BUTTERFLIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 39 



Colombo district, before tea and rubber had taken the place 

 of jungle and chena in the outlying portions, used to give a 

 fair number of species, and I have records of 138 species, 

 nothing remarkable as to rarit}^ Danais exprompta and 

 Euploea core, then restricted as to area, are now more widely 

 diffused. Occasionally, a fair number of Iraota timoleon 

 var. niceviUei are obtained. 



The Puttalam district and around Hambantota has been 

 well worked by Mr. Pole, and HaldummuUa-Wellawaya 

 country by IVIr. Ormiston, who has obtained numerous 

 interesting species and varieties from the locality. 



Mr. C. C. Gilbert, resident in Ratnapura District, has in 

 about two years, and that within a limited area, achieved such 

 success that probably as a centre, even for numbers, it will 

 take precedence of Kandy. 



As to quality, it has already done so, for out of about 167 

 species netted, there are many rarities. In all probability 

 20 more species may be obtained. In various parts of the 

 Province Mycalesis rama, Rapala melampus and Halpe egena 

 have been found. 



The vicinities of-Nuwara Eliya, Anuradhapura, and Trin- 

 comalee have been fairly well worked , but most of the Northern 

 and Eastern Provinces, the Batticaloa-Hambantota. country 

 inland, and the Ratnapura-Rakwana-Tangalla country have 

 scarcely been touched, these, formerly almost inaccessible, 

 can now be reached by motor car. 



Butterflies, whilst fairly numerous in Ceylon, are rarely 

 abundant except of the common species, or during the migra- 

 tory flights. When one goes out for any particular kind, he 

 may be considered lucky to get half-a-dozen good representa- 

 tives. Occasionally great multitudes are met with. In 

 December, 1911, at Anuradhapura, on the herbage on the 

 margins of Tissa Tank, for two or three days in succession, 

 there were literally hundreds of thousands, mostly of large 

 and showy common species, a good sprinkling of others, and 

 here and there a scarcer form ; it would have been easy to 

 catch twenty or thirty specimens at each sweep of the net. 



Compared with Indian butterflies, I think ours, as a whole, 

 are a more sombre lot, even in the " Lycaenidae " the ever 



