232 THE INSECT WOELD. 



windows. After three or four days, the fire is lighted, taking 

 care not to have more heat than 13 Centigrade round about the 

 table which supports the eggs, and which should be placed as far 

 as possible from the fire. Each day the room is warmed a little 

 more, in such a way that the temperature is raised from 1 to 2 

 a day, until 25 Centigrade of heat have been attained, at which 

 temperature it is to be maintained when the eggs have reached 

 the last stage, and till the hatching is terminated. On the 

 first day few worms are hatched ; but the hatching on the second 

 day is very abundant, as also that of the third. Of these newly- 

 born worms two divisions are made, separated by an interval 

 of twenty- four hours. The worms which are born afterwards 

 are thrown away, unless they are so abundant that they can be 

 made a third batch of, which is to be mixed up with the second at 

 the period of the moult. 



In the large rearing houses there is a special chamber for the 

 incubation. Yarious simple, convenient, cheap apparatuses, whose 

 main object is to create a permanent warm and damp atmosphere, 

 whose degree of heat can be regulated at will, have been proposed. 

 M. Louis Leclerc, in his pamphlet entitled " Petite Magnanerie," 

 has given a description and drawing of a little box, which is verv 

 useful for facilitating the hatching of eggs. We refer those of 

 our readers who wish for further information on the subject to 

 that work. As soon as the worms are hatched, the eggs are 

 covered with net, and over this are placed mulberry boughs, 

 covered with tender leaves, on which all the little worms con- 

 gregate. They are then lifted up with a hook made of thin wire, 

 and the worms are placed on a table covered with paper, leaving 

 a proper space between each. They are given, as their first meal, 

 tender leaves cut into little pieces with a knife. These are the 

 operations gone through for the two raisings of worms on the 

 second and third day of the hatching. During this first age 

 they give them from six to eight meals a day, taking caie to 

 distribute their food to them as equally as possible. The first 

 meal is given at five o'clock in the morning ; the last at eleven or 

 twelve o'clock at night. 



When the moult is approaching, the young ones are put on to 

 boughs having tender leaves, so that they can be moved on litters 



