BREEDING FROM PUPJi. 9 



but the task is a very troublesome one, partly 

 on account of the quantity of food consumed by 

 so large and voracious a creature, and partly 

 because it is rather a delicate larva, and apt to 

 die without any apparent cause. Should the 

 pupa, of which a figure is also given, be found, 

 it must be placed on earth kept slightly damp 

 by a handful or two of wetted moss laid over 

 it. Otherwise the pupal envelope becomes so 

 hard and horny, that the enclosed moth is un- 

 able to break its way out, and perishes. When 

 I first began moth-breeding, I lost several speci- 

 mens by allowing them to become too dry. 



Yet, in any case, breeding moths from the 

 caterpillar, or finding the pupae and keeping 

 them until the insects come out, is a plan far 

 superior to that of catching them, inasmuch as 

 a captured moth is seldom killed without having 

 suffered some damage. Those that are bred, on 

 the contrary, can be watched until their wings 

 have attained their full development, and can 

 then be quietly slipped into a box, and killed 

 either with the vapour of chloroform, or that of 

 bruised laurel shoots. For my own part, I 

 prefer the latter, as the chloroform is apt to 

 make the wings so rigid that there is much 

 dimculty in " setting " the insect properly. 



