250 MR. H. J. ELWES ON BUTTERFLIKS FROM [Apr. 21, 



Tezpur upwards. The rain still continues, the country is flooded, 

 and the nights are so cold that few Moths are flying. Everyone says 

 that in June the second brood of Butterflies comes out in full force 

 in spite of the rains, but then hill expeditious (and Margharita is 

 quite among the hills) are out of the question. I cannot stay here 

 till then, as the road to Kohima, in the Naga Hills, will be closed, 

 except for coolies, by June 1st, and I have better hopes of success 

 tliere. Nevertheless I am getting a few new and good things, such 

 as Apatura ulupi, Pithecops fulf/ens, Calliana pieridoides, and 

 Limsnitis austenia $ , Papilio elepkenor and P. te/earchus." 



The rainy season of 1889 was spent by Mr. Doherty in the Naga 

 Hills, which had previously been almost unexplored by entomo- 

 logists, though a considerable number of Butterflies were collected 

 on their lower slopes by Messrs. Peal and Sherwill and a small 

 collection was made by Dr. Watt on his march from Manipur 

 through the Naga Hills to Assam in 1883 or 1884, and described 

 by Mr. Butler in the 'Annals & Mag. of Nat. Hist.' for 1885. 



After leaving Margharita, where the rain continued till the end 

 of May, Mr. Doherty went up to the Naga Hiils, marching vid 

 Dinapur. He writes of the route from Nichugard, Naga Hills, on 

 June 10th, as follows : — 



"The Dhansiri valley is a perfectly flat jungly country 300-500 

 feet above the sea and wholly uninhabited. We moved on very 

 slowly. I hired coolies to push the carts through the mud, and they 

 as well as my men and myself were at work all day long on them ; 

 but all the same we made less than a mile an hour, the distance 

 being 83 miles. It is still 36 to Kohima." Mr. C. B. Clarke has 

 described this road, which is the only approach to the Naga Hills 

 from Assam at present, as being in the rainy season a sea of mud, 

 lined with the carcasses of cart-bullocks which have succumbed on 

 the journey, and almost impassable. 



" Whenever the rain stopped we caught Butterflies and Cicin- 

 delidae. There are no jungle species, the road being bordered by 

 40 feet of high grass. Still there are a few good Butterflies, Papilio 

 elephenor and P. sakontala [The last I did not receive. — H. J. E.], 

 and Libytliea rohini {L. narina, Godt.), but only a few very 

 common Lycsenidse, Pieridae, and Hesperidse. I am now at Nichu- 

 gard, at the mouth of the gorge of the Dhansiri river, and am glad 

 to have a quiet day after so much rough work. It is a great 

 disappointment to And that there are now no Moths here. As to 

 Butterflies, I have not yet found out whether there are any ; but if 

 there are collecting will be delightful, as the country is divine, the 

 jungle-paths excellent, and we have several hours of sunshine every 

 day, though it rains every morning till ten. It will give you some 

 idea of the cost of travelling here when I say that I am obliged to 

 pay 4 rupees a maund (say 8 per cwt.) for getting my luggage 

 cairied from here to Kohima, 3(3 miles. Yet at Kohima I am only 

 at the beginning of my expedition, and I have 16 maunds of 

 luggage besides provisions." 



Tlie physical features and peculiarities of the Naga Hills have 



