482 LYCAENIDA. VIRACHOLA. 
evacuations are ejected. In some specimens on the seventh and eighth segments in the middle of 
the back are two large square yellowish-white marks, one on each segment, divided on the dorsal 
line by a line of the ground-colour. The PuPa is also of the usual lyczenid shape, coloured very 
similarly to the larva, being pinkish-brown blotched with darker brown or black, with a 
few short bristles at the sides. The larva changes to a pupa inside the fruit; and to protect 
itself spins a most perfect trap-door furnished with a hinge on one side on the inside of the 
fruit, and turns to a pupa with its head placed exactly opposite the trap-door. The trap-door 
opens inwards, and I presume the imago on emerging draws the door towards itself with its front 
legs and thus makes an opening by which to emerge. Ican find no trace of the erectile tubercles 
on the twelfth or of the mouth-like opening on the eleventh segment that are often present in 
lyczenid larvze, and I presume such would be useless, as ants do not attend these larvz as far as I 
kave seen. The larve feed onthe fruit of Randia dumetorum, Lamk. The above description has 
been taken from larve obtained in Sikkim at about 2,500, in January, on the 20th of the month 
the fruit contained both larve full-grown or nearly so and pupz. 
*©T do not think I have met with V. Zerse, Hewitson, except on the hills, where it is com- 
mon, appearing in December when the fruit of the “ Ghela ” (Randia dumetorum), on which the 
larva feeds, is ripening, and remaining till March or April. The larva has the same curious 
instinct as V. zsocrates, Fabricius, and needs it more, for the Ghela fruit withers at once when 
attacked, and would inevitably fall before its tenant had reached the pupa state if not artificially 
supported. I have found only one larva in each fruit, and have sometimes noticed ants going in 
and out of the hole made by it, for what purpose I cannot say. The stony hardness of the fruit 
turns the edge of one’s penknife and of one’s curiosity too. This Butterfly has the habit of 
taking its station, during the hottest hours of the day, on a particular leaf, from which it darts 
out in pursuit of every other Butterfly that passes by, This habit characterises a few brilliant 
genera in families widely different. It is strong in Charaxes.” (Aitken, Journ. Bombay Nat. 
Hist. Soc. vol. i, p. 216, n. 47, 1886). Mr. Aitken’s note regarding ants visiting the larvze of 
this species is interesting, if the larvee really do not possess the special organs for secreting the 
fluid of which ants are so fond, I fail to see what can be their object in attending the larve. 
V. perse has a wide range. Mr. A. Grahame Young has taken it at Mundi in the Western 
Himalayas at 3,200 feet elevation in August, Mr. Hocking also obtained it in the Kangra Valley, 
Mr. P. W. Mackinnon at Masuri and in the Dehra Dun, in Sikkim it is on the wing in January, 
February, March, May, October, November, and December, and not improbably may be met 
with there in every month in the year, Mr. W. C. Taylor has sent me many specimens from 
Orissa, it occurs according to Colonel Swinhoe in many localities in the Bombay Presidency, 
Mr. G. F, Hampson informs me that it is found in the plains at the foot of the Nilgiris, but is 
not common, and lastly in Ceylon it occurs in the ‘‘ Eastern Province, plains, forest-land, 
rare, August” (Hufchison). 
1014. Virachola smilis, Hewitson. (FRONTIsPIECE, FIG. 127 2). 
Deudorix smilis, Hewitson, Ill. Diurn. Lep,, p. 18, n. 3, pl. vill, figs. 22, 23, /emale (1863). 
Hasirat: East India (Hewztsoz), South Andaman Isles, 
EXPANSE: 9, I°7 to 2’0 inches. 
DESCRIPTION : *‘ FEMALE. UPPERSIDE, doth wings brown, the middle cerulean blue. 
Hindwing tailed; the veins, the caudal spot, a spot onthe anal lobe, a submarginal line, 
and the ¢ai/ (except the tip) black. UNDERSIDE, Jo/h wings with the spots and bands as in 
Amblypodia, [= Arhopala, Boisduval] ; with spots near the base, a large spot at the end of the cell, 
a transverse band (broken at the middle of the forewing), all rufous-brown, bordered on both 
sides with black. Forewing with a submarginal band of brown spots. Hindwing with the caudal 
spot, the lobe (which is crowned with silver), a spot between them (which is irrorated with 
silvery blue), the outer margin, and the /ai/, all black ; a band of pale blue above the lobe, and 
a submarginal line of white.” (Hewitson, 1. c.) 
