TEE BUTTERFLIES OF CEYLON. 81 



abundant, particularly i about Nnwara Eliya, 6,200 feet, and the Hor- 

 ton Plains, 7,000 feet. 



Lethe daretis is also very distinct and is likewise confined to the 

 higher elevations, rarely descending below 4,000 feet. Above this it is 

 common in bamboo jungle nearly all the year round. The female flies 

 low among the bushes and along jungle paths. The males are rarer, or 

 at any rate are less frequently met with, and have the habit on sunny 

 mornings of flying rapidly round tops of forest trees far out of reach 

 like our Apatura iris. 



Cyaniris lanka is another insect seldom met with below 4,000 feet. 

 The males are abundant nearly all the year round, sucking up moisture 

 from damp sand. The female is much less frequently seen, and u&ually 

 occurs in the light jungle and often among the tea bushes. 



The Hesperiadce in the above list, with the exception of JSaiar.gtsa 

 albictlia which is of general distribution, are confined to the Hill dis- 

 tricts and adjoining low country. They are mostly rare, but probably 

 only require looking for. Halpe decorata is particularly rare and has 

 only been taken, so far as I know, in one locality, Avisawella, about 

 twenty miles from Colombo, and this locality has, I believe, now been 

 destroyed. 



Lethe dynsate is in some respects the most interesting butterfly in 

 Ceylon. Though described by Hewitson so long ago as 1863 it still 

 remains one of the rarest of Ceylon butterflies. It is not confined to 

 the Hill district, and though exceedingly rare and local has been found 

 within twenty miles of Colombo on the coast as well as at Nuwara Eliya 

 at an elevation of 6,200 feet. Structurally it is of special interest, as it is 

 the sole representative of the Sub-genus Hanipha moore, characterised 

 chiefly by the sex mark of the male being confined to the fore- 

 wing, thus forming a connecting link between those species of Lethe 

 which have a sex mark on both wings and those with none on 

 either wing. The species may yet be found in Southern India, and I 

 can give no reasonable explanation of its occurrence in Ceylon to the 

 exclusion of other countries. Its nearest allies, Liethe gulnihal, latiaris, 

 &c, occur in North-East India, Tenasserim and Malaya, but not, so far 

 as I know, in Peninsular India. 



The species of the Indo-Ceylon group as a whole show a distinct 

 tendency to depth of colouring and marking when compared with the 

 11 



