50 



November to February, the midday temperature during this 

 period being about 8o°. After February, when the hot 

 weather sets in, until the rains about the middle of June, 

 insect life becomes scarcer as the heat increases. With the 

 advent of the rains, butterflies are more in evidence. The 

 character of the country I worked was anything but pro- 

 pitious. The highest elevation for some miles around Cal- 

 cutta is only twelve feet above sea-level. Outside the limits 

 of the city it is composed chiefly of rice fields, interspersed 

 with dense jungle of bamboo, cocoa-nut palm, and palmyra. 

 Wild flowers are exceedingly scarce, and small undergrowth 

 is choked out by dense bamboo. Lyccenidce and Hespcriidce 

 were almost absent. Roads, cuttings, and the edges of cul- 

 tivated fields, therefore, were the only accessible collecting 

 grounds, and even in these it was necessary to keep a look 

 out for cobras and the more deadly kreit snake. I observed 

 that during the hotter months, when the midday heat is well 

 over ioo° in the shade, butterflies fly quite early in the day, 

 almost disappearing by n a.m. Another fact that struck me 

 is that in so many cases the undersides, including those of 

 the species that are most brilliant on the upper wings, closely 

 resemble the coloration of leaves. They generally exhibit a 

 protective resemblance to their surroundings, and certainly 

 in a country where they have a far larger number of enemies 

 than in temperate climes, it is a characteristic that might be 

 expected. As I was entirely without books on the subject, 

 and found no one who collected butterflies — and, judging 

 from the astonishment of stray natives, a kite net was a 

 phenomenon — I could only rely upon my own imperfect 

 observations. I was so much occupied in business that I 

 had no chance to get even a few days in one of the rich hill 

 localities, but I think the insects I secured fairly represent 

 the species obtainable within a few miles of Calcutta." 



Mr. Joy's exhibit included the following species : — Papilio 

 polytes, P. cvemon, P. crithonius, Hypolimnas bolina, H. 

 misippus, Danais limniace, D. scptentrionis, D. genutia, D. 

 chrysippus, Elymnias undularis, Limenitis procris, Catopsilia 

 fabius, C. crocalc, C. florella, Enplcva core, Delias eucharis, 

 Junonia atlites, J. asterie, Nepheronia liippia, Loxura atymnus, 

 Atella phalanta, EuiJialia garuda, etc. 



Dr. Hodgson exhibited photographs of species of the 

 Orchid genus Epipactis in fruit. E. latifolia, with orbicular, 

 horizontally-placed fruit ; E. media, with pear-shaped, droop- 

 ing fruit ; stems of E. latifolia, fully fertilised, from a sunny 

 bank with scattered bushes ; stems of E. latifolia, scarcely 



