COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. 325 



grows in thickets and 'very often amongst prickly-pear and Lantana. 

 The little larva always eats the egg-shell as its first meal and emerges 

 through the side and generally near the top. It then wanders 

 away and takes up its position on a leaf, either above or below, 

 making a bed of silk to rest on ; it is never found on j'oung leaves 

 and always eats fully mature ones, often, indeed, those that are 

 partially withered. At first it eats the siirface in little round holes 

 which do not penetrate the whole substance ; later on it starts at 

 the side, always lying along the edge of the eaten part. This 

 position is well chosen for the larva is then very difficult to see ; and 

 it has the habit of falling off when violent!}'' disturbed, keeping, 

 however, an anchor in the shape of a single silk thread by which it 

 climbs back when the danger is over. Although, where the biitterfly 

 occurs, it is always plentiful, the larvaB are not easy to find ; and 

 when found, they are generally ichneumoned and die like most of 

 those of this type ; or, indeed, like most of the larvas of the 

 typically plain-country butterflies. The pupation takes place in a 

 secluded place, well hidden from outside and the chrysalis is attach- 

 ed very strongl}^ b}^ the tail and hangs in a loop just long enough 

 to allow the ventral surface of the abdomen to move without touch- 

 ing the branches or object wherefroiu it is suspended. The larva is 

 somewhat sluggish, always moving slowly and haltingl}"; the pupa 

 wriggles slowly from side to side in a jerking manner when disturb- 

 ed. The butterfly is a fairly fast flier and delights in the sun ; it 

 goes readily to flowers and rests on leaves of bushes and trees at 

 rather long intervals. In the evenings or in dull weather it retires to 

 places low down among the leaves in the thickets which characterise 

 its haunts ; it then sits with the wings closed over the back and the 

 front ones draw^n into the hinder ones. The flight is generally 

 hurried, more or less straight and varies little from an even, strong 

 fluttering motion of the wings. The butterfly is, as a rule, foimd in 

 the open country and about the bases of hills in scrub-jungle where 

 there is much tangled vegetation ; it seems to be particularly partial 

 to places where prickly-pear ( Opuntia dillenii ) abounds. It is not 

 fovind in the Bombay Presidency in Kanara on the coast ; but is 

 common in Bandra near the city of Bombay close to the sea and is 

 plentiful throughout the Dharwar, Sholapur and Bijapur Districts, 

 and in Belgaum east and north. The foodplant of the larva is 

 Capjmns^ej.wna, L., and it will not readily eat any other Caper. 

 The distribution of the butterfly is given hy Colonel Bingham as 

 " nearly throughout our limits, but not in desert parts; extends to 

 China and the Malayan Sub region." By "our limits" is meant 

 British India. Colonel Bingham s&js that the insect is so variable 

 that it can be divided into two groups as follows : — 



(1) Pyrene group. — Fore wing wdth the orange patch on the 

 upperside broad, extended right across the apex of the cellj but in 



