486 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIV. 



The early individuals of the species are comparatively small and the patches 

 on the wings of the male are almost pure white just faintly tinted with light 

 blue. Those occurring towards the end of and after the rains are, on the 

 other hand, as a rale, large insects and the markings on the male are of a very 

 much deeper and more brilliant blue, often invisible except in certain lights. 

 The female is a rough mimic of Euplceacore but may easily be distinguished by 

 its different flight. It is very fond of skulking in the grass and among shady 

 undergrowth, where, it is presumed, it lays its eggs. These I have never 

 found ; but I have on two occasions discovered the caterpillars in a bed of 

 Pilea muscosa and violets. As on both occasions the larvse pupated immedi- 

 ately, I am unable to say for certain whether either of these are food-plants.® 

 The caterpillar is a stout cylindrical insect of a dark maroon colour, rather 

 more than an inch long, with rows of branched spines. The pupa is a dull 

 brown, the head and wing cases angular, the abdomen tubercular, the period 

 of pupation being eight days. 



26. Hypolimnas misippus, Linnaeus. 



Is as common as the last but appears somewhat later. Some males have a 

 curious habit of, as it were, taking possession of a bit of ground or a smalt 

 shrub, in the vicinity of which they will stay nearly all day if not 

 disturbed. I have often noticed one of these insects take up its quarters 

 on some favourite spot and stay there for hours, occasionally dashing out at 

 any other butterfly intruding on its preserves. There are two forms of 

 female, the first, which is a close mimic of Danais chrysippus, being very 

 common, and the second, a mimic of Danais dorippus, rare, I have one 

 specimen intermediate between the two types in which the black apical 

 patch is present though somewhat suffused with tawny scales, while the 

 white band of Form I is replaced by an exactly similar tawny band. The 

 female has a habit of skulking along and settling on low grass and the 

 ground, which at once distinguishes it from its models. 

 27. Aegynnis niphe, Linnseus. 



This is essentially a cold weather insect, never appearing in the Luck- 

 now district before the end of September and remaining on the wing 

 till February or March. It is fairly common, the female, a rough mimic 

 of Danais genuiia, much more so than the male. The caterpillar is 

 cylindrical, about 1|" long, of a blackish purple colour, the spiracles being 

 outlined with reddish. The head is provided with four stout branched 

 spines ; each other segment has seven or eight longer but similar spines, 

 all more or less red. I have discovered it both among violets and on 

 Lobelias on which it feedu. The pupa is also a blackish purple marked 

 with greenish grey and metallic spots; head and wing cases angular, 

 abdominal segments spined. The period of pupation is from eight to 

 ten days. 



* Note. — This season I again discovered a larva in a pot of violets ; it is very probable 

 therefore, that this is a food-plant. 



