Relationship between certain West African Insects. 461 
suddenly dropped and seized its prey with all its true 
legs. 
“ The larva immediately bit in behind the head, holding 
the insect pressed down on the stem, and when it had taken 
several mouthfuls, it raised the fore-part of its body and 
continued feeding, now holding the Jassid well away from 
the stem. The victim was by this time incapable of 
movement, and as the larva had no difficulty in retaining 
it by means of its second and third pair of legs, the first 
pair was used to take up loose fragments, and guide them 
to the mouth. I saw a loose leg thus taken up and eaten, 
and in this way every particle of the unfortunate little 
‘hopper ’ was secured. 
“After the meal the legs of the first pair were drawn 
one after the other between the mandibles, and then polished 
on the outer side of the face, after the manner of a cat. 
“T continued to watch the larva closely. It remained 
without movement for about twenty minutes and then 
approached another Jassid. This one was evidently not 
satisfied as to the honesty of its purpose, for immedi- 
ately the larva commenced to tickle it, the Jassid ran away 
up the stem to a distance of about half an inch. However, 
the larva followed on and overtook it, and in due course 
it shared the fate of its predecessor, the series of actions 
by the larva being precisely the same as described in the 
former case. 
“IT was up early next morning on the hunt for more 
of the food-insects, and the larva first found made up for 
its long fast by catching nine out of eleven between 8 a.m. 
and 3 p.m. 
“ The procedure was so interesting to me that I actually 
witnessed the caressing, capture, and eating of most of 
these, and I have seen it many times since. The cater- 
pillars eat both nymphs and imagos of the Jassids, but 
seem to secure more of the former, for though these are 
able to jump and run with surprising activity, quite as 
fast as an ordinary ant, the imagos sometimes escape by 
flying. When imagos are eaten, the hard anterior wings 
are usually rejected. The perfect and imperfect forms 
are certainly of the same species; for I have seen, and 
now send, a partially emerged imago. The Jassids of all 
stages congregate on young shoots of a variety of plants, 
and are frequently covered by ‘ shelters’ built by ants. 
“I have considerable difficulty in obtaining a sufficient 
