32 



species absolutely resent the least disturbance. I think that for seven or eight 

 successive years Dr. Riley and I tried in vain to obtain the imago of a beautiful larva 

 found every autumn in greater or less numbers on Gnajyhalium, and occasionally 

 on the Asters and some other Compositce. Not being able to associate it with 

 its species we designated it the " pretty cut-worm." It was Dr. Riley's practice 

 to have the earth in his cages sifted occasionally during late autumn and winter 

 to see how the pup^e were faring, and to have each species collected into its 

 particular corner or side of the cage, which was designated by the label on the 

 door. 



But in the case of this particular species this orderliness was fatal. After 

 Dr. Riley went to Washington, I resolved on the " let alone " policy. I put the 

 larvae into a cage with clean earth with an admixture of sand which I dampened 

 slightly and only at considerable intervals during the winter, kept the cage in a 

 very cool place, and the next summer was rewarded with several line specimens 

 of Mamestra legitima, my only disappointment being that it was a species by no 

 means uncommon. 



With me Scopelosoraa sidus behaved in an almost equally capricious manner, 

 but was, after many trials, finally reared by adopting the same methods as with 

 legitima. I now make it a practice to sift or change the earth in my cages only 

 in the spring and autumn before the hibernating pupae are formed. Of course, 

 if I wish to note pupal characteristics, I have to run the risk of the disturbance, 

 but this is only occasional. I have found that frequent dampening when the cages 

 are kept in doors, is also detrimental, and that hibernating larvae and pupsB are 

 far less likely to sufter from drought than from dampness. 



In rearing the Micro-lepidoptera — in which I have an especial interest — 

 various tactics must be pursued, and the imagination is often vainly taxed to 

 suggest a provision which the delayed changes and general unrest of the insect 

 plainly call for. 



Under natural conditions it is very difficult to keep track of these small 

 creatures. The leaves or flowers or fruits on which they may be found feeding 

 on one day will be deserted by the next, and during the darkness they will have 

 betaken themselves to parts unknown, the most assiduous search failing to 

 discover them. In the rearing jar some species adapt themselves very kindly ; 

 others will crawl about for days spinning threads of silk over sides and cover 

 and finally dry up without efiecting their transformations. 



An accident to which the student is liable, and against which he can with 

 difficulty make provision, is to have the larva, which he has perhaps just 

 described and figured, escape. How often have I taken up a bottle in which I 

 had been rearing a particularly precious unknown, and found a tiny hole in the 

 muslin cover, or perhaps a little flap cut at the edge of the bottle, telling only 

 too surely of the loss and delay which a further examination verified. The 

 annual brooded species which appear in the spring are the hetes noir of the 

 Micro-lepidopterist, especially such species as pupate on or just beneath the 

 surface of the ground. They have to be cared for during the long, hot summer, 

 as well as the autumn and winter, and to keep the safe middle course between 

 the Scylla and Charybdis of drought and of the dampness which would promote the 

 equally fatal mould, requires most careful attention. The annual brooded species 

 which later fold or mine the leaves, or feed in the fruit capsules of various plants, 

 or bore the stems, are comparatively easily reared, with a few exceptions. It 

 was a number of years before I succeeded in obtaining the moth from an inter- 

 esting larva which fed in the capsules of Pentstemon. This was owing to the 

 peculiar change of habit during hibernation. After eating all the seeds from 



