ae NATURALISTS’ ASSISTANT. 
Having prepared the box the larve should be collected and 
placed in it. With each larva should he collected portions 
of the plant on which it feeds and these should be placed in 
the box, inserting the ends of the twigs in the earth. When 
they show signs of wilting new leaves should be collected 
and the old ones removed. 
Drawings should be made of each species of larvee at its 
various stages, and in the notes which every naturalist should 
keep, should be noted the food plant of the larva, the dates 
of pupation and of the emergence of the imago, and every 
other item which will serve to elucidate the life history ot 
the insect. Frequently it is well, when a female insect has 
been obtained, to attempt to rear others from the egg. ‘The 
insect should be furnished with that kind of food most 
relished by the larva and allowed to deposit its eggs on it. 
The date of oviposition, the size and shape of the eggs with 
their markings and ornamentation and the date of hatching, 
should be carefully preserved by means of notes and drawings. 
Many of the coleopterous and dipterous larve are car- 
nivorous and should be supplied with meat. Other larvee are 
aquatic and these must be reared in aquaria, over the top of 
which gauze or musquito netting has been stretched. ‘The 
breeding cage should be kept in a light, airy position but 
should not be exposed to the direct rays of the sun. The 
earth in the bottom should be kept moist, otherwise the 
health of the larva is endangered. 
Mcst larvee enter the pupa stage in the fall, some climbing 
up the wall of the cage and spinning a cocoon, while others 
burrow in the earth and there pass the chrysalis portion of 
