238 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY^ Vol. X. 



another as fast as conditions permit. It would be difficult to name any 

 month in the year when many common species, such as Euplcea co?^e, 

 Cramer, may not be seen laying their eggs. They are undoubtedly 

 much more plentiful in some months than others, but this is because the 

 largest number of larvae come to maturity at those times when succulent 

 young leaves are most plentiful and enemies least active. Many species, 

 however, pass through a certain portion of the year, which is unfavour- 

 able to them, in a state analogous to hibernation. For example, the 

 smaller LTjcmnidce, such as Zizera^ are not to be seen from June to 

 August, when the heavy rain would beat down such feeble butterflies 

 and drown their larvse. They appear in September and swarm for 

 some months after. The same is true of Hypolimnas misippus, Lin- 

 naeus, perhaps because it feeds on ground weed, and the larva is liable 

 to be drowned by heavy rain. On the other hand, H. holina^ Linnaeus, 

 and the majority of the Nymphalince and also the Pajnlionince are 

 much more abundant during the monsoon than at any other season. 

 By the end of the year some of them have become very scarce, if they 

 have not disappeared altogether, and it is evident that those which 

 feed on deciduous plants cannot be in the larva state from December 

 to March or later. The PierincB^ excepting Nepheronia, are less 

 abundant during the rains than in the cold season, and Atella phalantha, 

 Drury, may be called a dry-season butterfly. Its period of inactivity is 

 the monsoon. How each species tides over the particular time which 

 is unfavourable to it is an interesting question on which our knowledge 

 is very limited. We have proved that Papilio nomius, Esper, regularly 

 remains in the pupa state from August till the following March or 

 May ; but this is a peculiar case. In P. clytia^ Linn»us= dissimilis, 

 Linnteus, the pupa state is often prolonged for weeks or months without 

 regard to season. But in the vast majority of species the pupae in our 

 cages hatch on the due date as regularly as hens' eggs. Yet there 

 are good reasons for thinking that it is in the pupa state that 

 most butterflies pass through the time when nature is against them. 

 It is also not improbable that eggs laid at an unfavourable time remain 

 unhatched till next season. Lastly, some Hesperiidce hibernate in the 

 larva state. The larva when full grown stops eating and shuts itself 

 up in a cell as if it were about to become a pupa, but it does not actually 

 Timderao that change for some weeks or even months. We are not 



