780 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIl. 



or less opaque green) and remains quite motionless during the interval. 

 At the expiry of the time it changes into a pupa and the butterfly 

 enierges in the stereotyped 10 days. The reason for the arrestation 

 of development is that, in the cold weather, the f oodplant of the larva 

 dies down completely to re-appear in new stem and leaf during the 

 ensuing hot weather. Is it instinct that teaches the caterpillar what it 

 must do or has the weather some well-defined influence as it has on 

 the dying-off and re-appearance of the stems and leaves of the plants ? 



It has above been stated that all skippers have naked larvse except 

 for the clothing of hair referred to. This is not absolutely true as the 

 caterpillar of Gangara thyrsis is covered with long, curly, more or 

 less symmetrically disposed, pure white, soft threads of a cereous or 

 waxy excretion from pores in the skin. These threads are, however, 

 very easily removed and rub into a sort of white powder on being 

 roughly touched. Other skipper larvae also excrete a white, cereous 

 powder, but none ever have it developed in the manner of Gangara. 

 It sometimes is found in the inside of the cells and, quite frequently ,. 

 covers the pupae completely — in Hasora for example, to a far less 

 extent in some species of Halpe, in Baoris, Sancus and allied genera. 



The pupae are characterised by much the same factors as the larvae. 

 They are all naked, very few* having evident (to the naked eye) hairs, 

 on any part of them ; they have no processes of any kind except 

 sometimes a boss between the eyes and, occasionally, a conical 

 '' beak " in that position {Baoris, Sancus, (&c.) They are, on the 

 whole, as would be expected, much more like those of the majority 

 of the moths than those of any division of the butterflies. They 

 are occasionally covered, as said, with a white, cereous or waxy 

 excretion, sometimes more completely, sometimes less ; the secretion 

 finding egress from the body of the caterpillar, as a rule, in the lateral, 

 ventral region between the prolegs. Many larvae pupate in their 

 larval cells ; others wander considerable distances before doing so and 

 often finish up on other plants to those they have been born or bred 

 upon : plants, of course, frequently, of quite different kinds. They 

 never, equally of course, eat these, but they will always nibble holes 

 in them, or lines, so as to enable them to manipulate the different 

 parts to form the cells. Prior to actually settling down, they often 

 change colour considerably, generally becoming more or less translu- 

 cent-looking and blurred as to their original colours and colour-pat- 

 terns ; then cover the interior of the abode with silk, some more 

 perfectly than others and, finally, turning round, make a little pad at 

 one end to which the tail is fixed. Often this pad is very slight, but, 

 generally, compact, though small. The caterpillar grips this with 

 its anal claspers and thereafter remains motionless until the change 

 to pupa takes place. Sometimes, prior to the manufacture of the 

 pad, three strong silks are fixed to the walls of the cell in the manner 

 depicted for Badamia exclamationis ; but this is not always done ; 



