NOTES. 79 
Insect Food Plants —The larva of Danais fumata feeds on 
Alleophania decipiens, Thw., a shrub growing in chenas at 
the higher elevations. Observer: Mr. F. G. Saunder, Nuwara 
Eliya. 
Cyaniris lanka feeds on Smithia blanda, Wall., which grows 
in damper portions of patanas. The egg is deposited on stem 
at foot of flower bud. 
February 9, 1914. F. M. MACKWOOD. 

Extension of the Range of the Common Leech—To the field 
naturalist one of the charms of up-country jungles lies in 
their freedom from leeches. One may wander at will, without 
taking any thought of the pests which drive him out of the 
jungles of (say) the Ratnapura District. Buta close acquaint- 
ance with the country round Hakgala during the last nine 
years leads me to suppose that the leech is gradually extending 
its range upwards. I may say that the same ground has been 
traversed every year at about the same time, so that the 
observations have some degree of probability. 
In 1906 I acquired my first Hakgala leech at the bottom 
of the valley below Hakgala, where the Fort Macdonald 
footpath runs alongside the stream. This is at a much lower 
elevation than the Gardens, and I was not particularly 
surprised at the occurrence. In 1907 another found me on 
the grass by the roadside near the entrance to the Gardens, 
and this was considered a stray example brought up the road 
by cattle. 
In 1909, however, I found leeches abundant in the boundary 
ravine of the Hakgala reservation, 7.e., the last of the ravines 
which run down the hillside across the Ambawela footpath 
between the Gardens and Albion estate. I had not met with 
any in that locality during the previous four years. They 
were confined to the part of the ravine below the path, and 
though they are still there, they have apparently not yet 
(1914) ascended into the upper part. 
