NYMPHALINiE. 
4 £ 
days together. Like P. lemonias it lays its eggs in a most careless or haphazard manner, and 
whilst watching a ? laying it has even deposited two or three eggs on my hand ; it frequently lays 
them on small clods of earth ; strangely enough I have not seen it lay on its proper foodplant, 
though it may have been growing not a yard away. It may be that this peculiarity has something 
to do with the periodic scarcity of this and the former insect; many of the young larvae perhaps 
perishing beforeUhey can reach their foodplant. 
The sexes are alike. Fig. u, PI. VI is from a ? taken in October. 
The egg, larva and pupa are the usual Precis type, the foodplant of the larva being 
Ruellia repens. 
Precis orithyia, Linn. 
A beautiful and very common insect, with the usual Precis habits. The d. s. f. of the 
$ is often very large, and the ocelli in the hindwings on the upperside greatly developed. The £ 
does not appear to vary so much in size, and the ocelli on the upperside of the hindwings are 
small, but the expanse of blue is large and brilliant. The small red transverse bands in the disc, 
cell of the $ are usually very distinct. 
Fig. 7, PI. VI is from a $ taken in June or w. s. f., Fig. 8 from a ? of November 
or d. s. f. 
Egg, small, globular and green; laid singly on the foodplant, Striga lutea , Lour., Nat. 
Ord. Scrophularinece , a curious, stiff little plant with a small yellow flower, frequent in tropical 
Asia and Africa ; a parasite on grass roots. The larvae will also feed on Ruellia repens , but the 
former seems to be their usual foodplant here. 
Both larva and pupa are scarcely distinguishable from others of the genus, but the spines 
of the larva are perhaps rather longer than those of the other species here. 
Kypolimnas (Diadema) bolina, Linn. 
This is a very interesting genus, represented here by two sp., both of very wide range. 
H. bolina exhibits the most extraordinary variation in size and colouration and marking of the 
females, and to a much less extent in the males also. A few varieties of ? are figured on PI. V, 
but there are many more intermediate variations. In one instance, breeding from a batch of some 
twenty eggs laid by one $, twelve butterflies matured, and these were all $ and all resembled the 
parent £, but my experience of breeding this insect is limited. A $ taken in September 1904 agrees 
generally with Fig. 9, PI. V, but the lower part of the forewing, including part of the disc, cell and 
outwards to the marginal white spots, downwards to and including the inner margin, is deep but 
bright ferruginous or burnt siena. This colour also appeared on the underside in the same approxi¬ 
mate position, but paler. H. bolina is a moderately common butterfly here, occurring every 
month in the year; much attached to foliage and gardens, but not particularly fond of flowers. 
