LEPIDOI'TERA. 181 



that he found no less than one hundred minute 

 larvae upon a single armful of Spurge which had 

 been cut at dusk on the preceding evening. 



It is said that there is considerable difficulty in 

 rearing these larva; successfully, so as to obtain 

 perfect specimens of the Moth ; and Mr. Westwood 

 informs us that the late Mr. Euseli, the Royal 

 Academician, who, like Northcote, was a zealous 

 entomologist, was only able to obtain a single 

 perfect Moth from twenty Caterpillars, all of which 

 appeared to have entered the pupa stage in a healthy 

 condition. Though extremely rare, or at all events 

 capricious in their appearance in England, the chry- 

 salides, or eggs, or young Caterpillars might be 

 obtained any season from the Continent ; and with 

 the convenient appliances of the Insect Vivarium, 

 I feel convinced that any one would, with due care, 

 obtain a much more successful result with a batch 

 of Caterpillars than that arrived at by Euseli, in 

 whose time the conditions necessary to ensure com- 

 plete success were much less perfectly understood. 



Eggs or pupae of the Oleander Hawk-moth 

 ( Chcerocampa Nerii) should also be procured from 

 the Continent ; the exquisite tinting and intricate 

 maculations of pink, green, and olive on the wings 

 of the perfect insect rendering it one of the most 



