228 NYMPHALID^. NYMPHALIN-F.. PYRAMEIS. 



wings, elevated at an angle of about forty degrees with each oilier, now become quiet, the 

 tip of the abdomen is bent down upon the leaf, and the egg is instantly laid. The same 

 butterfly appears never to lay more than a single egg upon one leaf, altliough she frequently 

 deposits eggs on different leaves of the same plant, and in one instance laid them on cut 

 leaves lying on the ground." 



"The caterpillar feeds principally on plants of the composite order, especially on thistles 

 and occasionally on borages or mallows. It makes its escape from the egg, as usual among 

 lepidopterous larvre, by biting a slit almost around the crown of the egg, and pushing up 

 this improvised lid ; it does not appear to devour the egg-shell, as caterpillars usually do, 

 but, after biting a few little holes partly through the upper surface of the leaf, makes its way 

 to the opposite side and takes up a position, each one apart from its fellow, either between 

 the midrib and curled-up lim if near the tip of the thistle leaf, or next the midrib or a 

 lateral rib, if farther back ; here it bites away the silken film and makes a nest, covering 

 itself with a slight open web, into which it weaves the bitten particles of the film, From 

 this retreat it sallies forth to eat irregular patches in the parenchyma, which it often partially 

 covers with an extension of the web." 



"Each caterpillar, when it has outgrown this confined abode, builds for itself a 

 separate nest, generally near the summit of a stalk ; it spins a thin web on the surface of the 

 leaf, near the edge, if it be abroad-leafed plant, and then draws over a portion of the leaf 

 by means of threads, completing the covering with a silken tent ; when half grown it forsakes 

 this and forms a more perfect nest, drawing together leaves, buds, and bitten fragments by 

 the same process, so as to form an oval cavity, about I '4 inches long vertically, and a little 

 more than half as broad. The narrow, irregular, crisped, and rather distant leaves of the 

 thistle, on which it is most frequently found, cannot, however, be made to cover even a 

 single caterpillar, and the spaces are closed by a thin open web, through which the inmate 

 can readily be seen, but which is sufficiently close to retain all the rejectamenta of the cater- 

 pillar. The nest is usually covered, at least in the upper half, with spines of the plant, 

 evidently bitten off for the purpose; there is an opening in the nest, near or at the summit, just 

 large enough to allow the larva to emerge, apparently made by eating away the web. Within 

 this habitation the larva rests with its head downwards, like its congener, V. atalanta ; but, un- 

 like it, when its earlier stages are passed, it feeds upon the upper surface and parenchyma 

 of the leaf, without touching the under cuticle, and when these are consumed, it crawls out to 

 seek its fortune and weave a more commodious mansion ; when, however, it has reached its 

 final stage, it devours the entire leaf." 



"When about to undergo its transformation, the caterpillar does not wander far, and 

 frequently remains upon the plant which has nourished it. It weaves a sort of cocoon of 

 no definite shape, but larger than its previous nest, formed of partially dried leaves, connected 

 by open, angular, irregular, silken meshes." 



"The butterfly is particularly fond of fields, gardens, highways, open ground, and waste 

 places ; it frequently aliglits on stone walls heated by the sun, and is greatly attracted by 

 flowers, particularly by tliistles and other plants on which the caterpillar feeds ; here it may 

 readily be taken ; not so in other spots, for although very fearless, it is very wary, and its flight is 

 rapid, dashing, and discontinuous ; it doubles frequently and abruptly, usually to the right 

 or left, rather than up or down. It loves to return to the spot from which it has been driven, 

 or to the immediate vicinity, often circling about first, as if selecting the best spot." 



In India P. cardui occurs almost everywhere. In Ceylon Mr. Mackwood states that it 

 is " Found everywhere, but more plentiful in the higher districts." Colonel Swinhoe records 

 it at Karachi as "Plentiful in several months of the year ;" in Bombay and the Deccan 

 " Common everywhere from September to December ;" he also records it from Quetta and 

 Kandahar. It is decidedly rare in Calcutta; but as far as I am aware it occurs plentifully in 

 every other part of India and in the hills up to a considerable elevation. It has been found 

 in both the Andaman and Nicobar groups of islanJs, but has not as yet been recorded from 

 the Malay Peninsula, 



