EUPLCEIN^. 57 



Habitat. — South India ; Ceylon. 



Habits OF Imago. — Mr. Hutchison (Lep. Ceylon, i. 8), states that it "affects 

 open or partially cultivated places, but is not often seen in forest. Flight slow and 

 heavy." 



Food Plants of Lakva. — Feeds on Tylophora carnosa, an Asclepiad, in Bombay 

 {Aitkin). On Calotropis in Ceylon (Tlnvaites). 



Distribution within Indian Area. — On the Continent of India it has been obtained 

 by Colonel Swinhoe (P. Z. S. 1885, 125) in "Bombay in July at Mahableshwur, at 

 Khandalla in October, at Poona in June, November and December, and atBelgaum." 

 Mr. E. H. Aitkin states (Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 1886, 128) that it " is very 

 common on hills, but comparatively rare in Bombay, coming out a little later than 

 T. Limniace, but is very abundant about the end of December. I found the larva at 

 Lanowlie in October, feeding on Tylophora carnosa, an Asclepiad. The ground 

 colour of the larva is a rich reddish-brown or claret colour, and on each segment is 

 a pair of round yellow spots with numerous small bluish-white spots between, these 

 spots on the sides being gathered into a conspicuous longitudinal band ; the under 

 surface is black ; it has only two pairs of filaments, which are nearly straight." " A 

 number of specimens were taken by Mr. G-. Vidal in the South Koncan ; on the 

 G-hais and on the Goanese frontier at 1500 to 1700 feet elevation at the latter end of 

 March, and in Belgaum it is common in October. In Calicut it has been taken in 

 September, at Bangalore in August and November. It has been taken in Travancore 

 by Messrs. Bourdillon and Fergusson ; in August in the hills near Trevandrum, and 

 in the Ashamboo range in May" (Butt. Ind. i. 40). It was also taken in Malabar 

 by Mr. S. N. Ward. Mr. G. F. Hampson records it (J. A. S. Beng. 1888, 347) from 

 the Nilgiris. On the island of Ceylon, Mr. Hutchison states (Lep. Ceylon, i., p. 8) 

 that it is " found everywhere all the year in open or partially cultivated places, but 

 not often in forest, and is perhaps the commonest insect in Ceylon." Mr. F. M. 

 Mackwood in his Ceylon " Notes " says that it is " numerous in the lower and middle 

 elevations, and fairly common in the higher." 



DiSTiiiBUTiON OUTSIDE INDIAN Area. — Though not recorded by Mr. Distant in 

 "Ehopalocera Malayana " he refers (p. 13) to Criiger's notice (Verh. Nat. Unterb. 

 Hamburg, iii. 29) of the occurrence of this species at Malacca, as probably resting 

 " on a mistaken identification." In Sumatra it was obtained by Mr. Carl Bock. 

 Dr. Boisduval gives the locality of " Java " to his figure of " grammka*' in the Hst of 

 plate xi. of his " Species Gen. Lep." and I have a single female of undoubted 

 grammica, from Java, which does not show any appreciable difference from the same 

 sex from Ceylon and S. India. 



VOL. I. I 



