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LYCAENIDAE 
The larvae thrive best and produce large and richly-coloured 
imagines when fed upon the young and succulent shoots of 
any variety of cultivated plum. The larva is solitary in its 
habits. 
Pupa. The average female pupa measures 1270 mm. in 
length, the male is rather smaller. The head is rounded ; 
the thorax is rounded and swollen, slightly sunken at the waist ; 
the abdomen is rounded, curving to the anal segment, which 
remains embedded in the larval skin ; when this is removed, 
the rounded anal segment shows a small cluster of extremely 
minute short spines in place of cremastral hooks. The ventral 
surface is almost straight. The whole surface is covered with 
a finely-ridged, reticulated network pattern, and, except for 
the wings is studded with minute club-shaped hairs. The 
ground colour is an ochreous-brown, blotched and speckled 
with deep purplish-brown, the largest blotches are on the 
abdomen in longitudinal series. 
The pupa is attached to the surface (upon which the larva 
fixed itself) by the larval skin in which the anal segment is 
embedded, and is not either suspended by the anal end, or 
otherwise attached by any silken cord round the middle as 
has been stated by authors. 
The pupal stage occupies about twenty-five days. 
Imago. The average expanse of the wings in the male is 
38 mm. ; in the female, 42 mm. The sexual difference is 
very distinct. 
Male. The ground colour is a blackish-bronze-brown; at 
the end of the discoidal cell is a black bar adjoining a pale 
ochreous blotch. The outer margin of the hind wing is 
scalloped; the sub-median vein is elongated into a long 
tail-like projection, this and the anal angle are bright fulvous ; 
there is a narrow black bar at the end of the cell. The under 
side of the fore wing is greyish-fulvous ; there is a narrow dusky 
bar edged with white at the end of the cell; midway between 
this and the outer margin is a transverse, tapering, dull fulvous 
stripe outlined with black and white. The under side of the 
hind wing is a brighter fulvous and has a median transverse 
deep fulvous band also outlined with black and white, the 
latter forming a conspicuous line across the wing. The anal 
angle is a rich orange-fulvous blotched with black. The 
