NOTES. 157 



required except in the dusk or dark ; and the sound was a perfect 

 imitation. I may mention that I have kept snakes, including a 

 cobra, and am therefore the less likely to be easily deceived by a 

 bad imitation. 

 And, as I said above, the native legend bears me out. 

 Another native legend concerning the Loris, which obtains 

 universal acceptation in the North-Central Province, is that he 

 kills peafowl by creeping slowly up their backs when they are 

 roosting, and then, twining his long arms round the poor bird's 

 neck, clings on until he has bitten to the brain. 



The Loris is a charming and most original pet ; his fault is 

 peevishness. But any one who has seen one thrust his long arm 

 into a bottle full of grasshoppers, pick one out and eat it like a 

 radish ; who has seen one sit on the table at dinner and catch the 

 moths and " poochies " that fly against the lamp ; or has felt one 

 climb up his face and pounce into his moustache as into an 

 insect — will agree with me that our not so very distant cousin 

 is as fascinating a being as any in the forests of Ceylon, 



JOHN STILL. 

 Anuradhapura, February 27, 1905. 



2. On the larval habits of the hutterfiy, Parata alexis, Fabr. 

 Peradeniya, 27th March, 1905. — It is not often that the larvae 

 of Hesi^eridce ("Skipper" butterflies) occur in large numbers in 

 close proximity to each other. Parata alexis appears to be an 

 exception in this respect. On the 19th March I observed a fair- 

 sized tree of Pongamia glabra that had been completely 

 defoliated by the larvae of this butterfly. So much so that they 

 had been compelled to descend and pupate amongst the foliage 

 of the shrubs below, for lack of shelter on the tree itself. There 

 must have been many hundreds of these pupse within a space 

 of a few square yards. From 50 pupfe — collected at haphazard — 

 there emerged 18 males and 16 females ; the remainder failed. 

 The flies were disclosed on two successive days (March 24 and 25). 

 On the first day 5 males and 12 females appeared ; on the second 

 day, 13 males and 4 females, the proportion of the sexes being 

 almost exactly reversed. 



E. ERNEST GREEN. 



3. Curious behaviour of a snake in captivity, Peradeniya, 

 27th March, 1905. — A small example of Coluber /ieZena which has 

 been an occupant of my vivarium for several weeks, and has 



