HABITS OF EASI INDIAN INStlCTS. 27 1 



longest sumiiiei Hays, and those which love great heat — such 

 lor instance as the Lyccenidce — do not appear in daylight till 

 some time later; uiiereas in the East Indies the butterfly world 

 is already in full movement by a good hoiu" after sunrise. 



When Linnaeus made his classification of animals, he 

 established among Lepidoptera a class of twilight-Hyers, or 

 Crepuscularia. Independently of the fact that other and better 

 principles of classification have subsequently been employed, 

 it was soon observed that the so-called twilight-flyers are 

 really true night-moths, which fly during the whole night, 

 and not at morning and evening twilight only. But in the 

 East Indies we meet with true twilight-flyers, which do not 

 belong to the genus Sphinx, which Linnaeus considered 

 such, but to the great group of Rhopalocera. The sun has 

 scarcely set before we see everywhere, both in Java and 

 Celebes, numbers of the common Cyllo Leda, AniaUiiisia 

 P/tidippifs,Siud Castf/opa 77r;Y?.r, Linn., and in Celebes, Debis 

 Eiuropa, Fabr., also, but 1 never saw these species wandering 

 about at night in the moonlight, or entering lighted rooms, 

 like the true night-moths, which are very numerous, although 

 like the latter they sit still and repose all day, and if disturbed 

 only fly a little way, and settle again directly. I have also 

 seen the commonest of these butterflies, Cyllo Leda, flying in 

 abundance in the morning twilight; and 1 once observed the 

 same with Debis Europa. Moreover, I suspect from the 

 exactly similar behaviour of different species of Mycalesia, 

 and of Elymnias Lois, Cram., in the daytime, that these 

 should also be included among the twilight-flyers in Java. 



In every country with «hich 1 am acquainted it is well 

 known that many Lepidoptera are very injurious in the larva 

 state, but the perfect insect is considered everywhere to be 

 harmless. 1 must tell the truth about this, as 1 have already 

 about their gentleness, and attack their reputation on this 

 point also. In South-west Celebes a small white moth, an 

 undescribed species of Scirpophaya, is one of the pests of 

 the country. These moths fly into lighted rooms in the 

 evening in incredible swarms, settle upon everything, 

 including the inmates ; and where they touch the naked skin 

 they leave an intolerable itching behind. Besides, they dirty 

 the white walls of the rooms everywhere, by firndy attaching 

 to them quantities of eggs covered with yellow down. 



