10 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



in a cocoon amongst the date leaves. P. Fiara feeds on the wild 

 banana palm ; this latter species is easily distinguished from the 

 other large skippers by its white antennae. During last July, 

 whilst exploring the upper part of the coastlands, I put up in a 

 hut in the woods, and every evening during my stay I observed 

 this species flying with great rapidity around the banana palms 

 that abounded in the locality ; I managed to secure a considerable 

 number, and also a good supply of eggs, which were deposited 

 singly on the leaves. One of the rarest of Natal skippers is 

 Caprona Pillaann, of which species I secured three in 1880 ; but 

 the most careful searching has revealed no others. Early in the 

 present year an immense swarm of Crenis Natalensis (the black 

 form) appeared, and, strange to say, migrated by thousands 

 towards Zululand, In the woods they were in a perfect cloud. 

 On every gum patch they formed a thick black mass, and when 

 the net was placed over such a patch hundreds could be taken at 

 once. The pupte were to be taken in any number sticking on all 

 kinds of leaves, twigs, &c. About the same time a vast plague 

 of larvffi appeared in the sugar-fields, causing alarm, and filling 

 the minds of the planters with ideas of bankrujDtcy. I pointed 

 out to them that the larvae were those of a Noctua, and would in 

 a short time enter the ground, when possibly no such plague 

 would occur again. In two or three weeks they went " down," 

 and the sugar-fields recovered their wonted appearance. At the 

 same time a j)lague of the larvse of Acherontia Atropos appeared 

 amongst the Kafir " sweet potatoes." Leading articles apj^eared 

 in the colonial newspapers on these plagues, and a "special" 

 representative of the 'Times of Natal' reported on A. Atropos 

 larvae as "worms about three inches long, amber-coloured, and 

 with quarter-inch bones in their tails." 



Verulam. Natal, October 10. 1881. 



PS. — The number of species of 'Natal Rhopalocera cap- 

 tured by me from December, 1878, to October, 1881, amounts 

 to 192. 



