COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS. 85 



generally keep fairly close to the grotind., rising occasionally to fly 

 round the foliage of a tree, and keep a more or less straight course 

 which permits of fairly easy capture with a net ; they also 

 frequently go to flowers among the grass and rest while drinking 

 the nectar ; the females do this too and can also be caught though 

 they are not nearly as commonly seen as the males. The butterfly 

 never seems to be very numerous in individuals where it is found 

 as far as the experience of the writer goes ; but at the same time 

 that experience is not very wide, so the statement must be taken for 

 what it is worth. The insect is fond of the sun and open places, 

 indeed it does not exist in jungles at all and certainly avoids the 

 regions of heavy rainfall ; it is one of the characteristic butterflies of 

 the plains and desert regions. The males and females often rest 

 upon the ground with the wings closed over the back and the front 

 ones drawn down between the hinder ; they will take short flights 

 when disturbed and settle again close by and, when at this game, are 

 easily caught with a net. The larvae are at first little greenish beasts 

 with the dorsal region lighter, the lateral region speckled closely with 

 brown, the main tubercles well developed with conspicuous hairs 

 and a drop of clear or amber-coloured liquid on the top of each hair ; 

 the anal segment has two tubercles with radiating short bristles ; the 

 head is orange-brown and has the tubercles and hairs well developed. 

 The full-grown caterpillar is very difficult to spot on the foodplant as 

 the pinkish brown patches along the sides with their narrow, darker 

 bordering and the green of the rest of the body harmonize so well with 

 thecolour of the leaves of the foodplant and the brownish scars left on 

 them by the withering of the thin cuticle remaining at the bottom 

 and round the edges of the places where the young larvae have been 

 feeding ; for the small egg-caterpillar eats into the substance of the 

 leaf in irregularly rounded holes of various diameters, always leaving 

 the cuticle at the bottom of the hole thus made untouched ; this 

 method of feeding goes on for the first three stages and the little 

 animal may often be found lying at the bottom of the hole ; or 

 rather it should be looked for there — it is not easy to find. The 

 mature larva often sits along the edge of the leaf or on a twig or 

 branch or leaf-stalk but is never easy to see ; particularly when along 

 a leaf-edge. The foodplant is Mcerua arenaria, H. (Gci'pfaridce) a 

 climbing shrub, what the ordinary person would call a climber, with 

 ovate leaves, varying much in shape, sometimes narrow, sometimes 

 broad, alwaj^s with a tiny little point at the end (an aficuhis), smooth, 

 sometimes softly downy, the old ones thick and fleshy, rather like 

 those of Scdvadora i^ersica including the light brown marks from 

 wounds by insects, &c. : except that they are opposite ; in the 

 Gap2x^ridece, they are alternate. The real Capers (genus Gapparis) 

 are found in all sorts of places, hills and plains, open country and 

 jungles, desert tracts and regions of the heaviest rainfall, whereas 



