THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. 669 



ridges forming irregular shallow cells with flat bottoms ; at each intersec- 

 tion of the lines is a little knob which is blunt and has the appearance 

 of a little star with the ridges radiating from it ; the cells are very- 

 small on top where there are no knobs. Colour : light green, the raised 

 lines and knobs pure white. B. 8mm. 



Lava. — Is of normal shape — onisciform, broadest about the middle. The 

 head is hidden under the second segment and is shining, translucent, dirty 

 whitish in colour with a brown suffusion about the jaws and eyes ; it is 

 round in shape. Segment 2 is rounded along the front margin, inclined to 

 be hexagonal in shape taken as a whole, the extreme front being more or 

 less straight ; in the middle of dorsum is a more or less triangular depres- 

 sion, the apex pointing forward, with a black dot at each basal angle. The 

 mouth-shaped gland on segment 11 often has a little feathered hair at each 

 end. The little organ openings of segment V2 are circular, emitting now 

 and then, at the will of the larva, little white cylinders which are again 

 withdrawn. Anal end of body rather square at the extremity, the surface 

 pitted just inside the margin. Surface of body showing the segments, as a 

 rule, well marked, a slight, circular depression in the dorsal line on seg- 

 ments 3, 4 ; all the segments 5-10 have a slightly depressed, central, trans- 

 verse line over dorsum ; the whole larva is clothed with erect, short, brown, 

 stiff hairs. Spiracles flush, nearly circular, dark brown, surrounded by a 

 double, thin, black line. Colour of body is dark grass-green without any 

 markings. L : 10mm ; B : 4mm. 



Pupa. — Of normal shape. The head is bent under, the front margin of 

 segment 2 being the front of pupa. Segment 2 is rounded along front 

 margin, minutely indented in dorsal line of that margin ; sloping gently 

 upwards to thorax ; thorax is humped, slightly laterally compressed, about 

 the same breadth as segment 2 ; abdomen is rather stout, a bit broader 

 than thorax at segment 7/8 as also a little higher ; the last three segments 

 narrow and perpendicular to longitudinal axis of pupa. Surface covered 

 with short, erect, stiff brown hairs, each from a minute tubercle : these 

 bristles not too short, quite perceptible. Spiracles of segment 2 indicated 

 by raised, white, narrow lines ; the rest flush, nearly circular ; light in 

 colour, of ordinary size. Colour green, speckled with dark brown ; shoulders 

 black-tipped ; a row of lateral, black spots en abdomen. L : 8* 5mm ; 

 B : 4- 5mm ; H : 3- 5mm. 



Habits. — The eggs are laid on the stalks of young shoots or 

 amongst the flowers in an axil. They are laid single, the butterfly 

 walking slowly about to choose a place for each one. The larva, 

 when it first emerges and when on a flower, bores into a bud to get 

 at the soft, young parts ; when on a tender leaf — the egg is never 

 laid on an old one — it eats the outside layers of the undersurface. 

 Later on, when bigger, it eats in the ordinary way from the edge. 

 It is very sluggish and falls to the ground when disturbed, curling 

 up its body in a circle. It is attended intermittently by ants of 

 difierent kinds of small dimensions. Pupation takes place on a 

 leaf, in a crevice, nearly anywhere and the chrysalis is attached 

 tightly by the tail and a body-band. The growth of the larva is 

 moderately quick and the pupal stage of normal duration — about 

 10 days. 



The perfect insect, the butterfly, is found nearly everywhere the 

 food-plant exists: Olycosmis pentaj^ihylla, a rutaceous species common 



