150 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
183. Larrias romuLuUs, M.; Papilio polytes, B. & De 
N.; Lertias polytes romulus, E.—Evans says: ‘“ Jordan 
confines polytes to China, giving the Indian race as 
romulus.” 
As is well known, there are three varieties of the female : 
Ist, like the f ; 2nd, mimics M. aristolochiz 2 ; and 3rd, mimics 
M. hector °. The first has been named cyrus, the second 
polytes or stychius, and the third romulus. The one which 
mimics aristolochi# has usually in Ceylon a white spot in the 
cell (like the race ceylonica), but sometimes the white patch 
does not commence till well below it. The one which mimics 
hector is, as might be expected, a far better mimic of the female 
hector than of the male, though it is sometimes compared with 
the latter in articles on mimicry. It has been suggested that 
the crimson bodies of aristolochiz and. hector would spoil the 
mimicry, but in the females of both almost the whole of the 
upper surface of the body is black, and the abdomen is so 
carried in flight that the crimson would be quite invisible 
when viewed by a bird from above. 
It joins the flights in great numbers, especially in November 
and December, and I have noticed that in these flights the 
variety which mimics hector is the commonest. At Haldum- 
mulla hector is far less common than aristolochiz, but these 
flights were coming from the dry low-country, where the 
opposite is the case. When the flights are not on, the variety, 
like hector, is by far the rarest at Haldummulla, and the one 
like the male is the commonest. 
The males may often be found settled on mud or wet sand. 
The females visit flowers, but are best caught when laying 
their eggs} They are very easy to breed, but occasionally 
remain for a long time in the pupal stage. Last year I had 
six larvee which pupated in May. Three hatched out early 
in June, one at the end of July, one in the middle of August, 
and the last in September. The larve are usually to be found 
on orange and lime trees, but I have often seen the females 
laying their eggs on Todalia aculeata. I have bred a fair 
number, but have not yet lost a single larva through parasites, 
and I imagine their numbers must be mainly kept in check 
by birds. 
