132 Dr. G. B. Longstaffs Notes on the Butterflies 



composite. On the patnas and among sedges in the woods 

 were a few of the Skipper Baracus vittatus, they were not 

 easy to see. I was surprised to come across no other 

 butterflies on these patnas, which seemed the very 

 place for such a Fritillary as M. aurinia, Rott., or such a 

 Satyrid as C. pamphilus, L., or at least for a Blue, but 

 no, even the eponymous Nyssanga patnia was not to be 

 found. 



In the woods I took two sjDecimens of the beautiful 

 Lethe darctis, Hew., and saw two or three others. They 

 frequented shady paths and flew but a short distance, 

 settling upon a trunk or branch, reminding me strongly 

 of P. wr/eria in my own garden at Mortehoe. The 

 only Argynnis seen here (or indeed in Ceylon) was 

 A. niphe ; it was rather common in open spots in woods, 

 the female looking on the wing very like Limnas 

 chrysippus; a specimen taken, a female, had the apices 

 of both hind-wings and the anal angle of both fore-wings 

 symmetrically bitten. 



Of Terias heedbe I found a few in a wood, of the 

 intermediate dry form. Neptis varmona was not uncommon 

 in the woods, as usual flying in a ghostly manner, and 

 usually settling upon leaves of trees. In the same woods 

 Gyanirls lanka, Moore, was common, but it was astonishing 

 to see so few insects in such a locality. 



Haputdle, alt. 4500 ft. 

 March 23rd, 1904. 



At this beautifully-situated Rest-house, overlooking the 

 plain and the old Boer prisoners' camp, a great many 

 moths came to light. 



Owing to its large numbers the most prominent of these 

 visitors was the small Noctuid, Ploteia frontalis, Walk., an 

 extraordinarily variable species ; another Noctuid was 

 Gos?rbophila xanthindyma, Boisd. ; there were two Deltoids, 

 Olybama lentalis, Guen., and Rivulet basalis, Hmpsn. ; the 

 Lymantriad Dasycliira inchisa, Walk., and the extremely 

 widely-distributed Plemyria ftiiviata, Hlibn. 



The formidable-looking beetle, Xylotrupes gideon, L., was 

 an uninvited visitor to my bath-room. 



On the same day an Acidaliid, Tdsea costata, Moore, flew 

 into my face in a tunnel near Ohiva station, alt. 5000 ft, 



