As a bird food or a fishing bait gentles are superior to the maggots of any other dipterid insect. So-called ants' eggs and meal-worms are more highly appreciated by the fancier for bird food, but they are expensive. The pupæ called "ants' eggs" can only be had fresh for a short period of summer, and dried stock for the rest of the year requires much labour to obtain and prepare. Meal-worms are the cleanest and the easiest to propagate of all similar larvæ; but they are very slow growing compared with gentles; in the natural state the life-cycle from the egg to the feeding worm, then the pupa or chrysalid, and finally the beetle, _Tenebrio molitor_, occupies a twelvemonth's time; but, like many other insects which have accommodated themselves to human surroundings, they can increase more rapidly. By rearing a number of broods, each in a separate vessel, and by hastening the development and propagation of some broods more than others, meal-worms may be obtained fresh throughout the year; the amount of trouble and attention required is accordingly great. The artificial rearing of gentles is easy, rapid, and cheap. Generally it is not well or methodically managed, and consequently it is then a horribly malodorous nuisance. However, with proper care the process can be managed without offensiveness, and it will immensely repay all trouble. A more restricted variety of birds relish gentles, but no insect food is more wholesome for any of the galinaceous tribe. A spot in the open air, preferably sheltered from the north or east wind and from mid-day sun, should be chosen. There an inverted earthenware sea-kale pot or a similar vessel should be fixed on a stand or table twenty inches high from the ground; the table should have a central hole corresponding to that in the sea-kale pot. The hole in the pot should be obstructed with a wire-cage strainer, or a piece of perforated wood or metal, above which a few sticks or a bunch of straw may be placed. [Illustration: Fig. 6. Apparatus for the cleaner breeding of gentles. ] Fly-blown dead animals, fish, offal, or suitable food remnants should be placed from time to time in such a receptacle, which should be surmounted with a removable rain-proof cover and shade of ample size. The latter should allow a two-inch space or a little more underneath all around the rim of the pot for ventilation. Underneath the table or stand a wide and more or less shallow pan or dish should be placed, and a little clean sharp sand placed therein.