COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. 319 



the open country. This butterfly is found throughout Continental 

 India, east of Mussoorie in the Himalayas and of the Punjab ; also 

 in Ceylon, Assam, Burma, Tenasserim, and extends to the Malayan 

 Subregion and China. The figure of the butterfly in the coloured 

 Plate is too red, and the patch of specialized scales on underside of 

 forewing too dark ; interspace 8 on upperside of hindwing should be 

 grey as far as it is visible in the picture. 



72. Ergolis merione, Cramer. — Wet-season form. — Male upperside brownish 

 ochraceous. Fore and hindwings crossed by slender, somewhat obscure, 

 very sinuous or zigzag, dark, basal, two subbasal and two discal lines, 

 disposed in pairs, followed by a single, sometimes double, postdiscal and a 

 single subterminal, slender line. All these lines more or less interrupted 

 anteriorly on the hindwing which has a smooth, unmarked, uniform appear- 

 ance from the costa to subcostal vein and vein 5. On the forewing there is 

 in addition a series of obscure spots between the postdiscal and subter- 

 minal markings and a small, white, subcostal spot before the apex. 

 Underside much as in E. ariadne, but the transverse chestnut bands 

 broader, more diffuse. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen brownish 

 ochraceous. Sex-mark on the underside of forewing as in E. ariadne ; 

 no sex-mark on upperside of hindwing. — Female similar, but on upperside 

 the transverse lines broader, more diffuse, with a greater tendency to form 

 bands ; the postdiscal line always double, forming a band traversed by a 

 series of dark ochraceous spots in the interspaces ; these lines and bands 

 continuous, not interrupted anteriorly on the hindwing as they are in the 

 male. Underside, except for the sex-mark, as in the male. 



Dry-season form. — Male and female upperside : ground-colour much paler, 

 the transverse lines more distinctly in pairs, forming bands, the ground- 

 colour between each pair more dusky brown. Underside : similar to that in 

 the wet-season form, but the ground-colour paler, the bands more diffuse. 

 Exp. 52 — 62 mm. 



Larva. — " Cylindrical, slender ; segments armed with two dorsal and two 

 lateral rows of short, branched spines ; head with a pair of long, straight, 

 branched spines. Colour green with longitudinal dark-brown lines." 

 (Moore). 



Pupa. — Moore also gives the pupa as " similar to that of E. ariadne.'''' It 

 is not likely that the larva or pupa differ much from those of the next 

 insect, Ergolis taprobana, which Bingham treats as a race of the present one, 

 but which has here been kept as a separate species. 



This species is not likely to differ in any important particular as regards 

 the habits in any stage from the next to which it is so closely allied. It is 

 found in the northern half of Continental India, in the Himalayas from 

 Simla to Sikhim and has been recorded from Rajputana and Bengal, Assam, 



