A Plastic Leaf-Cage for Rearing Insects on Whole Attached Leaves

Extract

At the Victoria laboratory a simple plastic cage was devised for rearing root weevil adults on whole attached strawberry leaflets. The cage (Fig. 1) was constructed from 10-dram plastic pill vials (Cunningham, Drug Stores Ltd., 1300 Douglas Street, Victoria, B.C.) having an inside diameter of one inch and length of three inches.

The bottom of the hard styrene plastic vial was cut off with a band saw and the top of the soft polyethylene piastic lid was cut out with a sharp knife. Bronze screening of 44 mesh (number 60, strainer cloth supplied by Hickman Tye Hardware Co., Ltd., 910 View Street, Victoria, B.C.) was fastened to the bottom of the vial and to the top of the lid by placing 1 ⅛-inch squares of the screen on an electric hot plate and pressing the plastic parts onto the wire. The hot wire melted the plastic and became imbedded in it, forming a strong bond. The screen was trimmed with small tin snips and ground smooth on a grindstone. To facilitate attachment to growing leaves, a hot glass rod was used to melt a notch in the rim of the vial opening and lid large enough to accommodate the leaf petiole. An insect-tight seal was formed around the petiole in the notch when the lid was turned slightly.