356 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vol XXII, 



ship takes place. Large numbers of individuals of both sexes with 

 quite fresh but stiff wings, were often observed feeding on the honey 

 of the flowers of Vitis vitiginca, Zizyphus oenoplia, Premna latifolia 

 and P. wightiana without manifesting any sexual attraction to 

 one another, whereas a large proportion of the individuals seen 

 mated had worn wings. 



When the female is ripe for mating she sits on a leaf in a 

 conspicuous position, with the wings spread out, but with the 

 forevving turned a little backwards over the hind-wing. If a male 

 approaches she raises and flutters her wings gently. The male 

 flies up to her with a fluttering motion from behind and they 

 often sit together for some time, both waving their wings. The}' 

 then iDegin to fly together for short or even for long distances, 

 moving their wings very rapidly but progressing slowh', each 

 occasionally striking the other with the forewings. This process 

 goes on for some time, often as long as half an hour, and the 

 female appears at times to be as ardent as the male. The pair 

 occasionalh' settle and then flutter away for a short distance before 

 settling again. The}" often hover vertical^ in the air for a time 

 without changing their position. While the courtship is in pro- 

 gress a second male often approaches. Sometimes the first suitor 

 gives wa}' to him, and sometimes the new comer flies off himself, 

 after fluttering round the pair for a short while. On more than 

 one occasion a male of Enploca core has been observed fluttering 

 round a courting pair but, though evidently attracted, he never 

 stayed for long.' Nothing of the nature of a fight ever takes place. 

 The curious thing about the whole affair is that in a very large 

 proportion of cases the male aiDparentl}' tires of his courtship 

 before mating, and suddenly flies away. Rarely, the female flies 

 after him. A sudden and premature conclusion to the courtship 

 seems to occur more frequently than not. Either the female has 

 the power of repelling the male after a mere flirtation, or else a 

 large proportion of the males are incapable, or not desirous, of 

 mating, though eager for courtship. These facts may express the 

 difficulty experienced by Fryer in getting captive butterflies of this 

 species to mate.'^ 



Numerical ratio of AH three fomis of the female of P. pnlytes 



the female forms. were taken on Barkuda and numerous attempts 



were made to ascertain the proportionate numbers in which they 



normally occurred. Two facts were clear : that the polyles ^ form 



1 Ghosh {Mem. Dept. Agricul. Ind., V, No. i, p. 34) states that he has seen 

 a male of Papilio demoleus apparently attempting- to mate with a female of 

 P. polytes (= pammon). On a single occasion this was observed in Calcutta, 

 and P. demoleus has also often been seen interrupting a courting pair. Ghosh's 

 paper also contains a good description of the life-history ol P. demoleus and P. 

 polytes, the caterpillars of which often live together. 



2 Cf. Fryer (o/i. cit., p. 231). He gives a description of wliat he calls an 

 absolutely typical mating, but his observations were made on captive butterflies, 

 .ind the description he gives applies to a case similar to the one cited above as 

 .ibnormal. 



8 We also obtained a variety of this form known as stichius. Hub., in whicii 

 lliere is no white spot on the cell of the hind wing. 



