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are scarce this may be quite a nuisance. One does not care 

 to kill in case there should still be some eggs to come : a 

 P. dardanus $ f. cenea that had already laid 77 eggs went for 

 several days without laying at all and then laid 31, nearly all 

 fertile. However, the gradual loss of their legs — I have, I 

 think, not known them to lay after losing them — eventually 

 ends the career of even the most long-lived. 



By means of this " forcible feeding " (fruit being in some 

 cases substituted for the sugar-water) I have been able to 

 keep the following butterflies alive for additional periods : 

 Atella phalaidha, Dr., Precis arches ia, Cr., and Precis sesamus, 

 Trim., natalensis, Staud., Pseudacraea lucretia, Cram., var. 

 expansa, Butl., Eurytela hiarhas, Dr., Pyrameis cardui, L., 

 Hypolimnas misippus, L., H. wahlbergi, Wllgr., H. deceptor, 

 Trim., Crenis rosa, Hew., various species of Charaxes (not that 

 these usually require special measures to make them feed), 

 Papilio dardanus, Brown, P. demodocus, Esp., P. lyaeus, 

 Doubl., and, if I remember rightly, Leuceronia argia, F., 

 Danaida chrysippus, L., Amauris ochlea, Boisd., and one or 

 two of the smaller Acraeinae. I have found, however, that 

 even when fed as described the females of P. dardanus appear 

 to lay badly when more than one is confined in the same cage. 

 Careful regulation of sun and shade through the day is also of 

 great assistance towards securing laying. 



A point that should be mentioned is that, in practice, I 

 found it advisable to use only one slit at a time. Where two 

 butterflies were present, whichever individual first became 

 restive at once unsettled her companion by the movement 

 she imparted to the whole. The fastening down of the cork 

 or the use of a heavier material might obviate this — were it 

 really at all worth while. 



I should imagine that the holder here described represents 

 no n.ew idea, for it is probable that many breeders of insects 

 use such devices — many of them doubtless far better than the 

 particular contrivance I happen to have adopted. It has been 

 suggested to me, however, by Prof. Poulton that this method of 

 feeding butterflies ought to be described for the benefit of any 

 who do not know of it. It could doubtless be used for other 

 insects too, for I have induced a dragonfly {A)inx speratus, 



