174 MR. C. B. HARDEXBURG 



Tlie study of South African Caterjnllars. 

 Bj C. B. Hardexberg^ M.A. 



Preface. 



Durixg the last six years the writer has been especially 

 interested in the study of the pre-adult stages of the 

 Soutli African Lepidoptera. Although a fairly consider- 

 able knowledge of this subject has been obtained, only 

 the fringe of it has been touched upon, and a great 

 amount of investigation remains to be done. This article 

 is therefore written to call attention to this absorbing 

 and greatly neglected branch of entomology and to arouse 

 interest in it on the part of collectors and co-workers. 

 While investigating the insects injurious to the Black 

 Wattle, a great deal of time was spent in the collecting 

 and rearing of the caterpillars found in the plantations. 

 The rearing was sometimes successful, but often not. In 

 the latter case, not a rare occurrence by any means, the 

 disappointment and dissatisfaction were great and often 

 lasting, as species plentiful one year might be very scarce 

 or apparently absent the next season. And while thus 

 collecting and rearing we often wished for a little book 

 which Avould enable us to determine the species from the 

 larva, a kind of '^ Guide to the Caterpillars." Compari- 

 son with prepared specimens of caterpillars in Museums 

 and private collections usually proved unsatisfactory, as 

 in the process of preparation the most striking characters 

 had often been lost. Then we looked up descriptions of 

 caterpillars. These we found scattered through a great 

 number of periodicals, often inaccessible. When found, 

 the description was often very short and vague, leaving 

 one in doubt as to whether the caterpillar in hand was 

 identical with the one described or a nearly related 

 species or whether the description referred to another 

 instar of the larva than that of the one which we wanted 

 to identify. 



