136 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



The other three eggs reached Calcutta safely, and on the evening 

 of November 1 , I noticed that one of them had burst and that its 

 sides had collapsed owing to an escape of liquid. No movement was, 

 however, apparent in the egg, which was found to be in exactly the 

 same condition two hours later. It was then removed for closer 

 examination and the handling it received forced the young lizard's 

 head out of the aperture. It seemed to be impossible, however, for 

 it to get any further, and the mouth was opened as if it were suffo- 

 cating. I therefore slit the egg shell down one side with a pair of 

 scissors. Much to my surprise the young lizard thereupon leapt 

 out of its shell and began running and jumping about so vigorously 

 in my hand that I had some difficulty in preventing it from escaping 

 altogether. 



The remaining two eggs were found to be, early the next morning, 

 in the same condition as that just described, and one of them was 

 killed and preserved intact. The young lizard escaped from the 

 other by its own efforts about midday. 



The method by which the egg-shell had been ruptured was easily 

 seen on an examination of the egg that had been preserved. The 

 aperture had been produced by several oblique parallel slits on each 

 side, which had evidently been brought about by the action of the 

 claws of the fore limbs. They had torn a roughly triangular flap 

 in the egg-shell near the anterior end. 



The young lizards measured nearly 3| inches in total length on 

 hatching. They differed from the adult of the species in their 

 relatively larger heads, and in the total absence of the dark markings 

 on the side of the head and on the throat. Their dorsal surface was 

 grass-green, varying in intensity from time to time and sometimes 

 becoming much darker ; the ventral surface and the sides of the 

 head were much paler green and less changeable ; there was a dark 

 streak running from over the eye to over the ear. Food in the shape 

 of small moths and grasshoppers was taken regularly from the day 

 of hatching, and great activity was fully maintained until the end of 

 November, notwithstanding the fact that the weather was becoming 

 cool. 



N. ANNANDALE. 



14. Note.s on Ceylon Butterflies. — Col. N. Manders, who did much 

 useful work in the study of our butterflies during his residence in 

 Ceylon , has been frequenting the British Museum (Natural History) 

 for the same purpose, since his arrival in England. A letter recently 

 received from him contains several particulars of interest to us. 



Catochrysops lithargyria, Moore. — ^This very distinctly marked 

 insect was included by Bingham (Fauna B. I., " Butterflies,' 

 Vol. II., pp. 411, 412) amongst the varietal forms of C. straho. But 

 Swinhoe, who is completing the " Lepidoptera Indica" commenced 



