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protea that he had reared from ova during the present year, 

 and gave the following notes upon their life-history: " On 

 April 2nd a small batch of eggs that I had saved over from 

 the previous autumn hatched, and as attempts made in 

 former years to rear this species under artificial conditions 

 had proved absolute failures, I determined to try what could 

 be done by proceeding upon lines approximating as closely 

 as possible to natural conditions. Accordingly, having pro- 

 vided a large sleeve of the finest muslin, I enclosed in it a 

 large portion of a young oak-tree to which I had previously 

 attached the box containing the newly-hatched larvae. In all 

 I must have had as nearly as possible fifty eggs, but I fear 

 many of the little larvae died before I was able to get them 

 fixed up on the food-plant. The advantage of having a very 

 finely woven muslin for the sleeve was that, although it 

 prevented any possibility of the larvae escaping, it allowed 

 me to gather an idea of what was going on inside the sleeve 

 by holding it in such a position that I saw through it to the 

 light. I need hardly say that, at so early a date, the oak 

 buds showed no signs of expanding, and, indeed, were, to all 

 appearances, as hard and brown as in the middle of winter, 

 but from frequent observations, made as above described, it 

 soon became evident that the little larvae had managed to 

 enter the buds and were supporting life on their contents. 

 On May 15th, the oak having burst forth into young leaf, I 

 opened the sleeve in order to make a closer inspection of its 

 contents. Some of the buds were unopened, and to all 

 appearances dead, no doubt having been destroyed by the 

 attacks of the larvae in their earliest stages, but such buds as 

 had expanded had by this time formed little delicate shoots, 

 the leaves of which were loosely drawn together, and in each 

 domicile so formed was a larva of about half an inch in 

 length, while other larvae had secured themselves by attach- 

 ing one of the larger leaves to the muslin sleeve by silken 

 threads, but in both cases each larva had a house of its own 

 wherein to dwell, and, of course, even the largest leaves did 

 not then much exceed an inch in length. For the next nine 

 or ten days, the weather during that time being chilly for the 

 time of year, the larvae neither ate nor grew much, but 

 between May 25th and 28th they both fed and grew very 

 rapidly, and by the later date had devoured their houses and 

 every green leaf in the sleeve, and had apparently assumed 

 their last skin. They were therefore removed into a breed- 

 ing-cage containing earth and a liberal supply of soft moss, 

 under which they closely hid themselves by day, coming up 



