( xcii ) 



by Dr. Carpenter from Kakindu, on August 6, 1915. The 

 order to move had unfortunately come about that time, and 

 Dr. Carpenter was therefore unable to rear the larvae. It 

 was much to be hoped that he would complete this interesting 

 life-history at some future date. 



" On Jnhj 28 had a stroke of very interesting luck. Saw 

 a $ P. nobilis laying an egg. I unfortunately missed her, but 

 found altogether 16 eggs freshly laid. I couldn't resist bring- 

 ing them home, but don't know if I shall be able to rear them 

 through. It"s interesting, in view of what I said about its 

 likeness to P. dardanus on the wing, that it lays its eggs rather 

 differently. P. dardanus (at any rate in captivity) scatters 

 them about indiscriminately on upper or under surfaces of 

 leaves and stems. But nohilis very carefully places them on 

 under side of a very young leaf, and at the extreme edge. 

 In one case there were four eggs on the under surface of one 

 leaf, each separated neatly from its neighbour by a space of 

 about J inch. Compared with the eggs of dardanus, those 

 of nobilis seem rather small. I do hope I may rear them 

 through. 



" P.S. — These have hatched, but all except two of the 

 larvae wandered off the leaves and died. They are extremely 

 like the hesperus I reared on Kome Island and not like 

 dardanus.'" 



Observations by Mrs. D. R. Fyson on the proportions 



OP THE FEMALE FORMS OF PaPILIO POLYTES, L., IN THE 

 NEIGHBOURHOOD OF MADRAS CITY. — Prof. POULTON brought 



forward the following observations, recorded by Mrs. Fyson 

 in a letter dated Sept. 1, 1915 :— 



" I noticed that a great many Papilios were out in some 

 fields and in a grassy lane leading through them. They were 

 hovering on and around a Verbena {Stachytarpheta indica, 

 Vahl.), which grew in great quantities. My husband and I 

 spent two hours, 7.0-9.0 a.m., on August 23 in catching them. 

 They were easy to catch as they hovered over the flowers, 

 and we practically cleared the place, so the numbers ought to 

 give a fairly true proportion. On a second day, August 28, 

 in the same locality and at the same hours we did not catch 

 so many, as we felt it was rather a slaughter of the innocents ! 



