NO. 7 PROTECTIVE ADAPTATIONS McATEE 6l 



are known to eat both larvae and iniagos. Surface records Lepidop- 

 tera from the stomachs of five species each of snakes and turtles. 



Cutworms are commonly taken and other caterpillars and chrysa- 

 lides are devoured to a smaller extent by moles. A number of small 

 mammals, such as opossums, spermophiles. ground squirrels, tree 

 squirrels, prairiedogs, grasshopper mice, skunks, raccoons, shrews, 

 armadillos, the mongoose, and A'asiia feed more or less regularly on 

 caterpillars, and take an occasional pupa or imago. Bird has observed 

 that field mice and skunks are effective enemies of the gall-making 

 larvae of Papaipcma. (Can. Ent., vol. 41. no. 2, pp. 67-68, Feb., 1909.) 

 Haskin has reported squirrels devouring large numbers of Melltaea 

 chalccdon adults (Ent. News, vol. 27, no. 8. p. 370, Oct., 1916), and 

 Attwater found wings of several hundred Danais archippus that had 

 been eaten by the Texas grasshopper mouse (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist., vol. 6, p. 181, 1894). Bats catch moths, and monkeys also have 

 been reported as eating butterflies commonly. (Trans. Ent. Soc. 

 London, 191 2, p. iv, xvii-xviii.) 



The insect enemies of Lepidoptera also are numerous and some ot 

 them are exceedingly destructive. Robber flies and dragonflies are 

 frequently observed devouring adult Lepidoptera, and a Natal col- 

 lector considers Mantidae the chief enemies of butterflies. (Proc. Ent. 

 Soc. London, 1906, p. lii.) Spiders catch them directly or trap them 

 in their webs, Phymatidae lie in wait for them, and predacious beetles 

 sometimes capture them. However, the latter predators are more 

 serious foes of caterpillars, in the pursuit of which they have as 

 fellows numerous wasps. Ants, chrysopid larvae, and other insects 

 and mites feed upon the eggs ; and parasites often destroy large pro- 

 portions of the eggs laid. Parasites of lepidopterous larvae also arc 

 legion, including numerous species of Hymenoptera and Diptera, and 

 they take a large toll from every generation of the insects. Exceed- 

 ingly high percentages of parasitism have frequently been observed, 

 reaching locally in a few cases even to 75 and 100 per cent. It has 

 been found in one case at least that no fewer than 63 species of 

 hymenopterous parasites attack a single species of moth. (Cambridge 

 Nat. Hist., vol. 5, p. 521, 1910.) 



Bacterial diseases frequently kill large numbers of caterpillars and 

 sometimes locally extirpate certain species. 



Discussion. — It is one thing to record a proved fact, but quite 

 another to assert that a certain thing does not occur in nature. Our 

 stock of verified data stands as an imperishable record and addition 

 to it, not subtraction, is the rule. Let none be tempted therefore to add 



