63 



They prey on certain coleoptera and hymenoptera and even on 

 the larvte of Avater beetles. This subject (Fig. 1), I have re- 

 ferred to the genus ophion and term it ophiou macrurum, 

 Avhich, according to Packard "Study Entomology" page 193 

 attacks the American silk •worm. This species, he says, is honey 

 yellow in colour. My specimen was discovered escaping from the 

 cocoon of the Attacus Bolivar. 



In January, 1891, I received this cocoon, together with 

 many others, and thinking they were void of chrysalides or already 

 hatched, I placed them in my drawer until IMay this year, when 

 I hunted them vip for the purpose of forwarding them to- Mr. 

 Thomas Wardle. Before doing so, however, I ojjened four, which 

 I found alive. I forwarded two and kept the others in ray 

 breeding cage, after exposing them in a damp place for two da3'3 

 on a shelf in the yard. A week afterwards I saw a beautiful 

 Ichneumon Hying in the cage and on the following day saw 

 another coming out of the cocoon. They had destroyed the 

 chrysalides completely, and I lost two specimens of the Attacus 

 which I had greatly prized. 



But I was fortunate enough to receive a caterpillar on the 

 2Gth May, presented to mc by Kev. Father Simeon of the Belmont 

 Orphanage with a branch of the tree on which it was found. 

 The tree was determined by Mr. BrOadway as a species of 

 Duranta. It was full grown and fed up to the 30th Juno, 

 when it spun a beautiful cocoon, and on the IGth July I was 

 happy to find that it produced a beautiful Attacus Bolivar. 

 This confirms my investigation, published in the report of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens. 1890. 



H. CARACCIOLO. 



Internal Revenue Problems. — Truth is often much funnier 

 as well as stranger than fiction. An important public ofiicer 

 of Duisberg, in Germany, is an ardent entomologist, and made 

 a costly purchase of rare butterflies in Holland. The collection 

 arrived in due time at the Duisberg custom-house, where the 

 inspectors were at a loss to know whether the insects were 

 dutiable or not. They finally came to the conclusion they were 

 and that, inasmuch as they had wings, they must be classed as 

 poultry, and much explanation and expostulation were required 

 before they could be induced to regard them in any other light. 



