658 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIV. 



a short band of metallic blue above the base of the tail on the hind wing 

 whereas the female is brown. The great majority of the males are some 

 shade of blue on the upper side, metallic or otherwise, varying from deep 

 smalt or cobalt to light metallic azure ; the females are always of lighter 

 colour and generally without any metallic sheen. On the underside the 

 colour is white, grey, brown, fawn, &c,, but never black or blue although 

 there is sometimes a blue gloss ; this ground-colour being either pure with 

 dark border or crossed by fine lines of black or bands and lines of white ; 

 there is generally a spot of black near the anal angle of the hind wing and 

 this spot is often crowned with ochreous or silver ; sometimes there are two 

 such spots. The Camena-Oj)s-Tajuvia group have the undersides of a pure 

 grey or brown ; Camena argentea ( not in the key given above) is silver, like 

 a new rupee in the male, pure grey with, sometimes, a pinkish shade m the 

 female ; all have a fine, black line or two inside and parallel to the outer 

 margin. The Nacaduba and Arhopala lot have broken, parallel bands 

 formed by white lines enclosing strips of the ground colour ; Castalius is 

 white with black spots as is also Cyaniris ; Tarucus is white or yellowish 

 with black bands and spots arranged in rows ; Catochryshops is pure grey 

 or whitish with bands and spots, «fec., &c. The colour on the upperside 

 may vary slightly with the season according as to whether it is wet or dry 

 or according to whether it is hot or cold. This variation generally affect- 

 ing the shade or the amount of black in the border. The underside is 

 often equally affected in the same way and the arrangement of the 

 markings is then seemingly changed so that a cold-weather specimen of 

 a species may present quite a different aspect at first sight to a hot-weather 

 one, as in Everes argiades and Nacaduba pandava. The shape of the wing 

 is rarely aft'ected by this seasonal dimorphism as it is in somp of the 

 Satyrinae and Nymphalinae. The wings are often tailed or lobed, or both, 

 tJie tails sometimes exceeding or equalling in length the breadth of the 

 hind wing to which it is attached ; sometimes, in this case, it is quite broad, 

 and curled, or twisted ; but, generally, it is short, thin and thread-like. 

 When there is a lobe, it is situated at the anal angle and is more or less 

 semicircular in shape and of a dift'erent colour to the rest of the wing ; 

 above it is often black, below it bears a deep, black, central spot ; it is 

 always in a different plane to the rest of the wing so that, when the insect 

 is at rest, with the wings brought together over the back, it stands out more 

 or less at right angles to the general surface. To the upper, outer edge of 

 this lobe is sometimes attached a thread-like tail which is generally slightly 

 twisted, black in colour and white-tipped and waves about in the wind. When 

 the wings are brought together over the back in a position of rest, they 

 are generally rubbed together with a gentle up and down motion by their 

 possessors. The lobes, thus brought together, of course take part in this 

 motion and, to the eye of an observer situated behind and on the same 

 level as an insect at rest on a leaf, bear the most startling likeness to 

 the head of a Mantis with its prominent eyes and short antennse, the 

 former moving from side to side with an added gyratory motion, the 

 latter held erect and slightly agitated. The resemblance should be pro- 

 tective if it is not. Granting that ants and other s)nall predatory 

 insects are able to see as well as recognize their enemies, it should 

 certainly serve some such purpose for the Mantis preys regularly upon 

 any insect it can catch and overpower. Mr. T. Bainbrigge Fletcher has 

 alluded to these lobes in his recent book " Some South Indian Insects,' 

 instancing the genera Virachola and Aphnceus. But he considers that they 

 are a protection against larger enemies such as birds and lizards because, 

 • he says, they are, with their tails or appendages, so like the head of the 

 butterfly that 'they mislead attackers and so save the vital parts; 



