38 The Hummi7tg Bird. 



that it looks like some strange animal moving about with a 

 shield on its back. That part of the carapace which is 

 attached to the body is reddish-brown, while the edges are 

 semi-transparent yellow. It comes from Ceylon. I say that 

 I was glad to see it, because the order Coleoptera is very 

 seldom represented at the Insect House, although many of its 

 members are quite as beautiful and interesting as the 

 Lepidoptera. I am certain that there must be many species 

 which could be sent to this country in a living state, and 

 collectors who would take the trouble to make the experiment, 

 and forward a few to the Zoological Society of London, would 

 have the satisfaction of knowing that they were conferring a 

 benefit, both on the public, by increasing their knowledge of 

 these insects, and on science, by facilitating their study, 

 as a closer observation could be kept on them than is possible 

 in their wild state, and many interesting and important facts 

 relating to them would doubtless be discovered, which would 

 otherwise have remained unknown. 



I w r ill conclude by recommending everyone who takes an 

 interest in Natural History, and who has not visited this 

 charming place, to do so on the first opportunity ; I am 

 positive that they will not regret it. Every day new changes 

 are taking place, ova are hatching, larvae changing into pupae, 

 and butterflies and moths emerging from their shells. At the 

 time of my visit, almost all the cases which had living 

 imagines in, had ova also, the larvae from which will be 

 nearly full-fed by the time this article appears. 



W. H. Rosenberg. 



A NURSERY OF INSECTS. 



For the breeding and rearing of insects, a building has 

 been newly erected by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture at Washington. Attached to it is a large glass 

 conservatory, which serves as a sort of hothouse for the pro- 

 pagation of insects of ever so many species. Those selected 

 for hatching out and bringing up are such as are of economic 

 importance — that is to say, which are injurious or beneficial 

 to useful plants. Like other animals, they require plenty of 

 light, and the air is kept warm and moist all through the 

 winter for the benefit of their health. 



Along shelves in the conservatory are ranged a great 

 number of glass receptacles of different sizes. Some of them 

 are ordinary jelly glasses, while others are large jars, and yet 



