February 1S92.] 



PSYCHE. 



215 



never been described, as far as I am 

 aware. Unfortunately the inflated 

 caterpillar of the species did not turn 

 up in the sending in which it was in- 

 cluded. Whether it was destroyed by 

 the carelessness of custom-house offi- 

 cials, or in some other way was lost, I 

 do not know. The chrysalids sent me 

 by Mr. Good came safely to hand and 

 are outlined upon Plate 5. In speaking 

 of the habits of the larva the collector 

 says : — 



''The larvae are very peculiar look- 

 ing creatures, gregarious, feeding spar- 

 ingly upon a low and very coarse grass, 

 which grows in open ground and forms 

 great bunches. The leaf of this grass 

 is from a foot to a foot and a half in 

 length, and from an inch to an inch and 

 a half in width. When not feeding 

 these caterpillars are always to be seen 

 on the under side of the leaf, lying to- 

 gether as closely as possible, and pre- 

 senting a very queer appearance. They 

 increase in size very slowly. The chry- 

 salids I send you were suspended from 

 the lid of the box, but in nature they 

 hang from the underside of a leaf or 

 blade of grass. The first of the butter- 

 flies emerged Dec. 24th, and the last 

 Dec. 29th. The time during which 

 they remain in the pupal state is about 

 a week." 



There are five species of Idiomorphus 

 which are found at Kangwe, of which 

 the species before us seems to be the 

 most common. They are the follow- 

 ing :— 



I. vala Ploetz. 



I. hewitsonii Doumet. 



I. italus Hewitson. 



I. zinebi Butler. 



I. sebetus Hewitson. 



Of the latter species I have thus far 

 received but a single specimen. It ap- 

 pears to be the rarest of the five. 



Harma caems Drury. 



Of this species Mr. Good sends me 

 an inflated larva, and several chrysalids, 

 from which the figures on Plate 5 are 

 taken. 



The female of this species is polymor- 

 phic. There is a female which very 

 closely resembles the male, and in fact 

 cannot be separated from it, except by 

 an examination of the sexual organs. 

 This form is not common. I have but 

 one specimen. Then there is a dark fe- 

 male, which is the common form and is 

 figured accurately in Staudinger's work 

 upon the Exotic Butterflies, and was 

 also figured by Cramer as Harma am- 

 phiceda. Then there is still another 

 form in which the basal area of both 

 wings upon the upper side is more or 

 less suffused with red. Both of these 

 latter forms are before me bred in nu- 

 merous examples from the same batch 

 of larvae. 



In a letter received from Mr. Good 

 several years ago he stated that this spe- 

 cies is in the habit of migrating in great 

 swarms. Apropos of his account of 

 the migration of Harma caenis the fol- 

 lowing note giving some details as to 

 the migration of another species may 

 not be inappropriately reproduced here. 



"Oct. 14th, 1S90. To-day at Batanga 

 I saw Crenis amulia flying in great 



