MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 723 



No. XXIII— THE LAPWING OR PEEWIT 

 (VANELLUS VULGARIS). 



I see in Blandford that the Peewit has not been recorded further east than 

 Oudh ; it may be interesting therefore to note, that last cold weather it was 

 fairly plentiful along the banks of the Upper Chindwin and in swampy ground 

 in the same locality. To make certain one was shot on the 12th December 

 1903 and skinned for identification. 



H. H. HARINGTON, Captain. 

 Monywa, 17th April, 1904. 



No. XXIV.— MELANISM AMONGST PANTHERS. 



I do not know if the information is of any value beyond being corroborative, 

 but on 20th March, some forest employes working in the forests near Hopin 

 in the Bhamo District of Upper Burma came upon a black female leopard 

 with cubs in a large hollow tree. They returned to camp and came out with an 

 elephant, which scared the mother leopard and she bolted. The men were 

 then able to secure the cubs, one of which was black, while the other was the 

 ordinary spotted yellow kind. The latter died, but the black one is alive and 

 doing well, and I propose to take him home next month for the London Zoo, 

 This seems to make it perfectly clear that the black leopard is only a freak. 



The cub I now have has a number of solitary white hairs all over the body 

 and legs, and the whiskers are pure white. In certain lights the ordinary 

 leopard spots can be distinctly seen, being jet black on a muddy black fur. 

 I hope to watch the development of colour. 



T. A. HAUXWELL, 

 Conservator of Forests. 



Maymyo, Burma, 21st April, 1904. 



No. XXV— PAPILIO MACHAON IN BALUCHISTAN. 



I saw, a few days ago, on a hill about midway between Quetta and Nushki, 

 a fine Papilio, which I am certain was machaon. It was a perfectly fresh 

 specimen, but seemed to be of a more greenish tint than those I have seen 

 in England and the Himalayas. I watched it for some time, and almost 

 succeeded in capturing it with my fingers. I do not know whether this 

 species has previously been recorded from Baluchistan, but I have been over 

 two years in the neighbourhood of Quetta, and never before saw any Papilio 

 here, so perhaps it may be worth recording. 



C.G. NURSE, Major, 



113th Infantry. 

 Quetta, May, 1904. 



No. XXVI.— OCCURRENCE OF A RARE SEA SNAKE {DISTIRA 

 GILLESPIE) ON THE MALABAR COAST. 



In the Bombay Natural History Society's Journal Vol. XI T, page 042, 

 Mr. G. A. Boulenger described and figured a new sea snake caught in the 



