50 
LEPIDOPTERA INDICA. 
Hills 5 ' (Tr. Ent. Soc, 1893, 288). Mr. E. H. Aitken observed it as “rare at 
Mahableshwar, Bombay.” 
Mr. W. Doherty records it from “ Kumaon generally, at 2000 to 8000 feet eleva- 
ton ” (J. A. • S. Beng. 1886, 122). Major J. W. Yerbury obtained the male at 
“Murree, N.W. Himalayas, in August” (P. Z. S. 1886, 363). Mr. S. N. Ward took 
it in “Malabar and Kanara.” Mr. G. F. Hampson took it “throughout the Nilgiri 
District,” and remarks that the yellow form does not occur there (J. A. S. Beng. 
1888, 355), Mr. H. S. Ferguson records it as “common on the Travancore Hills ” 
(J. Bombay N. H. S. 1891, 9). Capt. E. Y. Watson took “ numerous specimens at 
Kathlekan, Mysore, in November, and at the Gersoppa Falls in January ( id . 1890, 5). 
u Common in Sikkim up to about 6000 feet elevation, from March to December ” 
(II. J. Elwes, Tr. Ent. Soc. 1888, 365). In the British Museum is an ochreous 
female from Bhotan, taken in July, others of the white form from Tilin Yaw, Burma, 
taken in November, Papun in December, and King Island, Mergui, December. Dr. 
F. Manders records it from “ Fort Stedman, Shan States, and Eastern Karenee, 
Burma ” (Tr. Ent. Soc. 1890, 525). 
Habits of Imago. —“ This beautiful insect, very appropriately called ‘ the map 
butterfly,’ is frequently to be seen soaring backwards and forwards over some 
mountain stream, with richly wooded sides. It frequently settles, often with wide¬ 
spread wings, on a quartz rock, where, by reason of its coloration and markings, it 
is almost impossible to see. It has also a habit of suddenly settling on the underside 
of some broad leaf overhanging the water, with wings wide outspread, a feat of 
gymnastics I have never seen any other butterfly accomplish. It is on the wing 
from early summer, and I have taken perfect specimens as late as the middle of 
November at Simla” (de Niceville, Indian Agriculturist, 1880). “A Western- 
Himalayan forest-insect, difficult to capture at all. It generally frequents a well- 
wooded glen ; and in such a place I have often watched its elegant soaring flight, 
far out of reach, as it Seated over the blossoms of the horse-chestnut (Pavia indica), 
or rested on its broad leaves in the sunshine. I have also seen it floating up and 
down the foliage-covered face of a steep cliff overhanging a hill torrent, and rarely 
would it come within reach ” (Oapt. A. M. Lang, Ent. Mo. Mag. 186-1, 132). “The 
‘map butterfly’ is pretty common throughout the Karwar District of Bombay, in 
suitable situations—such as clear streams of running water among rocks, with trees 
growing over it, on which the butterfly may rest, pressed flat against the underside 
of a leaf. Curiously enough it lays its eggs on the Banian tree ( Ficus indica ), which 
is not a tree at all peculiar to such situations (J. Davidson and E. H. Aitken, 
J. Bombay N. H. S. 1896, 256 ; id, 1890, 351). 
Food-Plants of Larva. —A female was noticed by Mr. J. R. Bell, on 
October 10th, depositing its eggs on the tenderest leaves and buds of the Banian tree 
