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



full grown it is generally found surrounded b}^ the empty skins of 



its victims and is then not so difficult to distinguish as it is larger 



and more longly oval in shape. If touched it often falls to the 



ground rolled up like a wood-louse. The plant-lice generally affect 



the undersides of the leaves of the plant upon which they live so 



that the eggs are always laid on the under surfaces of leaves. The 



pupation takes place on a leaf, often on the upper surface ; or on 



a twig or branch and the white covering is of course cast with the 



larval skin, the chrysalis not showing a vestige of it. The image 



is a fast flying little insect and may oftenest be found about the 



plants bearing plant-lice ; these are very easil}^ seen even at a 



distance being very remarkable from their resemblance to cotton 



or pure white feathers. It flies erratically, round and about, across 



and in and out among the leaves and rests nearly always on the 



upper surface of a leaf with the wings tightly closed over the back 



but not in the least drawn into each other ; the female often rests 



on a stick or twig, generally with the head pointing downwards. 



The food of the larva is peculiar, in that it is not vegetable but 



consists of insects of the family Goccidce: The butterflj^ is found in 



Sikkim, Bhutan, Malda, Calcutta, Southern India, Ceylon, Assam, 



Burma, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The race nuhiloe has 



been differentiated by Moore from typical epius, Westwood as 



being '* much darker brown on the upperside, the apes of the cell 



with a black spot and no white spot beyond in the male " (supposed 



to be the Andaman and Nicobar form ); but some of the specimens 



of epius from Kanara in the Bomba}^ Presidency agree with it, 



completely lacking the white spot in the male and being xevj dark _ 



in colour. Spalgis ejnus is found in the mountains and plains, both 



where the rainfall is heavy and where it is light ; it exists from 



sea-level upwards. 



( To he continued.^ 



