68 LEPIDOPTEBA INDICA. 



soon as this was effected, I removed the fruit from the tree for the purpose of plaeiiig 

 it in a mosquito gauze house in my room. Subsequently I examined several of the 

 fruit, but 1 never found any chrysalides, or the remains of any inside the fruit. I was 

 very careful in my observations, and I came to the conclusion that the caterpillars in 

 this instance deserted the fruit when ready to undergo their change. (Downes.) 



Professor Westwood is quite correct. There is no doubt that in nature this 

 butterfly usually pupates within the fruit ; on opening these, 1 have found at different 

 times dozens of pupae or pupa3 skins, but never more than one in each fruit. 

 Mr. Downes is also partially right, as, if the fruit is cut off the tree and placed in a 

 box, the larvae when full fed will leave the fruit and pupate anywhere on the sides of 

 the box or on the fruit. 



Mr. W. C. Taylor, of Khorda, Orissa, writes : — " Larvae attended by the ant, 

 Formica nigra, who clear away the droppings and act as sweepers, as well as guard the 

 pupae." His daughter, Mrs. Waylly, also writes : — " The larva of Virachola isocrates 

 though louse-like in shape, differs considerably from those of Catochrysops cnejus, 

 Fabricius, Azanus uhaldus, Cramer, and Tarucus theophrastus, Fabricius. The latter 

 are inert and slow ; the former is very brisk in its movements, and with the protrusible 

 long neck, small head and strong jaws of a beetle grub, is no doubt well adapted for 

 the work required in making its home. The length of the larva when full fed is 

 rather more than an inch, and in colour and shape much resembles a ripe mulberry. 

 It had a glossy, shining skin, very knobby and indented all over, of a blue and purple 

 colour, and its three posterior segments covered with a squarish shield with a raised 

 dingy yellow rim to it. The larva bores for itself, when quite young, a little clean-cut 

 round hole from the outer rind of the fruit of Punica granatum to the heart. In the 

 hole it spends its days with its head inside, cutting away at the green or ripening pips, 

 and enlarging the hole as it increases itself in size. Sometimes three or four larvae 

 may be found buried in one pomegranate. When at rest and not eating, it plugs up 

 the outer hole deftly with the shield on its tail. It is a curious fact that the ants in 

 the case of this species act as sweepers to the larva, hovering in attendance round the 

 mouth of each hole and performing all the cleaning-out operations with great 

 regularity. The larva never leaves the fruit till full grown " — [This is doubtful. I 

 think it often seeks a fresh fruit, as I have frequently found a small fruit with the 

 whole interior eaten and quite clean, and no pupa or pupa skin, so in all probability 

 the larva which inhabited that fruit had left it and sought another] — " and then it 

 descends the bark and seeks some crevice, crack, or knot in the stem of the tree, and 

 there undergoes its transformations. The ants, as far as I could see, did not convey 

 the larvae to their nest at the foot of the tree, but as there were many larvae on the 

 tree and few pupae, some may have been removed to their nest." — [These missing 

 pupae are probal^ly inside the fruit.] — " I was unable to find any eggs on the fruit or 



