1898.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 89 



FOOD OF EUDAMUS LYCIDAS. 



By G. M. DODGE, Louisiana, Mo. 



On Aug. 5, 1897, I had been walking in the woods and seated 

 myself upon the grass to rest with hands clasped around my 

 knees. Soon a Eudamus lycidas alighted on my hand. It 

 moved over the tip of my thumb with quick sidling motions and 

 I soon noticed that its proboscis was thrust back under its body. 

 I then saw that it was feeding upon a fluid which it ejected from 

 the tip of the abdomen. It would deposit a small drop and im- 

 mediately begin to take it up as rapidly as possible. When the 

 drop had been absorbed the insect would change its place a little 

 by stepping to one side, sometimes only moving the hind legs, 

 and at once repeat the ejecting and feeding process. It evidently 

 changed its place so that it might deposit the liquor on a dry 

 spot where it would not spread out and be lost before it could be 

 secured, as it would have done on a surface already moistened. 

 After taking a number of drops of this peculiar form of nourish- 

 ment it flew away. I followed and saw it alight on a leaf where 

 it remained quietly at rest without attempting to feed, doubtless 

 digesting its dinner. 



I returned to my former place, and, assuming the same posi- 

 tion, the butterfly soon returned and perched upon my sleeve. 

 Here it remained for some time, constantly feeding as before, and 

 as the little drops stood up in a half globular form upon the dry, 

 white surface, I could see that they were quite clear, with a 

 slightly yellow or amber tinge. Then it finally flew away and 

 returned no more. I hardly think that this butterfly was an 

 entomological Edison who had discovered this unique method 

 of feeding. The selection of a dry place for each succeeding 

 globule must have been from the dictation of instinct, and such 

 instinct could only have come from a long line of ancestors who 

 manipulated their food in a similar way. 



Can it be that butterflies distil the crude nectar which they 

 gather from various sources, finding suitable food only in the 

 refined product ? 



' Why did the fly fly ?" " Because the spider spied her." 



