28 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XJX. 



climate of the Deccan, another prefers the damp, warm, close 

 A'alleys of the Konkan hills ; some are addicted to strong drink, fre- 

 (luenting the toddy-pots hung on the palms and the fermenting juices 

 exuding; from the trunks and branches of trees : others ag-ain have a 

 predilection for high game and will sit with evident enjoyment on a 

 rotten carcase or other objectionable substance, imbibing nourishment 

 therefrom : and these are rarely, if ever, found at flowers. Many of 

 the scarcer species bask on the tops of high trees and descend but 

 rarelv to ground level, while a larg;e number never seem to rise above 

 a few feet. Some species migrate long distances in a given direction 

 at certain times of the year in great numbers together though it is 

 diiRcult to assign any definite reason for their doing so : some hardly 

 ever go outside an extremely limited area. Other habits will be 

 alluded to, as far as they are known, in their proper place under the 

 description of the genera and species. 



Caterpillars have many enemies. Insects of various kinds lay 

 their eggs in them, or on them producing larvae or grubs which feed 

 on the fatty part? of their bodies, carefully avoiding the vital or- 

 gans, grow and turn to pup?e inside the caterpillar {Ichneumonidce), 

 come out and pupate on the surface of the body, spinning little co- 

 coons of a white cottony substance (Chalcid Wasps), fall to the 

 ground and change there {Dipt era or Flies) : others suck them dry 

 (Hemiptera or Bugs : chiefly Redw/idce) : while the Mason Wasps 

 ( Eumenidce) and other Hymenoptera sting them and carry them off 

 to their nests as a food-supply for their young ; the ordinary Wasp 

 (F(?5'/)/6?oe) masticates them to prepare a fitting nourishment for its 

 grubs. Spiders destroy numbers for food, ants do not disdain them, 

 lizards will demolish whole batches at a sitting, birds and frogs, toads, 

 snakes, some species of beetles — all are enemies of the wretched 

 caterpillar : intestinal worms and different kinds of fungus also play a 

 considerable part in diminishing their numbers. 



Even the eggs of butterflies are not exempt from insect enemies. 

 The w^orst of these are the parasitic Mieroichnewnonidce, small 

 Hymenoptera of many species which lay their eggs in those of 

 the insects in question, the resulting grubs, sometimes several to a 

 single egg, feeding on the interior, undergoing transformation there- 

 in and finally eating their way out through the shell as perfect 

 wasps. 



