12 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



but on sheltered bank sides, it was all 

 melted off, and the larvae were creeping 

 about — seeking food I imagined. Of course | 

 these were brought home, and, as food 

 could not be procured, they were kept in 

 the cold arid in the dark ; but they, too, 

 sickened and died. At last the thought | 

 Struck me, " Could I make them think 

 spring was at hand ?" I put them in a 

 glazed box, among moss, arid placed them 

 before the fire. When I came in to tea, 

 they were spinning, and in a day or two 

 were all pupae. Well do I remember the 

 eagerness with which I penned an account 

 of my discovery to the u Intelligencer," 

 and suggested that they might be forced 

 iii the autumn, by placing them in a hot- 

 house. And equally well do I remember 

 how, in a week or two, some more experi- 

 enced collector exposed my discovery, and 

 snubbed me unmercifully for my ignorance. 

 Ah ! well, there are pleasant recollections 

 of those days for all that. I doubt much 

 if my heart would beat with such excite- 

 ment now, even over the capture of a new 

 species, as it did that afternoon when my 

 "Foxes" began to spin. I know all about 

 them now, and generally manage to rear a 

 goodly number every spring, to supply 

 those less fortunate than myself. I will 

 try to tell you how to proceed. They 

 need neither placing in an " ice house " 

 nor a " hot house," but if their habits are 

 studied they can be very easily managed, 

 at least I find it so. 



The larvae are full fed in the autumn, 

 but they scarcely seem to become quite 

 'torpid at any time. Other hybernating 

 species retire for the winter, and no matter 

 tiow fine and warm the weather may be, 

 'they remain in their retirement till the 

 'proper time arrives for their further 

 development. L rubi does not do this, 

 .and, every fine sunny day, they may be 

 seen crawling about, or stretched at length 

 on withered tufts of grass, &c, basking in 

 the warm rays of the morning sun. They 

 .retire soon after mid-day. From January 

 to April they may be found thus, becoming 

 more abundant as the season advances. 

 ^The sexes may be easily distinguished at 

 'this time by the great difference in size. 



I 



: 



When found, ii kept in a warm room, they 

 will open their cocoons at once, and in a 

 few weeks the insects will .emerge. I 

 used at one time to keep them among moss, 

 but I found that, if I had only half-a-dozen, 

 in one receptacle, they disturbed . one 

 another, and some of them died. I now 

 keep each larva in a separate chip box ; 

 an ounce and a half box is large enough 

 for the female, an ounce box for the male., 

 If these are placed withihelidofthe box doivn, 

 they will spin their cocoon so that the lid 

 can be taken off without disturbing them. 

 After they change, they may remain in 

 the box, if you can fix them .so that the | 

 insect can get out with a certainty of not 

 upsetting the box, or rolling it over. If 

 they are taken out of the cocoon, I find it 

 best to put them on the bottom of a 

 wooden box, with the bottom and sides 

 rough off the saw, the rougher the better, 

 for the female especially. With no more 

 trouble than this, I have bred for many 

 seasons as many specimens as I needed for 

 my numerous correspondents, without the 11 

 loss of five per cent of my larvae. 



No doubt the larvae may be kept over 

 the winter. To do this, the most success- 

 ful way is to imitate their natural condition 

 as closely as possible. Put them in 

 large box, covered with perforated zinc 01 

 wire work ; give them tufts of coarse gras; 

 to retire among, and expose them to the 

 weather. They must 'also be so placec 

 that they can receive the sun's rays — thi 

 seems essential. Treated in this Way, I 

 large proportion of them will survive tli| 

 winter ; but if you really want the insect 

 try and get the larvae in the spring, and 

 then you are safe. 



The larva of B rubi is attacked by a| 

 least two enemies. A small Ichneumon 

 which leaves its victim in the autumr 

 spinning a small yellow oval cocoon as i 

 comes out ; and a dipterous parasiti 

 Musca Larvarum, which waits until tb 

 insect assumes the pupa state before 

 destroys its prey, and great will be tt 

 surprise of the beginner when he finds h 

 beautiful " Fox " pupa produce a fly n< 

 unlike a "blue bottle." 



