432 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



the pupil. It was put in action at long and varyingintervals, but was 

 in use throughout the day. I was so struck by this unusual develop" 

 ment that I have named the animal from this peculiarity. Latterly 

 he slept throughout the greater part of the day, being very restless at 

 night, pacing to and fro in his cage and not sleeping a wink until 

 daybreak. 



After keeping in good health for some seven months, one morning 

 I found he was biting the hair from the root of his tail. I applied 

 lotions and ointments without avail, the irritation spread up his back 

 and down the tail, and he could not be kept from savagely biting his 

 flesh. Despairing, at last, of curing him, and fearing to lose the skin 

 as a specimen, I, with great reluctance, administered a tea-spoonful of 

 hydrocyanic acid. He gave two piercing screams, but nevertheless 

 life was not extinct until fifteen minutes had elapsed after adminis- 

 tering this large dose. 



Up to my leaving the Kondmals, I was unable to obtain another 

 specimen — although I heard of one, — nor am I surprised. The retir- 

 ing disposition of this creature, its nocturnal habits, and the dense 

 forests which it inhabits, all tend to make it a very rare capture. 



JAMES TAYLOR. 



Orissa. 



A LIST OF THE BUTTERFLIES OF TRAVANCORE. 



By H. S. Ferguson, f.l.s. 



Before giving a list of the butterflies of the Native State of 

 Travancore, it is necessary to give a slight sketch of the physical 

 features of the country and of its climate, to explain the somewhat 

 peculiar constitution of its fauna. 



Travancore is a narrow strip of land, more or less triangular in 

 shape, to the extreme south-west of the peninsula : it stretches from 

 Cape Comorin, in the extreme south, northwards for about 174 miles, 

 where it is bounded partly by the Native State of Cochin and partly 

 by the British district of Coimbatore. On the west it is bounded by 

 the sea, while on the east the water-shed of the range of hills which 

 runs from Cape Comorin northwards parallel to the coast is, with a 



