LEAF BUTTERFLIES 59 



fly always settling on a twig, with the short tail 

 of the hind-wings just touching it and forming 

 the leaf -stalk." In Sumatra he has often seen 

 one enter a bush and then disappear like magic. 

 In this account one may wonder why the butter- 

 fly resembles a dead leaf seeing that it rests upon 

 a twig in the attitude of a normal leaf; perhaps 

 it may be explained by the circumstance that 

 in tropical vegetation a regular leaf - fall is the 

 exception instead of being the rule as it is in 

 temperate climates, and it is a very common thing 

 to see a few conspicuously discoloured leaves still 

 attached to the branches in the midst of green 

 foliage. 



The Kallima philarchus of Ceylon seems to 

 behave rather differently since, as Mr E. E. 

 Green has noticed and recorded, it " more usually 

 settles head downwards on the trunk of a tree, 

 . . . swaying gently from side to side. It might 

 then be mistaken very easily for a detached 

 leaf that in its fall has hitched up in a cobweb 

 and is being shaken by the breeze." 1 Another 

 observer, Mr W. A. Cave, 2 reports that he had 

 exceptional opportunities for watching one of 

 these butterflies at close quarters, as it frequented 

 a certain spot on the trunk of a tree for two days ; 

 as soon as it settled, " which it did in the usual 

 way, it immediately turned round so that its 

 head pointed downwards." Mr Cave was much 



1 E. E. Green, "Mimicry in Insect Life, as exemplified by 

 Ceylon Insects," Spolia Zeylanica, vol. v., 1908, see p. 89. 

 * W. A. Cave, Note on Kallima philarchus , t. <:., p. 142. 



