Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 
225 
informs me that these butterflies will feed on decaying fruit as well 
as decaying animal matter. This fact I also noticed when examining 
the oranges. The peculiar thing seems to be that a butterfly will 
enjoy the sharp, acid juice of an unripe orange or lemon, yet it can 
be a no more erratic taste than that for the juice from a decaying 
carcass. 
Entomological writings mention three other Lepidoptera in South 
Africa which have a similar habit of puncturing fruit, but curiously 
enough these are all moths. In the Transvaal a few years ago rather 
a serious epidemic occurred of Opliiusa catella, which brought ruin to 
the crops of peaches, plums, and grapes in many districts. In Cape 
Colony Sphing omorpha chlorea and Opliiusa lienardi have a similar 
habit. These moths attack the fruit at night or on cloudy days, while 
the butterflies work only on the brightest days. Furthermore, the 
moths are very stout bodied and possess strong, sharp probosces, quite 
capable of puncturing even a hard, green fruit. 
These three examples will serve to throw discredit upon our old 
theory that the Lepidoptera are, as a rule, destructive only in the 
larval stage. 
A NOTE ON THE COPULATION OF TICKS. 
By C. W. Howard, Chief, Entomological Division, Department of 
Agriculture for the Province de Mozambique. 
During the past summer, while stopping at Mopea Sugar Estate on 
the Zambesi Diver, I spent a half day collecting in the forest, along 
a road frequented by cattle from the estate. Among other specimens 
collected was an unengorged female Rhipicephalus clinging to a leaf 
of a thorn tree ( Acacia sp.) Apparently I had only one tick, but 
when I began to look more closely I found a mature male clinging 
firmly to the underside of the female, in copulation. 
Upon examining these ticks more carefully I found that they 
were specimens of Rhipicephalus ecinctus Neumann. 
Very few observations have been made upon the copulation of 
Rhipicephalus. Hooker (1908) states that the brown dog tick of 
America ( Rhipicephalus texanus) moults upon the host, and as soon as 
the male is free from the nymplial skin he goes in search of the female 
and remains clinging to her until she drops from the host fully 
engorged. Lounsbury records that the brown tick of South Africa, 
Rhipicephalus appendiculdtus , copulates on the host after a short feed ; 
the female engorging to repletion, however, only after copulation. 
Th ese references seem to indicate that the species of Rhipicephalus 
copulate only on the host during the period of parasitism, and I am 
unable to find any reference in literature to any species of Rliipi- 
cephalus copulating before the period of parasitism. My observation 
on Rhipicephalus ecinctus , then, becomes of special interest. 
