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with me at Deal. I paid a visit to a hatter, purchased a 

 cartoon hat-box, cut out the centre within an inch of the 

 outer rim of the top of the box, and covered it with coarse 

 muslin. The lid then pulled down fixed the gauze or muslin 

 securely, and formed a really good make-shift cage. The 

 food of course must be put into either a wide-mouth bottle or 

 a small rummer glass ; /lb. square biscuit tins, with the tops 

 cut out and the edges bent so as to allow a glass top to be 

 slid in, form excellent make-shift puparia. 



Treatment of hibernating lai-vcs. — Very many of our larvse 

 hibernate, and a few words on their management may be 

 useful. As soon as winter truly settles the season, and food- 

 plants get killed, larvae crawl away, and many of them spin 

 little pads of silk, on which they partly fix themselves ; 

 others merely find a convenient spot on which to rest and 

 pass the winter. Generally, I like to place in cages with 

 hibernating larvae some plant that will not readily get 

 mouldy, such as ground ivy or small pieces of true ivy, and 

 some dry sphagnum. On these the larvae can rest without 

 much fear of mould ; keep them in a cool greenhouse, avoid- 

 ing absolute drought and sunshine. The first is prone to 

 dry up your larvae, and the latter possibly may awaken 

 them from their winter sleep before nature has provided 

 any growing plant for feeding them on. Early in March or 

 April, according to season, you must watch your little ones, 

 and if they once begin to move it is best to take them into a 

 warmer place, and by giving them fresh food they will soon 

 begin to eat and grow rapidly. 



The best results in breeding will generally be secured by con- 

 fining yourself to moderate numbers, when there will be not 

 only fewer deaths, but the insects themselves will often be finer. 

 Overcrowding, combined with stale food, is almost certain to 

 bring on disease. This often takes the form of diarrhoea, 

 and carries off the entire brood. One of the first symptoms 

 of this is found in the frass getting soft and watery, and the 

 larvae themselves getting frequently soiled with it, the anal 

 segments particularly so. It is not often one can do much to 

 arrest this disease when once it asserts itself. A plan I have 

 adopted with fair success is this : A small brood — some thirty 

 larvae of Endromis versicolor — showed unmistakeable signs 



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