194 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



foliage of the trees, a sight of loveliness not easily to be forgotten. I 

 stalked what I believed was a female one day for about ten minutes 

 through thick but not swampy undergrowth ; she would settle 

 repeatedly and low down, but always arranged to move on to another 

 perch just before getting within reach of my net, till finally I lost 

 sight of her, and then realized that I had been risking snakes, 

 tarantula spiders, and other horrors all for nothing ! Not to mention 

 that I found myself covered with ticks from head to foot, so much 

 so, in fact, that a rapid retreat homewards was the only course to 

 be pursued. 



Opsiphanes crameri, Feld. — Common and widely distributed. I 

 bred it in some numbers at San Jose ; the larva occurring commonly 

 on a certain ornamental palm which grew in all the public parks and 

 gardens. The females even laid their eggs on the plants of this 

 palm growing in pots on the balconies of the houses, where the 

 larvae when found would be ruthlessly picked off and slaughtered by 

 the Spanish sefioritas, who looked upon them as nothing but a pest 

 and a nuisance, to be got rid of as quickly as possible. The very 

 young larva when it first hatches from the egg is extremely like a 

 young Charaxes, but it soon becomes much more slender and elon- 

 gate than are the robust larvae of that genus; also it has a long 

 forked tail. 



Danais archippus, Fabr. — Not very common, flew on the Savannah 

 at San Jose. 



D. berenice, Cram. — Widely distributed and often common. 



Lycorea ceres, Cram. — Not uncommon near San Jose in July ; 

 mostly taken on the Lantana flowers in the famous butterfly-haunted 

 baranco near Santo Domingo. 



Tithorea pinthias, Godm. & Salv. — One specimen caught at 

 Guapiles, where others were seen. I also obtained some ova by 

 watching a wild female depositing her eggs on a large thick-leaved 

 creeper overhanging a small stream. Four of the larvae grew and 

 did well, but I was only able to get one of them into pupa before the 

 leaves of the thick-leaved creeper that I had brought with me from 

 Guapiles gave out ; and all my efforts were unavailing to find that 

 same creeper at the elevation of San Jos6 (over 3000 feet), so the 

 remaining three had to be turned out when just full-fed to search 

 out a food-plant for themselves or die of starvation. The larva is 

 ringed with black throughout on a yellow ground at the two ex- 

 tremities, and bluish white in the centre, two long flexible horns 

 protrude from the first segment behind the head, as in the larva of 

 Tithorea megara, which occurs so commonly in Trinidad. The pupa 

 was a suspended blob of glistening, polished gold, but retained 

 nothing of its resplendent beauty when the butterfly had emerged, 



Melinaa imitata, Bates. — One specimen only, caught at Guapiles. 



Mechanitis scylax, Salv. — Also only one specimen from Guapiles. 



M. labotas, Dist. — One specimen from San Jose. 



M. dorysstis, Bates. — Was taken at Limon, Guapiles, and San 

 Jose. 



M. isthmia, Bates (callifornica). — I bred a good series of this 

 butterfly from a batch of ova found at Limon. The larva was 

 identical with that of M. polymnia, of which I also bred several later 



