( xlii ) 



Mamestra persicari.r, a pest in bis gurden at Lewisham, as a 

 rule attacked first and most Anemone japonica. He had this 

 year oiTercd them fern and elder (which is reputed a favom-ite 

 food), but the larvte which liad been found upon the anemone 

 refused to touch either of the plants. 



Mr. II. Goss stated that in August 1898 and 1899, he 

 collected numbers of the larvjc of Chn'rocamjm elpoior feeding 

 on Iitipatiens /ulva, a North American species of Balsam which 

 has become naturalized in abundance on the Weybridge Canal, 

 and on some parts of the Thames. When the Balsam was 

 exhausted he supplied the larv'se with the usual food-plant of 

 the species, the Common Willow Herb (Ejnlobirmi hirsutum) 

 because it was easily obtainable close at hand. lie also 

 offered the larvae Fuchsia, Galium mollugo and G. aparine. 

 The larvjfi refused to eat any of these plants, and nearly three 

 dozen died of starvation before a fresh supply of the Balsam 

 could be obtained from Byfleet or Weybridge. 



Professor Poulton expressed his opinion that unusual food- 

 plants must be commonly begun from the egg, and as a 

 further example quoted from Trans. Ent. Soc, 1887, p. 313, 

 the case of Phulera hncephaJa, which, found half grown upon 

 hazel, refused to touch elm and Salix tricmdra, there being 

 with this as with other species evidently some sort of gastric 

 association between the larva and its food-plant. 



Professor E. B. Poulton, read the following communica- 

 tion from Mr. G. F. Leigh, of Durban, Natal. 



"I have perused with great interest the abstract of the 

 paper read by you entitled 'Five Years' (1897-1901) Obser- 

 vations and Experiments on the Bionomics of South African 

 Insects,' etc., in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society 

 of Loudon for tliis year, and as I see no special mention of 

 one great enemy to insects here, perhaps it may be of interest 

 to give you pai-ticulars of the same. I refer to the ordinary 

 and very common grey South African rat, which is one of the 

 most dreadful pests to breeders of buttertlies and moths that 

 I know of. These rats seem to be particularly fond of almost 

 any pupae, and I have liad tliick wooden boxes containing 

 pupie eaten right through, and the contents all devoured, 

 'i'hey are especially fond of Chu'rocampa esoit and C. iierii. 



