IC IJuiie, 
Moulting Sickness. Larvas of some species, even in confinement, appear 
to experience but little difficulty in casting ofi" their effete skins ; others, on the 
contrary, and of these chiefly those of the Butterflies, Sphinges, Bomhyces, and 
Pseudo-homhyces, apparently naturally undergo a comparatively tedious and painful 
process of ecdysis ; the appetite of the caterpillar thus affected leaves it, it fi-e- 
quently seeks some retired spot, and having spun a fewer or greater number of 
silken threads, attaches the hooks of the pro-legs thereto, and then, after the lapse 
of a longer or shorter interval, bursts the now useless covering which invests it, and 
makes its exit. During all this the larva should, as a rule, be left to its own re- 
sources, but sometimes it may be observed that it is incapable of freeing itself, in 
which case assistance must be rendered before prostration takes place, by slitting 
the old skin with a couple of needles carefully manipulated, cutting, by very fine 
pointed scissors, the skin round any scab which may have been formed over a 
wound, and pegging down the skin in cases where the pro-legs may have become 
detached from the transverse silken threads, assisting meanwhile the operation by 
moistm-e and warmth. It is very important to discriminate between the above 
sickness and cases of starvation, since the treatment required in the latter case is 
necessarily converse of the above, and a conclusion respecting this may safely be 
arrived at by attention to the following : — In the starved larva the capital segment 
is comparatively of hydrocephalic proportions — it is, in the moulting larva, very 
small, the skin is plump and tense in the latter, while that of the former hangs 
loosely ; the silken transverse threads too are absent in the victim of starvation, 
which also exhibits a restless desperation in searching for food to appease its hun- 
ger, sometimes snapping at pieces of frass and other substances, and as hastily 
casting them aside, the moulting larva, on the other hand, remains stationary. 
Diarrh03a. This is generally caused by improper feeding with too juicy or 
too relaxing food ; in such cases, dry stunted foliage gathered from bleak exposed 
situations, mature leaves, astringents, such as dark-coloured oak leaves, madder, &c., 
should be tried with such larvae as will partake of them, or the food may be sprinkled 
with powdered madder, chalk, &c. The converse of this complaint requires to be 
treated with the young, juicy, immature leaves of the food-plant, and, in certain 
cases, mostly among the Noctuce, the administration of lettuce and other natural 
purgatives will have a salutary effect. 
Fungus. This is particularly apt to attack haiiy larv^, especially such as 
hybernate, the subject — having doubtless first become unhealthy from confinement 
in a damp, ill-ventilated atmosphere — is attacked by a species of didium, after 
which it is generally " all up." I do not know how far the use of hyposulphurous 
acid or the hyposulphites might be applicable, but their effect might be tried. The 
natural preventive is, doubtless, exposure to the sun's rays, and most collectors 
must have noticed that the hybernating larvae of Arctia, Spilosoma, and others, take 
every opportunity of sunning themselves, as if for the purpose of drying their 
coats J when there is no sun visible, currents of dry air will, probably, be the best 
remedy. 
Soils, &c., for the use of Larvae about to change to Pupse. 
Considerable diversity of opinion, respecting the substances, mixtures, &c., 
best adapted for this purpose, exists among Entomologists — probably at one time 
