or Ordeal-Bean of Old Calabar. 391 
The pupa belong to the class Incased of Burmeister, are 
about #ths of an inch in length, and of a yellowish-brown co- 
lour. The cocoons are greyish white, and always covered with 
entangled excrement. Sometimes one pupa only occurs in a 
bean, at others as many as four. In a few instances, cocoons 
were found with perfect pupz; in general they contained only 
the cases of the developed imago. 
We have thus the changes of the complete metamorphosis of 
an insect unequivocally traced; and, through the kindness of 
my friend the Rev. John Baillie, the perfect and several imper- 
fect forms of the imago of this insect have been put in my pos- 
session. All of these were derived in a manner which com- 
pletely precludes the chance of any error. From the same lot 
of affected beans that are described above, a number of cater- 
pillars were selected at Old Calabar, and placed in a box along 
with several perforated beans. Cocoons were observed to be 
rapidly formed, and in a few days four or five live moths were 
obtained. Iam indebted to my friend Dr. John Anderson, of 
this city, for the identification of this moth. Specimens of the 
eaterpillar, cocoons, and imago were kindly sent by him to the 
British Museum, and were pronounced by the authorities of the 
Insect Department to be the Deiopeia pulchella (order Lepido- 
ptera, fam. Tineidz, Leach), The description and figure given 
in the fourth volume of Curtis’s ‘ British Entomology’ appear to 
correspond accurately with the imago in my possession. 
Little beyond conjecture can be advanced on the method of the 
introduction of this imsect into the Calabar beans. The holes 
in the spermoderm have always a sharply defined margin, which 
opposes the idea of a deposit by the ovipositor of the imago into 
the unripe and growing kernel; and the distance from the 
exterior of the mature pod to the seeds renders it still more 
improbable that the imago could reach the ripe beans for such a 
purpose. The most probable view is that the ovum is deposited 
in the cellular texture beneath the soft exterior of the young 
pod, that it is there hatched, and that thence the caterpillar makes 
its own way to the interior of the bean. It is perfectly able to 
perforate the hard spermoderm of the ripe seed, and has been 
observed to do so; indeed it has been known to make holes of 
considerable depth into a hard wooden board. 
The Ordeal-bean of Calabar is a poison of extreme activity : 
hitherto no living being had been known to be able to resist its 
action ; and, from my knowledge of its properties, I confess to 
having been sceptical of the existence of any animal form which 
could be fairly subjected to its influence and still retain its hold 
on life. It appeared of importance to determine, as exactly as 
possible, the connexion between this caterpillar and the kernel of 
