L.inv.K AND PUPjE of butteHflu 



From the leaves with which ii was supplied. The larva was in no 

 j*ree dependent on fchem, as we proved by rearing .some from a very 

 small size without ants. From this it would appear that the advan* 

 .,o which the larva derives from the alliance is protection against 

 mies. The house swarmed with a small brown ant, very active 

 [n killing and carrying off sickly larvae, or butterflies just emerging 

 from the pupa. We introduced some of these to a centauries, aud 

 immediately they took it into their care and showed that they 

 thoroughly understood the management of it. First the larva was 

 assiduously caressed all over, especially about the head; then the 

 ant went to the 11th segment, touched the gland gently with its 

 antennae, and was rewarded with a drop of honey, which it licked 

 up at once. This process was repeated many times. Now, supposing 

 these ants to be nine years old, like some of Sir John Lubbock's, it is 

 not possible they ever could have seen a centauries larva before, for 

 the house in the walls of which they had their nest stood actually on 

 the sand of the sea-beech, a mile from the nearest spot on which we 

 ever saw this butterfly, or found its larva. How did they understand 

 it so well ? Perhaps they had] had some practice with Lampides 

 celianus, the larvse of which we sometimes found in the garden. 

 Before leaving the subject wc cannot forbear moralising on the fact 

 that, when the larva has become a pupa and is no longer of any use 

 to them, the ants guard it as carefully as before. How remote and 

 contingent is any advantage they will derive from the preservation 

 of the butterfly ! Alas ! it is not only the sluggard that has need 

 to go to the ant and learn her ways and be wise. 



52. ZeziuH chrysomattus, Hiibner. 



Wc found this on the same tree as the last, with the same unfail- 

 ing body-guard of red ants. The larva is more elongated than the 

 last, and the second segment, which is not depressed, but encases tin* 

 head and projects beyond it, is anteriorly cleft into four points, life e 

 the teeth of a saw : the last two segments are depressed. There is a 

 honey-gland, but apparently no erectile organs, a subdorsal and a 

 lateral row of single short bristles, one to each segment, and below 

 these, at the bases of the legs, tufts of strong bristles, those on the 

 2nd, 3rd and 4th segments springing from warty processes. The 

 47 



