120 



The Xaturalist, 



calls, and who has proved that they are inaccessible to feelings of 

 friendly interest or Good Samaritanship 1 Darwin has exposed 

 marvels of biological research. He elevates the poor earth-worm to a 

 platform of usefulness. Lubbock, unconsciously perhaps but never- 

 theless powerfully, proclaims the sovereignty of fragile ants, and the 

 more we learn, not the less do we exhibit our insufficiency of wisdom. 

 Study the domestic economy and life-history of our insects as we will, 

 the time is yet far distant for the revelation of structural, susceptible 

 and expressible utility. In this respect effect is fact, but cause, 

 theory. Adverting to the stone turning once more, I have always 

 understood that species of the genera Chrysomela and Cassida were 

 Phytophagous insects. There is a lovely Clirywmela not uncommonly 

 taken here under stones, quite dormant, and where' one occurs I 

 generally find companions. The regular hunting ground for this 

 insect is some distance from the food-plant. Cassida atrata (a noble 

 fellow) I have never captured in any other situation. I should like to 

 hear if any of my home friends can enlighten me as to the reason. 

 When once we recognise the food-plant of a Cassida, we are tolerably 

 sure wherever it is growing to find thereupon our desired acquaint- 

 ance. In this respect the genus is exceptional. Thus, C. Tigrina 

 (Olivier) feeds on a species of Solanum. I have seen the plant in a 

 dozen localities widely separate, and no matter whether it is commonly 

 distributed or isolated the beautiful and auriferous-spotted Tigrina in 

 larval stage with excrementitious tail, or the perfect insect is almost 

 a certain accompaniment. I have well nigh exhausted my premier list 

 of beetles, always excepting the dozens of species whose names are un- 

 known to me. Professor Westwood, that most urbane friend of the 

 antipodean Coleopterist, is rendering every assistance in the naming 

 process, and I may have to speak further on subsequent finds at some 

 future date. My companion in nearly every love-labour is Mr. Sloman 

 Rous, a most zealous and painstaking naturalist of the 18 carat stamp. 

 He has the finest private collection of beetles in South Africa, and 

 duly considering vast and insuperable difficulties of identification, I 

 am bound to acknowledge that few men approach him in point of 

 general knowledge on the entire group. As we are constantly 

 together, comparing notes and hunting Entomons, I am tolerably safe 

 to pilfer (?) his opinion in many things, unconsciously stating it as ^ 

 original. He will x^ardon the loan. 



In the arrangement of his cabinet he is a stickler for two subsidiary 

 articles. The first, corrosive sublimate, as a preservative against 

 Acari and beetle pests, requires no comment ; but the second is so 



