1897.] 53 



forms, which would not suit my purpose, as I wished to breed wet- 

 season specimens from eggs laid by dry-season ? s. However, I 

 obtained eggs from dry-season ? s of three species, but in only one 

 case was I successful in rearing the larvfe, viz., T. Topha, Wallgr. 



On October 27th, I observed a ? of typical T. Toplia flying round 

 a straggling shrub (one of the Cappaondce) , on which I saw her deposit 

 four eggs. These were at first of a light yellow colour, but became 

 pink afterwards ; they were of the usual Pierid shai)e — elongate, 

 subfusiform, and fluted longitudinally. On the 30th, three larvae 

 hatched out, one of the eggs being infertile. The description of the 

 full-grown larva and pupa is as follows: — 



Larva. — Uniform pea-green, with a narrow yellow lateral line, wliich does not 

 extend on to the thoracic segments. Upper surface smooth, with no trace of hairs 

 or tubercles. 



Pwpa.— General shape not unlike that of T. Pleione, Kl. (P. Z. S., 1896, pi. x, 

 fig. 18), but decidedly more slender, and the wing-covers rather less prominent. Its 

 most distinct feature is the long cephalic horn, which is nearly as long as thorax, 

 and curves slightly backwards. Colouring adaptive, varying from pale pinkish-sandy, 

 with darker mottling through every sliade, to uniform pale green. The brown tints, 

 however, predominate, even when tlie pupae are attached to the leaves of the food- 

 plant, being probably influenced by the brown stems of the shrub, as the only pure 

 green pupae I ever obtained were from larvae which pupated when the supply of 

 food-plant happened to consist only of young twigs, which were entirely green. 



The development of these larvae was very rapid, the larval stage 

 occupying only 12 days in two instances, and 13 in the third ; the 

 pupal stage in all cases occupied 8 days, thus making 23 days from 

 the laying of the egg to the emergence of the perfect insect. Two 

 of the specimens emerged on November 19th, and the third on the 

 20th, all of them being undoubted cJs of T. Auxo, Lucas ; thus defi- 

 nitely proving that T. Toplia is only a seasonal form of that species. 



It is perhaps worth noting that although the larvae were reared 

 under precisely similar conditions, the imagos differed somewhat in 

 the development of the black markings on the upper-side. The two 

 earlier specimens had the hind marginal border in the fore-wings com- 

 paratively narrow, and had no sign of black along the inner edge of 

 apical patch. This is the early wet-season form. The third example, 

 however, had the border slightly broader and more thickened towards 

 posterior angle, and also exhibited a trace of black scaling along inner 

 edge of patch, thus showing an approach to the more heavily marked 

 full wet-season form. Although I am of opinion that the augmenta- 

 tion of the upper-side black markings in Teracolus is probably due 

 directly to climatic causes — as opposed to the protective action of 



