( lxxxii ) 



butterflies at present, Rhopalocamptas being not infrequent 

 among the visitors. It may be that the greedy Skipper 

 absorbed more nectar than it could immediately digest and 

 stored the surplus. This raises the question of where this 

 surplus was stored. If this takes place in the so-called ' suck- 

 ing stomach ' or ' food reservoir,' why was it necessary to 

 ' excrete ' it before it could be assimilated in the ordinary 

 way, and by what channel did it pass to the posterior ? These 

 questions are for the anatomists to answer. 



"It is here assumed that the excreted liquid really was 

 nectar, though I was unable to taste it." 



Prof. Poulton said that it might be remembered that his 

 son, Dr. E. P. Poulton, had made a very similar observation 

 in 1912 on a small European Skipper believed to be Hesperia 

 linea, L. (Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1913, p. xl). In this case 

 Dr. Poulton described the insect as trying to drink the dried 

 ink on his paper and then discharging the liquid apparently 

 as a solvent. This record suggested that there may have 

 been a trace of sugar or some other substance desirable to a 

 Skipper — perhaps even ink a second time — on the arm-chair. 

 Now that the habit had been observed in Hesperids so utterly 

 different as these two we might feel confident that it was 

 widespread in the group, and that the full meaning would 

 probably soon be made out. 



[Dr. E. P. Poulton has since read Mr. Farquharson's 

 account and has added the following details, which shew that 

 the behaviour of the two insects was remarkably similar. 



" The drop of liquid was about the size of a small pin's 

 head ; it was clear and colourless. The insect protruded its 

 abdomen forward beneath the thorax, and the fluid came out 

 from the tip. This was done several times. Each time the 

 proboscis was moved about so as to disperse the drop over 

 the paper, which caused the ink to smudge. It was then 

 sucked up by the proboscis. It looked as if the object of 

 the fluid was to moisten the ink, which had already dried on 

 the paper. The ink was ordinary blue-black ink, bought in 

 Germany or Austria."] 



Man attacked by a Tabanid Fly op the genus Pan- 

 gonia on the wing. — Prof. Poulton exhibited the specimen 





