MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 337 



No. V.— A BIRD EATING A BUTTERFLY. 



On the night of 30th April, 1894, 1 stayed at the Risoom dak bungalow, 6,600 

 feet elevation, in the Kalimpong district of Darjiling, Sikhim. The next 

 morning I was looking at the butterflies flying about, and amongst others 

 saw some half a dozen males of Teinopalpus imperialis, Hope, circling round 

 the top of a flowering tree about five or six yards from and below me. 

 As I was observing a fine specimen as he flew past, a king-crow, Dicrurus 

 longicaudatus, A. Hay, came down with a regular swoop, and carried off the 

 butterfly. As but few have actually observed insectivorous birds eating butter- 

 flies, I think this observation is worthy of record e 



G. 0. DUDGEON, 



Fagoo Tea Estate, "Western Duaes. 



May 15th, 1894. 



No. VI.— LIFE-HISTORY OF RAP ALA SCHIST ACE A, MOORE, A 

 LYC^NID BUTTERFLY. 



Larva when full grown quite three-quarters of an inch in length ; the anterior 

 segment contractile ; rather stout ; of the usual oniscif orm shape, but much 

 stouter than the larvae of Arrhopala rama, Kollar, A . dodoncea, Moore, and 

 A. ganesa, Moore, or of Zephyrus birupa, Moore, for example, being roughly 

 cylindrical instead of flattened. Head globular, very small, retractile, and 

 when protruded, singularly like that of a tortoise, Outline from above, a 

 hexagonal cylinder (one visible side of which is dorsal, two subdorsal), very 

 slightly narrowing towards the head ; segmental folds deeply marked ; the 

 spiracular and subdorsal ridges very deeply serrated. The humps are sharply 

 pyramidal. Of these, there are two unbroken series on each side, one subdorsal 

 and one spiracular. The subdorsal series consists of eight humps, continuous 

 from the third to the tenth segment. The spiracular series consists of eleven 

 humps, continuous from the third to the thirteenth segment. Each hump bears 

 two, three, or four short brown hairs. The texture of the skin is soft, smooth, 

 and velvety. Ground-colour purple-brown ; head dark brown, with a narrow 

 white band across the face immediately over the mouth ; on each side of this 

 band is a small white spot. The brown colour of the head shades off into 

 a dull yellow towards the neck. The subdorsal and spiracular humps are of a 

 dull crimson, and are bordered laterally with white lines, which give them the 

 shape of the teeth of a saw. The white spiracular line is continuous. Pos- 

 terior to the white spiracular line there is a lunulated band of the ground-colour 

 shading into pink above the claspers. Legs, claspers, and abdomen of a pale 

 blue-grey. Larva feeds at Mussoorie in the Western Himalayas on Spiraea 

 sortifolia, Linnaeus. 



June '60th, 1894. — Larva pupated during the night. Pupa half-an-inch in 

 length, stout, of a very dark brown colour. July 20. — Imago emerged to-day. 



(< Livelands, " Mussoorie, Mrs. S. ROBSON, 



. 20th July, 1894, 



