( ci ) 
The larva feeds on the flower-buds, biting out a circular aper- 
ture through the calyx, by which it obtains ingress, and 
gradually eating the bud out till only the empty calyx remains. 
The ants, too, enter with the larva and crawl all over it, 
stroking it with their antennae, and they are very constant 
in their attentions to the pupa too, several always remaining 
with it, though the calyx which contained it was put away 
without anything else in a glass-lidded box. Some of the 
ants’ nests contain a large number of individuals, and I have 
not been able to look them through satisfactorily as yet, but 
I have obtained 6 larvae out of 7 nests, 2 nests having 2 
larvae apiece. I must get some help before I can explore any 
more, as the ants bite, and I do not want to cut off the flower- 
heads, as there are not a great number. I am trying now to get 
a family of Oboronias, but it is likely to be difficult, as the food- 
plant dies so soon. I think this plant must be that determined 
at Kew as Costus afer, Ker.-Gawl (Scitamineae), a specimen 
being sent home in the first consignment of plants.” 
The flower-head was sent to Kew and determined as C. afer, 
sens. lat. 
The next letter (Oct. 3rd, 1911) gave an account of Mr. 
Lamborn’s attempt—in all probability a successful one—to 
breed Oboronias from a known parent— 
“T believe the Oboronias now sent to be the offspring of 
the female whose remains are packed with them. She was 
eaten by the ants. With a view to obtaining a family of 
them I selected a good head of the food-plant in our clearing 
at Oni, and cleared it of all ants and their débris, removing at 
the same time all dead matter. I went over it again the next 
day, and the following morning I pushed it through a hole in 
the floor of a box, closing up all the space round it with 
cotton-wool. I then put the Oboronia female inside and 
covered the box with muslin in front. In the course of a 
couple of days the ants got in and formed a nest composed of 
sawdust, etc., over the flowering head. The butterfly died 
and was mostly eaten up by the ants. I was not able to look 
for eggs or larvae, but when I did pick the flowering head to 
pieces I found a few pupae which I feel confident must have 
been the progeny of that insect.” 
