Butterflies of Southern Kordofan. 271 



fairly extensively, and gets a considerable crop of red 

 millet. He also grows a little tobacco. . . . These khors 

 sometimes fill with water and remain full for a long time, 

 and even if they do not, water can generally be obtained 

 by digging in the bed of them. 



" The country is alternate ' cotton-soil ' (black stuff 

 which cotton does not grow in, but in appearance like the 

 cotton-soil of Eygpt) and a reddish soil which is probably 

 the same black soil mixed with sand, etc." 



The official guide-book cited above states that the 

 cotton-soil plains contain too high a percentage of clay 

 to be easily worked and are usually covered with forest, 

 but that the slopes of the Dar Nuba hills, the banks of 

 the khors, etc., are eminently suitable for cultivation, 

 with a rich soil capable of bearing good crops of dura and 

 vegetables (p. 25). 



Again, to quote Mr. Willis' letter : " The hills stand 

 straight up out of the plain, rising abruptly; sometimes 

 there is a considerable extent of plateau high up where 

 soil can be cultivated, but the appearance of the hills is 

 extraordinarily rocky, though trees grow upon them." 



This description of the hills vividly recalls to my mind 

 what I saw at C4ebel En, and more particularly at Rejaf. 

 The mountains there suggest Nasmyth's description of 

 the mountains of the moon, which he compared to pellets 

 of clay thrown by boys so as to stick upon a wall or fence. 

 The official guide shows that these abrupt hills may be 

 anything from 500 ft. to, in exceptional cases, nearly 

 2000 ft. above the plain, i. e. 4000 ft. above the sea. 



Mr. Willis goes on to make the sound suggestion : " It 

 is most probable that the butterflies were captured close 

 to water. It is extraordinary to see them collect on any 

 little damp patch of ground which lies in the shade, and 

 there are always cruantities by the watering-places, when 

 the ground is clear of grass and the water has beeu spilled 

 into troughs or the like for watering animals." 



I have myself taken butterflies under like circumstances 

 by the watering-places of baggage mules at Malakand 

 (N.W. frontier of India), but I suspect that the Btaling of 

 the animals has something to do with it. 



" Each side of a khor is heavily wooded and covered w it h 

 thick vegetation, the depth, of course, varying, and it is 

 in that little belt that all the beasts or butterflies lie at 

 some period of the d 



