The Bionomics of South African Insects. 383 



A Bkplscmis haroldi whicli was offered to 

 one was taken, immediately thrown down 

 Avithout even being smelt ; on re-present- 

 ation it was smelt and tasted cautiously, 

 found to be palatable, and eaten ; tliere 

 can be little doubt that it was mistaken 

 for one of the synaposematic members of 

 the powerful Lycoid group. A larva of 

 Precis sesamus was neglected by both 

 baboons, _ neither taking the slightest 

 interest in it. 

 Feb. 24. Baboons ate greedily two Anoplocncmis 

 curvipes. As I was taking an Anthia 

 massilicata out of a box the male baboon 

 made a snap at it and received a good 

 dose of its powerful acid in his mouth, 

 which made him start back in a great 

 fright, making most comical grimaces ; I 

 then offered the beetle piecemeal to the 

 other baboon, and it was eaten with 

 relish except the anal portion of the ab- 

 domen, which was rejected. This is of 

 interest in connection with the immediate 

 recognition and violent rejection of A. 

 thoracica by the female in an earlier ex- 

 periment. One Catopsilia florclla and 

 three Terias hrigitta were next eaten. 

 Then two ByUia ilithyia were offered 

 with the upper-side exposed, and were 

 eaten with undoubted appreciation by 

 the female; I then showed her a large 

 brightly - coloured example of Acriea 

 rahira, also exposing the upper-side, but 

 she recognized it, merely taking it, pull- 

 ing its head off and throwing it on the 

 ground without even smelling it. She 

 then ate two more B. ilithyia, and finally 

 I offered her an ilithyia and an Acrxa 

 axina together, both having their wings 

 closed and being held close to one an- 

 other ; she took and ate the former, but 

 quite neglected the latter. This experi- 

 ment tends to show that the general 

 resemblance which Byhlia bears to an 



