454 ANNUAL BEPOKT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1925 



Hemipteia. They are laid at intervals all through the year, but 

 those mentioned by Mr. Kershaw were taken in July and August. 



The plants the butterflies seem especially to affect are various 

 species of bamboo, the lichee {StilUngia sehifera)^ and a species of 

 burr marigold {Bidens pilosa), which last is very common in the 

 region. 



The aphids swarm so thickly that the plant stem or leaf is invisi- 

 ble and, barring heavy rain, they are, as a whole, stationary for days 

 together, though slowly changing their position individually and 

 going through various transformations, fresh lots continuall}' re- 

 placing the old. 



As in the case of Feniseca tarquinius the eggs of the butterfly are 

 often hidden under a mass of aphids. 



The egg is circular and flat, pale green in color, ringed circum- 

 ferentially, the edges of the rings milled like a coin. It hatches in 

 four days, the issuing larva being nearly cylindrical at first, not 

 assuming its sluglike shape until a later stage. Its color is light 

 yellow with a distinct purplish dorsal line and a few light-colored 

 hairs chiefly at the head and tail. The head is dark. Later on the 

 caterpillar becomes limaciform or sluglike, yellow or greenish-yel- 

 low, and banded longitudinally with purple broAvn. The segments 

 are well defined, the first swollen and produced so that the head 

 can be withdrawn entirely into it, as it usually is when the larva 

 is resting. 



The larva? feed upon the aphids, sometimes pressing them against 

 the plant with the head and forelegs, sometimes holding them in 

 the fore legs quite away from the plant. A few bites disposes of 

 an aphid, and the caterpillar then licks and cleans its legs just as a 

 mantis does. Some aphids must have a better flavor than others, as 

 the larva} pick and choose, moving their heads up and down over the 

 backs of the insects, evidently smelling them. As a rule the 

 creatures seem to make little attempt to escape till they are actually 

 bitten, when struggling is useless. 



When not engaged in feeding the larvae rest among the aphids or 

 crawd leisurely about between or over them, and the aphids do like- 

 wise, the larvne being sometimes covered with them. 



When nearly full grown the larvae lose most of their sparse hairs 

 and their colors fade, the bands and four blotches on the seventh 

 and eighth segments becoming less distinct. 



The larval stage lasts about 15 days, and Mr. Kershaw reckoned 

 that, on the average from first to last, the larva3 would eat some 20 

 aphids per day. But it would require many larva3 to make much 

 impression on the crowds of aphids seen, perhaps a yard of bamboo 

 2 or 3 inches in diameter being absolutely covered with them. 



