NOTES ON THE LEPIDOPTERA OF NATAL. 229 
I should certainly have fine fun in getting my noble friend. 
Having rearranged my net, I repaired next day with a bill-hook 
and a boy to the scene of action, and chopped away everything 
that prevented a fair sweep; even then I found that it was much 
‘easier said than done”; his double was so quick that after an 
hour and a half of steady work, in which I had a chance every 
seven minutes on an average, I only caught one yellow used-up 
old male, who could not “dodge” so actively as the others, as he 
had lost the whole of his tails and most of his hind wings. A 
little more experience in the course of the week secured several 
perfect specimens, male and female. But I certainly had harder 
physical work in catching them than I could have ever believed a 
butterfly would have yielded. Catching bats in the twilight under 
Banana plants was easy in comparison. Although I caught this 
half-dozen or more, I did not notice any great diminution in the 
number of specimens. So I imagine they were fairly plentiful, 
and, having enough for my cabinet, I left the others to afford 
future sport, which they always did in fine weather during the 
summer. Several of my non-entomological friends looking upon 
butterfly catching as not a very athletic sport, I took them up 
to “catch” Ophidocephalus, and their efforts and want of success 
established the pursuit upon a more honourable basis in their 
minds from that time forth. In this bush glade Papilio Merope 
also occurred abundantly. He dodged about sharply over the 
thick rank grass of the undergrowth, but was very easy to secure, 
and used to become a ready victim to my friends when they had 
utterly failed in catching Ophidocephalus ? (P. Menestheus). Mr. 
Spiller mentions P. Cenea, apparently not understanding that it 
is the accredited female of P. Werope, mimicking Danais Echeria. 
There are also an ochre and a red var. of the female of P. Merope, 
which are occasionally to be met with. Decaying guavas or oranges 
under the trees were great attractions for them. 
The transformations of neither of these insects are known* ; 
the larva of Ophidocephalus would be a great “‘find,” and should 
be very large. Like Apatura Iris, it may feed on the topmost 
branches of some of the bush trees. JI have never seen an 
Ophidocephalus hover as if depositing its eggs, although I have 
* 'There are two important papers on P. Merope, by J. P. Mansel Weale and 
Roland Trimen, in Trans. Ent. Soe. Lond., 1874; and Mr. Gooch will find its trans- 
formations figured and described by the former.—W. F, K, 
