<> THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



The larvss of Petrcea do not, so far as I have observed, spin a 

 common web, but they are very abundant. One shrub of the 

 food-jDlant was year after year attacked by them m hundreds; and 

 in the pupa state, I picked one branch with over twenty of the 

 ratlier brilliantly marked pupte attached to it. They seemed to 

 have a peculiar liking for this one shrub, the only one out of 

 several of the same size and species in the same spot and 

 aspect, and apparently similar condition, which the larvte ever 

 attacked. Every entomologist must have had an experience of 

 this character, and possibly has found as little explanation for it 

 as I have. 



Lyc'ia is found on a sort of " flowering grass," which is a 

 ground creeper in damp places ; it is not very gregarious, but 

 occurs sparsely over the masses of the food-plant on the ground. 

 Natalica and Petraa feed on a succulent creeper, which is a 

 favourite also with Zetes and Hypatia. The larvie generally are 

 prettily but not conspicuously coloured, and the pupae marked 

 with black or red lozenges and angles. Some of the male 

 imagines of the Acrcsidce are furnished with horny appendages 

 below the abdomen, of which I could never ascertain the use. I 

 have not heard whether this has been noticed generally. 



Nymppialid.e. 



Nynij)halicl(B both in number and display is very well repre- 

 sented in its many branches, and a South African collection 

 gives a very fair facies of this important and popular famil}-. 

 The drawers of my cabinet containing them were those gazed 

 upon with most admiration by my non-entomological friends. 



The widely-spread insect AtcUa Phalanta is very abundant. 

 It hardly varies appreciably from the Indian form in the imago, 

 but the larva and pupa are very different in Natal from Horsfield 

 and Moore's description of the Indian types. The pupa, especially 

 ornamented with coral-red spines and marks and gilt spots, &c., 

 is as beautiful as any I have ever seen, quite eclipsing the glit- 

 tering DanaidcB both in delicacy and brilliancy of colour and 

 harmony of form. My first discovery of the larva of this insect 

 was by noticing a female egg-depositing. I watched her, marked 

 tlie sprays, found the eggs, and visited them from time to time 

 till the larva emerged, and so on till their pupa stage was reached; 

 meanwhile— having obtained a clue to the food-plant, which much 



