220 [Marchv 



blueish-green, whiclx is common through nearly all Southern Africa, 

 seema to attain its maximum of development at Natal, and may be 

 taken in dozens. Flitting about leaves or flowers, and constantly 

 settling, may frequently be seen the beautiful " Blue," lolaus Silas, the 

 under-surface of whose wings is satiny-white with a single blood-red 

 streak ; and occasionally the rare Loxura dermaptera bears him com- 

 pany. 



Coleoptera, too, form a much more marked feature of the scene 

 than formerly. Large red-and-black Longicorns are constantly on the 

 wing in the hot sunshine, awkwardly sailing past with every limb 

 stretched out ; and the beautifully variegated Lamia Bohemanni is 

 common about Uri/tJirina-tvees. Phytophaga are likewise active ; the 

 burnished " pearly-gold" of the CassidcB particularly striking the eye. 

 CetoniidcG are more numerous than of yore ; and an occasional member 

 of the Buprestidcs shames even them by its brilliant hues. 



Tou are hurrying from the too seductive scene, when you come 

 full upon a great mass of Lantana in flower, and are straightway rooted 

 to the spot. What lepidopterist, what entomologist, nay, what 

 naturalist of any description, could pass by such a sight as this ? All 

 that you have hitherto seen of insect abundance is nothing to what is 

 now before you. Every head of blossom on the great bank of Lantana 

 has its eager visitants, nearly all of them lepidopterous. The numbers 

 confuse you at first, but you soon begin to master the details. Those 

 numerous SpMngidce reduce themselves to two species, the clear- winged 

 Sesia Hylas, and the brown-and-orange Macroglossa Trochilus. The 

 proboscis of the former is so short, that you see he has to rest his fore- 

 tarsi on the edge of a flower while he pumps up the honey ; but none 

 of the many specimens of the Macroglossa have to do this. The bulky, 

 bustling SesperidcB, that are feeding about the lower flowers, belong to 

 the genus Ismene ; there are three species, and it is difiicult to say 

 which of them is the most impudent and pugnacious. The lofty 

 summit of the bush is astir with the incessantly-vibrating wings of 

 Papilios ; besides your common friends Nireus and Demoleus, there 

 are the many-spotted P. Leonidas and the scarce and delicate P. 

 Pylades, not to mention a stately P. Merope with his long tails. But 

 why does the last-named Papilio trouble himself to give chase to one 

 of the many Danais Eclieria hovering near ? See, here they both 

 come back ; now's your time to net them together. What a nuisance ! 

 Tou have only netted the Uckeria. But stop a minute : is it Echeria ? 

 No ! by all that's wonderful, another Papilio, and none other than P. 

 Cyrea of StoU. When you get home, expand side by side the Danais, 



