338 JOURNAL, BOMB A Y NA TURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX. 



No. VII.— LIFE-HISTORY OF ATHYMA OPALINA, KOLLAR, A 

 NYMPHALINE BUTTERFLY. 



May lZth, 1894. — I saw at Mussoorie, in the Western Himalayas, a female of 

 Aihyma opalina, Kollar, lay on the leaves of Berberis aristata, Hook. It flut- 

 tered over the leaves, and curled the apex of its abdomen under a leaf, deposit- 

 ing an egg on the underside. The egg is round, but is a little flattened at its 

 base where it rests on the leaf. When first laid it is brown, and is covered with 

 silvery dots which glisten in the sun. May 18th. — The ovum turned to a greenish- 

 jrellow with a brown crescent to be seen through its centre. May 20th. — 

 This dark mark filled the anterior moiety of the egg, the posterior moiety being 

 of a light dirty yellow. May 21s£.--> Larva emerged, but no trace of the egg- 

 shell was to be seen, so probably its •first meal was made off the shell. Larva a 

 quarter of an inch long, of a dull green colour, with a very large brown head. 

 June 5th. — Larva now about five-eighths of an inch in length, colour brown, 

 with a bright green dorsal patch, and covered with small tufts. June &th r: — 

 Larva changed its skin during the night, and is now much more bristly. June 

 9th. — Larva again changed its skin. The spines are now more prominent. June 

 IBth.— Larva changed in the night from a dark brown to a beautiful green 

 colour, very closely resembling the colour of its food-plant. There is a spira- 

 cular somewhat lunulated narrow yellow band. This band is whitish on the 

 last three segments ; the underside is brown, merging into pale green on the 

 last three segments. The legs and claspers are also brown, but of a darker 

 shade. Head round, colour raw-sienna ; two A-shaped dark bars on the face 

 are covered with minute white spines. Two black spines on the top of the 

 head ; the rest of the head covered with raw-sienna-coloured spines. 

 The third and fourth segments are each armed with a whorl of four 

 branched raw-sienna-coloured spines. The fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth 

 and tenth segments with smaller spines ; the twelfth segment with two 

 branched spines ; the thirteenth segment with four simple anal 

 spines, and two small branched spines just above them. The subdorsal 

 series is very much the largest, particularly so on the fifth segment. All the 

 branches are of a darker brown colour tipped with white. The larva is entirely 

 covered with minute white spots. June 20th. — There is now a dorsal band, 

 moss-green in colour, spotted with darker green j a broad lateral blue band 

 lined transversely with darker blue bars crossing the band obliquely ; a some- 

 what irregular narrow spiracular band extending from the sixth to the thirteenth 

 segments, colour orange and pale ochreous alternately, the orange colour corre- 

 sponding with the middle of each segment ; posterior to this is an interrupted 

 brownish line. Legs black ; claspers and abdomen pale whitish-green. Length 

 one inch and-a-half. June 2\st. — Larva suspended itself by the anal claspers. 

 Colour throughout yellowish- white. During the day from the head to about 

 the middle the larva became much yellower, and the posterior half became 

 almost quite white. June 22nd. — Pupa of a dingy white. June 2Zrd. — Pupa of 



