m:.i 81 



FIRST IMPEESSIONS OF A NORTH INDIAN STATION IN 



THE RAINS. 



BY H. G. CHAMPION, B.A., I.P.S. 



It has occurred to me that it laiijht be of service to o^ive some 

 account of the chief features of interest that strike the attention of 

 the Entomologist, with more or less British and European experience, 

 during his tii'st rainy season in N.India. It so happened that early in the 

 rains (mid August) I was deputed to do some work in Dehra Dun for 

 about two and half months, and it is to this locality, which lies at the 

 foot of the outer hills of the Himalayan system, but is separated from 

 tlie plains to the south by the Slwalik range, that these notes will 

 refer. 



The bungalow occupied by me was situated some three miles 

 from my work, and the purpose of these notes will be best served if a 

 a description is given of the country between the two places — ground 

 I frequently covered, net in hand. 



One starts, after a short distance along a road, by dropping down 

 into the gravelly bed of a watercourse, which, in spite of its width 

 of anything up to 100 yards, and its steep banks, about 20-30 feet 

 high, was unusually dry, and even after heavy rain, never had more 

 tlian a meandering stream of muddy water. It seemed likely that a 

 litlle search would be sure to yield a fair number of Culeoptera of the 

 Bembidivm and Am-homenus type, with a few- Staphylinids and other 

 miscellaneous forms under stones ; but actually very few could be 

 found in this way, and the moist banks, which at home would surely 

 have produced Bledii, Dyschirii, etc., were likewise unproductive. I am 

 still unable to assign a reason for this j)overty in what at home we 

 should consider a very likely collecting ground. 



Ascending the opposite bank, the path runs through irrigated 

 cultivated grovmd, carrying for the most part crops of rice, but the 

 irregular hedges, formed chiefly of Vitex ne(jundo, and the herbaceous 

 growth along the path offered possibilities ; there were always plenty 

 of Lepidoptera, if nothing else, to be netted here. There are but few 

 plants in flower to attract these except the Vitex itself, and one could 

 always see Papilio polytes — a handsome species, black, except for a 

 series of bold yellowish spots on the hind wing (the ? has some red 

 coloration also), — Hypolimnas holina ^, Catopsilia chryseis L., etc., 

 on the pale blue blossoms. The chief growth along the path-side is 

 the sensitive Mimosa pvd'u-a, the coarse leguminous Cassia ohtusi' 



