BUTTERFLIES, SPHINGES, AND MOTHS. 201 



ON PRESERVING EGGS OF LEPIDOPTERA. 



The eggs of this order of insects are subject to 

 jreat variety, not only in the form, but also in the 



larkings which ornament their surface. They are 

 rery easily preserved. Swammerdam's method 

 was to perforate them with a fine needle, and then 

 >ress out their contents, afterwards inflate them 

 [with a glass blowpipe, and fill them with a 



lixture of oil of spike and resin. 



OF LAKVM OR CATERPILLARS. 



Immersion in spirits of wine is the most imme- 

 liate and effectual way of destroying caterpillars ; 

 ind they may be long kept in it without injuring 

 their colours. 



For insects which undergo their metamorphoses 

 inder the ground, a larger breeding cage than recom- 

 lended at page 220, will be found more effectual. It 

 |ught to be from three to four feet square, and from 

 wo to three feet deep,' with a tin covering externally ; 

 irough the sides and bottoms of which small holes 

 Id be pierced. This box should be filled with 

 irth, having a quantity of vegetables placed in it, 

 ich as are fed on by the caterpillars intended to 

 bred, and then sink it into a bed of soil, allow- 

 ig the surface to be exposed to the changes of the 

 pnospkere. This box should have a covering of 



VOL. III. 



