1906. 145" 
be as well to state that the feeding period of the larva in this latter 
insect is quite normal: the larva turns transparent green at the end of 
the feeding (as usual) and in that state lies over, sometimes a short 
time, sometimes a long time, depending on I know not what causes ; 
is quite active, as it often changes its cell, and never omits to change 
it just before pupating. 
[This concludes the notes in the first letter, which was sent by 
Mr. Andrewes to Professor Poulton who replied to it direct to Mr. 
Bell. The second set of notes constitute nearly the whole of Mr. 
Bell’s answer. | 
Thanks for the book containing the different papers; those 
African Precis are indeed wonderful in their variety or variation, 
We have nothing quite as variable as that, except some of the Cato- 
phaga-Appias lot, which even then only vary from black to white ; 
nearly quite black all over, however, to nearly pure white; the black 
forms being the wet-season ones of course, or the “succulent shoot ” 
forms, which | fancy is the same thing. These shoots come out in end 
of April and May—which is the hot weather; and dry, and last 
through the rains. Our Precis, the common one existing right 
through India into China (now called Junonia iphita), becomes very 
black (dark brown) in the rains, gets smaller peaks to the wings, that 
is, the peaks are less accentuated, and besides the tendency to ocella- 
tion, gets a steely suffusion on the under-side: the only butterfly 1 
am acquainted with that acquires metallic marking. ‘There is another 
thing, while on Precis, which occurs to me, and that is the rule that 
the dry forms are the larger does not always apply to Precis, and never 
to some other species. For example, the wet-season form of Hypolimnus 
bolina is more than double the size (wing-area) of the dry-season 
form; the same with Hypolimnas misippus, also Cynthia saloma and 
Cethosia mahratta. Now the reason for this is that the dry-season 
forms of these butterflies are all more or less starved specimens. 
The Acanthacee, on which Precis and Hypolimnas teed, and Modecca 
(Passifloree, the tood-plant of Cynthia and Cethosia) are almost com- 
pletely wet-season plants, that 1s they lose their leaves in the dry 
weather. Barring this starving, all cold-weather forms are larger than 
the wet-weather ones, and are so, 1 consider, for the reasons | have 
given before, viz., slower growth due to less “sappy ” food. 
In these very damp regions, like Kanara, where the rainfall varies 
from 10U to 300 inches, the leaves often get spots of white mould on 
