| soe. ( 323" -) 
form, and were more or less worn. The one exception was 
a beautiful fresh natalensis which was taken in coitu with 
sesamus. One sesamus has the red spots considerably 
elongated, thus showing some approach to natalensis. 
‘“* During the whole time I was on the mountain the weather 
was for the most part cloudy and showery, so that I was un- 
able to go up to the higher levels as I had hoped. I did go 
as far as the forest which extends upwards for about 6000 ft., 
but everything was dripping, though it was one of the finest 
days we had, and no butterflies came within reach, in fact 
only two or three were seen. In the forest there are ferns 
and mosses everywhere carpeting the ground and hanging in 
festoons from every branch, and the begonias form great 
bushes 20 ft. high.” 
Still more recently the following interesting notes on the 
subject have been received from the same keen and observant 
naturalist :— 
“T saw one other natalensis which was also quite fresh, so 
it is fairly certain that I was on Kilimanjaro just at the time 
when the wet-season phase was appearing. 
‘“‘T fear I have no first-hand knowledge of the seasons on 
Kilimanjaro except what I can assume from living well with- 
in sight of it, and being able to tell from the amount of cloud 
what the weather is like. (We are not more than ten or 
twelve miles from the mountain, which rises from the plain 
on which we live, and probably not more than five or six from 
the nearest foot-hills.) I have, however, inquired diligently, 
and I am informed that the wet season lasts with short breaks 
from the middle of March till the end of November, so that 
I was there towards the end of the wet season, when one 
would expect the dry phase to be beginning to show up, and 
the wet phase to be still predominant though somewhat worn, 
whereas the facts were exactly opposite to this. Possibly the 
explanation is that during the wet season, or at any rate a 
good part of it, the clouds hang so heavily over the mountain, 
even at 5000 ft., that butterfly life is reduced to a minimum 
from want of sunshine, not from want of moisture, and I am 
told that during this season for weeks at a time the sun is 
scarcely seen at all. The period of the year when butterflies 
