CARNIVOROUS BUTTERFLIES — CLARK 457 



The eggs of MegaIopal]yus have been found attached to the eg^ mass 

 of the Homoptera (the membracid Leptocentrus altifrons) and in 

 two cases actually on living and half-grown membracid nymphs. 

 Mr. Lamborn found two nymphs in the same colony of the membracid 

 Gargara variegata unsheltered by ants each bearing an egg of Me- 

 galopalpus^ in one case on the right side of the dorsal surface of the 

 abdomen just behind the wing, and in the other on the base of the 

 left wing. 



The egg of the Megalopcdpus is very characteristic, being a circu- 

 lar disk with a broad flattened white margin and a raised bluish 

 semitransparent center. 



The first larva found by Mr. Lamborn, brown in color and studded 

 all over with tubercles, was discovered on a young leaf of an urti- 

 caceous plant {Musanga smithii). A number of small black ants 

 {Pheidole aurimUii r. kasaiensis) were running about over the leaf 

 on the under side and margins of which thej^ had built' up shelters 

 of waste vegetable matter such as they construct so frequently over 

 coccids. On cutting off the leaf with a view to making a closer 

 examination, he shook it, with the result that several of the tiny 

 insects left the shelters and jumped to a distance in all directions. 

 He did not at the time attach any definite significance to the pres- 

 ence of these insects ; but the larva would not feed in captivity. 



Two days later he came across another cluster of ant-tended 

 jassids of the same species on the stem of a different plant, and 

 at rest close to them was a similar larva over which the ants were 

 running. He then felt that the association must be more than 

 accidental, so he cut the stem through and transferred it to a glass 

 tube. Most of the jassids managed to evade capture by jumping 

 off, but he secured three which soon gathered together again on the 

 stem. By evening the ants were ministering to them with their 

 antennie; as he watched, the larva crawled slowly in the direction 

 of the insects, stopping frequently and vibrating all three pairs of 

 true legs. It stopped when it had nearly reached the jassids, and 

 then again moved on with, he believes, only the first pair of legs 

 in vibration. It then reached the insects and caused its vibrating 

 legs to play on the closed wings of a jassid in such a way as to 

 simulate, as he thought, the caresses of ants. Still advancing, it 

 gradually raised the fore part of its body so as to overhang the 

 insect and, when well above, suddenly dropped and seized its prey 

 with all its true legs, immediately biting in behind the head, hold- 

 ing the insect pressed down on the stem ; and when it had taken sev- 

 eral mouthfuls, it raised the fore part of its body and continued 

 feeding, now holding the jassid well away from the stem. The 

 victim was by this time incapable of movement, and as the larva 



