THE COMMON JiUTTEliFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA . 64 1 



anterior margin of thorax, a lateral, oontrnl one on segment 4 ; a 

 lateral ami dorsal ono on each of the segments 5 to 10, two central spots 

 on segment 1 1 ; abdomen darker in colour than the rest, ventrum lighter. 

 Ij : II mm. ; 11 : nearly I mm. 



7/«/n7.s : — The egg is laid, one at a time, on a leaf stalk or on the 

 stem ; sometimes, even on a dry leaf on the ground near the plants 

 which are always gregarious. When the little larva emerg-es it 

 immediatel}' bores into one of the flat leaves and, during the whole 

 of its life, lives between tlu> upper and under cuticles, raining the 

 soft tissue between and oidy ct)nung out to pupate. Its habits of 

 internal feeding accounts for its livid colouring; the passages which 

 often widen out and disappear in wholesale mining, are always 

 damp and dirty as the excremental refuse remains where it is 

 <leposited. The larva shams death when taken out of its leaf 

 and is then (juitt^ hai'd to the touch. It is only rarely attended by 

 ants. The pupa is often attached to a leaf, either on the upperside 

 or underside ; Init it may be found auyAvhere in the vicinity of the 

 plants and is strongly attached by the tail and a bodj'-band. The 

 stages are rapidly passed throiigh and the butterfly emerges generally 

 in the morning as do, indeed, nearly all the Li/ccenidce. It is a 

 somewhat vveak-flying insect and never rises far from the ground, 

 upon which it frequently settles, it invarial)ly rests with the Avings 

 t;losed over the back and always upon the upper surface of Avhatever 

 it alights upon ; it is Ibinid always in the neighbourhood of the 

 foodplant where it flies about in the aindergrowth for quite long- 

 periods without coming to rest. It is extremely plentiful wher- 

 ever it exists and prefers shade to the bright, hot sunlight. The 

 foodplant it has been bred on is Bryrophylhrin calycinum, of the 

 Natural Order CrassiUaceai, the Stonecrop Famih^ The plant grows 

 in shady places all over the } 'residency of Bombay from sea-level 

 upwards and may be recognized at once by its succulent, opposite 

 leaves with crenate margins which, if placed on moist soil, produce 

 new plants from the notches round the margins ; by its large termi- 

 nal, erect panicles of greeuish-purpie, pendulous rather large, oval 

 shaped flowers with large, inflated cahces ; and by these liowers- 

 '■ popping" when squeezed between the lingers. De Niceville* 

 says the larva feeds also upon Kalancho'a, another member of the 

 same family. The presence of the larva can be easily seen by 

 the withered look of the leaves with the inside eaten out of them. 

 The insect is found in Central, West and Southern India ; Ceylon ; 

 Assam and Upper Burma. The figure 49 on plate G, published at 

 page 482, A'ol. XXlIf, is a very successful representation of the 

 insect. 



9. Genus — LyOiENESTHEs. 



There are only two species belonging here and both exist, practically, 

 throughout India and right away through Burma to Australia ; more particn- 



16 



