COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. 289^ 



often outspread exposing the glorious irridescent purple and blue' 

 colours so characteristic of the insect ; t\\ej are very pugnacious- 

 and attack any other butterfly flying past with great zest and 

 pertinacity, chasing it for considerable distances, to return always- 

 to the same perch on leaf or stick. This is perhaps the reason why 

 so many ragged specimens of the sex exist as compared to the 

 females ; and it is not an easy matter to catch a perfect male. The' 

 males are found even on the tops of the highest hills, where the 

 females are rarely met with ; they go up to enjoy the sunlight and; 

 free air ; perhaps, also, they are fond of company and enjoy the* 

 pleasure of hunting the males of other species that come up to* 

 bask in numbers during the hottest hours of the day. The larvae 

 are active and eat voraciously. The pupa is formed on the under- 

 side of a leaf, sometimes from the perpendicular face of a rock or 

 from a branch of a tree ; and alwa} T s hangs loosely, though it is- 

 quite strongly attached to a copious pad of silk. By colour, shape* 

 and general appearance it is "protected" and is not easily dis- 

 covered. In the months when the food-plant is plentiful (generally 

 from October to Januaiy) the development from egg to imago is very 

 rapid, in the really dry weather the time is more prolonged. The- 

 food-plants of the larva are all urticaceous, that is belonging to> 

 the same family as the figs and jack-fruit ; only they are herbaceous- 

 and not trees. Two of the plants it has been found on are Fleurya 

 interru'ptoj, Gaud, and Elatostemma cuneatum, Wight. It is said that 

 the larva feeds also on the food-plant of the next species, viz.,. 

 Portulaca oleracea, Linn., but this requires confirmation. This 

 species is distributed throughout Indian limits and extends to the- 

 Malayan subregion and China. 



Dr F. Moore gives the genus Hypolimnas, Hiibner, as a synonym i 

 of Apatura, Fabricius. The type of Apatura is Apatura iris, the- 

 purple Emperor of Europe and the larvae of it and Hypolimnas- 

 , bolina and misippus have nothing to do with each other, being very 

 dissimilar. As remarked before, the larvae of Apatura camiba,. 

 Euripus consimilis and Apatura iris are very similar, those of" 

 Gharaxes and Eulepis are rather like them ; they are all naked, 

 except the heads which are armed; those of Hypolimnas have 

 armed bodies like in the vanessine group. 



