THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. 457 



larva that was put among a lot of OBecophylla wliich. were brought in 

 on some leaves was at once attacked by them so that ants evidently 

 do not always like strange pets to which they are not accustomed. 

 The pupation takes place on leaves, stalks, &c., and the head is always 

 pointed upwards. The caterpiUers make leaf cells or houses like 

 those of the genus Arhojpala and sometimes pupate in them. They 

 grow slowly in captivity even when ants are kept with them. The 

 butterfly is a bold, strong flier and very quick in its movements. The 

 male may be found perched on the upperside of a leaf, about 10 to 15 

 feet from the ground, at any time in places that the species affects, 

 with the wings half open basking in the sun. From this point of 

 vantage he will dart at anything that goes by, pursue it for a space 

 and then return to the identical leaf he left ; often indeed he will 

 take a fly without any apparent object. The males do not frequent 

 the tops of hills and high trees however, keeping more to the sides 

 of hills round open ground and the lower tree-growth. The females 

 are rarely seen except when laying eggs. Neither of the sexes seem 

 to go to flowers although they occasionally may be met with sucking 

 moisture from damp places on the ground. The larvcc have been 

 found on Terminalia pamcidata {Comhretacece), Pterocarpvs marsu- 

 pium {Leguminosece), Dioscorea (Dioscorece), &c. ; but always and 

 invariably'only when there were red ants present. The habitat of 

 the butterfly is Malda, Bombay, the Western Ghats, the Nilgiris, 

 Ganjam, Ceylon. It may sometimes be found in the Plains but 

 seems to be mostly confined to the hills and jungles where the 

 rainfall is fairly heavy. 



24 & 25. Genera — Creon and Pratapa. 



De Niceville lumps these two genera under the name of Camena. He writes : 

 " I have no hesitation in sinking the genus Pratapa, Moore, under Camena. 



As will be seen the characters relied on to separate them are very slight, 



chiefly confined to the outline of the wings ; the neuration is precisely the same 

 as also are the male secondary sexual characters as I have ascertained^by 

 bleaching specimens of the type species of both genera." 



None of the species of Camena can be said to be really common, though the 

 males of C. ctesia, Hewitson, are met with in Sikkim in considerable numbers 

 owing to their habit of coming down to the water-side to suck up water from the 

 sand. All have a verv swift flight and settle on the leaves of trees and bushes. 

 C. deobis in Calcutta" is much attracted— as are almost all lA/ccenida;—hy the 

 clear, honey-like fluid distiUed by the flowers of Poinsettia ; otherwise the butter- 

 fly is seldom seen. All the species are rich blue on the upperside in the male, 

 with a more or less broad, black costal and outer margin to both wings. The 

 undersideiswhite, dull sordid white, or brown, always with a discal series of 

 spots or a line, sometimes with the discocellular nei-vules deflned by a dar 

 line, always with two black spots crowned with orange towards the anal angle 

 of the hindwing. The females on the upperside are also always blue, but of 

 a paler, duller shade than in the males, often with a submarginal series of black 

 spots between the veins on the hind wing. The hind wing has two rather 

 slender tails of about equal length, one from vein 1, directed straight 

 down, the other, from vein 2, pointing horizontally out ; the body is robust. 



