124 [J^i'^e, 



more males, because, presumably, one frequents generally open places 

 oftener than thick undergrowth in jungles. We found from breed- 

 ing that, if anything, more females than males are produced from any 

 one given batch of eggs, the eggs always being found in batches of from 

 five or six to fifteen or so ; now, in the male, which frequents open 

 places (this insect always sits with its wings closed over its back), 

 there are a number of white marks, very conspicuous at and near the 

 base of both wings ; in the female these are always entirely wanting, 

 the under-side in that sex being plain, with the midrib distinct. 

 Difference in size is always due to sufficiency, or otherwise, of 

 food (that is apart from the seasonal-form difference in size) ; and 

 those species whose larvae feed upon a food which grows in great 

 quantities covering miles of country, very rarely, if ever, show any 

 difference in size, as Kallima, which feeds on Strohilantlies, an under- 

 shrub which sometimen covers whole jungles, and Melanitis, which 

 feeds on grasses and rice or bamboos. I remember one year when 

 Catopsilia crocale and Badamia eccclamationis (a skipper) were so 

 abundant as to denude every tree in the forests of their leaves (their 

 food-plants being Terminalia belerica, one of the largest and commonest 

 forest trees we have; and Cassia Jistula, slIso a common tree, but 

 smaller) ; the larvae, when no more food was to be had on any tree, 

 came down the stems in such numbers as actually to cover them to the 

 extent that there w^as not room to touch the bark with a tip of a finger. 

 "Well, in that year, the differences in size of specimens of these two 

 species was very marked. 



The habit of lying torpid in the imago state in this part of India 

 (Kanara) has never come to my notice. Certain species of larvae lie 

 over for months sometimes (Tagiades atticus for example — a skipper), 

 and other butterflies lie over in the pupal state as some of the Papilios 

 (most notably P. nomius and panope or dissimilis'), but these butterflies 

 have no definite seasonal forms. Papilio nomius as imago is only 

 found in the months from February to June, and never (as far as I know) 

 in the months from July to Januar3^ This is rather queer as the 

 food-plant {Saccopetalwn tomentosum) has leaves all the year round, 

 but it is in young leaf in the hot weather only : hence probably the 

 reason, the larva of the insect being probably so constituted that it 

 cannot chew hard leaves, or its stomach so formed that it cannot 

 digest them. Another curious thing is that, whereas in P. nomius the 

 the larval and egg stages are normal in length, the pupal stage is so 

 long ; in Tagiades atticus, on the other hand, the larval stage is long, 

 while the egg and pupal stages are normal : at the same time it may 



