12 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
and other observers have told me the same. I think there can be 
little doubt that Calotes, owing to its great abundance and arboreal 
habits, is one of the chief enemies of butterflies in Ceylon. And mn 
support of this view may be cited the numerous instances in which 
one catches butterflies damaged in such a way that it is impossible 
to resist the deduction that something with a wide mouth has taken 
a bite out of the wings when they were closely apposed at rest. 
In such cases the shape of the injuries as well as their clean cut 
nature (cf. Pl. II., fig. 7) both point to their being the work of 
lizards rather than of birds. 
Accepting then the lizard as being responsible for an appreciable 
share in the mortality of butterflies, the question arises as to whether 
he shows any preference for or dislike to this or that species. In 
order to obtain evidence on this point I kept a couple of lizards in 
large cages and introduced various butterflies at intervals. Owing 
to the wetness of the season while I was at Peradeniya, and the 
consequent difficulty of procuring butterflies of some of the species 
which I wanted during the time at my disposal, the experiments 
are not nearly so full as I could have wished. Nevertheless they 
are not without interest, and I give the record of a week’s experi- 
ments with one of the lizards (“‘ Sambo ’’). 
Aug. 20.—Sambo was given three P. aristolochie this evening just 
before dark. One was damaged, and was found dead at the bottom 
of the cage next morning. The other two had been eaten. 
Aug. 22.—Sambo ate another P. aristolochie which was given 
to him. 
Aug. 23.—Sambo given four Danais vulgaris and a large diurnal 
moth (Huschema maculata), which might be regarded as a possible 
rough mimic of a Danaid. He at once went for the insects and ate 
two of the Danaids in the first 15 minutes. Eventually he ate 
all five. 
Aug. 24.—Sambo was given a mixed lot, viz., one J'ertas sp., one 
_D. vulgaris, one Junonia almana, one Mycalesis mineus, and one 
Mycalesis patnia. He started by eating the Terias (a brilliant yellow 
Pierid) and the Danais in the first half hour. About 13 hour later 
the others had also been devoured. 
Aug. 25.—Sambo given a Hesperid, one D. vulgaris, and one Delias 
eucharis. He ate all without hesitation and with much apparent 
relish. 
Aug. 26.—Sambo given in the afternoon one Luplea core and 
one Junonia uphita (both are dark brown flies, the former being 
presumably distasteful). After a few hours he ate the Huplea, 
while the ¢phita was eaten about 10 a.m. next morning. 
From this record it is obvious that Sambo cannot be said to have 
exercised any discrimination in his choice of food. 'The presumedly 
distasteful Danais was eaten before the presumedly palatable 
Euschema or Mycalesis, and the so-called distasteful Huplea was 
