190 L. de Niceville — Butterflies of the Kanar a District. [No. 2, 



exceptions, eat their own cast-off skins while these are still soft and 

 moist ; and the young larvae on emerging from the egg will almost 

 invariably under normal conditions make their first meal off the empty 

 egg-shell. Mr. Bell notes that all tbe butterfly larvae he has bred change 

 their skins five times from the time they leave the egg to the time they 

 turn to pupae. 



As regards the larvae of the Lycsenidse, whether they are attended 

 by ants or not, in may be noted that those which live in harmony 

 with ants, and are probably largely dependant on their well-being on 

 ants, the presence of the particular species of ant that lives with 

 any particular species of butterfly larva often fixes the choice of tlie 

 butterfly laying her eggs on a particular plant or not. If the right 

 plant has no ants, or the ants on that plant are not the light species, 

 the butterfly will lay no eggs on that plant. Some larvae will certainly 

 not live without the ants, and many larvae are extremely uncomfortable 

 when brought up away from their hosts or masters. Iu many cases it 

 is just as important for breeding purposes to know tbe right species of 

 ants as to know the right food-plant. In Kanara this is particularly no- 

 ticeable in the cases of Castalius ananda, de Niceville, Zesius chrysomallus, 

 Hiibner, Ajphndeus lohita, Horsfield, and Catapoecilma elegans, Druce. 

 C. ananda is " protected " by ants of the genus Cremastogaster. On one 

 occasion Mr. Bell was collecting larvae at Katgal, and the ants were 

 principally on Zizyphus rvgosa, Lamk. ( Natural Order Rhamnese) but were 

 also swarming all over six or seven species of different trees all round, and 

 on all of these trees there were larvae of 0. ananda covered with ants 

 and eating the leaves of the trees in all cases. Since then Mr. Bell 

 has noticed the larva of 0. ananda eating the leaves of many different 

 plants and always in company with the same species of ants. With 

 regard to the Zesius, Aphnseus and Catapcecilma mentioned above, the female 

 butterflies first look for the right species of ants, and the species of food- 

 plant seems to be quite a secondary consideration, at any rate to a con- 

 siderable extent. The larvae of Zesius may be found on very nearly any 

 plant that harbours the large red ant, CEcophylla smaragdina, Fabricius, 

 so much so that Mr. Bell has often had a strong suspicion that the 

 butterfly larvae will occasionally eat the ant larvae, although he has not 

 actually seen them do so. The larva of this butterfly feeds on many 

 species of plants not recorded in the lists, as Mr. Bell made no particular 

 note of them, all these plants being affected by the large red ants. 

 The larvae of Aphneeus and Catajpcecilma are only found on plants 

 affected by ants of the genus Cremastogaster. As regards the four 

 species of butterflies named above, the larvae are often found in the 

 ants' nests, and their pupae also, but not invariably. ' 



