 15th, about 46°, varying 3° or 
4° less in the court than in the coachhouse. I then waited with 
confidence till the 20th April, at which time the oaks burst into 
* Revue de Sériciculture, 1865, p. 145. 
