﻿— ii6— 

 NOTES AND NEWS. 



Sucli phantastic stories al)out the prices of rare Lepidoptera 

 spring up at intervals in our entomological contemporaries that a 

 line should be drawn somewhere. 1 admit that as much as ^20 to 

 ;^30 will he j")aid in the English markets for an insect, but only when 

 it is a unique and has been so far found but once. 



The rarity of Teinopalpus inipcria/is 9 has been o\'errated. 

 Within the last two years more than twenty females have been ob- 

 tained, and the price ranges now from about $25 to $40, according 

 to the size and state of the insect. The main collecting ground for 

 it is Tiger Hill, 8500 feet high, southeast of Darjeeling, Himalayas, 

 but lately it has been caught likewise in neighboring districts. 



It is simply wonderful how some of the Lepidoptera are " pro- 

 tected, ' ' i. e. , protect themselves successfully against the attacks of 

 birds, bats, lizards, etc., by a peculiar odor which they emit. Promi- 

 nent East Indian collectors: Doherty, Mowis, Hartert and Niceville, 

 have lately given us many points about it. 



Hartert says: " Few people, even among those who have col- 

 lected in the tropics, know by own experience the pungent smell 

 which many Lepidoptera emit. There is an idea that the smell is 

 only peculiar to the males and serves them for making themselves 

 agreeable to the females. This rule is not without an exception, for 

 among a certain Delias of Upper Assam, which was endowed with 

 a very strong musk smell, I found a few smell-bearing females. 



Many of the large Papilios emit a faint smell of musk, most of 

 the Elymnias bear a weak, but pleasant perfume, and the males of 

 Ornithoptera rhadamanthiis and riificollis carry a faint, unpleasant 

 smell. Lethe inekara Moore, of Assam, smells considerably like 

 violets, but the most remarkable instance is given by the extremely 

 rare Hesperian Calliana pieridoidcs % , which Doherty and I ob- 

 tained in a few examples in Assam during October. The strong- 

 smell of this beautiful insect excels charmingly any perfume known 

 to me, and reminds one of the aroma of the flowers of Heliotrope. 

 The smell of the males of Euplcea is unpleasant to me, but liked by 

 some of my colleagues." 



So far Hartert. Doherty wrote me about the same, onh' adding 

 that the papers in which he had folded C. pieridoidcs retained the 

 pleasant odor for a number of hours after death. 



B. Neumoegen. 



