Dr. G. B. Longstaff's Bionomic Notes on Butterflies. G37 



flight." Again at East London Dr. Dixey * called my 

 attention to the ' slow, fearless, fluttering flight ' of Mi/lothris 

 agathina, Cram. Both Delias and Mylothris furnish well- 

 known models, closely mimicked by other Pierines. Dr. 

 Dixey noted that the flight of the mimic Beleiiois thysa^ 

 Hopff., closely resembled that of its model Mylothris 

 ayathina, but Mr. E. E. Green tells me that Prioneris sita, 

 Feld., a very close mimic of Delias eucharis, Cram., is a 

 swift flier. 



Probably belonging to a different category are two 

 smaller Pierines of dissimilar structure, but similar ap- 

 pearance, the Paltearctic Lcncophasia sina,2ns, Linn., and 

 the Oriental Nychitona xiphia, Fabr.,f which are among 

 the very feeblest fliers of my acquaintance. 



The slow gliding, floating (Hutchison), or skimming 

 flight of certain Nymphalines such as Neptis, Bahinda, 

 Urgolis and Eurytcla is well known to tropical collectors, 

 what its significance may be I know not. My experiments 

 indicate that Brgolis is palatable.* 



It has not been my good fortune to capture that fine 

 butterfly Parthenos cyaneus, Moore, but at Kandy I watched 

 its tantalising movements for some time as it flew to and fro 

 far above my longest net-stick. Messrs. De Niceville and 

 Manders say of this species : — " not rare, but is difficult to 

 catch. It has a remarkably distinctive mode of flight, 

 which makes it recognisable at once on the Aving." | As 

 those gentlemen make no endeavour to describe its peculi- 

 arity I will do my best to do so. The wings appear to 

 be seldom raised much above the horizontal, but at com- 

 paratively long intervals they are strongly depressed with 

 a jerk, the fly then gliding along for two or three yards. 

 In marked contrast to this is the flight of Papilio iiarinday 

 Moore, which is attended with obvious flapping in which 

 the wings are much raised but not appreciably depressed 

 below the horizontal. I am glad to be able to add that 

 Mr. E. E. Green agrees with the general accuracy of this 

 description. 



The slow heavy flight of the Danaines is of course 

 familiar ; I might specially mention Grastia ascla, Moore, 

 Narmada montana, Feld., Chittira fiiniata, Butl., and Par- 

 antica aglea, Cram. I am not aware that the peculiar dancing 



* Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1907, pp. 314, 325. 



t Ibid. 1905, ]}. 79. Also Ceylon, 1908. J Supra, pp. 124, 125. 



§ Journ. Asiatic Soc. of Bengal, vol. Ixviii, 1899, p. 188. 



