COMMON BUTTERFLIES 01 THE PLAINS. 527 



closed nearly over them ; at least it so happens with the sensitive 

 Cassia npon which, only, the species has been bred. The pnpa is 

 formed in the same way as those of the other Terias species ; there is 

 nothing distinctive abont its ways. The plant upon which the 

 larva feeds or was found feeding grows generally in damp, even 

 swampy lands and the biitterily is most commonly found about 

 such places ; it is very plentiful in the dry weather in the hot 

 rocky beds of rivers in Kanara where the willow-like liomoia 

 grows ; underneath the shade of this the foodplant is sometimes 

 found growing. The insect keeps much to the bushes, close to the 

 ground though, on the whole, it is found more on the wing than 

 Iceia ; it is found in parties like this latter sitting low down 

 amongst undergrowth in localities that suit its taste ; and many 

 of them get up at a time when disturbed. The flight is rather weak ; 

 not often sustained and of the usual type. The insects are fond of 

 flowers but only go to such as are low down near the ground or 

 actually lying on it : vetches, &c. The foodplant is Cassia Meinii, 

 a rather small, semiscandent annual found in damp places ; it has 

 yellow flowers with some red markings on them, the leaves are 

 composed of many small leaflets which the larva eats, leaving the 

 midribs intact ; the plant is somewhat sensitive and the leaves 

 always close at night. The butterfly is distributed over the Hima- 

 layas from Kangra and Simla to Bhutan ; Punjab ; Bengal ; Gan- 

 jam ; Western India : Poona ; Belgaum, Kanara ; Southern India 

 the Nilgiris and Anamalai Hills ; Oeylon ; Assam ; Burma ; the 

 Nicobars. 



114. Terias hecabe (PL K, figs. 71, 71a, b, c). Wet-season brood. — Male 

 upperside : yellow, variable in tint from sulphur to rich lemon-yellow 

 according to locality with a light or heavy rainfall. Fore wing : apex and 

 termen deep black, this colour continued narrowly along the costal margin 

 to base of wing, near which it often becomes diffuse ; the inner margin of 

 the black area from the costa to vein 4 very oblique and irregular, excavate 

 on the inner side between veins 2 and 4, this excavation outwardly 

 rounded between the veins and inwardly slightly toothed on vein 3 ; 

 below vein 2 the black area is suddenly dilated into a square which 

 occupies the whole of the tornal angle ; the inner margin of this dilatation 

 is variable, in the typical form it is slightly concave. Hind wing : terminal 

 margin with a narrow, black band attenuated anteriorly and posteriorly ; 

 dorsal margin broadly paler than the ground-colour. Underside : yellow, 

 generally a slightly paler shade than that of the upperside, with the follow- 

 ing reddish-brown markings : — ^Fore wing : two small spots or specks in 

 basal half of cell and a reniform spot or ring on the discocellulars. Hind 

 wing : a slightly curved, subbasal series of three small spots, an irregular, 

 slender ring or spot on the discocellulars followed by a highly irregular, 

 curved, transverse, discal series of spots or specks, some or all of which are 

 sometimes obsolescent. On both fore and hind wings the veins that attain 

 the costal and terminal margins end in minute, reddish-brown specks. 

 Antennae greyish yellow, the club black ; head, thorax and abdomen yellow, 

 shaded with fuscous scales ; beneath : the palpi, thorax and abdomen 

 yellowish white. The sex-mark seen from above appears as a thickening of 



