46 [February, 



NOTES OF A VOYAGE TO AUSTRALIA, CEYLON AND THE 

 MALAY AECHIPELAGO, JULY— NOVEMBEE, 1914. 



BY F. A. DIXEY, M.A., M.D., F.R.S. 



(Continued from page 13.) 



Tirumala hamata was locally abundant. Its gregarious liabit 

 was especially noticeable ; large numbers were seen swarming round 

 a mango tree near the settlement. A female specimen taken showed a 

 symmetrical injury to the two hind wings. Satyrids were plentiful ; 

 those captured included the soberly-coloured YjMhima arctous Fabr., 

 a male specimen of which yielded a very distinct smell of vanilla, 

 Hypncisfa irius Fabr., and H. adiante Hiibn. In each of the latter 

 species the forewings are somewhat sharply pointed for a Satyrid, and 

 the underside of the hindwings is ornamented with a large and very con- 

 spicuous ocellus. Y. arctous was noted as common ; H. adiante, which 

 somewhat recalls our familiar " small heath," as abundant. The only 

 Lycaenid brought away was a male specimen of Candatides erinus 

 Fabr. Eurycus cressida Fabr. was again in evidence; a good specimen 

 of the semi-transparent female was secured. This butterfly, from its 

 conspicuous aspect and deliberate flight, looks as if it ought to be easy 

 to catch. But it has a tantalising way of keeping just out of reach, 

 and its pursuit through the thick undergrowth interspersed with loose 

 granite blocks, which are the prevailing features of the uncultivated 

 part of Magnetic Island, was not unattended with risk to one's ankles. 

 Its appearance was intermittent ; every now and then cressida 

 would come suddenly into view, and after a short flutter would be 

 lost to sight amid the foliage of a tree at a height just too great to be 

 reached with the net. The male especially is a striking object; its 

 semi-transparent forewings and the vividly contrasted red, white, and 

 black of the densely scaled and opaque hindwings give it a character 

 which is quite distinct from that of any other inhabitant of these regions. 

 As before noted, the worn female captured at Townsville appeared 

 to be scentless ; but the female taken on the present occasion, which was 

 in good condition, emitted a distinct and strong odour, noted in the field 

 as " ammoniacal," and at home as exactly that of musk.* The same speci- 

 men was observed to be tenacious of life. An interesting capture was 

 that of a pair of Delias argentJiona Fabr. This species was not un- 

 common, and with its slow flight and bright coloration beneath, 



* III my diary for June '29th, 1890, at Port Darwin, North Australia, I find noted under the 

 capture of Eurycus orssida ? , that " this butterfly emits when caught a strong and not unpleasant 

 odour of musk." — J.J.W. 



