A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 27. 



MAY 1st, 1880. 



Vol. 1. 



REARING LEFIDOPTERA 

 FROM THE EGG. 



SOME time ago w • were asked by 

 a correspondent to give a paper 

 on the above subject. Our delay has 

 not been from any disregard to our 

 friend's wish, but simply from pressure 

 of other matter, but now that the insect 

 season has fairly commenced we must 

 not put it oft' any longer. 



Whei] possible the females should be 

 put in "glass c;ipped"' boxes before they 

 lay, or if the eggs are loose they may 

 be put in themselves after they are 

 deposited. The advantages of this is 

 that the boxes can be put in home con- 

 venient place where they may be readily 

 consulted in order to see if any of them 

 are hatched, whereas if they are put 

 away in common chip boxes every box 

 must be opened before the contents ( a: i 

 be seen, and if this is neglected for a 

 few days a valuable brood of larvae may 

 be lost. The collector should always 

 be on the look out for eggs ; very fre- 

 quently after a night's sugaring quan- 

 tities of eggs may be found in the boxes 

 in the morning if the moths sre allowed 

 to remain in them, which they always 

 should. Worn females are frequently 



taken that are not worth setting, but 

 with a little labour very perfect speci- 

 mens may be obtained from these. 

 \\ nenever a female is taicen the ques- 

 tion should be asked "is it worth 

 while to breed from this V" and if it be 

 it should be put in one of the "glass 

 capped " boxes and the lid left a little 

 open so as to allow plenty of air. If it 

 does not lay for a day or two get a bit 

 of sponge and saturate it with sugar 

 and water, and put that in the box for 

 it to feed upon. When the eggs are 

 obtained they should be kept out of the 

 way of the sun, otherwise they will be 

 dried up and will never hatch ; those 

 that are laid in the autumn should 

 be kept in a cool place, or they may 

 hatch in the spring, before the propel 

 food plant is developed, this will some- 

 tin happen however much care is 

 used, and in this case either some 

 substitute must be found, or the most 

 advanced tree of the proper kind must 

 be selected, and the buds opened with 

 the point of a penknife. When the 

 young larvae are hatched they may be 

 kept in those white pots in which mar- 

 malade is sold. The top edge must be 

 ground even upon a flat stone, a little 

 water upon the stone will assist the 



