14 



[June, 



NOTES ON COLLECTING, MANAGEMENT, &c., {LEPIDOPTERA). 

 BY n. G. KNAGGS, M.D., F.L.S. 

 THE CATERPILLAR STATE. 

 {Continued from Vol. iii., page 41.) 

 MANAGEMENT. 



With the exception of those mysterious maladies, muscardine and cholerine, 

 concerning which untold volumes have been written, with the minimum of practical 

 result, the ailments of larvae have been so little studied that, were it not that the 

 subject of " Management " seems to demand that attention at least should be 

 called to them, I would prefer to omit them altogether from these notes. 



Direct injuries, such as mutilations, wounds, bruises, &c., resulting from 

 accidents, bites of other larvae, attacks of enemies, unlucky knocks by the beating 

 stick, or otherwise received, are not necessarily fatal, and to the lovers of malfor- 

 mations, may even be productive of cherishable abnormities in the future imago. 

 We can do little more than leave them to take their chance, placing them out of 

 the way of further harm, and stopping the flow of exuding lymph by the application 

 of powdered chalk to the wound, but of course the scab formed afterwards will 

 interfere with the next moult, so that whenever that event comes about, the larva 

 (if worth saving) may be assisted by means of warm moisture and the mechanical 

 measures mentioned further on under *' moulting sickness." 



Stings of Ichneumons, &c., come next, and when the eggs of the para- 

 sites are not too deeply deposited, and of course before they have hatched, it is 

 often no diflficult job to destroy them either by crushing them with finely pointed 

 scissors or pliers, or removing them by the aid of a darning needle, it being some- 

 times necessary to steady the larva by holding it gently between the finger and 

 thumb of the free hand ; but I see no reason why the subject (especially if it be of 

 an irritable temperament) should not be placed under the influence of pure (not 

 methylated) chloroform, since larva) are readily afiected by, and readily recover 

 from the efiects of, this agent. 



Frost bite. It has been stated that larvae, which have been so stiflBy frozen 

 that they might have been easily bi'oken, have been known to recover. The chief 

 thing to be remembered in the treatment of such cases is that the thawing should 

 be efiected very gradually — rapid thawing being dangerous ; the best thing I can 

 suggest is to cover them up in snow ; we should remember that prevention is better 

 than cure, and that the larva3 of species which naturally inhabit warm situations 

 cannot bear and ought to be protected from any great degree of frost. 



Suffocation. This of course happens whenever the passage of air through 

 the spii'acles becomes obstructed, the most common cause being submersion, for 

 larvae have an unaccountable propensity to commit suicide in the water vessels of 

 breeding cages whenever they can get a chance ; still after being immersed for 

 even ten or twelve hours, their case is not utterly hopeless, for though they may 

 appeal- bloated and stifi'ened with water, yet if they be dried gently on a piece of 

 blotting paper, keeping them in motion the while, and exposing them to the sun, 

 the chances are that, if they be not too far gone, they will recover ; and, for aught 



