216 NATURAL HISTORY. 



43. Baspa melampus. — I have not often caught this, which is rarer 

 than the last, and have seen it too seldom to form an opinion on the 

 regular time of its appearance. It has the same habits as the last. 



44. Tajuria longinus. — This also is comparatively scarce, but occurs, 

 I think, almost everywhere. 



45. Trasta marimas. — I do not think I ever caught with my own hands 

 this most splendid, surely, of all the Lycaenidae, and I doubt if it occurs 

 in Bombay. The specimens in the Society's collection are all, I think> 

 from the Tanna or Nasik District, and I have met with it myself at Egut- 

 pura on the Thull Ghat, where it began to appear in October or November* 



46. Virachola isocrates, — It is almost impossible with the net to get 

 a really good specimen of this or the next. They are not only difficult to 

 catch, being exceedingly swift, wary, and given to settling on high trees, 

 but, when caught, difficult to secure without injury. There is a delicate 

 bloom on a fresh specimen which the gentlest touch destroys. It is easily 

 reared however. As is well known, the larva feeds inside the fruit of the 

 pomegranate and, some time before becoming a pupa, eats its way through 

 the tough rind and fastens the fruit with silk to its stalk, thus preventing 

 it falling off in case it should wither before the Butterfly escapes, as it 

 generally does. This operation is performed at night, and generally 

 repeated night after night. I have taken a pomegranate infested with these 

 larvae (several usually inhabit each fruit) and made it stand in an egg-cup ; 

 in the morning it was so securely fastened that in taking up the fruit I lifted 

 the cup. Of all animal instincts that I have seen or heard of, this is one of 

 the most astonishing and certainly the most difficult to reconcile with any 

 theory of development. As far as I have observed it, the larva never 

 leaves its shelter except for the definite purpose so necessary to its safety, 

 and it taxes ordinary ingenuity to suggest any possible conditions under 

 which some larvae might have performed the act in the first instance 

 without purpose. I have found this Butterfly pretty common in Bombay 

 and Poona from December or January till March at least. 



47. V. perse. — I do not think I have met with this except on the hills, 

 where it is common, appearing in December when the fruit of the Ghela 

 (Randia dumetoram), on which the larva feeds, is ripening, and remain- 

 ing till March or April. The larva has the same curious instinct as the 

 last species and needs it more, for the Ghela fruit withers at once when 

 attacked and would inevitably fall before its tenant had reached the pupa 

 state if not artificially supported. I have found only one larva in each 

 fruit, and have sometimes noticed ants going in and out of the hole made 

 by it, for what purpose I cannot say. The stony hardness of the fruit 

 turns the edge of one's penknife and of one's curiosity too. This Butterfly 

 has the habit of taking its station, during the hottest hours of the day, on 



