REARING INSECTS i 



contagious disease analogous to low fever. .Many die while 

 moulting, especially the larvae of butterflies, spl . and 

 bombycids ; others are carried off by diarrhoea, which is. 

 generally caused by improper feeding on too juicj or relax- 

 big E 1, when oak leaves or dry stunted foliage should be 



given them. To relieve constipation they should be 

 with lettuce and other natural purgatives ; ami lastly, they 

 may be attacked by I'm: . pecially, besides those previ- 

 ously mentioned, a species of Oidium. Such patients should 

 be put in direct sunlight or dry currents of air. ( Entomol- 

 ogist's Monthly Magazine, .him', 1868.) The pupae easily 

 dry 141 ; they should be kept moist, in tnbes of glass closed 

 at either end, through which the moth can 1"' seen when 

 disclosed. 



In Betting Micro-lepidoptera: " If tin- insect is very small 

 1 hoh! it by it.- legs between tin- thumb and finger of the 

 hand, whilst I pierce it with tin- pin held between the 

 thumb and finger of the right hand : if the insect is not 

 very small I use a rough surface, asa piece of blotting-paper 

 or piece of cloth, for it to lie upon and prevent its slipping 

 about, and then cautiously insert the point of the pin in the 

 middle of the thorax, as nearly as possible in a vertical di- 

 rection. A- Boon as the pin is fairly through the insect, re- 

 move it to a <oft pins' of cork, and. by pressing .t in. push 

 the insect as far up the pili as i< required. 



"For setting the insects I find nothing answers as well 

 as a piece of soft Cork, papered with smooth ] taper, and with 

 grooves cut to admit the bodies. The wings are placed in 

 the required position by the setting-needle, ami are then 

 retained in their places by a wedge-shaped, thin paper 

 brace, placed over them till a square brace of smooth 

 card-board is placed over the ends of the v. Stain- 



fcon.) A small square of glass can also lie laid <>n the wings 

 to keep them expanded, and thus serve th< same purpoe 

 the paper bra 



Linnaeus first set the example of having the specific nan 

 of the Tortricids end in ana, and of the Tn . and 



