14 
DANAIN.E. 
Euploea (Salpinx) kadu, Eschsclioltz. 
Commander Walker informs me that since his list was written he has seen this sp., taken 
at Hongkong, but it must be very rare here. 
The Danainoe, rest with either closed or open wings, often slowly fanning with them 
whilst probing a flower. The long processes or tentacles on Danaid larvae are very pliable, and 
seem often to be used as antennae, especially the front pair. Danaid pupae are attached by the 
tip of the abdomen only, without a band round the middle. The eggs of the Danaince and the 
great majority of butterflies are laid singly, though several may be deposited on different parts of 
the same plant. All butterfly larvae I have reared attached themselves, when very young, by a 
thread of silk to their foodplant. Afterwards they spin a few threads on the surface they traverse 
to form footholds, moving their heads from side to side as they lay down the filament, and sometimes 
having a curious alternating movement lengthwise, especially in the larvae of the Papilioninoz. Many 
larvae select a resting-place, preparing a path of threads to it, and retire there after feeding, often on 
remote parts of the plant. Some larvae after hatching eat their egg-shells ; many after moulting eat 
their cast-off skins. They often travel a long distance from the plant on which they have been 
feeding, before deciding on a position to pupate in. 
In the wet season eggs hatch in rather less than four days; larvae feed for about three 
weeks; pupation takes one or two days; the imago usually emerges in seven to ten days. Each 
stage is of longer duration in the dry season; larvae sometimes feeding for two months or more, 
and the pupal state lasting a month or over. The imagines of many larvae pupating in December, 
do not emerge till April. 
An excellent way to rear larvae from the eggs is to keep these in wide-mouthed bottles, 
as a piece of the foodplant corked up will keep fresh for a long time; the eggs and young larvae 
will also be secure from the attacks of ants, which are always prowling after them, though they do 
not often meddle with fair-sized larvae, unless they have been injured in some way. But as ants 
carry off pupae, breeding-cages should always be isolated by water. 
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