( xliii ) 



Even moi'e remarkable than their keenness in hunting pupje 

 is the way in which they capture moths on the wing whilst 

 feeding. Over the verandah of my previous residence here I 

 had a large honeysuckle upon the l)lossoms of which a great 

 number of Sphingidie used to feed. Whilst I have been 

 watching them just at dusk all of a sudden I have heard a 

 rush, and down came a rat from the roof right on to the 

 plant, and more often than not the moth selected for attack 

 was captured, usually followed by a fight amongst the rats 

 over the prize. 



" The moths I have seen caught in this way are Sjihinx 

 coiivolvuli, Nephele variegata, Ch^rocavijxi eson and C celerio. 

 The first-named is the most successful in escaping, owing 

 to the long proboscis which compels it to hover a.t some 

 distance from the blossom. iV. variegata is probably the 

 swiftest flier, but is more conspicuous owing to its dark 

 colour. 



" Bats are also very destructive of South African insect-life. 

 I have often seen them swoop down and take both moths and 

 beetles on the wing. Charaxes ethalion also has a tei'rible 

 enemy in the larval state in the shape of a small Mantis 

 larva. This butterfly instead of being i-ather rare would be 

 one of our commonest species, as the ova and young larvae 

 can be found by hundreds in April on certain small trees. 

 After leaving them to grow in the natural state upon their 

 food-plant, I was surprised in the season of 1901 to find only 

 single larvse here and there where there had been great num- 

 bers of both ova and young larvae. This season I determined 

 to find out the reason, and marked down several young trees 

 with hundreds of eggs upon them. After they had hatched 

 I watched every day and found them getting less and less 

 numerous, so I paid a visit by night with a lantern and then 

 found the cause. On all the trees were several larvse of a 

 Mantis eating the young C. ethalion larviB for all they were 

 worth. This winter I have planted small trees in my garden, 

 and hope to breed G. ethalion next year by protecting it in 

 'sleeves.' I may also mention that C. ethalion is badly 

 ichneumoned in the ova state." 



