LEPIDOPTEKOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN CEYLON IN DECEMBER. 161 



the drive thither we saw a large blue and black butterfly which dashed 

 up from the roadside and proved to be Kallima philaichus. The 

 gardens themselves are so beautiful and the profusion of flowering 

 trees and shrubs so bewildering that whatever butterflies were present 

 passed unnoticed during the first few minutes ; but, on entering the 

 spice plantation whose culinary virtues proved of more absorbing 

 interest to my wife than myself, my attention was drawn to a medium- 

 sized dark brown butterfly {Junonia iphita) with somewhat sickle-shaped 

 forewings , which settled amongst the dead leaves at my feet, where, 

 indeed, I had some difficulty in discovering it, and, on looking up, I 

 saw a magnificent female Tmides {Ornithoptera) damius in the act of 

 settling on a small evergreen tree at no great distance from me. There 

 it rested displaying the yellow and black of its expanded wings at a 

 height of about fourteen feet from the ground, reminding me much in 

 its choice of position and attitude of Laertiaa plnlennr which I have 

 often observed acting in a similar manner on the laurels at home. 

 My nearer approach did not appear to concern it in the least, and it 

 allowed me to inspect it for quite three minutes before it flew otf 

 leisurely through the trees. On emerging trom the plantation into 

 the road, which runs through the gardens, I noticed a tailed, blue 

 Lycfenid, probably Jmnides bochiis, flying about and resting on the 

 bushes in the hot sunshine, and, on coming to a tree of some kind of 

 citrus (unnamed) a little further on, I surprised a female Fapilio pobjtea 

 in the act of ovipositing, which she performed in the usual Fapilio 

 manner; with wings fluttering; she laid her eggs singly, flying oft' for a 

 short distance and then returnuig to the foodplant. She, however, 

 took fright at my presence, and, though I looked, I was unable to find 

 either of the two ova I saw her deposit, before she flew away. On 

 returning to the same tree a week later I made a diligent search for 

 larvfe, but found only one, and, as that was in its third instar, I 

 can hardly imagine that it can have been of her offspring, in spite of 

 the more rapid development of life in the tropics. Before leaving the 

 gardens I came across several specimens of Papiliu aristolochiae, all 

 flying very slowly only a few inches from the ground, which was so 

 thickly carpeted with the sensitive plant that its surface seemed to 

 shrink as I advanced to watch their movements. In the afternoon we 

 made an expedition to Lady Horton's drive, Avhich, I was told, was a 

 good place for butterflies, but we met with nothing of great interest. 

 Papilio ]iarinda, which I hoped to see, did not make its appearance. 

 Papilin aristolockiae was in abundance, and I saw several Papilio 

 aiiatneiiinnn as well as the only specimen of Papilio hector which I came 

 across during my stay up country. On the following morning we left 

 Kandy for Nuwara Eliya. 



A circumstance which forced itself on my attention at Kandy, and, 

 indeed, had already begun to do so at Colombo, was that, although I 

 saw butterflies in a greater profusion, both as regards species and 

 individuals, than I had been used to at home, I did not notice any 

 feeding on flowers. The latter were, perhaps, rather less abundant 

 than in some places in temperate climates, their place being partly 

 taken by a variety of tall flowering shrubs and trees— about which, 

 however, I observed no butterflies^but, during the whole fortnight I 

 was in Ceylon, I saw on three occasions only butterflies, with the 

 exception of the small yellow Terias, feeding as they do in Europe. 



