i8fi«.l 219 



or Acrceidm. Is the absence of the latter due to those butterflies not 

 frequenting the universally attractive liquid that exudes from these 

 Acacias, or must we suppose that the Mantu does not approve of such 

 strong-scented and probably distasteful food ? Further observation 

 must decide this point ; but, judging from the abundance of the two 

 Families in question, and their custom of constantly taking nourish- 

 ment, it would seem improbable that they should entirely forsake a 

 food so generally sought by other Bhopalocera. 



Before you have safely bestowed the last of your captures, insects 

 are again eagerly crowding to the white, gummy secretion on the lofty 

 branch. If you return to the spot again and again, you are pretty sure 

 to find something worth having. 



As you make your way back through the woods toward the town, 

 you are probably struck by the variety of Acraeida that cross your 

 path. Besides A. Petrcea, eleven other species haunt these forests, and 

 most of them are very common. The rarest, perhaps, is A. puncta- 

 tissima, the smallest and least conspicuous of all ; but even this should 

 rather be termed local than rare. 



You will do wisely to take a look round the Botanic Gardens 

 before going indoors for your dinner, and afternoon's work of setting 

 out and registering your captures. The Gardens (which we have 

 already seen in winter time) are a grand resort for all kinds of insects ; 

 and, more than that, you are certain of a hearty welcome and a cool 

 drink from the Superintendent, who is, moreover, a practical naturalist 

 and collector, and will put you up to many an entomological wrinkle.* 



Here you will notice, entomologically, considerable changes, as 

 compared with your winter visit. The higher temperature has brought 

 to birth a crowd of insects that did not then appear. This is specially 

 noticeable in the Lepidoptera. If there are fewer of the Pieridce which 

 were formerly so common, their place is more than filled by others of 

 the same family, and some that were scarce then are abundant now. 

 The thickly-blossomed rows of Vinca rosea, that border the long paths, 

 are alive with butterflies, and notably with the fine Papilio Demolem 

 and Eronia Gleodora. It is worth a journey to Natal, to see and cap- 

 ture in its perfection the snowy-white Antlwcliaris lone, with its wing- 

 tips of glittering-violet and black. This lovely creature abounds in the 

 woods adjoining the Gardens, but is much less easily taken there, 

 flowers being so much scarcer. The black Papilio Nirem, striped with 



• 1 may be permitted to mention that the gentleman to whom 1 here allude is Mr. M. J. M'Ken, 

 to whose ener},'ctic ettbits D'Urban is iiidebled for its fine series of exotic plants, and the principal 

 British and Colonial Gardens for the botanic.il treasures of Natal and tlie adjacent regions. 



