446 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN iNSTITXJTION, 1925 



surmised that it might feed upon Pemphigus^ but neither of these 

 observers was able to get positive proof of the fact. 



On October 29, 188G, Mr. W. H. Edwards published a detailed 

 account of the life history of this species, based mainly upon observa- 

 tions by Miss Emily L. Morton, of New Windsor, Orange County, 

 N. Y. 



Certain corrections in regard to Mr. Edwards's historical remarks 

 and INIr. Pergande's notes were published by Prof, Riley on Decem- 

 ber 29, 188G. On this same date Mr. George Haley, of Brownfield, 

 Me., published his observations on this butterfly. Pie had noticed 

 it alighting on a species of aphid, Schizoneura tesaellata^ found in 

 crowds on the bark of alder, and from the position of its abdo- 

 men it seemed to be going to lay an egg among the plant lice; but 

 seeing him, did not. Afterwards he scraped some of these aphids 

 off a twig of alder and found a couple of larvae. These he sent to 

 Mr. Edwards, who said they were Fenisecci tarquinius, as he had 

 thought. On another occasion he found two full-grown larva? among 

 the plant lice, one of Avhich changed to a pupa. On sending the 

 caterpillars to Mr. Edwards, Mr. Haley said he thought they fed 

 on the plant lice, as there were many dead bodies or skins of the lice 

 where he found them. Later he saw in the American Naturalist 

 that the larvce probably fed on this species of aphid, and also on 

 PeTThfJiigus fimxmifoUi found on the twigs of beech trees. 



Dr. W. J. Holland in April, 1887, having read Mr. Edwards's 

 account of the carnivorous habits of Feniseca fnrqiunius, suggested 

 that Liphyra hrassolis, an oriental butterfly, was similarlj^ car- 

 nivorous. He had received from the Rev. L. C. Biggs a parcel of 

 insects collected by Mr. F. J. Durnford in Sungei-Ujong. Mr. 

 Biggs in his notes called attention to a particular specimen, saying : 

 "' It looks as if it were covered with mildew, which Durnford 

 assures me is really fluff detached at the time of its capture.'' 

 Among the envelopes containing insects Mr. Holland found several 

 with specimens of a large " mealy-bug." The true explanation of 

 the "fluli " or mealy deposit upon the abdomen and lower side of 

 the wings of the butterfly, which was an example of Liphyra 

 hrassoUs, instantly flashed upon his mind. He hastily looked up 

 the envelopes containing the scale insects or "mealy-bugs." A 

 comparison beneath the microscope of the white particles clinging 

 to the abdomen and lodged upon the wings of the Liphyra with 

 the mealy covering of the shield-lice preserved in the envelopes 

 revealed their identity, and he therefore concluded that the white 

 fluff on the butterfly was acquired while ovipositing on scale insects. 



The white " fluff " on the Liphyra was undoubtedly a part of the 

 fugitive fluffy covering with which on emergence 1;his butterfly is 



