THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE TLAINS OF INDIA, 769 



Pupa. — Very much the same shape as that of Vivachola perse., i. e., 

 the usual normal, lycsenid shape : very little humped in the thorax, cons- 

 triction behind it very slight dorsally, nil laterally, the lateral outlines 

 parallel from shoulders to end of wings, shoulders very little prominent : 

 head hidden under segment 2 ; segment 2 with the outline semicircular 

 in front, convex transversely, the dorsal slope of ascent from front margin, 

 the same as that of the front of thorax ; the pupa is stoutest about 

 segment 8, though very little stouter there than at the shoulders. The 

 surface covered with minute, erect hairs ; round the front margin of 

 segment 2 and round the spiracles and along the body just at the dorsal' 

 margin of wings are some longer, light, hairs, erect and otherwise. Sjnra- 

 cles of segment 2 facing forwards, oval, whitish ; the rest situated in wide 

 depressions, fairly large and conspicuous, oval and a little lighter in colour 

 than the rest of the body. Colour of pupa is rosy-brown, covered with 

 blackish spots and smudges, forming on the abdomen a dorsal line, on the 

 thorax a lateral crescent above each shoulder; the dorsum of thorax and 

 front slope lighter. L : 11 mm : B : o'5 mm. 



Habits. — Single eggs are laid on the stalks, leaves and flower-buds, 

 also on the stems of the branches, twigs, &c. The little larva makes 

 its way immediately to the fruit and bores its way through the 

 shell into the inside ; it eats the inside, changing, as necessary, as 

 it grows, to another fruit. It often pupates inside the fruit it last 

 cleans out. De Nicevilie says in his description that the colour is 

 " dull-ochreous blotched with leaden-black, the surface of all the 

 segments smooth and shining, the constrictions between the segments 

 well-marked, each segment with a shallow, dorsal pit, a subdorsal 

 and a lateral pit which bears the deep-hlack spiracles ; the entire 

 lateral " (dorso ventral evidentl}^) " edge of the larva furnished with 

 rather long, bristly hairs." The spiracles may be black in some 

 specimens though, generally, their colour is very constant and 

 characteristic. He also remarks that the butterfly •' has an extremel\- 

 rapid flight, but often settles and is not easily caught" which is very 

 true. The insect is of wide range and is found in the plains and 

 the hills, in regions of heavy rainfall as well as where it is any- 

 thing above 10" or 15", in open land as well as in the forests, 

 from sea-level up to, certainly, 4,000' for it has been taken at 

 Masuri in the Himalayas. Both the male and the female go freelj^ 

 to flowers and also, occasionally, to water in damp places on the 

 ground ; the male may be caught basking on quite high trees with 

 the wings somewhat less than half-open ; but they rest with them 

 closed. They may both be taken at flowers quite easily but, once on the 

 wing, the flight is too rapid and irregular to make a capture anything 

 but difficult. Epijarbas is recorded from all throughout India 

 except in the desert tracts and very high elevations ; Ceylon, 

 Andaraans, Nicobars, Burma, Malay Peninsula, Nias, Borneo, 

 Celebes. The larva is rarely attended by ants. The food plants 

 are the fruits of Pomegranate, Sapindus trifoliatus or Rita, Gonnarus 

 and probably others. 



