INSECTA TRANSVAALIENSIA. 75 



country, as there seems little reason to doubt that the Moth is indigenous. Besides the 

 potato in Britain it sometimes fef-ds on the tomato {Lycopcrsieum esculentum), tlie thornapple 

 {Datura stramonium), tea-tree {Liicmm harharum), woody nightshade {Solamun dulcamara), and 

 the deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna). Besides these, it sometimes feeds on jasmine 

 {Jasminum officinale), sweet pea (Lathijrus odoratus), spindle-tree {Euonijmus europceus), privet 

 {Ligustrmn vuhjare), elder {Samhiicus nigra), ash [Fraxinus excelsior), vegetable marrow {Cucurhita 

 Pepo-ovifera), mock-orange {Philadelplnis coronarius), and the trumpet-flower {(Jatalpa)."* I 

 myself reared the larvfe at Pretoria on a variety of similar plants. Mr. Bairstow states that 

 in South Africa the larva is variable in its food-plants, which include the leaves of the potato. 

 In habits it is dormant by day, when it is not found on the wing, but its powers of flight 

 must be very considerable, as it is a species frequently found on ships at a long distance from 

 land. Two specimens are recorded as taken on the East Indiamau ' Hotspur,' two hundred 

 and sixty miles from the coast of Portugal, after an easterly gale.f 



At Port Elizabeth the species has been described as " a vine pest and a hive-robber ; 

 while by many up-country agriculturists it is held in terror and superstitious awe." I 

 Mr. Bairstow informed Miss Ormerod that in South Africa the Moth is fond of extracting 

 the Bees' honey from their hives and nests, and he once found an apparently newly emerged 

 female clinging with its fore legs to a Honey Bees' nest in a bush on the Zuurberg Pass. He 

 also mentions a current belief that the action of the proboscis produces a deadly effect. § In 

 Campbell's 'Travels in South Africa,']] it is stated that the Moths steal honey, "which the 

 Hottentots observing, in order to monopolise the honey of the wild Bees, have persuaded the 

 colonists that it inflicts a mortal wound." It visits the hives of Bees attracted by honey, and 

 cases are recorded in which it has been securely fastened down inside the hive and completely 

 covered with rtax by the despoiled Bees. This, however, is a rare circumstance, and has 

 possibly only occurred when the Moth has died within the hive. My friend Dr. J. W. Stroud, 

 one of the oldest apiarians in South Africa, has also related the depredations of this Moth in 

 hives.lT The Moth is said to have appeared on the Island of St. Helena in 1835, and to 

 have been very abundant till the year 185i, when it disappeared almost simultaneously with 

 the Honey Bee, to which it was a troublesome intruder. As many as five or six would 

 be found in one hive feeding on the honey. The Honey Bee was reintroduced, and it is a 

 remarkable fact that the Moth reappeared on the island in 1874, after an absence of twenty 

 years.** Miss Barrett has recorded its presence in the nests of Bees at Transkei.ft 



Mrs. Monteiro states that at Delagoa Bay the larvae are very variable in colouration, and 

 that " they all make a tic-tic-tic noise when handled. "H I reared this species myself at 

 Pretoria, but did not notice any larval sounds. The perfect insect is well known to emit a 

 curious sound resembling the cry of a mouse, which, as Mr. Barrett has remarked, " is readily 

 produced by some individuals whenever touched or disturbed, though others cannot be iuduced 



* Lucas, ' Book of Britisli Hawk Moths,' pp. 57-8. t Pi'oc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1866, p. 305. 



I S. D. Bairstow, 'The Naturalist,' n. ser. vol. is. p. 141 (1884). 

 § ' Injurious Farm and Fruit Insects of South Africa,' p. 41. 



II 'Travels in S. Africa, xmdertaken at the request of the Missionary Society,' by Eev. John Campbell (1815). 



<r Cf. " The Honey Bee (Apis melhfica) : Natural History and Management." Trans. East.-Prov. (S. Africa) Nat. Soc. 

 Port Elizabeth, 1884 and 1885. 



*- MeUish, ' St. Helena,' p. 181. ft Ent. Month. Mag. 1900, p. 141. \l ' Delagoa Bay,' pp. 199-200. 



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