COLLECTING AND HATCHING CHRYSALIDS. 



143 



and caught, with, a few females confined in a screen, or 

 held captive by thread wound around their bodies. The 

 males will enter the windows of a lighted dwelling, to 

 find the females, and can be captured with a hand- 

 net constructed of gauze or other light material. For 

 years, I haye made a practice of taking moths in this 



manner, capturing in 

 three hours' time one 

 evening during the past 

 season, sixty-six of the 

 large Cecropia species. 

 Pregnant moths may 

 be kept until their eggs 

 are deposited, which lat- 

 ter, if placed on fresh, 



SMALL NET. 



moist leaves, will hatch, and if constantly fed with their 

 proper food, will mature, and spin their cocoons. 



A collecting-box is indispensable for shielding insects. 

 A thin pine box, four inches deep, lined with cork, and 

 made to open in the middle on hinges, is the most con- 

 venient. Wide-mouthed bottles with rubber stoppers, are 

 the best for beetles. When the collecting-box is full, in- 

 sects with closed wings can be placed in triangular envel- 

 opes made of writing, or any stiff paper. Nets are neces- 

 sary in catching the Lepidoptera and other insects. Two 



