112 "W. Doherty — A List of Butterflies taken in Kumaon. [No. 2, 



family of the MorphidcB and two aberrant divisions of the Lyccenidoe 

 (the Gerydinoe and the Poritinoe'), seem to extend no farther west than 

 the Kali and its branch the Sarju. 



A few remarks may be permitted on the curious habits of the 

 larv89 of certain Lyccenidce. Dr. Tliwaites (in Moore's " Lepidoptera of 

 Ceylon") has the following remarks on the subject, " Nature, however, 

 finds a protection for these said helpless individuals " [larvae of LyccenidcQ 

 unspecified] " in the instincts of a species of ant (^Formica s'^naragdina^ 

 Fabr.), which finding a substance most palatable to it secreted naturally 

 from a glandular defined spot upon the bodies of these helpless larv99, 

 takes possession of them as ' cows,* surrounding each separate one, and 

 the leaf on which it feeds, with a few silken strands of its web, protect- 

 ing them jealously and attacking most fiercely any living thing intruding 

 upon them." Besides a remark of Herrich Schaffer's, quoted in Distant's 

 '* Rhopalocera Malayana," that Gerydus symethus inhabits ants' nests, 

 I have met with no other mention of this singular habit. I have myself 

 observed it in quite a number of Indian Lyccenidce, belonging to several 

 distinct groups, and feeding on the leaves of various trees and herbs. 

 My observations are still in progress, and I reserve for a future occasion 

 a fuller account of them, and descriptions of the larvaa on which they 

 have been made. The larvae in question are all very helpless and in- 

 active grubs, sluglike in shape, tapering at both ends, pubescent, green 

 or brown, with a very small retractile head. On each side of the penulti- 

 mate segment above, there is a short protuberance, from which can, in 

 most cases (e. g., Tarucus tlieophrastus) , be extended a brush of hairs 

 (apjmrently absent in some species, e. g.y Azanus uhaldus). This is, I have 

 no doubt, a scent-gland, and may be intended to attract the notice of the 

 purblind ants. On the dorsal line of the preceding segment, the eleventh, 

 there is another short tubercle exuding a viscid juice. It exists in all 

 the Lyccenidce known to me, whether they are maintained by ants or not, 

 and from it issues a gummy thread by the aid of which I believe the 

 caterpillars sometimes swing themselves from branch to branch, or attach 

 themselves to leaves. But though in all probability acquired for such 

 purposes, it is peculiarly attractive to the ants, which at all hours surround 

 the poor caterpillar and, by stroking and tickling it with their antennae, 

 induce it to yield up this sweet (?) liquid. I have not yet found 

 any caterpillar in the possession of web-making or arboreal ants such 

 as Formica smaragdina, and no restraint such as Dr. Thwaites men- 

 tions was placed upon any larva observed by me. But the ants would 

 always remain near the caterpillar, and would always fly fiercely to the 

 rescue if anything molested it. When it had attained its full growth, 

 the ants, forming a circle round it, would forcibly drive it down to their 



