554? ENTOMOLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS, &C. 



construction are, the occupation of less room than five 

 separate cages, and a diminution of expense ; both im- 

 portant considerations when any person is engaged ex- 

 tensively in rearing insects. Whatever be the construc- 

 tion of the box, it is highly necessary that the larvae be 

 constantly supplied with fjesh food, and that the earth at 

 the bottom should be kept damp. To accomplish the 

 latter object, I keep a thick layer of moss upon the sur- 

 face, which I take out occasionally (perhaps once a week 

 during hot weather, and once a fortnight or three weeks 

 in winter), and saturate completely with water, and return 

 it to its place: this keeps up a sufficient supply of moisture, 

 without allowing the earth to become too wet, which is 

 equally injurious to the pupae with too much aridity. By 

 numbering the cells, and keeping a register correspond- 

 ing with the numbers, the history of any particular larva 

 or brood may be traced." 



In attending to your insects in their cells, your expec- 

 tations will sometimes be disappointed, when, instead of a 

 butterfly or moth, you find only an Ichneumon. But this 

 you must not regard as all misfortune ; for by this means 

 you will be better instructed in the history of each species, 

 and learn to the attack of what enemies it is exposed : 

 and thus you may get many species of these parasitic de- 

 vourers of insects that you would not elsewhere meet 

 with. If your caterpillars, however, appear to be of a 

 rare kind, you must watch, and often examine them ; and 

 if you discover black specks upon any one, that appear 

 unnatural or like nits, they may be extracted, Mr. Ha- 

 worth assures us a , by a pair of small pliers; and if the 

 operation is adroitly performed, the caterpillar will re- 

 3 Lepidopt, Britann. 87. 



