778 



THE COMMON BUTTEKFLIES OF THE PLAINS 

 OF INDIA. 



(INCLUDING THOSE MET WITH IN THE HILL STATIONS 

 OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY.) 



BY 



T. R. Bell, c.i.e., i.f.s. (Retd.) 

 {Continued from page 447 of this volume.) 

 Pakx XXIX. 

 Family — Hespeeiid^ — continued. 



It will not be difficult to make a key to the larvee of tlie Skippers 

 as far as they are here known. In practice a hesperid caterpillar ma,y 

 be distinguished by its general appearance from all others, be they 

 butterfly — or moth — ^larvae. If to this is added the habits and the 

 form of the pupa, the discrimination is still more easy ; the shape 

 and structure of the eggs is another factor. 



All hesperid eggs are, as a rule, large for the butterflies except iii 

 the IsmenincB where they are comparatively rather smaller. They 

 are also, generally, few in number as compared to other butterflies. 

 They are all dome-shaped, more or less depressed ; some nearly 

 hemispherical, some broadest immediately above the base, others 

 broadest at it, resting, so to speak, upon a narrow, shelved band or 

 foot. They are either smooth or ribbed meridonally, the ribs being 

 either extremely fine, quite evident, or very strong {Cwpiiha) ; in the 

 first case, sometimes confined to the very base, where they may appear 

 as mere indications of lines. Sometimes some of the ribs anastomose 

 before reaching the top, at others not ; sometimes they are tuber- 

 culate-rough or even toothed, at others nearly smooth ; rarely, 

 they all end at a raised circle on top of the egg. These ribs, even in 

 the same species, may vary in number by two or three ; in difierent 

 genera they vary from 12-14 to as many as 48 ; in the Ismenince, 

 for example, there are 40 on an egg of Ismene fergussoni, all rather 

 fine and low ; whereas in Badamia there are only 13, rather strong 

 and coarse. The number of eggs laid at a time is generally one, 

 though Ismene gomata lays as many as 20 or more in a group together 

 closely packed though never overlapping ; Hyarotis adrastus lays 3 

 01 4 in a row as often as not, but they are generally quite separated 

 from each other. Nearly all are laid on the undersides of leaves or 

 at the extreme point, occasionally in the axil of a leaf — or flower — bud 

 [Hasora, Bihasis). 



The larvse can be recognized by (a) their cylindrical bodies, more 

 or less narrowed to the anal end and neck — they are generally stoutest 

 in the middle and the belly or ventrum is generally somewhat flat- 

 tened ; (b) their short legs, the four prolegs and anal claspers being 



