MR. B. SPRTJCE ON IlSrSECT-MIGRATIOlSrS IK SOUTH AMERICA. 353 



America. The bushy trees and the luxuriant herbs which border 

 savannas and " caatingas " and broad forest-paths, and sometimes 

 those which grow on the very edge of streams, are also apt to 

 be infested by caterpillars. Of about two thousand forest-trees I 

 have had cut down in the A.mazon region for the sake of their 

 flowers and fruits, very few indeed have been infested by cater- 

 pillars. A tall Leguminose (tree or liana) or Bombaceous species 

 would sometimes have caterpillars on it ; more rarely a Laurel or 

 a Nutmeg ; but a Fig or a Gruttifer never. A vast number of trees 

 and lianas of all sizes are, indeed, excluded from serving as food to 

 caterpillars by their strongly resinous or else acrid and poisonous 

 juices, — and many more on account of their hard leathery leaves, 

 which are untouched except, rarely, by minute caterpillars that eat 

 hemselves galleries in the parenchyma. 



Of plants which aff'ord food for caterpillars, Leguminosae hold 

 decidedly the first place ; next to these rank »Mallow-like plants 

 (including Malvacese proper, Sterculiaceae, Biittneriacese, and 

 Tiliaceae); then Melastomaceee and Solanacese, Caterpillars armed 

 with stinging hairs seem peculiarly partial to Leguminosae, as I 

 know to my cost, the bushy Inga trees in some parts being scarcely 

 approachable when with flowers and young leaves. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of Gruayaquil, children that stray under the Tamarind- 

 trees sometimes get severely stung by the hairy caterpillars that 

 drop on them from the trees. 



Other orders of plants on which I have encountered caterpillars 

 are chiefly the following. Among Ekdogeks : Grasses, Sedges, 

 Palms, and Aroids — on all rather rarely; on Scitaminese and 

 Musacese more frequently. Among Exogens: Euphorbiaceas 

 (principally on those with aromatic foliage); Samydese ; Bixacese ; 

 Vochysiacese ; Sapindacese (few); Malpighiaceae ; Anonaceae and 

 Myristicea (rarely); Anacardiaceae ; Ochnacese (on very young 

 leaves only, the adult foliage being hard and vitreous) ; Podo- 

 stemeae ; Polygoneae ; Amarantaceae ; Piperacese ; Lauraceae (few) ; 

 Chrysobalaneae (often much infested); Combretaceae ; Myrtaceae 

 (rarely on true Myrtles, but a great pest to the large handsome 

 flowers of the suborders Barringtonieae and Lecy thideae) ; Passi- 

 florege ; Cucurbitacea ; Eubiaceae (few out of the vast number of 

 Amazon species); Compositae (all weeds); Boraginese ; Verbena- 

 ceae ; Bignoniaceae. Besides these,' there are other orders, which 

 contain a few species with mild juices, and leaves (and even 

 wood) not too tough for a caterpillar's jaws, which are doubt- 

 less chosen by certain species of butterflies as food for their pro- 



