CEYLON BUTTERFLIES. 127 
It usually flies rather high, but comes readily to flowers, 
especially Duranta. It is not given to settling on wet roads, 
like the next species (P. sita). 
The female varies greatly in the width of the black markings, 
and I have also taken two or three specimens of a variety in 
which the white of the upper surface is replaced by yellow. 
I have found this form rare, but a native collector assures me 
that he has frequently seen it in the Ratnapura District, so 
it is apparently a wet season form. 
149. PrioneRis stra.—Also found in Southern India. 
A well-known mimic of the last (D.eucharis). The males can 
be distinguished by their stronger flight, their much more 
pointed fore wings, and the absence of the post-discal band on 
the upper side of the fore wing. The real mimicry is, as | 
believe is always the case among Ceylon butterflies, shown by 
the female. She has a much slower flight than the male, the 
fore wing is not so pointed, and the post-discal band is almost 
as well marked as in ewcharis, the resemblance being even 
greater on the wing than in the cabinet. On the under 
side the mimicry is not quite so perfect; the marginal 
spots on the hind wing being vermillion instead of carmine, 
and they are broadest at the margin, whereas in eucharis 
they come to a point there. Seitz, in his work on Butter- 
flies, states that eucharis is white at the apex of the fore 
wing below and sita is yellow. In all my specimens both are 
yellow. 
The male is common all the year round at Haldummulla, 
especially during the south-west monsoon, and may be seen 
day after day in the same place. It flies fast and high, going 
round the same trees for hours, often in company with 
eucharis, but it comes to flowers, especially Lantana, early in 
the morning, and often settles on wet patches on the roads in 
the heat of the day, so it is not difficult to procure. The 
female is very seldom seen, or, if seen, is mistaken for 9 
eucharis. 
I once came on females in numbers settled on an 
evil-smelling blossom in the Amherst gap, Uda Pussellawa, 
in company with H. remba, but not a specimen was 
perfect. 
