THE COMMONS BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. 943 



appearance laterally ; the segmental membrane 9/10 is marked with dis- 

 tinct raised edge on one side. L : 16mm. ; B : 6mm. 



Habits. — These are the same as for raruna and .schistacea as re- 

 gards the eggs, larvte and pnp^. The larva is not much attended 

 by ants, if at all ; it feeds upon the flowers of Our/einia dcdbergioi- 

 des, called the Chittagong Avood. It also probabh^ feeds upon 

 other things. The insects have the same habits of Hight as noted 

 for varuna and schistacea but seem to be more characteristic of the 

 plains than of the jungles ; at least they are more frequently found 

 in open country. The distribution is throughout India, Ceylon, 

 the Malay Peninsula, Nias, Sumatra. Captures have been recorded 

 from the Cororaandel Coast ; Mhow ; Bombay ; Thana District ; 

 Poona ; Karwar ; Dharwar ; Kanara District ; Nilgiris ; Central 

 Provinces ; Chin Lushai in Burma ; Masuri ; Matheran ; Sikkim ; 

 Nias and Sumatra. 



192. Rapaia schistacea, Moore. — Male. Upperside : dark slatey-blue. 

 the lower disc of the fore wing and the disc of the hind wing shot with 

 Drilliant blue in certain lights. Hind wing : abdominal fold pale brown. 

 Anal lobe with a black spot, an orange spot on its inner side and son e 

 white hairs above it ; tail black, tipped white. Cilia of lobe black with a 

 white middle line ; rest of cilia of both wings black with pale tips* Underside: 

 both wino-s buff-grey, markings a little darker than the ground colour, veiy 

 fine and usually faint. Fore wing with a double line, with a pale line betwee-i 

 at the end of the cell ; a slightly sinuous, discal line, outwardly edged wit:i 

 white sliohtly outwardly-curved, from near the costa to near the sub-median 

 vein ; a sub-marginal line of disconnected lunules, outwardly edged with 

 white ; the hioder marginal space pale. Hind wing with similar discoidal 

 and discal lines, the former edged on both sides with white, the latter well 

 separated from it, shghtly outwardly-curved from the costa to vein 2, then 

 curved inwards in a long loop to the abdominal margin a little above the 

 anal angle, where it is white-edged on both sides ; a submarginal, indistinct 

 band ; anal angle black, lined with white above and below it ; a smaller 

 black spot in the first interspace, capped with orange ; a terminal, black, 

 fine line which becomes obsolete upwards ; and a fine, anteciliary thread 

 from the lobe to vein 2. Antennee black, ringed with white ; club with a 

 red tip ; frons ochreous with a brownish, middle stripe ; eyes ringed with 

 white ; head and body above and below concolorous with the wings, abdomen 

 below ochreous. Female. Upperside : paler than male, with a purplish 

 "loss ; the colour darkening ; with blackish-brown, rather broad bands on 

 the margins of fore wing, broadest at apex. Underside : as in male. 

 Expanse: 29-37mm. 



Larva. — ^This is one of the abnormal larvse of the family ; it is unlike any 

 other known one outside the genus. The body is nearly parallel sided and 

 trapeze-shaped in transverse section, the longest side being the closely 

 applied ventral surface, the shortest the dorsal; and this because of the 

 existence on segments 4-10 of a row of subdorsal and dorsoventral teeth 

 or tubercles {vide PI. II, fig- 24), the anal segments with six teeth roiisd 

 the circumference and rather flat. HeadTOuud, hidden, trarslucent-looking 

 yellowish cfreeny-white in colou.r with a black suffusion about the mouth- 

 opening and a white labrum, mandibles reddish, clypeus triangular with 

 the marginal line soiled ; segment 2 nearly semicircular in shape, convex 



