THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. 133 



found below ; the larva and pupa are altogether normal ; the former feed- 

 ing upon leguminous plants of various kinds. The butterfly is one of the 

 commonest in India in the opener parts. 



\6\. Lampides boetlcus, Linn. — Male and female. The outer margins of 

 wingswiththepartsbetween the veins outwardly convex. The basHS of wings 

 on the undersides blackish and powdered with white scales. Male. (PI. 

 G., fig. 48) — Upperside : violet-blue, the wings covered with white scale-like 

 hairs over the ordinary scaling, which gives them a frosted appearance, 

 only a very slight fringe of hairs to the inner margin of fore wing. 

 Fore wing : costa very narrowly, termen evenly and more broadly brown. 

 Hind wing : costa and apex broadly, termen very narrowly brown ; inter- 

 spaces 1 and '2 with, each, a more or less rounded, subterminal, black spot, 

 the latter, the larger and blacker, each surrounded by an obscure ring of 

 whitish or bluish of a shade lighter than the ground-colour. Cilia of both 

 fore and hind wings silvery-white, with a brown line along their bases that 

 becomes medial before the tornal angle of the hind wing ; thread like tail 

 black, tipped with white. Underside: pale greyish or brownish ochraceous. 

 Fore wing : transversely crossed by the following more or less parallel, pale- 

 brown fascine : — one pair across the middle of cell, another pair at the end 

 of the cell, not extended above or below it, five beyond ; the first two of the 

 latter group broken at veins 2 and 3, the lower portions shifted inwards 

 out of line with the upper portions ; the next short, not extended below 

 interspace 3 and narrowed to a point posteriorly ; the subterminal two 

 complete, curved, the outer one the narrower and macular. None of the 

 fascise extend quite up to the costa. Hind wing : transversely crossed 

 before the terminal markings by eight or nine pale-brown fascije similar 

 to those on the fore wing but more or less fused and broken and the inner 

 ones posteriorly curved upwards ; these are followed by a comparatively 

 broad band of the ground-colour ; and broad, inner, subterminal, pale-brown 

 fascia and an outer series of similarly-coloured spots ; these markings 

 posteriorly interrupted by a black spot in interspace 1 and another, 

 larger, in interspace 2, the latter inwardly margined with ochraceous ; 

 both spots with superposed metallic bluish-green scales. Antenna?, head 

 (frons white fringed with black), thorax and abdomen brown ; the shafts of 

 the antenme ringed with white, the long flattened clubs orange inside, 

 the thorax with some bluish-white pubescence ; beneath : the second joint 

 of palpi fringed black in front ; its thorax and abdomen white. Female. 

 (PI. G., fig. 48a,)— Upperside : brown; in some specimens with; in 

 others without, some iridescent bluish scaling at the bases of the wings 

 which sometimes extends outwards towards the disc. Fore wing : ante- 

 ciliary black lines, and in a few specimens traces of an inner subterminal 

 series of bluish spots in the interspaces more obvious posteriorly than 

 anteriorly. Hind wing: a postdiscal, transverse, pale macular, fascia, 

 often absent and always more obvious anteriorly than posteriorly, followed 

 by a subterminal series of white ringed spots, the posterior two of which 

 are jet-black and always present, the anterior one crowned with orange ; 

 the anterior spots brown, of a shade slightly darker than the ground-colour 

 and not always present, though in most specimens fairly well indicated ; 

 lastly, a prominent anteciliary black line. Cilia of both fore and hind 

 wings white with a line of brown along their bases. Under side : as 

 in the male. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen similar to those of 

 the male but paler on the upperside. Expanse : Male and female, 34-38 

 mm. 



Effff. — TuTh&n-sfiaped, flat on top and at bottom, depressed in the 

 central third of the top ; surface shining, very minutely granulated 

 covered with irregular 4-5- and 6-8ided cells with fine, thin, low 



