518 L. de Niceville & Dr. L. Martin — Butterflies of Sumatra. [No. 3, 
“ Smaller, and the tail always reduced to a projecting tooth.” Neither 
of these characters is constant, in specimens from N.-E. Sumatra the 
length of the tail especially is very variable, and it is often quite as long 
as in Indian specimens. In Sumatra P. polytes has two forms only of 
female:— 
I. Very similar to the male. 
II. Mimicking P. antiphus, Fabricius. This is the P. theseus of 
Cramer, Pap. Ex., vol. ii, pi. clxxx, fig. B (1777), described from the 
west coast of Sumatra ; it is also figured by Wallace in Trans. Linn. Soc. 
Lond., first series, vol. xxv, p. 52, n. 63, pi. ii, fig. 7 (1865), from Suma¬ 
tra. This form has practically no white spots on the disc of the hind¬ 
wing as in the corresponding second form of the female of the Indian 
P. polytes , which there mimics P. aristolochiee , Fabricius, a butterfly 
which in Sumatra is replaced by P. antiphus , though very rarely there 
is just a trace of a whitish spot in the discoidal cell. Papilio numa , 
Weber, was described from Sumatra, from the description it would appear 
to be the ordinary second form of the female of P. polytes found in India, 
so Weber’s habitat is almost certainly incorrect. P. polytes is the most 
common Papilio of our area, and occurs probably everywhere except at 
the higher elevations and on the Central Plateau. It flies in gardens, 
orchards, on roads, near rivers, houses, and villages, and is always to be 
seen in the neighbourhood of lime trees. The females prefer to lay 
their eggs on young and low trees of species of Citrus, and deposit 
three or four eggs only on each bush. The jmung larvae, like those 
of P. memnon , Linnaeus, P. helenus , Linnaeus, and P. nephelus, Boisduval, 
have a strong superficial likeness to a bird’s dropping, which doubtless 
at this stage greatly protects them. The pupal stage is eleven days 
only. ITeer M. C. Piepers has bred it in Java, and has figured three 
stages of the larva in Tijd. voor Ent., vol. xxxi, p. 352, pi. viii, figs. 6, 
7,8 (1888). Rothschild records it from Deli, Sumatra, as P. polytes , 
Linnaeus, typical form; also as P. 'polytes tlieseus , Cramer, (^ 1 ), 9 -f. 
javanus, Felder, from Sumatra, rare ; also as P. polytes theseus , Cramer* 
C 1 ), 9 -f. loc. theseus , Cramer, common. 
588. Papilio ( Menamopsis ) pekses, de Niceville. 
P. ( Menamopsis ) perses , de Niceville, Jonrn. A. S. B., vol. lxiii, pt. 2, p. 46, n. 40, 
pi. iv, fig. 7, male (1894). 
P. heivitsonii, Westwood, var. sumatrana, Hagen, Iris, vol. vii, p. 20, n. 11, 
(1894). 
Hagen as hewitsonii, var. sumatrana. Also very rare, six specimens 
only in thirteen years, on high elevations not below 3,000 feet on the 
Central Plateau of the Karo Battaks and in the Gayoe territory in 
