^ Ixiv ) 



" I have some hopes that some of the things I got in the 

 wet season may be of use to you, and many of the more 

 interesting species seem to be confined to the wet season and 

 the early part of the dry weather. 



" I venture to think that the whole question of seasonal 

 forms requires a good deal more investigation. It is not 

 nearly so simple as might be supposed, being especially com- 

 plicated by the fact that some i)lants, e. g. the food-plants of 

 Belenois and some species of Teracolus, make growth through- 

 out the dry weather. The food-plant of the common B. 

 severina, Cram., and B. mesentina, Cram, (the latter greatly 

 preponderating at present), starts into growth at the begin- 

 ning of the dry weather, and thereupon many plants are 

 conii)letely stripped of their leaves by the larvae of the above 

 species and, after a short time, start into growth again, so 

 that there are always plants with young leaves on them 

 during the dry weather at any rate up to date. Now it is 

 a curious fact that many fresh specimens of B. mesentina, at 

 the present time after 3 months' absolute drought, are to the 

 best of my knowledge ^^"e^season forms. I caught a pair 

 in cop. last week on purpose to illustrate this. 



" I feel sure that Bell's view * (that the seasonal forms are 

 produced by the state of the food-plant) is correct in cases 

 of this kind, but then how about Precis of which dry forms 

 began to prevail a month before the end of the rains ? I 

 hope that my collection may throw some light on this interest- 

 ing question. Just here, in spite of the drought, growth does 

 not altogether cease, e. g. the millet in the native gardens 

 sprouts freely after the crop is reaped, and is later used for 

 grazing. No doubt this is due to the proximity of the range 

 of high hills to the north, as though all the torrent beds (and 

 there is nothing else on this side) have been dry for months, 

 yet no doubt a good deal of water must percolate through 

 underneath. The hills on this side of the range are very 

 steep and stony, and even drier than the plain where we are. 



" I wish I were in a position to undertake breeding here, 

 but it is quite impossible. 



" Teracolus eris, Klug., and T. celimene, Luc, I have seen 

 * Ent. Mo. Mag., 1906, p. 121. 



