A LIST OF THE BOMBAY BUTTERFLIES IN THE SOCIETY'S COLLECTION. 131 



not often seen in -any other species. I am inclined to think this is tie 

 result of ineffectual attempts to catch it on the part of lizards, with 

 which it is a favourite food. The larva feeds on Lippia nodiflora and 

 Asteracmiilia longifoiia, both very abundant in Bombay during the mmisoon, 

 by the side of, or actually in, water. The larva is scarcely, if at all, 

 distinguishable from that of the next opecies and very like that of P. 

 ecu dui. 



19. J. almana. — This comes out at the simc season, but is not so coimroiv 

 as the last. The larva, feeds on A. longifoiia : I never found it on L. 

 nodifiora. Colonel Swinhoe, in the paper above mentioned, suggests that 

 this and the last are one species. I believe the suggestion was made by Mr. 

 de Nieeville before, and the opinion of two such authorities is entitled to 

 respect, but as Colonel Swinhoe appears to quote me in support of his view. 1 

 ought to say that I do not share it. It is true, as he says, that I reared both 

 species from a lot of larva 1 taken together, but they were taken from a 

 ditch in which there may have been the offspring of fifty parents. This 

 proves nothing. Culonel Swinhoe further says that he has a large series 

 of examples showing every stage of variety between the two. I am dis- 

 posed to think he might apply the same test with disastrous effect to a 

 score or so of the species which appear in his own list under the genera 

 Izias, Teracolus and Tcrias ; but that is a point on which opinions- 

 will differ. In this case, at any rate, I doubt the applicabilty of the test. 

 I have not seen many specimens from other parts of India, but I have 

 reared and caught plenty in Bombay, and I have no hesitation in asserting. 

 that here both forms are remarkabl-e for their freedom from variation. For 

 this reason I put down one or two intermediate specimens wdiich I have 

 seen as hybrids. In the Society's collection there is one specimen inter- 

 mediate between J. asterie and J. Jemomas, which, for the same reason, I. 

 believe to be a hybrid, though lemonias-Js a much more variable insect 

 than either asterie or almana. Of course, these two may very well be 

 distinct forms o r one dimorphic insect. This is a very different thing, not, 

 in itself improbable ; but Colonel Swinhoe's argument from intermediate 

 varieties tells rather against than for Such a theory, and I do not know of, 

 any other reason for entertaining it. 



20. J. hierta. — This is not uncommon in Bombay on the uncultivated 

 pirts of CumbaMa Hill and about dry stubble fiek's. It and the next 

 appear later in the year than the preceding species. 



21. J. orithyia. — This is par excellence the Jvnonia of the Peccan,. 

 delighting in dry hills and stony plains. On the bare plateau of 

 Lanowlie I have found it very abundant in company with the last, in 

 February, revelling in the wealth of minute wild flowers which clothe the 

 ground in that favoured spot. 



