THE Zootocist—J UNE, 1875. 4507 
Malabar, Cochin, and Travancore. At the town of Cochin, where I live, 
it is frequently seen. I have also observed it many miles inland, flying 
over the trees in the low jungles at the foot of the Western Ghauts; but I 
have not noticed it at any great height above the sea. In Cochin Ihave seen 
it from March to August flying over the tops of the tallest cocoa palms, 
occasionally descending to hover over the flowers—especially those of the 
large scarlet Hibiscus, near which I have caught it in my own garden. 
The males seem less common than the females, and seldom were perfect on 
the wing. For several years I could get no information regarding 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 larve were very 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 Ornithoptera Amphrisius cor- 
responds very closely with this Cochin species. But there seems some doubt 
about its identity. On July 19, 1874, I obtained a large quantity both of larve 
and pup: the larve I fed upon Aristolochia, and many changed to pups 
From these many emerged before I left India (August 13), and others on 
board ship from the pups 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. I 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, pha!” I tried to produce it with a dead chrysalis, but 
failed: 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 it to recover its vigour. 
* A curious incident connected with this insect came under my notice 
some years ago. Incleaning out the body of a female, I 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—20 or 30—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 fertilization of the ege takes 
place on its passage through the oviduct. The two larve lived two or three 
days, refusing every leaf I offered them; I did not then know Aristolochia 
was the food-plant.” 
