#lic JJoung iiaturalist 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 82, 



JUNE 4th, 1881, 



Vol. 2. 



OBTAINING EGGS FROM 

 LEPIDOPTE R A. 



THERE are many species oi Lepi- 

 doptera that will deposit their 

 eggs, it possible, even under tin most 

 disadvantageous circumstances. li a 

 virgin female of B. rubi or Querent; be 

 put in the killing jar almost immedi- 

 ately after emergence, sire will com- 

 mence to lay, and, no matter how 

 strong the poison, she will manage to 

 deposit a few eggs, [f, however, she 

 be kept alive, sin- will not begin to do 

 so for several days, and will often die 

 before she has parted with all of them. 

 How strong, then, must be the instinct 

 that teaches her, as ii were, in thi 

 agonies of dissolution to make this 

 futile effort to perpetuate her race. 

 This may well be called " the ruling 

 passion strong in death." But there 

 are others that require a great amount 

 of coaxing and attention to induce 

 them to part with their eggs, and it is 

 too frequently the case that the eggs of 

 the rarer species are the more difficult 

 to obtain. With captured specimens 

 it is, oi course, hupbssible to know 

 whether rh< ova are impregnated or 



not. and many a good insect is saeri- 

 ; ieed in the vain hope of obtaining 

 fertile ova. We would advise, except 

 where there arc special reasons for de- 

 j siring to rear the species, such as it not 

 having been reared before, that when 

 I captured females are in very fine con- 

 • dition, they be killed and set. If, on 

 I the other hand, they are so much worn 

 as to be useless for the cabinet, there 

 : can be no reason why every effort 

 1 should not be made to induce them to 

 deposit their eggs. What we have to 

 say on the subject of obtaining eggs had 

 better be said under each group. 



Butterflies. — Few of the Butter- 

 flies will pair in confinement. We 

 have seen the large and common 

 whites do so in a window, and once 

 saw the large white (P. hrassicce) pail' 

 in the evening in a room well lighted 

 with gas. They were bred specimens, 

 and had been kept in the dark. 

 Butterflies are difficult to induce to 

 deposit their eggs. They are used to 

 fly freely in the bright sunshine from 

 one plant to another, and most of 

 them deposit their eggs singly. These 

 conditions must be imitated if suc- 

 cess would he assured. We have .-.eeli 



