220 [Marchi J 
blueish-green, which is common througli nearly all Southern Africa, 
seems to attain its maximum of development at Natal, and may be 
taken iu dozens. Flitting about leaves or flowers, and constantly 
settling, may frequently be seen the beautiful " Blue," lolaus Silas, the 
under-surface of whose wings is satiny -white with a single blood-red 
streak ; and occasionally the rare Loxura dermaptera bears him com- 
pany. 
Coleoptera, too, form a much more marked feature of the scene 
than formerly. Large red-and-black Longicorns are constantly on the 
wing in the hot sunshine, awkwardly sailing past with every limb 
stretched out ; and the beautifully variegated Lamia Bohemanni is 
common about Uri/tJirina-trees. Phytophaga are likewise active ; the 
burnished " pearly-gold" of the Cassidce particularly striking the eye. 
Cetoniidce are more numerous than of yore ; and an occasional member 
of the BuprestidcB shames even them by its brilliant hues. 
You are hurrying from the too seductive scene, when you come 
full upon a great mass of Lantana in flower, and are straightway rooted 
to the spot. What lepidopterist, what entomologist, nay, what 
naturalist of any description, could pass by such a sight as this ? All 
that you have hitherto seen of insect abundance is nothing to what is 
now before you. Every head of blossom on the great bank of Lantana 
has its eager visitants, nearly all of them lepidopterous. The numbers 
confuse you at first, but you soon begin to master the details. Those 
numerous SpJiingidce reduce themselves to two species, the clear- winged 
Sesia Hylas, and the brown-and-orange Macroglossa TrocJiilus. The 
proboscis of the former is so short, that you see he has to rest his fore- 
tarsi on the edge of a flower while he pumps up the honey ; but none 
of the many specimens of the Macroglossa have to do this. The bulky, 
bustling SesperidcB, that are feeding about the lower flowers, belong to 
the genus Lsmene ; there are three species, and it is difficult to say 
which of them is the most impudent and pugnacious. The lofty 
summit of the bush is astir with the incessantly-vibrating wings of 
JPapilios ; besides your common friends Nireus and Demoleus, there 
are the many-spotted P. Leonidas and the scarce and delicate P. 
Pylades, not to mention a stately P. Merope with his long tails. But 
why does the last-named Papilio trouble himself to give chase to one 
of the many Danais Echeria hovering near ? See, here they both 
come back ; now's your time to net them together. What a nuisance ! 
You have only netted the LJckeria. But stop a minute : is it Echeria ? 
No ! by all that's wonderful, another Papilio, and none other than P. 
Cyrea of Stoll. When you get home, expand side by side the Danais, 
