250 ENTOMOLOGY. 



Managing Caterpillars in Confinement. — They may be en- 

 closed in gauze bags tied over the smaller branches of the 

 food-tree, yet they have to be watched; they need attention 

 after heavy showers or storms; and some will eat their way 

 through just before pupation. For caterpillars in confine- 

 ment air and light are necessary, though many do well bred 

 in small tin boxes without ventilation. The boxes should 

 be cleaned every day; removing the castings and bits of 

 leaves, as well as sick or dead larvae. If any contagious 

 disease appears, all the sick caterpillars should be burnt and 

 the box cleansed with dilute carbolic-acid water. The food 

 should be renewed every day, and if possible put into a 

 bottle of water closed with cotton to prevent caterpillars from 

 falling in. Too much food in a small jar or box fouls the air 

 and hastens its own decay. After beginning to feed larvae 

 with one kind of food-plant, it is dangerous to change it for 

 another; hence they should be fed on the kind of plants on 

 which they are first found. 



Dr. Knaggs has, in the "Entomologist's Monthly Maga- 

 zine," given some directions for managing caterpillars. Very 

 young caterpillars, which will not eat the food provided, and 

 become restless, should be reared in air-tight jam-pots, the 

 tops of which are covered with green glass to darken the in- 

 terior of the vessel. When small larvae hide themselves by 

 mining, entering buds, and spinning together leaves, they 

 should have as small a quantity of food as possible. In chang- 

 ing larvae from one plant to a fresh one, a slight jar or puff 

 of breath will dislodge them, and they can be transferred to 

 the jam-pot; or the glass cylinder, covered at one end with 

 muslin, can be turned muslin end downwards for them to 

 crawl upon. The duplicate breeding-cage, pot or tube, 

 should be "sweetened" by a free current of fresh dry air 

 and then stocked with fresh food. 



Dr. Knaggs advises that " hiding-places" or bits of chips, 

 etc., be provided for such Noctuid larvae as naturally lie 

 concealed, such as Orthosia, Xanthia, Noctua, etc., "while 



