448 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1925 



Mr. John C. W. Kershaw in 1905 described in detail the carnivo- 

 rous habits of the caterpilhirs of Gerydus chinensis. 



It is to Mr. AA"". A. Lamborn that we owe the bulk of our infor- 

 mation regarding the curious and varied habits of different carnivo- 

 rous butterflies. As a result of studies in Southern Nigeria he 

 published in 1913 a most remarkable series of detailed and careful 

 observations on no less than six different types. For the first time 

 he described the larval habits of Euli'phyra niinfica, Aslauga 

 vlninga, A. lambornl, Megalopalpus zyiiina^ and Lachnocnenia 

 hihulus (of which the first and last had been suspected by Dr. Hol- 

 land of being carnivorous), and he added much to the knowledge of 

 the early stages of Spalgis lemolea. 



In 1915 Dr. T. A. Chapman made the interesting observation that 

 the caterpillars of Lycaena avion when in the last stage feed upon 

 the full-grown grubs of ants. In 1918 he published a note showing 

 that the larvae of Lyccena alcon in their last stage feed on ant larvae, 

 like those of L. anon, but by sucking their blood instead of by devour- 

 ing them. 



In an interesting series of observations on the lycsenids of South- 

 ern Nigeria published in full in 1921, Mr. Charles O. Farquharson 

 added Triclema lamias to the list of species known to have carnivo- 

 rous young, and gave further observations on the young of Lach- 

 nocnema hihulus. 



THE CARNIVOROUS BUTTERFLIES 



Of the eight subfamilies inchuled in tlie family Lycaenidae two, 

 the Gerydinae and Liphyrinae, so far as known, contain only car- 

 nivorous species. There are several additional carnivorous forms, 

 some of which are peculiar in liaving the caterpillars carnivorous 

 only in the last stage, in another subfamily, the Lycteninae. 



The subfamily Gerydinae includes the genera Gerydus, Paragery- 

 dus, AUotinus, Megalopalpus, and Logania, of which the young 

 are known only in Gerydus and in Megalopalpus; but suspicious 

 actions have been observed on the part of the adults of AUotinus 

 which resemble similar actions of the adults of the closely related 

 Megalopalpus. 



The Gerydinae are distinguished from the other lycaenids most 

 conspicuously by their curious legs, which are sometimes very long; 

 the tibiae or tarsi are elongated or otherwise peculiar. The included 

 species are all dull little butterflies, wholly, mostly, or largely black 

 or dark brown above, with markings of bright brown, ochreous, or 

 white, rarely violaceous. Tlie males have no secondary sexual char- 

 acters and usually do not differ in color from the females. They 

 have a strong irregular mothlike flight, dancing about a favored 



