BEVDOBIXmm. 69 



flowers, nor have I ever observed the ants ' milking ' any of the larvge, nor any 

 appearance of tentacles being present. The larva spins a slight but strong web from 

 its mouth, with which it binds the fruit to the stalk, to prevent its being blown off by 

 the wind, and later uses the silk to fasten itself to by the tail when ready to change 

 to a pupa. The pupa is also attached by two threads flatly to the trunk, and is of a 

 pinkish-brown colour like the bark of the pomegranate tree, with various specks and 

 marks of a darker brown, and a dark dorsal line dividing it down its centre. The 

 head of the pupa is covered with a kind of plate, rounded in front, straight at the 

 neck." For my own part I have never seen ants attending the larvae, nor have I been 

 able to find the special organs aff"ected by them, and without these I fail to see why 

 the ants should take any trouble for the larvse. (de Niceville.) 



Aitken says : — " I have taken a pomegranate infested with these larvae (several 

 usually inhabit each fruit) and made it stand in an egg cup. In the morning it was 

 so securely fastened that in taking up the fruit I lifted the cup." 



Habitat. — India, Burma, Ceylon. 



To be found throughout the plains of India, Burma and Ceylon, except the desert 

 tracts. Common in Calcutta, de Niceville says ; we found it fairly common in the 

 Bombay and Poona districts. 



VIRACHOLA PERSE. 

 Plate 719, figs. 4, (J, 4a, 9 > 4b, $ , 4c, d, larva and pupa. 



Deudorix perse, Hewitson, 111. Diurn. Lep. p. 18, pi. 8, figs. 24, 2-5, <?, 26, ? (1863). 



Virachola perse, Moore, Lep. Ceylon, i. p. 104, pi. 40, figs. 1, (J, la, 9 (1881) ; id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1882, p. 2-50. Aitken, Journ. Bo. Nat. Hist. Soc. 1886, p. 216. de Niceville, Butt, of India, 

 iii. p. 481 (1890). Davidson and Aitken, Journ. Bo. Nat. Hist. Soc. 1890, p. 357. Dudgeon, 

 id. 189-5, in miscellaneous notes, p. 333. Maokinnon and de Niceville, id. 1898, p. 389. Aitken 

 and Comber, id. vol. xv. 1903, p. 50. 



Imago. — Male. Upperside. Forewing with the costa above the median vein up to 

 the base of vein 2 deep black, the apex broadly black, the black colour occupying the 

 whole apical space and outer margin, leaving the inner and lower portion of the wing 

 blue ; sometimes with an ochreous-red patch varying in size outside the cell. 

 Hlndwing with the costa broadly black, the band narrowing suddenly round the apex 

 and continued narrowly down the outer margin to the anal angle ; abdominal space 

 also rather broadly black, the fold grey, the remaining inner space blue ; the anal lobe 

 -black, with a dull ochreous spot in it ; tail black, tipped with white ; cilia of both wings 

 black. Underside vinous-grey, sometimes with a red tinge ; markings darker grey, 

 pale edged. Forewing with an irregular rather large spot at the end of the cell with 

 dark edges ; a discal band of conjoined spots from the costa to near the sub-median 

 vein, the lowest small, the first four outwardly oblique, the others straight down. 



