Psyche 
[September 
170 
length of first and second instars (Table 1). Such a difference in 
growth between larvae on new and old leaves can be due to both 
the amount of feeding and digestibility. Larvae usually do not de- 
vour their empty egg shells, although they do eat cast exuviae at 
molts. Both in the field and laboratory, feeding is greatest at night, 
suggesting further the possibility of crypsis as a protective strategy. 
Pupation generally occurs away from the host plant, and frequent- 
ly on stems and leaves of herbaceous plants near the ground. 
Adult Behavior 
Since adult population densities appear to be exceedingly low, it 
is very difficult to obtain quantitative data on behavioral patterns, 
especially those associated with oviposition, feeding, home range move- 
ments, etc. Of these various kinds of behavior, oviposition was the 
easiest to observe during the study period. 
Oviposition occurred throughout the day at both localities. The 
usual pattern observed is that a female patrols an individual host 
plant several times, pausing to lay several eggs. If the plant bears 
young red leaves, these are always selected for oviposition ; otherwise, 
eggs are laid on old green leaves. In both cases, the female alights 
near the dorsal edge of a leaf, crawls to the ventral edge, and ovi- 
posits. On older leaves, however, eggs are attached at the very edge 
of the leaf; the female will lay one egg, walk along the edge, lay 
another, and repeat this behavior several times. Usually between 1-5 
eggs may be oviposited along a single edge of a large leaf. During 
July and August representing a portion of the wet season, cloud 
cover generally persists throughout the day, and occurs every day; 
nevertheless, oviposition occurs on such cloudy days. It is curious 
that females do not lay eggs along the opposite edges of the same 
leaf. If on a young red leaf, the female walks to the inner regions 
of the ventral surface, where she oviposits one to several eggs, each 
attached to a small vein (Fig. i-A). Eggs were rarely found along 
the edges of young red leaves. After ovipositing several times on a 
single leaf the female may continue to patrol the same plant, pausing 
to oviposit on other leaves. 
After several oviposition sequences at a plant, the female flies 
away, perhaps in search of other plants. Oviposition has not been 
observed on other plant species at either locality, despite observa- 
tions on flying activity of adults in forest understory, second-growth, 
etc. I. pittieri might be the only host plant of this butterfly at both 
localities. Since adults seem very vagile, it is possible that the breed- 
ing population is highly dispersed, in response to the apparent rarity 
of individuals of I. pittieri. 
