MYMPHALINAC 
Regions, but of its habits I can say little, as the specimen figured, taken near Macao, is the only 
one I have seen alive. It appeared to be very fond of settling with closed wings on the underside 
of a leaf, very much after the manner of Cirrochroa; it is rather a striking butterfly in flight, 
though it does not appear to fly rapidly, but rather erratically like many day-flying moths. It is a 
forest-dweller, and therefore probably a mere accidental visitor here. 
Atella phalantha, Drury. 
Usually a common insect here, but some years very few are to be seen. This year 
(1905) it has been very scarce, and even Cupha erymanthis , usually one of the commonest 
butterflies here, has fallen off greatly from its general abundance; the lame of these two butterflies 
have the same foodplant. Atella is a very lively insect with a rapid flight, often returning time 
after time to a special twig or leaf, whence it chases other butterflies which pass. This insect is 
peculiarly liable to have the hindwings snipped, perhaps by a bird but more often probably by a 
lizard; one species in particular, Calotes versicolor , Daud., swarms in the wet season in the tops of 
flowering shrubs and bushes, especially Lantana ) of which Atella is very fond, as it also is of many 
garden flowers up which the lizards climb. They may often be seen lying on the flowers of the stiff 
Cockscombs which the Chinese are so fond of growing. Not many birds here seem to meddle with 
butterflies, though the bulbuls and sparrows sometimes chase but seldom catch them. Many 
butterflies are supposed to be avoided by birds because of their bad taste or smell; yet Eurystomus 
calonyx , a lovely Roller common in spring and early summer, feeds chiefly on the large and 
brightly-coloured but (to human senses) stinking Hemiptera or bugs, so that the bird itself after 
feeding smells strongly of them. 
Atella varies very much in size and also slightly seasonally, chiefly on the underside, but 
the sexes are similar. 
Fig. 8, PI. IY is from a £, rather a small specimen, taken in June. 
Egg, sub-conical, striated longitudinally, yellowish ; laid singly on the shoots and underside 
of leaves of Scolopia chinensis. 
The larva is figured on PI. 3a, Fig. 1, pupa Fig. 2.. The larvae of Cupha erymanthis 
and Atella phalantha resemble one another very closely both in appearance and habit. At each 
moult the larva of Atella is more or less mottled with white all over the upper surface, but soon 
changes again to uniform yellow-brown.., Just before pupating it becomes a bright green. 
The pupa is sometimes pinkish-white or flesh colour instead of green, and as in the pupa 
Oi Cupha some have the processes very long, as shown in the figure, others show little more than 
the base. These processes or tentacles are not pliable, but rather wiry. 
Symbrenthia lucina, Cram. 
Also known as hippoclus , Cram., but lucina seems to be the older name. This pretty 
insect is very scarce in my experience, though Walker found it common in Hongkong in 1892-3. 
