38 



Hoffmann in Greece, while Moore mentions Asclepias curassavica for 

 British India. The caterpillar is pearly grey on the back with many transverse 

 black lines varying in width, between which on each segment occur two oblong, 

 sometimes coherent, golden -yellow spots. Along the sides it has a golden- 

 yellow band across which the foresaid lines partly extend ; a black band divides 

 the sides from the light grey under-surface. On the pearly-grey head may be 

 observed black markings resembling those of the caterpillar of Euploea MiDAXtus L. 

 Three pairs of processes occur on the back, /. e. on the 2"'^ thoracic and on 

 the 2"'' and penultimate abdominal segments ; they are filiform, the anterior 

 longest and the middle pair shortest; they are black and, except the anterior 

 pair, somewhat reddish at the base. In the immature larvae the )'ellow on the 

 back has not yet formed distinct spots but appears as narrow transverse lines. 



The larvae grow very rapidly and change into pupae which very much resemble 

 those of D. Genutia Cram_ The general colour of many is at first milky 

 white and becomes subsequently a beautiful green which again fades at times 

 when the pupae become white. Other pupae are light rose. At the boundary 

 between thorax and abdomen a double line may be observed which is black 

 on the side of the thorax but on the side of the abdomen consists of numerous 

 golden dots placed side by side. On the thorax and the wing-cases some 

 additional golden dots are found. The caudal hook is black. 



As this butterfly inhabits a very extensive area there are many figures of 

 its earlier stages. Those of Trimen (South Africa) are very good, and the 

 description he gives of the larva agrees very well with the Java caterpillar. Of 

 the South European form the larva and pupa have been described and figured 

 by HiiBNER and by Prof Dr. E. HoFiMANN ; Hubner's description and figures 

 agree well with the Javanese except that all the processes of the caterpillar 

 appear to be longer than those of the Java specimens. Hofmann, in his 

 description, mentions only two pairs of processes but he figures three pairs of 

 equal length. He also mentions flesh-coloured and green pupae but his figure 

 of the pupa is very poor. The figures of Semper (Philippines) and of Horsfield 

 (Java) are very unsatisfactory ; nor are those given by Moore of the^Ceylon 

 caterpillars and chrysalides beautiful whereas those of the larva from British 

 India, while not being accurate either, are somewhat better. The illustrations 

 of the larva and pupae which I now offer are much more successful. 



