152 MR. C. N. BARKER 



which it devoured. Among the specimens I netted, there 

 were several which had the wings chipped svmetrically, 

 on either side, suggesting that the butterflies had been 

 attacked when resting with the wings closed; some 

 others showed chips on one wing only, as if they had been 

 seized when in flight. 



A few days later, at the same spot, looking for more 

 specimens of L. ayresiij I saw a Natal Kingfisher 

 Ispidina natalensis capture and devour a freshly 

 emerged specimen. I only saw this occur once." 



Mr. Millar also records a further interesting occur- 

 rence: — '^In October, 1892, I shot 2 pigeons, Tiir- 

 turaena delegorguei on the Clairmont Estate near 

 Durban. On picking them up off the ground by the legs, 

 a quantity of young froghoppers (immature Cercopidae 

 probably Ptyelus grossus, F.) were disgorged from the 

 crops, together with the spittle that envelopes them." He 

 concludes his letter as follows : — " You have asked me, 

 have I frequently seen birds catching butterflies? My 

 emphatio answer is XO I I am of opinion that butter- 

 flies as a food are not looked to in particular. That is 

 in reference to butterflies in full strength and vigour. 

 Young just emerged flies of most varieties would, I think, 

 be taken by nearly every kind of insectivorous bird. But 

 generally speaking, I consider that the butterfly is not 

 a special or general food of birds." 



In a very interesting presidential address to the Ento- 

 mological Society, 1004, Prof. E. B. Poulton takes as his 

 subject "Are acquired characters liereditary?" A con- 

 siderable part of the paper is taken up in defining the dif- 

 ference between acnuired characters — (in the scientific 

 sense) as distinguished from inlwrcut characters. The 

 Professor quotes Lloyd ^lorgan's definition in '^ Animal 

 Behaviour," 1900, page 120 : — " Instinct depends upon how 

 the nervous system is built through heredity; while intel- 

 ligence depends upon how the nervous system is developed 

 through use.'' Prof. Poulton gives as his own brief and 

 convenient definition of acquired characters '• as those 



