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THE YOUNG NATUEALIST 



occurs in the South of Italy and in Algiers. J 

 It has more black on the fore wing, and less j 

 blue on the hind wings than the type. ' 

 As/a tic a. Men. is found in Northern India, 1 

 and in Kamtschatka. We do not know this 

 form, but it must be very close to Sphyrus, as j 

 Dr. Staudinger gives one name as a-synonym 

 of the other. Hippocrates, Feld. occurs in 

 Japan. We do not know in what way it ! 

 differs from the others. 



Allied Species — P Hospiton, Gene, is j 

 smaller and darker than Machaon, has a ' 

 shorter tail, and the red eye spot on the hind ! 

 wing is much reduced. It is found in the ' 

 islands of Corsica and Sardinia, which pro- 

 duce many insects that differ more or less I 

 from their nearest allies on the main land. 

 Hospiton however appears entitled to rank as 1 

 a good species, for the larva is said to differ 

 from that of Machaon. 



Parasites. — Though this species, being 

 easily found in the larva state, is reared in 

 large numbers, we have heard of no parasite 

 being bred from it. Perhaps the tentacles j 

 already named, and the peculiar odour they 

 diffuse may prevent other insects approaching 

 near enough to deposit their eggs as in other 

 cases. 



against the garden wall, and sheltered from 

 the rays of the sun, which answered very 

 well for general breeding ; after a time I 

 found out that, by that method it did not 

 enlighten me as to the larva from which any 

 of my pets came. I then adopted the flower 

 pot system, by tieing a piece of leno over the 

 top of the pot, so far that did very well. 

 The folowing year I made doom shaped cage, 

 grooves covered with leno, so as to be able 

 to put in a nice piece of oak, or whatever 

 might have been the food-plant required. I 

 found that oak and other things very soon 

 dried up. The next year I had perforated 

 zinc made to fit the top of the pots, above 

 which I had a bell glass, this is very good, it 

 has the advantage of being always able to 

 see the larvae and food plants ; by this plan 

 it checks evaporation, consequently the food 

 is kept green and moist much longer, but 

 finding the pots took up too much space I 

 adopted the following, which is very similar 

 to the latter, by substituting zinc for earthen- 

 ware. I have now about fifty of them, vary- 

 ing in size from two to fourteen inches in 

 diameter. The better to understand what I 

 mean I will give a sketch, and describe a six 

 inch cage I am now using, and have done 

 for many years, 



BREEDING CAGES AND 

 BREEDING. 



By G. C. BlGNELL, 



A few words on the breeding cages I have 

 used during the past twenty years I think 

 would be interesting to some of the readers 

 of The Young Naturalist, 



1 first started with a breeding cage measur- 

 ing three feet in length, eighteen inches in 

 breadth, nine inches high in front and fifteen 

 in the back (eight of wood and five of gauze 

 wire) with a glass lean-to roof. It was 

 divided into four compartments, the doors of 

 which were gauze wire, so that it was well 

 ventilated, the food placed in bottles of 

 water, the cage resting on iron brackets 



It is divided into three parts, the bottom is 

 plain zinc three inches deep ; the middle fine 



