COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA, 445 



adapted to stoney ground and rooks, tho latter to vegetable soils and 

 fallen dead leaves ; they both have the habit of rising only when 

 torced to during the day, of flying only a short distance ])efore set- 

 tling again and of dropping to the ground suddenly, closing their 

 wings so as to show little of the upperwing and lying on their sides 

 to expose the whole undersurface of the hindwing. 



The Satyrine egg is generally dome-shaped, slightly higher than 

 broad and is covered with minute cells, indistinct, as a rule, sometimes 

 more, sometimes less ; it is laid on the undersides of blades of grass 

 or bamboos or leaves of palms {Elymnias only), sometimes singly, 

 sometimes several together. fjethe, Ypthima, Orsotrioena and 

 Elymnias lay singly, the rest in batches, Melanitis yokhala as manv 

 as 25 together. 



The larva is spindle-shaped without exception, i.e., it is fattest in 

 the middle, thinning considerably to both ends ; there are always 

 two tail-points and, very generally, two head-points also [vide Pi. I, 

 tigs, 1, 2 and '2a). The head is either square or round, slightly 

 bilobed with one point or horn on the vertex of each lobe. Ypthima 

 is the only genus in this paper that has larva? with hornless heads : they 

 have, however, small, pointed tubercles, surmounted each by a bristle, 

 instead. The head-points are sometimes developed into regular horns, 

 stout in Melanitis and Elymnias, slight and long in Orsotrioena, tooth- 

 like and small in Mycalesis, always well separated at the base except 

 in Lethe where they are contiguous and look like one. The tail-points 

 are also well separated except in the same genus where they, too, are 

 as one. The head is always large as compared with segment 2 and 

 there is a distinct neck. The surface of the body is very generally 

 rugose by reason of transverse rows of small conical tubercles sur- 

 mounted, each one, by a hair. All the larvee lie full stretched on 

 the undersides of l)]ades and feed from the edge when young in 

 little semi-circles, when grown they eat the ends square off ; they 

 do not travel far to pupate and suspend themselves in the usual 

 nymphalid manner in all our species with the exception of that of 

 Orsotrioena which is abnormal in this respect. Some of the northern 

 (English also) larvse pupate without suspending themselves : that of 

 the Marbled White for example just makes a hollow in some moss 

 and changes there ; the Grayling is said even to make a cocoon of 

 earth under the surface like a moth. This exceptional procedure has 



