THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF TEE PLAINS OF INDIA. 94.1 



blackish on the sides of thorax and on wings, leaving a diamond-shaped 

 space of the ground-colour on the apex of thorax pure ; blackish, lateral, 

 smudged abdominal, line. L : \'2 mm. ; B : 6 mm ; H : 5'25 mm. 



Habits. — The egg is laid amongst the flowers, the larva lives 

 nearly entirely on them, indeed entirely; and is attended by a 

 Cremastogaster ant ; is sluggish, grows rapidly ; turns rose before 

 pupating ; pnpates anywhere, wandering pi'ior to settling down ; 

 often goes down to the ground to change and undergoes the trans- 

 formation on a leaf, in a crevice, on a stone &c. The pupa is 

 attached by the tail and a body-band. When touched it makes 

 a noise like fluttering which is distinctly audible ; probably it 

 makes it by moving ihe abdominal segments together at the 

 common margin of segments 8, 9, and that might be the reason 

 why the segmental membrane is there exposed. The butterfly is a 

 strong and rapid flier and does not bask on the tops of trees 

 but sits on the lower branches generally with the wings closed, 

 doing nothing in particular as far as can be seen — it occasionally darts 

 after another insect. The place to find them and catch them is at 

 flowers for they are very greedy of nectar and may be found at them 

 even in really dull weather, one of the favourites being the sapinda- 

 ceous Allophyllus Gohhe. The flight is straight. The habitat of this 

 insect is India. Cevlon, Andaman Islands. It frequents open plain 

 country as well as jungles and regions of forest, hills and heavy 

 rainfall in Sikkini ; Khasis, Ranchi, Calcutta, Dharwar, Thana, 

 Karwar, Central Provinces, Chin Lushai, Massiiri, Lucknow, 

 Matheran, Cachar, Nilgiris. The foodplants of the larva are 

 Spircea sorUfolia (Rosacecf) in the Himalayas ; Antidesma (j/ices&m- 

 hilla (^Euphorhiaceii') ; Zizy pirns (^Bhamnacece) • Acacia pennata 

 (Lecp-iminosecB) ; (luisquaUs indica (Comhretacect^ ; and nearly 

 always it is the flowers that are eaten. 



193. Rapala varuna-, Wood Mason and de Niceville. Male. Upperside . 

 dark indigo-blue, glossed, in certain lights with a greenish tint. Fore wing : 

 with a blue colour merging into the broad, black costal and outer, marginal 

 borders. Hind wing: with the costal space and abdominal fold blackish, 

 outer margin with a very narrow black band; the abdominal space outside 

 the fold darker black than the colour of the fold; anal lobe black, with an 

 orange spot, and a few greyish- white scales along its upper side; tail black, 

 tipped with white. Cilia of both wings black with pale tips, wdth a white 

 medial line through it from the anal lobe to vein 3. Underside rufous- 

 brown, varying in shade of colour somewhat in dift'erent examples ; mark- 

 ings darker brown. Fore wing : with a bar at the end of the cell ; a mo- 

 derately broad, discal band from near the costa to the submedian vein, 

 slightly outwardly curved above its middle, in some examples with a patch 

 of black suffusion joining it to the discal bar ; a submarginal, narrower 

 band. Hind wing: with similar discoidal and discal bands, the latter 

 outwardly edged with white, composed of conjoined, squarish, spots, pass- 

 ing close to the lower end of the discoidal bar, slightly outwardly curved 

 from the costa to vein 2, where it curves inwards in a large angle to the 

 abdominal margin a little below its middle, and is there prominently edged 



