326 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



Bach vein, moreover, is tipped with black. Underneath, near the base 

 of the wings, are some oval dull red spots, which in some specimens 

 show through on the upperside. The female is as a rule larger and 

 the blue colour is paler. The dull red spots at the base of the wings in 

 the female are seen plainly on the upperside as well. Although it 

 belongs to the " swallow-tail" family, this butterfly is devoid of tails, 

 and the wings are narrow and long not deep and broad. The flight of 

 this glorious butterfly is on a par with its size and beauty of colour- 

 ing. It shows, as might be expected, great power, and sails along 

 "aaiestically. It seems fond of a moist climate and of forest glades 

 and oid gardens where the vegetation is rich and luxuriant. The 

 time of the day it is most likely to be about is from about 8 till 10 

 o'clock in the morning. After this it takes a siesta and may be 

 found in company with other butterflies, chiefly " swallow-tails," also 

 resting with wide-spread wings in some shady and secluded spot. I 

 witnessed the rather peculiar capture of one of these beauties on 

 one occasion by a Mahomedan lad who was out with me. We were 

 in an o\ r : garden surrounded by thickets of the Female or Kattang 

 Bamboo, and full of guava, mango, lime, orange and custard-apple 

 trees. On one side of the garden was a large tank Overgrown 

 with white, red and blue water-lilies, the Lotus of India; on 

 the other side was a road shaded by bamboos and mango trees, 

 and beyond the road a large river. The place was an ideal one for 

 butterflies, and numerous specimens of many varieties were flitting 

 about. Every now and again a P. polymnestor or P. crino would 

 appear and be at once given chase to. We found, however, that as a 

 rule they all seemed to affect a particular path of their own, and 

 were constantly passing up and down their own road among the 

 trees. We therefore gave up chasing them and waited till they 

 came back, when a rapid onslaught was made, sometimes successfully, 

 sometimes otherwise. In the latter case our thoughts at miss- 

 ing such prizes were too deep for utterance. At last the boy afore- 

 said made a swoop with his net at a fine P. polymnestor, but instead 

 of being secured within the folds of the net. the insect fell fluttering 

 to the ground. The boy fell upon it, and finding it was a good 

 specimen, he added it to those he had already caught. When our 

 time was up to go back home, I examined the butterfly, and found 



