36 NATURAL HISTORY. 



74. Papilio agamemnon.— This is very common both in Bombay 

 and the Deecan and on the hills too ; and to the young collector it 

 has a peculiar fascination. It flies fast aud with a good deal of 

 style and is rarely seen to settle. When it does alight it selects a 

 shady spot and rests with wings closed. Sometimes on a hot day it 

 will spend a long time flitting up and down under a shady tree as 

 if on sentry duty. The larva feeds on the custard apple and must be 

 sought on very fresh leaves in the shade. It rests on the upper side 

 of the leaf, like all papilio larvae. It is the most difficult of caterpil- 

 lars to rear. It will remain on a faded leaf and starve sooner than 

 move to a fresh one and cannot be transferred without injury as it 

 carpets the leaf with silk and hooks its feet to it. I have never 

 succeeded in rearing one from the egg. 



75. Papilio sarpedon. — This, the most sprightly of all our 

 butterflies, is found only on the hills; very common there about 

 the end of the year. It is swift, restless, very hard to catch, and 

 when caught generally breaks its wings in the net. It is very fond 

 of sipping the moisture from damp ground. 



76. Papilto nomius. — I have never seen this species alive. The 

 specimens in the Society's collection were sent by Mr. Davidson and 

 Mr. Wroughton from Khandesh and the Ghauts which lie between 

 the Tanna and Nasik Districts. I am told it frequents ravines and 

 flies very swiftly. 



77. P. erithonius. — The commonest of the genus, occurring 

 everywhere and appearing almost throughout the year* The larva 

 feeds on various trees of the orange tribe, but in Bombay forsakes 

 them all for the most offensively odoriferous garden rue. 



78. P. parnmon. — This is nearly as abundant as the last, the 

 polyctor form of the female being decidedly the most common. 

 There seems to be -nothing seasonal in the appearance of the differ- 

 ent forms. I have reared all three from eggs laid by polyctor, in 

 the same week. The larva feeds, like that of the last, on various 

 species of the orange tribe, refusing others. I have never found it 

 on the pummalo, nor on the rue, of which the last species is so fond, 

 but a sweet lime in my garden now can scarcely keep a fresh leaf, 

 and a small Japanese orange is sadly ravaged. Another favourite is 

 the curry-leaf — -Bergera Iwenigii — on which I have never found the 

 larva of the last species. The pupa is green when it forms in the 

 midst of green leaves and brown when attached to the trunk of 



