226 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



at chemists for pomade, &c. You can j 

 watch the hatching of the eggs as care- j 

 fully in these, as in anything else, and 

 a sprig of the food plant will keep 

 fresh in them for two days, or even j 

 longer, if the bottle is corked. This is ! 

 a great advantage, for the food of 

 young larvse must be fresh, and while | 

 they are so very small they are not ! 

 easy to remove. Remember, however, 

 that larvae must have air, or they will j 

 die, and though they may be kept in 

 one of these wide-mouthed bottles, with ; 

 the cork tightly in, for the time we ' 

 have named, this can only be done j 

 when they are very young. When 

 they get older they must be removed to | 

 a more roomy receptacle. In No. 27, | 

 Vol. I, a cheaper, and, in some respects, ! 

 a better plan was suggested for making ; 

 a vessel in which to rear your smallest j 

 larvae. Take an ordinary 4oz. medicine j 

 bottle, and cut off the upper portion | 

 from about an inch below where it j 

 slopes off to the neck. If you have not j 

 a diamond, take a thick wire, heat it j 

 red hot, and pass it round the bottle, | 

 where you want it to separate. In- j 

 stead of a wire we have also used the | 

 shank of an ordinary clay pipe. This 

 cracks the glass less or more where it j 

 touches, and the upper portion will j 

 come off, fitting exactly to the lower. ' 

 Now take a long strip of paper, paste it, • 

 and wrap it round the upper portion of 

 the bottle, leaving about half an inch j 

 projecting, or overlapping below. This j 

 serves nicely as a lid, and with the j 

 neck corked is as air-tight as the other, 

 while it is more easily emptied of its 



contents to change the food. The| 

 food must never be allowed to get stale i 

 or mouldy in these receptacles, and by' 

 the [time the larvse have made their 

 second moult they are ready for removal 

 to a larger vessel. A very good breed- 

 ing cage may also be made from an 

 ordinary white glazed jampot, or one 

 of those red clay tree pots, generally 

 used by gardeners and florists. Rub 

 down the upper edge till it is quite 

 level, and lay over it a piece of glass • 

 rather larger than the mouth. We 

 have used with considerable success a 

 tree pot of this sort half filled with 

 sandy soil, and sunk three or four 

 inches in a large box filled with damp 

 earth. The porous nature of the pot 

 ensures sufficient moisture being ab- 

 sorbed to prevent the food drying too 

 quickly, and as one piece was consumed 

 another was added, and when the larvae 

 had removed to the fresh food, the old 

 piece was taken out. Here they retired 

 beneath the surface to pupate, and ex- 1 . 

 posed to all the rigours of the winter, I 

 always emerged in good order, never! « 

 suffering from being handled or dis-l 

 turbed. 



In our first volume are several ex-I 

 cellent suggestions for breeding cages, n 

 To these we must refer our readers, a.s 

 they are too recent to bear repitition.' 

 At the same time we shall be glad to 

 have further suggestions from any of 

 our readers on the interesting subject 

 of breeding from the egg, and we shall 

 be specially glad to have notes on any 

 species that have been successfully 

 reared. 



