Relationship between certain West African Insects. 495 
the forest } mile E., together with the 2 attendant ants, 
C. akwapimensis v. poultoni. 
The solicitude of ants for the larvae has a very definite 
object, for they are extremely partial to the fluid excreted 
at the anal extremity, and I remember seeing a C. akwa- 
pimensis Vv. poulton with the caudal whip of a Membracid 
larva actually in its mouth. [The same attraction is also 
described by J. C. Kershaw in Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg., Vol. 
EVE 1988 pel 90.4 
The attraction exercised on ants by mature forms is not 
so clear, but in some cases it has seemed to me that the 
ants have obtained edible material off the wings. The ants 
usually in attendance on this species are C. akwapimensis v. 
poulton., but two mature specimens found near Oni 
Clearing about Jan. 6, 1912, were attended by Pheidole 
rotundata, var. These Membracids, No. 54, were found 
near a shelter containing larvae, probably of the same 
species, of which 7 were sent, accompanied by the 18 
P. rotundata, var., which attended both larvae and imagines. 
Oviposition. A note referring to a female specimen runs 
as follows :— 
No. 43. “This insect was found ovipositing Oct. 25, 
1911, on a stem of the plant, Triumfetta cordifolia, Guill. and 
Perr., var. hollandii, Sprague, 14 miles E. of Onicamp. She 
sat so closely over the egg-mass that I was able to cut off 
the twig and place it, without disturbing her, in my killing- 
bottle. Two ants were in attendance, and one seemed to 
obtain food-material from her wings.” The specimen is 
much larger than Walker’s type of L. altifrons, but this 
may be accounted for by the sex. The twig with the egg- 
mass (figured on p. 496) is in the collection but the ants 
were not sent. 
Since writing the above, I have found a number of 
ovipositing females which always exhibited the same 
astonishing degree of reluctance to quit the egg-mass— 
so much so indeed that it is always possible to make a 
close examination with a lens, and, if one wishes to capture 
such a specimen, it is easily taken between thumb and 
forefinger, a method of capture which is impossible under 
ordinary conditions. Oviposition is a lengthy proceeding 
and lasts from 36 to 48 hours. 
I believe, though I have to trust entirely to memory on 
this point, that the eggs are placed only on the old brown 
cortex and never on the green stem of any plant. The 
