92 Dr. G. B. Longstaff's Notes on the Butterflies 



impossible to say what those that I passed over or missed 

 were. 



In variety the Toliganj flies were disappointing, but, 

 besides the above named, they included a very fine 

 female Ixias pyrene, the sole Orange-tip seen at Calcutta; 

 a few Catopsilia pyranthe ; several Ergolis ariadne ; 

 Mymnias undularis, not common ; plenty of that very 

 distinct Blue, Neopithecops zalmora; a single specimen 

 of Loxura atymnus, and plenty of Yphthima hubneri, 

 Y. marshal li, Y. philomela and Nychitona xiphia. 



The list is closed by " Mclanitisismene, lover of darkness, 

 as its name seems to say. It flitted about everywhere 

 dressed in all the tints of fallen leaves, or, alighting among 

 them, fell partly on one side and was one of them." * 

 I quote the words of E. H. A., that keen observer and 

 telling writer. The few specimens that I saw that day 

 were very dark and of the "dry season" form. A note 

 made at the time says : " This shade-loving species, which 

 only flies for a very short distance and settles on the 

 ground, has a 'list' to the right of 20-30°, making it very 

 like a dead leaf." 



A parasitic bee, Crocisa histrio, Fab., was caught feeding 

 on the wing like a Sphinx. 



On December 8th, I visited the grand Botanic Gardens 

 at Howrah,but it was too late in the day for many butter- 

 flies to be about. I noted, however, Lampides celcno, Cr. ; 

 Myealesis indistans, Moore, a Delias and two or three Terias. 

 Late in the afternoon, just before leaving the gardens, I 

 noticed a few Limnas genutia fluttering about a palm-tree 

 prior to settling down for the night. On looking carefully 

 I noted on one of the huge leaf-stalks, some twelve or 

 fourteen feet from the ground, a cluster of the butterflies 

 hanging together like swarming bees. By pelting with sticks 

 and stones the cluster was broken up and proved to consist 

 of at least seven or eight individuals. Altogether there 

 were perhaps twenty in and about that tree. This cer- 

 tainly establishes for L. genutia the character of gre- 

 gaiiousness. Both Mr. S. E. Peal and Mr. F. Mbller told 

 me that they had never seen such a thing. 



Darjiling, 27° N., alt. 7000 ft. 

 December 13th— 22nd, 1903. 

 I set off to this celebrated hunting-ground with great 

 * "A Naturalist on the Prowl," p. 203. 



