MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 791 



marvellous thing about thess nooses is that even in a roaring torrent they 

 never lose their circular shape, or become ineffective through the action of 

 water on them while immersed ; one seldom has to readjust them. 



The recurring trouble or bother is in replacing the small round smooth 

 pebble which so often gets detached, and lost, sometimes in the water and 

 sometimes while casting. The rod and tackle I brought in from Bhutan 

 were shown by me to a Captain and Mrs. York, of Hutton Hall, Marston, at 

 the Woodlands Hotel, Darjeeling. He was travelling sight-seeing in India 

 and was a great fisherman and his evident keen interest in the primitive 

 equipment for fishing without a hook was so great, that I made a present to 

 him of the tackle, but the rod is with me. 



C. H. DRACOTT, c. e.. 



State Engineer, Sikkim. 

 Gangtok, Qth March 1915. 



No. XX.— THE BUTTERFLY ARGYNNLS CASTETSI IN 

 TRAVANCORE. 



With reference to note No. XXI on page 587 of Volume XXIII, No. 3 

 on Argynnis castetsi, it is a mistake to restrict the occurrence of this butter- 

 fly to the Palni Hills in S. India as it is just as common on the Kannan 

 Devan Hills, commonly known as the High Range of Travancore. 



The Palnis run East to West from near Dindigal to the Travancore frontier 

 at Pambardi Shola. They are divided by the Neutral Saddle into the Lower 

 and Upper Palnis. The Lower Palnis are East and the Upper Palnis, West 

 of the Saddle. A. castetsi has been repoi'ted from the Upper Palnis, but it 

 would be interesting to learn the dividing line on the East, where it ceases 

 to occur. There is no reason why it should not be found on Perumal Mallay 

 which is on the Lower Palni side of the Neutral Saddle. The Western 

 Ghauts run from near Cape Comorin in the south without a break to the 

 Palghaut gap on the North. At the Pambardi Shola frontier of Travancore 

 the Palnis join the Western Ghauts at that part of the latter called the 

 High Range. On the Palnis the rainfall is less and the plateau country 

 less rugged than on the High Range of Travancore, and the change is quite 

 definite and apparent at Pambardi Shola. The Travancore valleys are 

 deeper and the summits of hills and the elevated plateaus higher than on 

 the Palnis and there is more forest. 



The rainfall increases the further west one goes from the Palnis. The 

 heaviest rainfall on the latter occurs in the N.-E. Monsoon during the 

 months of October, November and December,' while on the High Range the 

 period of heaviest rainfall is in the S.-W. Monsoon in June, July and 

 August. 



I have taken Argynnis castetsi on the Kannan Devan Hills at 4,500 feet, 

 where the rainfall is about 300 inches per annum, and frequently exceeds 

 that amount in certain years. I have seen it also on Aneimudi mountain 

 8,837 feet altitude. In this vicinity the hills become the British Annam- 

 allays and there is no reason why this butterfly should not extend over them 

 as the character of the country remains the same for some miles. It alters 

 further west in Coimbatore District into practically unbroken forests of 

 very large timber. That country is being opened up into Coffee, Tea and 

 Rubber Estates, which will probably mean the introduction of the food plant 

 of the caterpillar from the surrounding hills, and with this the butterfly is 

 likely to follow. The Palghaut gap between the Annamallays and the 



