480 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVI. 



a house or they may go oft' and change in a crevice somewhere. 

 The suspension is by the tail only and the pupa touches the surface 

 only with the head and tail so that daylight can always be seen below 

 it. The butterfly seems to be an inhabitant of the rain-forest 

 country altogether and it probably never ventures anywhere near 

 the Plains. In Kanara in Bombay it is found chiefly in the evergreen 

 jungles on the Western Ghats and is, there, not rare though by no 

 means as common as vulcanus is a bit further out in the opener country. 

 It is, of course, very strong on the wing but never flies any great 

 distance as far as has ever been observed, nor does it ever keep long 

 on the Aving like certain butterflies (Skippers. Discophora, Eit]jl(£a, 

 Sec), beating backwards and foi'wards over the same ground. When 

 put up out of foliage it darts oli' and disappears into the leaves and 

 growth a bit further on. It does not go to the tops of hills and trees 

 to bask either tliough it basks on the leaves of bushes in thick places 

 in the jungles when the sun is hot and the atmosphere steamy and 

 damp. It does not, seemingly, like wind and exposed places. It is 

 not often seen though it comes readily enough to flowers of such low 

 shrubs as Leea, Allophyllus, &c. It may then be caught easily enough 

 for it is not quick at rising whatever its character may be wlien once 

 on the wing. With regard to the form concanus which de Niceville 

 says he has kept as a distinct species with considerable reluctance, it 

 was bred in Kanara from larvae that were practically identical with 

 those of lohita ; also in the particular locality where lohifa constantly 

 bred out from the larvte found, the form concanus was about the only 

 one to be caught outside. It is certain then, or nearly certain, that 

 coyicanus is the dry-weather form of the other for the insects were all 

 bred in the month of February, and caught. The atmosphere in the 

 cages in the bungalow was much damper than that outside and, 

 certainly — and it is believed that this is the determining factor for 

 the difterence in form — ^the food given in captivity was of the youngest 

 and tenderest. Outside there were few' new shoots and the majority of 

 the larvae must have had to content themselves with what leaves 

 they could get at, mostly, then, old and tough. Description of the 

 larvse obtained in February were carefullj^ kept and they diftered but 

 little from those obtained in the monsoon months in other places — 

 the dift'erences being in colouration only which is variable, as is well 

 known, with temperature and humidity. As luck would have it no 

 completely authenticated eggs could be obtained of either form so 

 that absolute certainty is still a desidemtuni. However, as far as 

 the writer is concerned concanus is the dry- weather form of the 

 wet-season lohita. The foodplant of the larvce is, ordinarily, Termi- 

 nalia paniculata but they have also been bred on Dioscorea jx^nta- 

 phylla, always and invariably attended by ants. 



Aphnceus lohita is " the commonest species in Sikkim " according 

 to de Niceville. He further states that it occurs throughout the 



