

ch. ix] THE ENEMIES OF BUTTERFLIES 105 



I. Predaceous Insects. Butterflies are known to 

 be preyed upon by other insects of different orders, 

 and a considerable number of observations have 

 recently been gathered together from various sources 

 and put on record by Professor Poulton 1 . These 

 observations shew that butterflies may be devoured by 

 mantids, dragon-flies, and blood-sucking flies of the 

 families Enipiidae and Asilidae. For mantids the 

 records are scanty, but they have been observed to 

 kill presumably distasteful forms as often as those 

 which are considered palatable. An interesting set 

 of experiments was made by G. A. K. Marshall on 

 captive mantids in Africa 2 . Of the eleven individuals 

 representing several species with which he experi- 

 mented, some ate every butterfly offered, including the 

 distasteful Danaines and Acraeines. Others, however, 

 shewed some distaste of the Acraeines and would not 

 devour them so freely as butterflies of other species. 

 There are no grounds, however, for supposing that the 

 mantids had any appreciation of the warning color- 

 ation of the Acraeines. Whether completely eaten or 

 not the Acraeines were apparently sufficiently damaged 

 to prevent their taking any further part in the pro- 

 pagation of their species. Warning coloration is not 

 of much service to its possessor who has to be tasted 

 and partially eaten before being eventually rejected. 

 Even if some mantids shew distaste of certain unpalat- 

 able butterflies, that distaste is probably seldom 



1 Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1907. 



2 Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1902. 



