THE GOLDEN PIGMY. 525 



This little creature is common upon its food-plant, and can 

 easily be obtained by rearing it from the larval state. I find 

 that nearly all leaf-miners are easily reared. They require 

 very little trouble, and the collector is free from the ever- 

 constant labour of procuring food, which is a serious tax on 

 anyone who cannot pay a substitute to do it for him. But, 

 with leaf-miners, there is scarcely any trouble at all, and the 

 following directions will be found amply sufficient. Cut off 

 the twig on which grows the mined leaf, and bring it home. 

 In order to ascertain whether the larva is still inside the leaf, 

 hold it up to the light, when a short, opaque line will at once 

 detect its presence. Tie a piece of fine gauze loosely over the 

 leaves, put the stem in water and all is done. These little 

 creatures go through their transformations very quickly, and in 

 a comparatively short time the beautiful little Moths may be 

 seen fluttering within their gauzy prison. 



The gauze bag, with its living burden, is then slipped into 

 the laurel-bottle, and the Moths can then be set. 



It is very easy to say that such Moths must be set, but to 

 set them is a very different business. They are so very small 

 that to get even the slenderest of pins through the thorax is 

 quite out of the question, and they naust therefore be mounted 

 on card. It is best done by taking some very white card-board, 

 moistening the surface with transparent cement, laying the 

 Moths upon it, and drawing their wings into position with a 

 very fine needle-point. As soon as the cement is dry, the 

 card-board can be cut up into strips, so as to have the Moth at 

 one end of the strip and the pin at the other, just as is done 

 with small beetles. I have seen a number of these Micro- 

 lepidoptera thus displayed on a piece no larger than a lady's 

 visiting card, the effect of their glittering wings being abso- 

 lutely gorgeous when a bright light was reflected upon them. 



The last of the Tineae which we can mention in this work is 

 the Golden Pigmy {Nepticula aurella), which is shown on 

 Woodcut LXI. Fig. 2. This is a very much magnified figure, as 

 can be seen by comparing it with Plate XVII. Fig. 7, where 

 it is represented of its natural size. 



This very common insect affords an admirable example of 

 the Tineae, its small size and glittering hues being two of the 



