( xxxiii ) 



"Oni Camp, Feb. 10, 1912. 



" I have seen the ants using their larvae to weave silk in 

 the manner described by Mr. H. N. Ridley, F.R.8., at Singa. 

 pore (1890). They grip them dorsally and carry them to and 

 fro, applying the larval mouth-parts to various points to fix 

 the silk. 



" When slightly alarmed these ants quiver violently so as 

 to produce a rustling sound on leaves, and when still more 

 alarmed the abdomen is uplifted and a drop of fluid is ejected 

 to a distance of 5 or 6 inches. 



"12/2/12. 



"The ants are not thriviug in captivity, and, as many of 

 their larvae have died, I decided to ' board out ' my Lepido- 

 pterous larvae all in one large nest. On opening one up 

 last night, I found remains of a pupal shell and one large 

 pupa dead — undoubtedly Lycaenid I should think from its 

 resemblance to one sent last year. I am, however, puzzled 

 on account of its large size ; for I do not call to mind any 

 Lycaenids large enough to correspond with the pupa, and if 

 the larvae in my possession are of the same species, they cannot 

 be a quarter grown. I send this dead pupa. The silk at the 

 edge of the leaf bound it to the ants' nest." 



The larvae referred to above were found by Mr. Lamborn 

 in the leaf-nests of Oecophylla. Their form and habits wei^e 

 very remarkable, and Professor Poulton hoped to bring Mr. 

 Laniborn's account before the Society when the imagines have 

 been bred and identified. 



The sluggishness of two W. African Lycabnidae of 



THE GENERA EpiTOLA AND HewITSONIA. ProfeSSOr PoULTON 



exhibited the three largest Lycaenidae. captured by Mr. W. A. 

 Lamborn, and suggested that the undetermined pupae in the 

 nest of Oecophylla might possibly belong to one of them. He 

 pointed out, however, that all three were placed among the 

 Lipteninae, while the problematical pupa bore much resem- 

 blance to a smaller one which produced an imago of the genus 

 Argiolaus, belonging to the Lycaeninae. The three large species 

 were Epitola honorius, P., male and female, E. posthumus, F., 

 male, and Hewitsonia boisduvali, Hew., male and female. 



PROC. ENT. SOC. LOND., II. 1912, 



