226 Mr. S. L. Hinde on the habits of a 



Museum and the Hope Department, Oxford University 

 Museum. Tliey were compared by Mr. C. O. Waterliouse 

 and myself with specimens of Ptjielus jlavescens, F., in the 

 British Museum, and probably belong to this species, allow- 

 ing for the change of colour described by Mr. Hinde and 

 shown by comparison with Mrs. Hinde's paintings, repre- 

 senting an insect for which fiavescens would be a most 

 appropriate name. 



The locality given on Mrs. Hinde's drawings is Nyeri. 



The native name of the tree appears on the drawings as 

 " Muroha." I have sent Mrs. Hinde's careful drawing of 

 it to Kew, and the Director kindly informs me that it is 

 probably a species oi Heptcqjlcurnm {Araliaecx). 



Livingstone observed in Angola an insect evidently 

 allied to the Ptyelns painted by Mrs. Hinde.* He speaks 

 of it as congregating in small companies of seven or eight 

 on the smaller branches of trees of the Fig family. Such 

 a group would produce three or foiu- pints of fluid in the 

 course of a night. He does not enable us to infer whether 

 many companies inhabit a single tree, but the impression 

 is produced that the numbers are very much less than those 

 described by Mr. Hinde and shown in Mrs. Hinde's draw- 

 ings. Livingstone believed that the fluid was derived from 

 the atmosphere and not from the tree and made some 

 experiments which appeared to support his opinion. They 

 are however unconvincing, while so improbable a conten- 

 tion demands for its establishment the most incontro- 

 vertible of evidence. 



Dr. David Sharp, F.R.S., gives the following account of 

 two species witli habits somewhat similar to those described 

 by Mr. Hinde: — "In Madagascar it is said that Ptyclus 

 (/oudoti exudes so much fluid that five or six dozen larvre 

 would about fill a quart vessel in an hour and a halft 

 . . In Ceylon the larva of Machxrota ffuttigera constructs 

 tubes fixed to the twigs of the tulip-tree, and from the 

 tube water is exuded drop b}^ drop." (Cambridge Natural 

 History, Insects, Pt. IL London, 1899, pp. 577, 578.) This 

 latter fact is opposed to Livingstone's hypothesis, inasmuch 

 as the tube would tend to hinder contact with the air. 



The interpretation of the copious exudation is almost 

 certainly to be found in the relatively small amount of 



* " Missionary Travels arid Researche.s in South Africa," pp. 415- 

 417. London, '1857. 



t See also Westwood, Introd. Mod. Class. Ins., Lond. 1840, vol. ii., 

 p. 433. 



