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Nearest window (Oct 15)

Axis of Cauliflowers free with cots. above long filament of glass.

Plants have faced light for 2 days

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[113v]

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t the females are the most

there entomologists concur in

ever, and some others take an op=

inced that they have reared

ar states a larger proportion

(Besides the more active habits

emergence from the cocoon

e cases more often stations,

ed for the an apparent or real difference in the

Lepidoptera, are when captured

en they are reared from the eggs

d by many breeders in Italy,

trini, that the female caterpillar

most more from the recent disease than the male;

me that in rearing other species Lepidoptera

ie in the cocoon in with many

is larger than the make, and

choose the finest specimens, and

a larger number of females.

ne that this was their practice;

that most collectors take all the

n find of the rarer kinds, which

the trouble of rearing. Birds when

[Descent 1: 310-11: "Mr. Stainton, who has paid such close attention during many years to the smaller moths, informs me that when he collected them in the imago state, he thought that the males were ten times as numerous as the females, but that since he has reared them on a large scale from the caterpillar state, he is convinced that the females are the most numerous. Several entomologists concur in this view. Mr. Doubleday, however, and some others, take an opposite view, and are convinced that they have reared from the egg and caterpillar states a larger proportion of males than of females.
Besides the more active habits of the males, their earlier emergence from the cocoon, and their frequenting in some cases more open stations, other causes may be assigned for an apparent or real difference in the proportional numbers of the sexes of Lepidoptera, when captured in the imago state, and when reared from the egg or caterpillar state. It is believed by many breeders in Italy, as I hear from Professor Canestrini, that the female caterpillar of the silk-moth suffers more from the recent disease than the male; and Dr. Staudinger informs me that in rearing Lepidoptera more females die in the cocoon than males. With many species the female caterpillar is larger than the male, and a collector would naturally choose the finest specimens, and thus unintentionally collect a larger number of females. Three collectors have told me that this was their practice; but Dr. Wallace is sure that most collectors take all the specimens which they can find of the rarer kinds, which alone are worth the trouble of rearing. Birds when surrounded by caterpillars would probably devour the largest; and Professor Canestrini informs me that in Italy some breeders believe, though on insufficient evidence, that in the first brood of the Ailanthus silk-moth, the wasps destroy a larger number of the female than of the male caterpillars."]