634 



NOTES ON A COLLECTION OF BUTTERFLIES FROM 



THE NORTH CHIN HILLS AND UPPER 



CHINDWIN DISTRICT, BURMA. 



By Capt. E. Y. Watson, Indian Staff Corps, f.z.s., f.e.s. 



( With a Plate.) 



The butterflies recorded in the present list were, with the exceptions 

 noted below, taken by me in tlie North Chin Hills and Upper 

 Chindwin District between January and June, 1893, i.e., in the dry- 

 season. The bulk of the species were obtained within a few miles of 

 Kalewa on the Chindwin river, which locality is referred to below as 

 the " Upper Chindwin," as there is no doubt that the species oc- 

 curring at Kalewa also occur throughout the gi'eater part of the 

 Upper Chindwin District ; the remainder of the species were obtained 

 in the hills on the road from Kalemyo to Tiddim, posts situated about 

 50 miles apart, and on opposite sides of the most easterly range of the 

 Chin Hills. 



At Kalewa, which is situated in the angle of the confluence of the 

 Myittha and Chindwin rivers, the forest is of that description called 

 in Burma " Eng," and consists of deciduous trees of rather small 

 size growing in quartzy soil with little or no undergrowth ; on. the 

 banks of the rivers this is replaced by large trees in dense under- 

 oTOwth. Kalemyo is situated close to the Myittha river, the country 

 immediately round which is either cultivated with rice or covered 

 with elephant-grass ; the road to Tiddim after crossing the paddy-land 

 leads through about seven miles of thin jungle, chiefly " Eng," 

 before reaching the foot of the hills ; from here the jungle be- 

 comes denser and the road runs steeply up the eastern slopes of the 

 hills to Fort White at an elevation of about 7,000 feet. No. 3 

 stockade having been passed through en route at some 3,500 feet. 



Up to between 4,000 and 5,000 feet the jungle consists of large 

 forest trees with dense undergrowth ; above that height the prevailing 

 trees are rhododendrons and magnolias, to which at above 6,000 feet 

 are added various varieties of oaks ; at the latter elevation also patches 

 of grass-lands begin to appear, the ridges and highest slopes of the 

 lulls being almost entirely free from jungle, which is confined to 

 small oak and rhododendron copses- 



