Ti8 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [March, '13 



Why this has happened may eventually he explained to the 

 satisfaction of everyone. Already the ground work on which 

 to frame an answer may be found in the several hundred pages 

 of recorded observations made in Africa and the East Indies. 

 (2) (3). These seem to show that there are certain qualities 

 about the Acraeinae, Danainae and others which make them 

 distasteful to Mantidae, spiders, lizards, birds, mongooses and 

 monkeys. On the other hand, there are many other butterflies 

 which are eagerly eaten. 



It is not easy even to imagine how this mimicry has been 

 produced, nor through what ages of time it has taken place. 

 We have, however, recorded observations (2) made in the 

 field covering the actual hunting and capture of butterflies by 

 birds, the finding of quantities of butterfly wings in birds' nests 

 and on the ground under them; pages of illustrations (2) (3), 

 showing butterflies with wings damaged in such a manner that 

 they could have been torn only by the butterfly wrenching itself 

 from the grasp of an enemy. Probably every field collector 

 can recall numerous instances of this same occurrence. I found 

 no less than four just such specimens in a lot of seventy taken 

 during my last day's collecting this year in Arizona. Incident- 

 ally I recall, also, a large green mantis sitting in the top of a 

 bush with a strigosa struggling in its clutches. I should have 

 waited to ascertain whether it found its prey palatable, but, 

 unfortunately, my time was too limited. 



It has been claimed by Dr. Skinner (4) that almost no in- 

 stances of birds capturing butterflies have been witnessed. 

 The only place where a casual observer would notice such an 

 occurrence would be in the open, where a bird might dash at a 

 flying butterfly. But there must be countless more favorable 

 opportunities when the butterfly is sluggish or torpid from 

 cold, or when it has just emerged from the chrysalis, or is old 

 and feeble with worn-out wings. If our field naturalists make 

 it a point to look for these occurrences, we may gradually ob- 

 tain a lot of illuminating data. 



At a recent meeting of the Entomological Club of Los An- 

 geles, following the reading of the preliminary notes of this 

 article, a discussion of the attacks of birds upon butterflies 



