COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. G57 



Jlabits. — The e'^f;' is l;ii«l on tlio uppersiilo of tlio leaf always, 

 sometimes two or three. The little larva emerging lives on the 

 upper surface, making a little bed of silk near the edge which 

 it eats. It continues making beds of silk on which it lies all its life 

 joining, when it gets too large for one leaf, two or three together to 

 form the bed ; then it wanders to other leaves to feed and this nearly 

 always in the evening, returning to its bed. It often rests with only 

 the pseudo-legs of segments 7-10 on the leaf and on tip-toe so to say, 

 sometimes even with only the two hinder of these legs or the middle 

 tw^o on the leaf, when its tail end and front part are held slanting up ; 

 at times it rests with all legs and pseudo-legs on the surface. The 

 larva does not change colour much before jtupation and wanders long 

 distances sometimes. The pupa is attached to the underside of a leaf, 

 to a twig or stalk very firmly by a strong pad of silk. The egg-larva 

 has the horns just as perfect as the adult but has longer tail-points 

 which are tuberculate : and little sign of the large dorsal mark of 

 segment 7 which, however, appears in the next stage clearly. The 

 place chosen for laying the eggs is a very sunny situation in forest, 

 o-enerally somewhere in the neighbourhood of water if possible or, at 

 any rate, very generally ; often high up on large trees, but as a rule 

 within about ten feet of the ground, a spreading branch over a flat 

 stone or open bit of soil being possibly the most favoured combin- 

 ation. The imago is certainly the strongest, finest and most active 

 insect, with the single exception of Eidepk schreiheri, of these papers. 

 Its flifht is extremely rapid and powerful, consisting of a series of 

 dives or jerks, the wings being brought together over the back be- 

 tween each dive ; it is often sustained for longish periods and nearly 

 always high up in the air over the tree-tops in forest country with 

 occasional descents into the open spaces. The males are fond of 

 basking on the tops of high trees in the hot sun for hours at a time, 

 sitting with the wings closed or very slightly opened, taking occa- 

 sional short flights after another male of the same species, when both 

 will sometimes mount high up into the air chasing each other in 

 circles until they disappear in the distance for a time, or after another 

 butterfly of another species, or for mere pleasure, to return again to 

 the same leaf. They will come to the earth in hot steamy i)laces in 

 the beds of nallas on sunny days to imbibe the moisture on particular 

 spots of sand or earth and will visit all sorts of refuse for the same 



