A CATALOGUE OF THE LEPIDOPTERA OF IRELAND. 159 



course plunged in heavy bottles or jars filled with water. The 

 branches should also be cut in the evening, or at least not when 

 the sun is shining on them, whenever it is possible to do so, be- 

 cause branches or plants cut in the evening will keep longer in 

 good condition ; and the foliage on a big branch, being fed partly 

 on the sap, will be more wholesome to the worms than if the 

 branch were cut into a number of small twigs, the foliage on the 

 twigs being too watery. The water in the bottles should also be 

 kept quite pure, the necks of the bottles being stopped so as to 

 prevent any of the droppings of the larvae or dirt to fall into the 

 water, which would poison the water and then the larvae. Cut 

 branches should also be kept in the shade. 



When breeding-cages are used, they should always be of a 

 large size, and the watering of the foliage (which is sometimes 

 done in hot weather when rearing native larvae) should be 

 avoided as much as possible. As there is but little evaporation 

 of the water in a breeding-cage, excess of moisture produces a 

 kind of white fungus on the floor of the cage, which is injurious 

 and often fatal to the larvae. When rearing larvae that are un- 

 known and may have to burrow into the ground to turn into the 

 pupa state, a few inches of light soil covered with a layer of moss 

 should be put on the floor of the cage. But a few weeks' practice 

 and experience will teach all that is required to be known for the 

 proper rearing of larvae, according to the circumstances in which 

 one may be placed. Live cocoons and pupae intended for 

 exportation to Europe should be sent as soon as possible after 

 their formation. 



In the list of wild silkworms, it must be remarked that the 

 species of the genus Anthercea have ''closed" and perfect cocoons, 

 and they are rich in silk. The cocoons of the genus Actias also 

 are closed, but most of them are irregular in shape, and they 

 are not so rich in silk as those of the genus Anthercea. The 

 cocoons of the genus Attacus are " open " at one end, and many 

 of them are rich in silk. 



Trusting these few remarks may be of some use, I now give 

 a list of wild silkworms, as far as they are known to me up to 

 the present time. 



(To be continued.) 



A CATALOGUE OF THE LEPIDOPTERA OF IRELAND. 

 By W. F. de Vismes Kane, M.A., M.R.I.A., F.E.S. 



(Continued from p. 124.) 



[Hadena genista, Bork. — Birchall's notice of the occurrence 

 of this species from Wicklow proves to have been based on 

 erroneous information, and this he confirmed by a letter to me. 



