306 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



cage upon tlie ground, and then to lie down at a little distance 

 off and keep watch. But in some cases it is advisable to tie the 

 cage to the trunk or branch of a tree, or to fix it in a bush." I 

 liave found the latter very effective with the red-belted apple 

 clearwing {Sesia myo^iformis), and no doubt it would also prove 

 so with other species of the class. 



" Any Londoner who would like to judge for himself can easily 

 manage it. He has only, in the first place, to hunt about in his 

 own or some one else's garden for a handsome little caterpillar, 

 of a blackish colour, spotted with pink, with four rows of thick 

 tufts of yellowish hairs resembling brushes upon its back, with 

 two long tufts of blackish hairs pointing forwards in front, 

 almost like horns, and a similar one behind pointing backwards, 

 something like a tail. It eats almost anything, and is easily 

 reared. When full fed it spins a web, in which it changes to a 

 chrysalis ; and, in due time, from some of the cocoons thus 

 formed, spider-like creatures will emerge and attach themselves 

 to the outer part of the web. These should at once be removed 

 (web and all), and placed securely in the cage already mentioned, 

 when, if there be any males about, I will warrant it will not be 

 long before the proprietor has a very tolerable idea of what is 

 meant by attracting by the bred female." 



Collecting and Rearing Larv^. — Yery many insects arc 

 more easily collected in the larval or caterpillar stage than in the 

 perfect one. Every tree, bush, or plant, the grass, and even 

 the lichens growing on trees or walls, produce some larvsB 

 feeding on it. It would, I feel, be a work of supererogation to 

 attempt to give detailed descriptions of food-plants and the 

 insects feeding on them, when we have a book so good and cheap 

 to fall back on as " Merrin's Lepidopterist's Calendar," which 

 gives the times of appearance of butterflies and moths in all 

 their stages, with localities and the food-plants of the larvse, 

 and this for every month of the year. For bringing caterpillars 

 home, a larva; box is necessary; this should, if possible, be 

 made of a cylinder of wire gauze or perforated zinc ( see Fig. 56), 

 capped top and bottom with zinc, the bottom a fixture, the 

 top to lift off, dished inward towards an orifice with a tube 

 soldered in it, which is kept corked until it is wanted to drop 

 larvae down it. The tube coming well through into the cylinder. 



