438 Lieut.-Colonel N. Manders on the 
hot for the food plant. I was much struck in Bourbon 
with the far greater luxuriance, larger leaves and stronger 
growth of the Pilea urticefolia and its great abundance. 
In Mauritius all the plants I have seen, and it is not 
a particularly common one, are more slender, straggly and 
the leaves noticeably thinner and less juicy; and this 
diminished growth would tend to the production of a 
smaller and weaker insect. Consequently in Bourbon the 
butterfly is large, strong and abundant; in Mauritius, 
small, weak and very rare. I endeavoured to prove this 
by feeding Mauritius larvae on Bourbon plants, but I had 
only two larvee to experiment with, and it is not surprising 
that the results were unsatisfactory ; but it is probable 
that investigations on a larger scale would yield interesting 
results. 
The only known locality is Curepipe, 1,800 feet. Per- 
sonally I have only once seen it on the wing, this was a 
dilapidated female which flew into the verandah of my 
house. Captain Tulloch has taken it on the summit of 
the Trou-aux-cerfs, where it flies between 9 am. and 
11 am. I have, however, for three consecutive years 
found eggs, larva and pupz on the same plant in the 
Botanic Gardens, Curepipe. There appears to be a suc- 
cession of broods ‘during the hot weather; in some seasons 
the butterfly appears as early as the end of September 
and occasionally lasts until May; but the usual months 
are February and March. I have found the eggs in 
October and March and the larvee in October, January, 
March, and May. 
The egg is laid on the under surface of the larger leaves 
of Pilea urticefolia. It is smooth, conical, dark olive-green 
with flattened top and base. The segments are marked 
with narrow but distinct perpendicular yellow lines, nine 
in number, converging towards the summit but not 
meeting. It has an exact resemblance to a water-melon. 
Egg laid ? hatched 8. x. "05; larva full-fed 28. x.; sus- 
pended before 7 a.m. 5. xi.; shed its larval skin 4 p.m. 
5. x1.; emerged 16. xi. When first hatched the larva is 
uniform yellowish-green, with black spines and shining 
black head. When half-grown, it is uniformly black with 
a glistening appearance, with spines bright yellow or some- 
times white. The full-grown larva is very variable and 
its colour is influenced by its surroundings. I have given 
a description of this in the “ Entomologist.” 
