igai.] N. Annandai.e & C. Dover : Fauna 0/ Baykuda I. 355 



the leaf with its wings in line with the body in typical moth- 

 like fashion, and is very difficult to distinguish. 



Resistance to pressure on the thorax and to cyanide has 

 been confirmed by us in the case of the Danaines, Euploea core, 

 Danais plexippiis and D. chrysiphiis ; Pnpilio hector, P. ari^tolochiae 

 and P. polytes have also been noted by us as "tenacious of life." 

 Specimens of the^.e species have not infrequently been found alive 

 in the papers weeks after having been apparently killed. 



" Gregariousness " has been noted in Euploea core, Danais 

 chrysippus, Hypoli'nnas holina and H. misippiis. Pnpilio polytes 

 is also a gregarious insect and hundreds of them swarm round 

 their favourite food plant, Glycosmis pcntaphylla, in the " rains." 

 Of the Pieridae, the Catopsilias, Ixias, and Terias have been noted 

 as fond of congregating. On a single occasion Colotis calais amatus 

 was seen in^ fairly large numbers round a tree (probably Salvadora 

 persica) by the shore, and the little Lj'caenid Chilades laius was also 

 found congregating in numbers which did not exceed forty, 

 round a low bush. As we have already noted, however, no large 

 flights of any specimens were observed. 



Observations on Papilio polytes. 



Much has been written on the polymorphism and sexual 

 habits of this butterfly and an excellent summary of the work 

 of previous authors will be found in Punnett's Mimicry in Butterflies 

 (Cambridge : 1915). The most detailed investigation is that of 

 Fryer pulilished in the Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. (ser. B.) 

 Vol. CCIV (1914). Two brief notes have recently' been published 

 by P. Susainthan and Bainbrigge- Fletcher in Bulletin No. 89, of the 

 Agricultural Research Iitsti'ute, Pnsn. Poulton has also published 

 a paper in the Proc. Third Ent. Meet. Pitsa. Ill, pp. 903-905 {1920), 

 in which he has recounted the data on the numerical ratio of the 

 femule forms which have appeared in the Entomological vSociety's 

 " Proceedings." ' 



We offer no opinion on the origin or function of the mimicry 

 believed to exist in this species, but print our observations for 

 their face value. 



In 19 19 and 1920, the following observations were made on 

 Barkuda, where this butterfly is probably the most abundant. 

 Its caterpillar feeds there on the leaves of the shrub Glycosmis 

 pent.iphylla of the family Rutaceae, one of the most abundant 

 plants on the island. 



„ , . In natural conditions the courtship is nor- 



Courtship. ,, , IT . . . 



mally prolonged. In one instance a pair were 

 found in copula in which the wings of the female were still damp and 

 flaccid, but this was evidently abnormal as the nuptial flight (in 

 which the male is carried passively, adhering to the female) is as a 

 rule prolonged and vigorous. There is evidence, moreover, that 

 generally some time elapses after the imago emerges before court- 



1 Prof. Poulton will also shortly publish a paper in the Proc, ath Ent. Meet. 

 at Pusa, in 1921 . 



