216 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



" When I was stung by the scorpion they would not let me kill 

 it till the next day. Probably it was considered that, as with 

 snakes, the animal withdraws the poison to itself if not killed." 



A. K. COOMARASWAMY. 



4. Flight of white and yellow hutterflies. — This well-known 

 phenomenon takes place twice annually, in the months of 

 February and November, and is always a source of interest, not 

 only to entomologists but to all who have eyes to see, and many 

 are the remarks of wonderment at this curious and pretty sight 

 which enlivens the monotony of the streets and byways of 

 Colombo. I am not going to explain this bi-annual migration, for 

 I cannot, but these few lines are based upon observations taken 

 during the flights, more especially the flight of November last, 

 which commenced on the 1st November and lasted practically 

 till the end of that month, although a few stragglers are still to 

 be found laying eggs which will give rise to the February flight. 

 The butterflies are almost exclusively composed of difiierent 

 species of Gatopsilia, and as these show a variety of forms and 

 phases the whole makes up a very varied collection of yellows 

 and whites. 



I have taken great interest in these flights for several years, but 

 never before have I seen the numbers so prolific as during last 

 November in Colombo. 



At 2 P.M. on the 21st November, when the flight was at its 

 highest, I counted during one minute 150, during another minute 

 170, and during a third minute 148 butterflies passing between 

 two points 30 feet apart and 12 feet high, making an average 

 of 156 per minute. At two other places I made similar reckon- 

 ings, resulting in an all round average of about 150 per minute 

 traversing a given space. In many different parts of the 

 Cinnamon Gardens I observed equally large quantities in flight so 

 that, according to my computation, the number of butterflies 

 passing in one direction between two points, a mile apart and 12 

 feet from the ground, would be 26,400 per minute, 1,584,000 per 

 hour, and 6,336,000 between the hours of 11 A.M. and 3 P.M. on 

 the one day alone. 



They were flying particularly fast and in constant procession ; 

 rarely one would stop for a few seconds to alight on some 



