1899] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 95 



white moonflower, periwinkles both pink and white, a spurge 

 with its deep gre?a leaves oddly marked with blood-red, capsi- 

 cum, or red pepper, with purple floMers and scarlet berries, 

 these and many more make this jungle a bright and fragrant 

 spot. Among tlie?e tropical plants one finds some strangers 

 now which seem quite out of place. Seeds scattered by the sol- 

 diers while here have sprung up and tomatoes, melons, 

 squashes, potatoes, Indian corn and other homely though 

 useful wanderers from the kitchen-garden grow hero 

 placidly among the brilliant exotics. And the tropical 

 insects accept them calmly and adopt them as food plants. 

 I have found the pretty chrysomelid, Lema solani, which 

 have fed hitherto on the wild nightshades here, eating the 

 tomato now, while different insects of the tiny wild gourd 

 (Melothria penduJa) transfer their affections to its country 

 cousins, the watermelon and squash. Insects are good bota- 

 nists. The black nightshade (Solanum nigrum) is plentiful 

 here, as elsewhere, and has manj' insects on and about it. The 

 pretty little Ilea b33tle, Ejilrixpircuhi^, abounds on this plant. 

 A large Hemipter, a yellowish brown bug, Spartocera diffusa, 

 is always found on it, too, while a dainty little '^ hopper," 

 of brilliant green and black, Acutalis sp., lives on the stem and 

 leaves. The handsome day-fljing moth, Syntomeida epilais, 

 with wings of metallic green, spotted with white, and blue, 

 red -tipped body, is common now among the tlowei*s, while the 

 tiny 8. minima, its copy in miniature, is occasionally seen, and 

 I have taken one specimen of S. ipomece, with its brilliant body 

 striped with orange and black. The little melon moth, with 

 white transparent wings bordered with dark brown, has already 

 found out the introduced melons and flies among the vines by 

 hundreds. The large cabbage butterfly, P. monuste, its daint- 

 ier cousin of pearly white, Ta^hyris ilaire, Terias nicippe, of 

 deep orange, the striped zebra, Reliconius charitonius ; the pas- 

 sionflower butterfly, Agraulis vanillce; the richly tinted Anmi 

 portia, and, most plentiful of all, the prettj' little Eumenia 

 atala, called heie the " Comptie fly." All these lovely winged 

 creatures know the soldiers' deserted camping ground and visit 

 it in the sunshine. The Ancea found here, and which I have 

 distributed under the name of troglodyta, is, I am assured, the 

 West Indian pjrUa Fab. In life, and for a few hours after 



