THE YOUXG NATURALIST. 



15 



DRK FOR THE INSECT 

 BREEDER— NOVEMBER. 



By S. L. Mosley. 



ld days and chill frosty nights have 

 v fairly set in, and winter will soon be 

 >n us ; but, because this is the case, do 

 \ suppose that there is no work for the 

 | ect breeder to do. In looking through 

 abinet of butterflies and moths, it is 

 ty easy to pick out those which have 

 en bred, that is reared, from the cater- 

 lar or chrysalis in confinement. They 

 so perfect, their lustre and colors are 

 bright, that they must strike the eye of 

 ery one who sees them, as being far 

 ilore beautiful than those that are caught 

 r, large, pretty as some of them are. Be- 



- les this, when you rear an insect from 

 ~ ,e early stages up to maturity, you get 

 r 1 insight into its life history, its habits 



- id economy, which you could not do if 

 )u simply went out into the woods or 



r f 3lds, and took it on the wing. There is 

 . lother great advantage in rearing moths, 

 "'specially to young ladies, to whom this 

 science is espec 



elightful branch of the 

 ply adapted. Many ladies now turn 

 "lieir attention to the study of insects, and 

 fj believe that many more will shortly do 

 ,o. It is not always convenient for them 

 . o go out and collect, those, for instance, 

 which fly at midnight ; but the larvae, or 

 •aterpillars, may easily be collected during 

 >he day, and then the captor can feed them 

 jip, in her own room, and have the pleasure 

 "pi seeing, some morning, a fresh and 

 beautiful moth, ready caught to her hand. 

 ijLet me advise such to try it, not' to 

 i t look upon caterpillars as " nasty things," 

 3,remember that they are but one letter in 

 ijthe great book of nature, and, if you can 

 ,,onry throw off- prejudices which have been 

 ie handed down from time immemorial, I am 

 il sure you will be wiser and better, and will 

 i appreciate the beauties of nature with a 

 womanly mind ; and my remarks apply, 

 of course, equally well to the other sex. 

 Well then, to begin. If you have suc- 



ceeded in taking any of those moths 

 enumerated in last week's number, some 

 of them may have deposited eggs in the 

 chip boxes into which you put them. If 

 you specially desire that they should lay 

 eggs, lift the lid of the box a little, so as 

 to let some air in, and place inside a small 

 piece of sponge, moistened with sugar and 

 water, and, having obtained the eggs, label 

 the box,, and put them in a cool place to 

 pass the winter, as none of the eggs, laid 

 at this late season of the year, will hatch 

 till the spring. Place them on one side 

 now, and I will let you know how to treat 

 them, when the proper season comes round. 

 Remember that none of those with H after 

 their names, will lay eggs now, but the 

 moths must be kept in a very cool place, 

 where they will sleep — or as it is called, 

 hybernate — through the winter, and de- 

 posit their eggs in the spring. Of course, 

 only female moths should be kept for this 

 purpose, and these may be known by their 

 shorter bodies and finer antennae. 



Some larvae may be found this month, 

 but many of them will hybernate, and, as 

 fchey will do this much better out of doors 

 than under any kind of artificial treatment, 

 it will be best to leave them and let nature 

 take care of them till spring. If, however, 

 you happen to come across any larvae of 

 this kind, make a wooden box, with per- 

 forated zinc top and bottom ; put in a sod, 

 containing some of the food plant— if you 

 know it — and make the sod fit the bottom 

 of the box ; after putting the larvae upon 

 it, place the whole out of doors, but take 

 care to have the box so placed that the 

 water can drain through -the perforated 

 zinc at the bottom. 



There is much more to be done just now 

 by pupa-digging, and the pupae do not re- 

 quire so much care through the winter. 

 Let me tell you how to go about the work. 

 Get a three pronged garden fork, a small 

 one that you can put in your pocket, such 

 as are made for lady gardeners ; go to 

 some park, or other place where the trees 

 are scattered, and select an oak tree 

 being the most likely to prove profitable. 

 Insert your fork near the root, and turn 

 up the sod ; examine well in the angles 



