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Volume 25, Number 2
145
to most other vegetation in the garden. Their primary attention, however, was centered around the extensive nearby Tropaeolum patch during this part of the day.
As late afternoon approached, on most sunny days, many individuals would be seen circling, alighting upon, or flying in and out of the small Pittosporum tree. Their concentration around this particular tree would become quite noticeable, although a few would also be seen flying around other plants in the same garden, preparatory to settling for the night. As the sun came closer to the horizon, more and more individuals settled in this tree. At first there would be much alighting and taking off again, and fluttering slowly about, before final settling took place.
Once at rest among these whitish-green leaves, the butterflies were very hard to see at a passing glance, although careful scrutiny would show up some of them. Numbers settling into this tree would often approach 10 or more individuals by sunset, whereas other nearby vegetation would only attract the odd individual. A person passing the Pittosporum tree in late afternoon, at the right time, would often cause a small "cloud" of P. rapae to burst from the tree as he passed by; later (early evening) they would not arise from the tree unless it was knocked, or a very sudden movement was made at close range. During the period of "settling in" I noticed that most of them landed on the western (sunny) side of the tree, and among its upper branches, wherever the last weak rays of sunshine remained longest.
This case of "communal" roosting is probably more or less explained in the last paragraph of Clench's discussion. It seems likely that the distinctive foliage coloration of this particular variety of P. undulatum, plus its favorable location with respect to the late rays of sunlight, combined to provide a special attraction for P. rapae under the influence of late afternoon sunlight. In most other circumstances, I strongly suspect that this pierid would show little or no communal roosting behavior. At best they might show only a slight attraction for one type of roosting situation over some others, but they would probably not form any noticeable aggregations on any single plant.
No marking of individuals was undertaken during these summers, so I cannot say whether the same individuals came to roost in this same tree night after night, or if there was any tendency to use certain leaves or stems repeatedly in preference to others on the same tree. I would guess, however, that a fairly large percentage of different or new individuals formed the aggregation in this tree each evening. Probably the turn-over was very high each day, as the butterflies wandered through this residential area, from garden to garden. Those finding themselves (by late afternoon) in the garden described, would naturally gravitate toward the most attractive roosting place which, in this instance, happened to be the small creamy-green Pittosporum tree.
Noel McFarland, 129 Gloucester Ave., Belair, South Australia.
NOTES ON THE CONFUSION BETWEEN LETHE CREOLA AND LETHE PORTLANDIA (SATYRIDAE)
There has been confusion between Lethe creola (Skinner) and Lethe portlandia portlandia (Fab.) in not only private collections but also in institutions and in literature.
This confusion is evidenced by the fact that the female of the type series of creola from the Skinner collection, which is now in the Carnegie Museum, was found to be a female of L. portlandia by Gillham and Ehrlich. Without going further into
146
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
this aspect of the matter I will simply refer the reader to the 1970 article by Roderick R. Irwin the (Jour. Lepid. Soc. 24: 143-151).
While collecting these two species in South Carolina (1970), I found a constant pattern in the flight habits of the two species. It became evident why there has been so much confusion between them. Confusion exists in regard to the females; the males of the two species are easily distinguished. Many of the earlier collectors, especially in Louisiana where the type and allotypes of creola came from, must have encountered the same situation which I did. The habitat of creola is often an inaccessible area of swampy, bushy, cain-filled undergrowth. Naturally one would tend to collect in the more open areas in this type of terrain. In the open areas where collecting is more easily done you will find a preponderance of male creola and female portlandia; both portlandia males and creola females are rare.
The following records were taken from 9 April to 18 Oct. 1970. Of 40 female portlandia examined, 29 were collected in more open areas, such as along paths; 11 were taken in denser areas, e.g. 20 feet or more away from clearings. Only two male portlandia were taken in open spaces whereas ten were caught in the denser areas.
Of 24 male creola caught, 15 were found in the open areas, nine in dense areas. Of seven female creola found, five were in dense areas, only 2 in more open terrain.
The majority of specimens were released. Due to the difficulty in moving around in the denser areas many specimens seen there escaped capture. The tendency of both species to occur in different areas was not affected with regard to the time of year but specimens were more difficult to capture in the fall.
Ronald R. Gatrelle, 35 Reddin Rd., Apt. No. 2, Charleston, South Carolina.
REMARKS ON "DISTRIBUTIONAL NOTES ON THE GENUS MESTRA (NYMPHALIDAE) IN NORTH AMERICA"
I wonder if Mr. Masters is not attaching undue importance to the occurrence of Tragia in his paper entitled as above (1970, Journal Lepidopterists' Society, 24: 203).
Five species of East African Eurytelinae have their food-plants recorded, viz. Byhlia acheloia Wllgrn. and B. ilithyia Drury feeding on Tragia brevipes and Dale-champia hildebrandti, Eurytela hiarbas Drury and E. dry ope Cr. feeding on Dale-champia hildebrandti and Ricinus communis and Neptidopsis julgurata Bsd. recorded from Dalechampia hildebrandti only. The Indian Ergolis ariadne Johan. feeds on two species of Tragia, whilst E. merione Cr. feeds on Castor (Ricinus communis).
I cannot help feeling that Mestra amymome may also have one or more alternative foodplants.
D. G. Sevastopulo, P. O. Box 5026, Mombasa, Kenya.
DRAGONFLY ATTACKS LIMENITIS DEFENDING ITS TERRITORY
On June 23, 1970, while collecting Limenitis archippus floridensis Strecker near Folkston, Georgia, I observed a rather unusual sequence of events involving a male Limenitis and a large dragonfly.
The Limenitis flew over a small shaded waterhole along Route 252. As I pursued it, I observed the dragonfly dive at the Limenitis who evaded it and landed on a cypress branch. After resting, the butterfly soared slowly over the open water. The dragonfly swooped down and grasped the butterfly, then carried it to the water where it was released.
The stunned butterfly fluttered weakly to a nearby branch, rested there a considerable period of time flexing its wings frequently. The dragonfly soared past it several times feigning attack each time the butterfly folded its wings. A final attack by the dragonfly knocked the butterfly to the ground; it remained a few seconds