536 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXL 



and wishes to escape danger or when it chases another insect of 

 its own species in the way of sport. It is fond of circling round 

 the tops of the hills or peaks in the jungles, well above the trees 

 and will keep for hours on the wing under such circumstances, 

 given a warm, fair day in the monsoon months. Half a dozen 

 or so seem to monopolize a particular hill-top, rarely more ; and 

 then nearly always the dark form ; dissimilis, be it from the fact 

 that it is, perhaps, the less common form, does not often join 

 in. It is occasionally present also, but always in fewer num- 

 bers. The butterflies sail lazily about most of the time, 

 round and round, in curves and circles, except when every now 

 and again one takes it into its head to chase another and then 

 it is that the quick flight is most noticeable. They dart away, 

 flying often straight up into the sky and are lost to view in a 

 very short space of time ; they fly nearly as fast as the larger 

 CJiaraxes, the fastest of all butterflies. Typical P. clytia in both 

 forms is found in the Himalayas from Kangra and Simla to 

 Sikhim ; Assam ; Central and Southern India. It is not b}^ any 

 means a rare butterfly within its limits but may be mistaken for 

 Eujiloea core, coreta or hollari or, in the dissimilis form, for Danais 

 limniace as already remarked. It rests with its wings closed over 

 the back like those insects, though sometimes it assumes the 

 ordinary Paijilio position of holding them horizontal, the upper 

 slightly covering the lower. It is fond of the sun and is ■ in no- 

 wise afraid of facing open spaces ; but is confined more or less to 

 the hilly parts of jungle country. The food-plants of the larva 

 are all of the family Laurinece, embracing the Laurels, Cinnamon, 

 and other aromatic-foliaged trees. Some of the species of trees it 

 has been bred on are Alseoda'pline semicarinfolia, Nees ; Cinnamomwn 

 zeylanicum, Blume ; Litsea chinensis, Lam. (sehifera, Pers.) ; all three 

 very common in the Bombay Ghats ; the first, a very tall evergreen 

 species, found occasionally in deciduous forests also but confined 

 to the western parts of Peninsular India ; the last spread through- 

 out the hotter parts of India, Cejdon and, through the Malay- 

 Islands, to Australia ; the second with a similar distribution as the 

 last except that it is cultivated in the Malaj^ Islands. Cinnamon 



