On an Insect Feeding on the Ordeal or Poison Bean. 349 
Dr Thomas K. Fraser, here, the author, in 1863, of a 
valuable treatise on the Calabar Bean, and apparently the 
gentleman referred to in the newspaper paragraph, published 
a communication " On the Moth of the Esere, or Ordeal- 
Bean of Old Calabar," in " The Annals and Magazine of 
Natural History" for May 1864, in which he states the 
fact of an insect feeding on the poison-bean, and gives 
details of its metamorphoses, &c., without being aware, 
apparently, of the paper read to the Botanical Society, or 
of the Eev. Mr Eobb being the original observer, who had, 
at Old Calabar, watched the whole progress and development 
of the insect, and had sent home his notes and specimens to 
allow of its being described or identified by the entomo- 
logists of this country. 
Dr Fraser, indeed, in his paper referred to above, stated 
that the beans, &c., were given to him by the Eev. John 
Baillie, w^ho had returned from Old Calabar. Mr Baillie's 
bad health, and subsequent death, had apparently prevented 
him from giving Dr Fraser any history or details of the beans 
and insects he had got from Mr Eobb. 
Dr Fraser also mentions, that his friend Dr John Anderson 
got the insect or moth identified by the authorities of the 
British Museum as the Deiopeia pulchella (ord. Lepidoptera, 
fam. Tineidce, Leach). 
Of course, the discovery of an insect being able to feed 
and live on the poison-bean, and the description of its trans- 
formations, was due to the zeal and observation of the Eev. 
Alexander Eobb of Old Calabar. 
The specimens of the poison-beans eaten by the insects, and 
of the insects themselves, preserved in spirits, which were 
formerly sent home by the Eev. Alex. Eobb, and were shown 
to the Botanical Society, were exhibited by Mr Hewan 
"to the meeting. 
The insects were then given to the Secretary for further 
xamination. 
