( xxviii ) 



ofE the other and started chatting at a great pace; then 

 there came flying along loosely a common old ' peach-moth " 

 [Egybolis vaillantina], which eventually floated towards the 

 ' Chat." which, perched as it was, suddenly seized it, crushed 

 and killed it, and then quietly let it drop to the ground as 

 though saying, ' What do you mean by disturbing me while 

 at song ? ' I was not more than 10 feet away and could see 

 all that took place. Quite interesting and instructive." 



In the accompanying letter, dated Nov. 28, from the 

 Durban Museum, Mr. Barker spoke of the extraordinarily 

 wet season of 1917. It would be interesting to know whether 

 the butterflies exhibit any marked effects : — 



" The weather still remains persistently wet : one only gel 3 

 a few hours' glimpses of the sun at rare intervals, and this 

 condition has been continuing since the middle of June, 

 previous to which we had almost a decade of droughty years. 

 In all my 41 years' experience of S. Africa I have never met 

 with conditions even approaching those of this year." 



[In a later letter dated Feb. 20, 1918, Mr. Barker writes : 

 " We have had nearly 80 inches of rain within the last 7J 

 months, and I have been hoping to come across something- 

 abnormal in the melanic line. The black bordering of white 

 Pierines is extremely developed almost throughout, but I 

 have met with nothing quite abnormal so far. Insects, 

 except the hardy common forms, are also unusually scarce, 

 probably due to the lack of warmth caused by these extra- 

 ordinary rains. Papilio dardanus, hippocoon and tropkonius 



forms up till just now appear to have been quite as numerous 

 as cenea. Last Sunday, however, I observed 4 cenea and not 

 a single example of the other forms. The males are especially 

 plentiful this season."] 



[These remarkable rains were also prevalent much further 

 north, for Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton wrote, Feb. 2, 1918, from 

 Chirinda in S.E. Khodesia : "A wonderful season here. We 

 have had some very wet ones before, but this beats them all. 

 We have had rain practically daily since about the 1th of 

 November : over ID inches in January, and February threaten- 

 ing to beat it. The effect of such a season on insect life 

 should be interesting to note. It must indirectly have been 



