﻿A NOTE ON COLLECTING IN THE HIMALAYAS. 233 



is rare, and usually found at low elevations. When alighting 

 temporarily Kallima does not seem to be particular whether it 

 selects the trunk of a tree, a branch, or the upper surface of a 

 leaf. They are very worn here now, and I am informed that 

 these are hibernated specimens. 



Along the edge of a glade (just below the summit), carpeted 

 with buttercups, wild strawberry plants aud anemonies, fritil- 

 laries flew up and down much as in the New Forest ; one big 

 species, Argynnis childreni, conspicuous by the blue suffusion on 

 the terminal portion of its hind-wing, evaded capture, as did the 

 blue Vanessa canace, of which I saw two. It was a joy seeing 

 this old friend again, whose brother subspecies I had taken in 

 some quantity at 3000 ft. on Mt. Kinabalu in British North Borneo. 



Pieris brassiccs and P. rapa were seen, but only a few. 

 Another English-reminder was taken in the person of an Erehia, 

 very hke our blandina. And like a typical day's collecting in 

 England, not a single Papilio was seen the whole day, although 

 in a gorge 3000 ft. below our path I found several lovely species : 

 the beautiful green Papilio polyctor (which is replaced further 

 east by the well-known P. paris), the big black P. protenor, a 

 mountain species ranging through the Himalayas (from Kailana, 

 which appears to be its westernmost limit) east to China and 

 Siam, then another Oriental friend, P. sarpedon, described by 

 Linnseus a hundred and fifty years ago. These Himalayan 

 specimens did not appear to differ at all from those of sarpedon 

 caught in Borneo. This typical form ranges from North India 

 and the Phillippines, south to the Malay Archipelago, with 

 subspecies extending its range as far as Japan in the north and 

 the Solomon Islands in the south. Another beautiful Papilio 

 caught at this lower altitude was P. doanthus, which ranges 

 through these mountains from Kashmere to Burma. 



The absence of all these Papilios emphasized the British 

 aspect of this day's collecting on the higher slopes above Kailana. 

 A few days later P. machaon {sphyrus) was caught, reminding us 

 that the Himalayas could produce a British Papilio if necessary. 



The summit of Deoban was reached before mid-day, and 

 after lunching in the open under some shady trees, in full view 

 • of the wonderful snows, we spent some hours collecting in the 

 little glade below the summit and along some sunny paths near 

 by. After four o'clock butterfly life became scarcer, and on our 

 return journey down to Morrow's Neck, hardly a butterfly was 

 seen. About 7 p.m. we reached Kailana ; the sun had gone 

 down; the vultures had finished their day's work — so sublime in 

 the grandeur of their soaring, so repulsive in their unceasing 

 search ; now we saw them sitting in the tops of the trees below 

 the ridge, looking like so many untidy fowls at roost. The shrill 

 chorus of Cicadas somehow added to, rather than disturbed, the 

 peacefulness of the gathering night. 



