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



Pupa. — ^la normal in shape, somewhat stout, with no constriction. Head 

 completely hidden from above by segment 2 ; segment 2 rounded as to front 

 margin ; anal end also rounded ; thorax at apex the same height as abdomen 

 at segments 6-7 ; breadth at shoulders the same as breadth at segment 9 . Sur- 

 face glabrous, pitted aU over with minute points ; mark of gland a transverse, 

 i ndistinct line with a black dot at each end. Spiracle of segment 2 hardly 

 visible, a black spot where it should be ; other spiracles small, oval, light in 

 colour. Colour generally green ; thorax and abdomen suiiused with pale pink ; 

 a dark, obsolescent, dorsal band ; also a lateral similar one ; a black spot on 

 shoulder and one above and below each spiracle on abdomen ; along wing-line 

 on thorax is a shining, black, triangular patch and a similar one behind it on 

 segments 4, 5. L : 10 mm ; B : 4'75 mm. 



Habits. — The eggs are laid on the flower-stalks and buds of plants 

 in shady places in the jungles. The larva on emerging from the egg 

 enters a flower-bud and feeds on the inside ; but soon, as it grows, 

 sits on the outside and eats holes in the buds. It always prefers 

 buds to the full-blown flowers but will eat these latter when obliged 

 to do so. It is an inert caterpillar and moves very slowly and deli- 

 berately. The pupation is effected upon a flower-stalk or a leaf of 

 the orchid ; often the larva wanders away to the trunk of the tree 

 to change into the chrysalis. The suspension is by the tail and a 

 body loop. Ants do not visit the larva much though they are occasion- 

 nally found on the flowers and plants. The butterfly is not often 

 seen ; it does not go to flowers nor to water and the haunts where it 

 passes its time, are, like in the case of so many other Blues, a mystery. 

 It has occasionally been seen round the foodplants by the writer 

 but, otherwise, never. It is an insect of the forests and hills and 

 heavy rainfall and will not be found in the Plains. The foodplants 

 of the larva are all epiphytic orcldds and it has been found on 

 Cottonia macrostachys, Mrides crispum, Rhynchostylis retusa and a few 

 others. The butterfly has been recorded from Northern India ; 

 Kumaon, 4,000 feet, Sikkim, Bhutan ; Assam : Cachar, Khasi Hills ; 

 Chit agong Hill Tracts; Burma; South India : Kanara District of 

 Boinbay. 



182. Chliaria nilgirica, Male. Upperside : brown. Fore wing : without 

 markings but shading darker at the costa and outer margin. Hind wing : with 

 the abdominal fold grey, with a fringe of white hairs ; a small, black spot on the 

 inner side of the anal lobe and a still smaller and indistinct, black spot in each 

 of tl e next two interspaces, the two latter capped with dull orange, all three 

 outwardly edged with white ; tails black, tipped and fringed with white. Cilia 

 brown with white tips. Underside : creamy-white with the markings duU orange. 

 Fore wing : a thin line at the end of cell ; a discal band commencing at the costa 

 with four, thin, annular marks, the first three spots outwardly oblique, the 

 fourth straight below the third, the band continued in very thin Imiules almost 

 straight down to the submedian vein ; a submarginal, lunular line. Hind wing : 

 with a black rather prominent, subbasal spot below the costa ; another, some- 

 Avhat larger, outside, also below the costa with the discal series rvmning down 

 from it in one disconnected, thin line ; then two annular, thin marks in the 

 middle followed by a thin, sinuous line which curves in the form of the letter W 

 on to the abdominal margin one-fourth above the anal angle ; a small, black. 



