FAMILY HABITS IN BUTTERFLY LARVAE — -THE URBICOLIDS. 9 



silk, oftenso long as not to bring the different parts of the leaf in 

 contact, or, later in life, they draw together several leaves in a similar 

 manner." Of the Urbicolines of the Nearctic region, Scudder further 

 observes (Butts. New England, ii., p. 1548): " The caterpillars feed 

 almost entirely upon Gramineae or allied endogenous plants, and each 

 forms for itself a vertical nest by connecting several blades of the 

 plant it is eating, by a loose, thin, open web of slender threads. I 

 never found any that would not feed on Gramineae .... and 

 there can be little doubt, that, as a general rule, the caterpillars of this 

 tribe feed on endogenous plants, in contrast with those of the Hes- 

 periiues, which certainly prefer Leguminosae, and are not known, in 

 a single instance, as far as I recall, to feed in nature on endogenous 

 families." 



The greatest irregularity in the food-habit of the " skippers " is to 

 be found in the Nisoniadid group. Our single British species, Nisoni- 

 ades tages, feeds on Lotus corniculatus, a leguminous plant, and Scudder, 

 writing of the food-habit of the Nearctic species (placed by him in the genus 

 Thanaos), writes (op. cit. p. 1452): "The caterpillars feed mostly upon 

 leguminous plants, but not infrequently on Cupidiferae and Salicaceae, 

 and even on Banunculaceae, Hamamelaceae. and Chenopodiaceae in this 

 country, and on Cruciferae and Umbelli ferae in Europe, whilst Stoll 

 figures a South American species on a Solanum." 



Although, as we have noted, the larvae of the greater number of the 

 Nearctic and Palaearctic Urbicolid (sens, strict.) species feed on grasses of 

 various species, the subtropical and tropical species, whilst still maintain- 

 ing an endogenous pabulum, attack other orders than grass in sens, strict. , 

 e.g., the larva of the Carolinian Lerema accius feeds on the blades of Zea 

 mais, as well as those of Erianthus alopecuroides. The larva of Cal- 

 pode* ethlius, a Central American species which extends into the 

 southern United States, feeds on various species of Carina, in Cuba, on 

 Oanna indica, and in the southern States on (J anna flaccid a, etc. The 

 larvae of the Sumatran species, Hyarotis adrastus and Gangara 

 thyrsis are stated by de Niceville to feed on rattan-cane (Calamus), 

 whilst that of Erinota thrax affects Musa (plantain). It is stated that, 

 in 1892, the larva? of Hidari irava did great damage in Sumatra to the 

 cocoa-nut palms, so much so that the foliage of the trees, near the 

 manager's house at Namoe Oekoe, was eaten up by the larvae ; simi- 

 larly, the larvae of Erinota thrax often occur in large numbers, their 

 ravages giving the plantain-leaves a very torn appearance. One 

 Indian species, Baracus septentrionum, feeds on soft long-leaved grasses, 

 whilst another Indian species, Suastus gremius, is said by Davidson and 

 Aitken to feed on palms, Coryota, Cocos, and Calamus. The same 

 authors note the larvae of Parnara bevani and Baoris bada as feeding 

 on rice (and on grass), and that of Matapa aria, on a dwarf species of 

 bamboo. The larva of one Palaearctic species, Chapra mathias, that 

 extends into Bombay, has been noted by Aitken as feeding there on 

 grass, whilst the allied C. agna affects rice. Atkinson reports the 

 larva of Telicota bambusae as feeding on bamboo, and Aitkin and 

 Davidson the larva of lambrix salsala, on coarse grasses as well as 

 bamboo, whilst that of Halpe moorei appears confined to the latter. 



We have already quoted (a?itea, p. 8) Scudder's general 

 remarks on the food-habit of the Nearctic Hesperiines. Of some 

 of the species, considerable detail of the larval food-habits has 



