From A. S. Packard   30 October 1879

My dear Sir.

Several observers have this autumn noticed that a Plusia moth has been caught by its maxillæ in the flowers of Physianthus albens.¹ I noticed that the tip of the tongue was caught as if in a vise by the two lips of an apparatus covering each set of the pollinia; and thus caught, the moth died. Several Plusias would be found dead hanging by their tongues or proboscides—on one raceme of flowers.

Now a strange additional fact has been observed by the Rev. Leander Thompson of North Woburn, Mass. who states to me that he has seen the honey bee—several of them—dart down upon the moths as they were struggling to escape, sting them over and over again, until dead, “and then rip open the bodies of the moths and devour the soft parts within”—

I am not so much surprised at the bees stinging the moths, but their carnivorous propensities are quite new to me and I find no reference to them in your book or that of Hermann Müller.² I dislike to take your time, but I should be greatly obliged if you could inform me whether a parallel case has been observed. I suppose the bees must have used their mandibles in tearing open the bodies of the moths—

I am Sir, with great respect | Yours most truly, | A. S. Packard, Jr.