CHAPTER XXVIII 



THE REARING OF CATERPILLARS PHOTOGRAPHS OF INSECTS- 

 COLLECTIONS OF INSECTS 



THE REARING OF CATERPILLARS 



THERE are many British caterpillars which may be reared with but 

 little more trouble than the silkworm. It is, however, necessary, as 

 they have not been bred in cap- 

 tivity for hundreds of generations 

 like the latter, to keep them in 

 something which restricts their 

 movements more than an open 

 tray. A cage should be made 

 which admits light and air, and 

 has a false bottom through which 

 the stalks of the shoots, on which 

 the caterpillars live, can pass 

 into vessels of water below. 



A simple form may be de- 

 scribed as follows: 



Take an ordinary box such as 

 those in which soap is packed, 

 and remove the top and bottom. 

 Stand it on one of its sides and fix 

 into it a shelf (so as to form the 

 false bottom to which allusion has 



" -.;:. 



Photograph by Wilfred Mark Webb. 



FIGURE 198. A Privet Hawk Caterpillar showing 

 the bands which "break " the surface of its body. 



so 



