^ Ixii ) 



maculatus, F., var. melanocnemis, Santschi, at A^ege, 16 

 miles N. of Lagos. The ants' nest had been formed in a 

 disused part of a termitarium. This discovery confirmed 

 Dr. Guy A. K. Marshall's conviction expressed in the follow- 

 ing letter of Oct. 28, 1917 : "I fancy all the larger African 

 Catochrysops will prove to be Myrinscophilens. I obtained 

 eggs of C. patricia, Trim., C. celaeus, Cram., C. mashuna, 

 Trim., and C. peculiaris, Rogcn., in Salisbury, all of them 

 laid on the buds of a species of Basil {Ocinium) ; but I could 

 never get the larvae beyond the first stage : they always 

 died or disappeared. Later Dr. Brauns of Willowmore, Cape 

 Colony, sent me a specimen of C. imtricia bred in ilay, 1899, 

 from a larva found at Bothaville, Orange River Colony, in 

 the nest of Camponotus maculatus. One of these ants and 

 an example of the larva may be seen beside the series of 

 patricia in the British Museum. 



" I believe it will be found that the ants carry oE the first 

 stage larvae of the larger African species of Catochrysops, and 

 that they pass their whole time in the nests." 



An observation which explains why the attacks of 

 birds on butterflies are rarely witnessed. — prof 

 PouLTON read the following extract from a letter received 

 from Captain G. D. H. Carpenter, and written Aug. 31, 1917, 

 from Itigi : — 



" There is a common black bird here which I should think 

 must be a kind of Shrike. It looks like a Drongo, but has 

 not the curled tail feathers, and instead of sitting conspicuously 

 on a tree and catching things in the air, it skulks about (always 

 in pairs) among thick clumps of bush. It has a harsh cry, 

 which is answered by the other one of the pair. 



" I noticed from day to day that a jiair usually haunts the 

 same clump of bush, and as they are quite unafraid, I spent 

 some time a few days ago (on Aug. 23rd) watching to see if 

 they would catch any of the butterflies which were coming 

 to the flowers of the bush — Beloiois, Teracolus, Pinacopteryx, 

 and a few Lycaenids. Both birds were in the bush, and I 

 was watching one when I saw out of the corner of my eye 

 that the other had come quite to the edge, and suddenly I 

 heard a fluttering and the quick snap of a beak, and, looking 



