us LEPIDOPTERA INDICA. 



133). " The commonest butterfly in Luckuow. The hirvte T have reared by 

 hundreds on Portulaca oleracea " (Capt. Chaumette, MS. Notes). Col. C. Swinhoe 

 records it as " fairly common at Karachi iu August and September ; the female 

 mimics Limmis Doripjms more commonly than L. Ghri/sipjjus. Also taken in Mhow, 

 from September to February ; the females all mimic L. GJmjsippus " (P. Z. S. 1884, 

 505; id. 1886, 425). "In Bombay and the Dekkan, it is common everywhere 

 throughout the year. Very plentiful in the winter; the female commonly has the 

 coloration and markings of Z. Dorippus" {id. P. Z. S. 1885, 129). " On the wing, 

 the male of Misijjptus is a far more active insect than Bolina ; it is a most pugnacious 

 butterfly, perching on the tops of bushes and darting forward to attack any other 

 butterfly that may fly past ; but I have found that when crippled and put at liberty 

 it speedily falls a prey to the first bird that sees it. In consequence of these fighting 

 propensities the wings often become battered and toim, although apparently without 

 greatly diminishing the activity of the insect " {id. Journ. Linn, Soc. Zool. 1895, 

 339). Mr. J. A. Betham says " the male of this butterfly is a pugnacious little insect, 

 and has a rapid flight. The female not only mimics the common form of Danais 

 Ghrysippus, but also the more uncommon ones which are known as D. Alcippus and 

 Dorippus. The female mimics these two uncommon forms exactly, but is commoner in 

 these forms than the type it mimics. Both the common form which mimics D. Ghrysip- 

 pus and the less common form which mimics D. DorijJjms, I have reared from eggs 

 laid by one and the same female, which was, herself, of the D. Dorippus type. I 

 watched her as she laid her eggs and succeeded in securing four, three of which 

 hatched and produced spiny-looking black larvae. They fed on Portulaca quadrifida, a 

 common weed, in the Central Provinces, fond of garden paths. One of the larva; 

 received an injury, and just when it should have emerged — the colours and markings 

 which were of a female of the common type, were visible — it succumbed. The other 

 two came out all right and proved to be also females, but one was was of the common 

 D. Ghri/sijypus type, while the other resembled the D. Dorippus type, and had the 

 white macular band faintly visible. The eggs were laid on October 16th and were 

 hatched in three or four days ; the larv^ turned to pupge on November 7th and 8th, 

 and emerged on November 19th and 20th" (Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 1890, 

 282). Messrs. J. Davidson and E. H. Aitken write, " Not a specimen of this was 

 seen in Karwar until September, when it suddenly became very common ; but we 

 o-ot no ]arva3. In Bombay and the Dekkan we have often found it at the end of the 

 rains, on Portulaca oleracea, commonly cultivated by the natives as a pot-herb " 

 (J. Bombay N. H. S. 1890, 273). " This species affects more open countries than 

 Bolina, and is, perhaps, for tliat reason, not nearly so common in Kanara. During 

 the rainy season we have never seen it, but it begins to appear in September or 

 October and continues till about the end of the year. We have twice met with the 



