f 
( “ii. ¥) 
cocoons of Bombyx rhadama (the silk of which is used by the 
Hovas in the manufacture of their stuffs called « Lambas”’) 
which had been sent to him from the island of St. Mary, 
Madagascar. He stated that only a comparatively small 
number of moths had emerged on the voyage; and he remarked 
that the cocoons were small, of a pure white colour, and sur- 
rounded by a quantity of silk of a buff-colour. 
Mr. H. Goss observed that, according to Mr. Poulton’s 
experience, it was a remarkable feature of these nests that 
the silk forming the outer covering should be a dark buff- 
colour, while the cocoons enclosed in them were pure white. 
Paper read. 
Mr. H. J. Elwes read a paper on ‘the Butterflies of 
Sikkim,” the result of many years of collecting in that 
wonderfully rich district of the Himalayas. He said he had 
been enabled to complete his observations during the enforced 
delay at Darjeeling of Mr. Macaulay’s Mission to Thibet, of 
which he was a member. He stated the number of species 
occurring in this small district to be about 530, which is 
greater than the number hitherto found in any locality in the 
Old World. Of these the greater part only occur in the hot 
valleys at an elevation of 1000 to 3000 feet, and these are for 
the most part of a purely Malayan character, whilst those 
found in the middle zone are in many cases peculiar to the 
Himalayas; and the few species from the alpine parts of the 
country at 12,000 to 16,000 feet are of a Kuropean or North 
Asiatic type. An important feature in this paper was the 
numerous observations taken on the habits, variation, seasons 
of appearance, and range of altitude, of the various species, for 
which Mr. Elwes said he was largely indebted to Herr Otto 
Moller, of Darjeeling. The paper concluded with an analysis 
of the species and genera as compared with those found in 
the North-West Himalayas and in the Malay Peninsula. 
Mr. J. H. Leech, Dr. Sharp, Mr. Elwes, and others took 
part in the discussion which ensued. 
