﻿256 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



the back heightens the Hkeness to the head of some strange 

 creature. The pupa, which is generally of a bright leaf-green in 

 colour, is flattened in shape and almost oval. It has generally a 

 rim of pink, but sometimes a narrower one of dull white, on each 

 side, which combined with a narrow ridge of white which runs 

 down its back gives it almost the exact appearance of a thick 

 evergreen leaf, such as that of Skiimnia, with the sunlight play- 

 ing on it. There are two other forms of the pupa ; one of a 

 uniform pale brown, and one with the exact colour and markings 

 of a lichen on stone, but these are relatively scarce, not amount- 

 ing together to more than one in a hundred as far as I have been 

 able to observe. 



In all its earlier stages this species exhibits an extreme love 

 of secrecy. The ovum is laid singly, for the most part on the 

 under side of a leaf of the old growth of Skimmia, the female 

 often fluttering as low down as possible, sometimes even deep in 

 the middle of the bush, for the purpose. This habit is unlike 

 those of xuthus, machaon, or any other Skimmia-ieedimg Papilio 

 with which I am acquainted, which invariably choose the side 

 shoots or the topmost sprays of the new growth for oviposition. 

 The larvas, which are lethargic in habit and seldom move except 

 when food fails them, live on a silken carpet which they spin on 

 the upper side of a leaf, in most cases only coming up gradually 

 towards the light as they grow larger, and often remaining 

 hidden all their lives. Even when full-grown they show a 

 distinct tendency to hide themselves on the stem under the top- 

 most leaves ; and this in spite of the fact that no Papilionid 

 larva known to me harmonizes more perfectly with its surround- 

 ings than that of Manor in its later stages. In the compara- 

 tively few instances when I have observed it sunning itself on 

 the top of the bushes, it is extremely difiicult to detect. In 

 consequence of this I find it hard to estimate the number of ova 

 or larvae of this species that my butterfly-house contains at any 

 particular moment, and in the past season I had the unwelcome 

 experience of finding my Skimmia bushes stripped by what 

 proved to be literally thousands of hianor larvge which I had 

 been harbouring for Weeks, without in the least suspecting their 

 presence in any such quantity. The larva, which keeps its love 

 of remaining hidden to the end, usually pupates on the food- 

 plant itself, a favourite position being on the stem of a slender 

 twig amongst the lowest leaves a few inches only from the 

 bottom of the bush. I have found, however, in the case of those 

 individuals which give rise to the partial second brood, pupation 

 takes place near the top of the bushes or even on the under side 

 of the broad leaves of the plant of Aristolochia sipho which over- 

 hang them, I suppose because in such a position the pupa would 

 receive the greater amount of sunlight which is necessary for its 

 more rapid development. A curious fact in regard to this species 



