452 Mr. W. A. Lamborn on the 
some creature, probably a rat, broke into the box and ate 
it, together with a fine Charaxes pupa. 
“ T think that the 19 larvae must be Lycaenid! I will 
not attempt to describe them in detail as I am sending 
some in spirit. They are protected by a hard, leathery 
skin. The head is remarkable. When the larva is at rest, 
and usually when it crawls, the head is completely hidden 
by a fold of skin which extends all round so as to form, with 
the leathery skin of the dorsum and sides, a kind of cara- 
pace. The head is sometimes thrust forward under the 
fore margin of this fold and one then sees quite a long 
neck gradually tapering up to a point terminated by fine 
jaws. [For this and other details of the larval structure see 
Plate XXVIII and Mr. Eltringham’s account, pp. 509—12.] 
The larva, as it crawls, frequently swings this proboscis 
first to one side and then to the other as if in search of food. 
It took me 48 hours to find out the source of their food- 
supply; for they did not touch the leaves, and I did not 
see them attack ants or ant larvae, neither did they go 
near the dead insects which the ants had stored as food. 
“ By this time the ants had to some extent settled down 
in glass-fronted boxes and I saw large workers feeding 
smaller ones, the two standing opposite to each other, the 
smaller with head a little bent back. I fancy that the 
larger ants must have been disgorging food into the mouths 
of the smaller ones. Anyhow I actually saw a Lepido- 
pterous larva thrust its little proboscis into the jaws of a 
large ant and keep it there while the ant made movements 
as if feeding it. Sometimes too, when a large ant was 
feeding a smaller one, the latter retired in favour of a 
caterpillar. 
“The caterpillars were frequently near with extended 
proboscis when the ants were ministering to their own 
male and female larvae. 
“The feeding does not seem to take place very often : 
I presume that the high nutritive value of the material 
provided makes it unnecessary.” 
“Feb. 10, 1912. The larvae in the nests of Oecophylla 
have neither dorsal gland nor tubercles. I have not dis- 
covered how they can benefit the ants.” 
“Feb. 18, 1912. I replaced yesterday in the nests of 
Oecophylla smaragdina the rest of the larvae originally 
found; for the ants were not doing well. All the winged 
forms and some ant larvae had been dead for some days 
