'208 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



information legavtling the larva; none of the natives knew it, 

 but last monsoon I obtained it, and during June and July 

 many were collected : they fed upon Aristolochia indica, and 

 apparently upon it only. The larvge were ver}- splendid, of a 

 rich velvety black, with a lateral band, and a saddle of white 

 and red, very roughly tubercled, and the tubercles tipped with 

 red. I cannot from memory attempt a closer description. A 

 plate in 'Wood's Natural History' of the imago and larva of 

 a species there given as Ornilhoptera Amphrisius corresponds 

 very closely with this Cochin species. But there seems some 

 doubt about its identity. On July 19th, 1874, 1 obtained a 

 large quantity both of larvai and pupa3 : the larva? I fed upon 

 Aristolochia, and many changed to pupaj. From these many 

 emerged before I left India (August 13th), and others on 

 board ship, from the pupai I took with me. They appear to 

 remain about three weeks in pupa. The pupa possesses the 

 power of making a curious noise, like ' pha, pha,' and makes 

 it very loudly when touched; the noise is accompanied 

 (perhaps produced) by a sharp contraction of the abdominal 

 segments. 1 thought at first it was merely produced by the 

 rubbing of one ring of the pupa-case against the next, but 

 the sound did not resemble a mere frictional sound ; it was 

 more like the sound of the rush of air through small holes, — 

 *pha, phal' I tried to produce it with a dead chrysalis, but 

 failed ; and the pupa sometimes contracted on being touched 

 without making the noise, and appeared unable to make the 

 noise until some time was given to allow them to recover 

 their vigour. A curious incident connected with this insect 

 came under my notice some years ago. In cleaning out the 

 body of a female 1 turned out a mass of apparently mature 

 eggs, but they all proved unfertile ; soon after, in operating 

 upon another female, a slight pressure upon the body drove 

 an egg out from the oviduct, and a repeated pressure extruded 

 a second ; the rest, twenty or thirty, would not come, and 

 were taken out in emptying the body. The two which had 

 been pressed through the oviduct hatched, and all the others 

 shrivelled. I mention this as it seems a sort of confirmation 

 of Von Siebold's observation respecting bees, that the fertili- 

 zation of the egg takes place on its passage through the 

 oviduct. The two larva; lived two or three days, refusing 

 every leaf I offered them. 1 did not then know Aristolochia 



