286 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



white markings of the upperside more continuous, separated only by the- 

 slender brown veins. Antennse, head, thorax and abdomen as in male. 



Dry season form. — Male and female similar to the male and female of the' 

 wet-season form but with the following differences :— larger ; the irridescent 

 blue patches proportionately larger ; the hindwing in the male with, on the^ 

 upperside, a more or less well-marked subterminal highly sinuous pale line ;. 

 the forewing in the female with, on the upperside, one or two irridescent 

 blue spots just below basal half of the costa ; the inner .subterminal trans- 

 verse line of white markings much broader, each emerginate on the inner 

 side. Underside: male: ground-colour hair-brown; basal half of forewing 

 dark brown. Hindwing : the discal band and inner subterminal markings 

 broader, diffuse and irrorated with dusky scales. — Female : hindwing entirely 

 without the transverse broad, discal, whitish band, or sometimes this band 

 represented only by a pale shading. Exp. Male: 52-96 mm.; female:: 

 62-114 mm. 



This is a variable insect. — Male: the blue patch on the upperside of the- 

 hindwing is sometimes in both seasonal forms entirely devoid of the pale 

 centering, and, in the " dry season" form, specimens occasionally occur in, 

 which the inner and outer subterminal markings on upperside of hindwing 

 are just as prominently developed as in the female, but they are then always 

 nearly pure white. Female : the discal oblique irridescent blue spots on. 

 the upperside of the forewing in both seasonal forms occasionally reduced 

 to one spot. The underside in both seasonal forms is also variable as> 

 to the presence or absence of the discal white band and subterminal white 

 markings on the forewing, these latter are often much reduced in size. 



In the above description the forms are alluded to as " wet " and " dry " 

 by Colonel Bingham. This is not really quite correct. The size and 

 brilliance and depth of colour depend more upon the plenty and succulence 

 of the food-plants than upon the actual state of the atmosphere. It is in 

 the wet season that the weeds upon which the larvee feed are most nume- 

 rous, and, generally, from the middle to the end of the period, that is,. 

 from the end of July onwards to, say, in low-lying damp situations, the 

 end of December or even later. During the rest of the year to well on into 

 the monsoon, the herbaceous growth is poor and sparse. So it comes about 

 that the larva of the so-called " wet " form is not so well nourished as- 

 that of the later one and produces consequently a smaller and less brilli- 

 antly coloured imago. It would thus appear that instead of " wet " and 

 " dry " seasonal forms, it would be more accurate to speak of, say, "starved" 

 and " well-fed " seasonal insects. 



The pictures of the male and female in the coloured Plate B are, on the- 

 whole, very good, except that, in the male, the postdiscal series of minute 

 white dots on the upperside of forewing is absent. The dots are invariably 

 present in the butterfly. The tone of the ground-colour in both figures i& 



