THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. 485 



same district. The larva and the eggs are easy to find and can be obtained 

 there in any desirable quantity. The commonest focdplant is the orchid 

 Cottonia macrostachys, but it feeds on others as well, always choosing the 

 flower buds. The larva is of normal shape but has two tail-points. The butter- 

 flies are not particularly strong fliers. The pupa is normal. The genus 

 occurs in the Himalayas, Assam, Burma, South India, the Andamans and 

 Ceylon. 



181. Chliaria othona, Hewitson. — Male. Upperside : both wings pale 

 cserulean blue. Fore wing with the apical half rufous-brown or black. Hind 

 wing with the apex black. Underside : both wings white, crossed beyond the 

 middle by an irregular band of rufous spots commencing in a large spot at the 

 costal margin of each wing ; both with a submarginal, rufous line. Fore 

 wing : with the costal and outer margins rufous. Hind wing : with a black spot 

 near its base and two black spots near the anal angle, each crowned with orange. 

 —Female. Upperside : both wings rufous-brown, paler towards the anal angle 

 of the hind wing. Hind wing : with two tails ; some submarginal, bro^vn spots; 

 and a line of white below them. Underside : both wings white, tinted with lilac 

 near the base ; a submarginal, rufous line. Fore wing : with a line at the end of 

 cell ; a short band beyond the middle from the costal margin ; aline below it and 

 the apex rufous. Hind wing : with a broken, rufous band at the middle, commen 

 cing near the costal margin in a black spot ; the lobe and a spot outside the tails 

 black, bordered above with orange-yeUow, the space between them irrorated 

 with silver. (Heivitson). Doherty says : — Male. Upperside : beautifully 

 glossed with dark blue on the fore wing beyond the cell, seen only in certain 

 lights. — Female. Upperside : the pale blue of the male replaced by a pale grey 

 area from the hind margin of the fore wing to vein 3. Hind wing : with a similar 

 area (without any trace of blue) extending nearly to the margin where there 

 is a dark, subanal spot with fainter ones near it ; marginal black and white 

 edge-lines as in the male. Underside : like the male, marks somewhat paler. 

 Hind wing : with the subanal, black spot bordered narrowly with jjale ochreous. 

 Wings wider and more rounded than in the male. 



Egg. — More or less hemispherical, slightly depressed, surface covered with 

 thick- walled cells or depressions, there being four from the apex to the base, the 

 summit being occupied by a central one. Colour white, the ground being 

 green but completely obscured by the white cell-waUs. B : O. 75 mm ; H : O. 

 55 mm. 



Larva. — ^When it first emerges from the egg it is a little yellow thing with 

 long hairs on its back; in the second stage it gets brown-red lateral bands and 

 becomes greenish. The head is not hidden under segment in the fii-st stage but 

 is afterwards. Head of fully -grown larva : shining, translucent, shining light 

 yellow with bro\\Ti-tipped mandibles. The general shape is of the usual wood, 

 louse form but the anal segment is trapeze-shaped instead of rounded 

 at the extremity, it is flat on dorsum and ends in two distant, 

 short, fleshy, conical points, one at each corner ; the segments are all 

 well-marked ; segment 2 has the dorsal depression diamond-shaped, 

 large and is itself more or less semicircular in shape ; the gland is 

 transverse, rather large, mouth-shaped with shining black lips ; the 

 organs on segment 12 are present with circular openings. The surface is dull 

 and covered moderately closely with short, dark, erect hairs. The spiracles 

 are small, round and black. The colour is light green with a broad, dorsal, 

 brown-red band ; a similar, lateral band but narrower ; a similar, subspiracular 

 band, as broad as the dorsal one, covering completely the last three segments 

 12-14. These bands all become obsolescent before pupation. L : 12 mm ; B ; 

 3'5 mm. 



