270 THK ENTOMOLOGIST. 



that this very rational behaviour leads iis to think that 

 butterflies have more understanding than is generally 

 supposed. I think the following incident will show that they 

 are not deficient in memory : — One evening 1 saw, in the 

 open verandah of the Harmonic Society, at Manghasar, a 

 specimen of a butterfly which is very common there, Precin 

 Jphita, Linn. Notwithstanding tlie very strong illumination, 

 this little creature remained sitting quietly in the same place 

 on the ceiHng during the whole evening. When I came to 

 the Society next day 1 did not see it; but in the evening it 

 was again sitting quietly in the same place. And as civilisa- 

 tion has not advanced so far in Manghasar that it is there 

 considered necessary mercilessly to destroy or drive away 

 every harniless creature which ventures into or near a human 

 dwelling, 1 had the pleasure of admiring the memory of this 

 P. Iphita ibr six days. It was not to be found in the day- 

 time, and was then probably absent on business; but every 

 evening, for six consecutive evenings, I found it return 

 faithfully to the same sleeping-place. Then some accident 

 probably befel it, for I never saw any trace of it again. 



1 do not know whether all butterflies return to the same 

 sleeping-place so regularly ; but 1 have the following observa- 

 tions to record on the sleeping-places of the Lycoinidoe and of 

 the Micro- Lepidoptera. When you go into an Indian forest 

 at daybreak, while the grass and low-growing plants are still 

 quite wet with the night's dew,- you see Micro- Lepidoptera 

 silting everywhere on the tops of the plants. As soon as the 

 rays of the sun begin to make themselves felt, which quickly 

 happens, and dry up the plants, the little animals creep 

 slowly down the stalks, and hide themselves in the moss and 

 among the rOots of the plants to pass their day's sleep in 

 stillness and darkness. An hour alter sunrise there is not a 

 trace of them to be seen. The LijC(enid(B, however, wliich 

 are day-flyers, do just the opposite at this time. As soon as 

 the sun begins to make itself well felt they creep slowly up 

 along the stalks of the low plants; and when they have 

 basked for a long time on the top in tiie warm sunlight they 

 fly away. The influence of the warnilh of the sun on the 

 flight of butterflies may also be notictd from the circumstance 

 that in the Netherlands very few butterflies are seen on the 

 wing before eight o'clock in the morning, even during the 



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