VALIDITY OF SOME FORMS OF MIMICRY. 



72Y 



I found the wings of Papilio hector, Eiiplcea core, and Danais 

 septentrionis, and a little distance further on another J), septen- 

 ti-ionis. These were the commonest butterflies about at the time. 



12.4.10. Kullar, 1200 feet. Saw a Bulbul dart out at a 

 Papilio hector and miss it. Saw the following with notched wings : 

 P. demoleus, one or two Catopsilias, one or two Teracolus fausta, 

 several P. hector, many Jimonia lemonias, these last usually with 

 oval pieces out of the secondaries, probably by Ccdotes. 



10.4.10. Coonoor. Walking along a road I saw what I thought, 

 at tirst, was a leaf falling from a tree about twenty feet up, but on 

 going to look at it I fovind it was the fore wing of H. iiidsipjnis $ , 

 diocipjms form. It is curiovis that I have only seen one other 

 female during the many times I have been along this road. I could 

 not see the bird, but Bulbuls are plentiful. Found also on the 

 road the fore wing of Papilio sarpedon. 



21.4.10. Kullar. Watched a Racquet-tailed Drongo for some 

 time hawking after flies. I did not see it chase a butterfly 

 though there were numbers flying about, chiefly Euploeas. 



Mr. T. IsT. Hearsy, Indian Forest Service, writes : — " Coimbatoi^e, 



6.6.10 I have frequently seen the common green Bee-eater 



(Merops viridis)iind the King Crow {Buchanga atra) take butterflies 

 on the wing, the butterflies being Catopsilia pyranthe, C florella, 

 Terias hecabe, and Pajiilio demoleus. The Bee-eater I have also 

 seen taking Danais chrysippus and Danais septentrionis, and I 

 remember to have been struck with their taste for those latter. . . 

 I have also seen the Tree-Swift {Dendrochelidon coronata) take 

 Catopsilia jjyrartthe." 



In another letter he mentions having seen Di'ongos attacking 

 dragonflies. 



Mr. Ormiston, of Kalupahani, Hadumulle, Ceylon, 4500 feet, 

 writes : — "Kalupahani, 4.2.09. Of course I will try and get you any 

 notes I can on birds eating butterflies .... I can give you very 

 little assistance at present, as the only bird I have watched is the 

 Fork-tailed Drongo, who eats the whites during a flight and attacks 

 Kallima. 



" The Magpie Robin and black-and-white Flycatcher catch a great 

 lot of moths, but I have no notes of their taking butterflies. At 

 Ohiya bungalow, after a moth night, we used to bottle all the moths 

 we wanted, and then loose a tame Mynah who made short work 

 of the rest, but I never tried him with butterflies. I will try the 

 Robins in my garden, but the fact that they eat dead butterflies 

 will not prove that they catch them. Pei'sonaily I do not think 

 birds make any appreciable difference to the number of butterflies 

 except possibly by eating them in the larval stage. It is quite 

 unusual to see a butterfly caught." 



" Kalupahani, 3.1.10. I have kept my eyes open for butterfly- 

 eating birds, but I am sure that the slaughter, if any, must take 

 place in the larval stage. I have seen the Fork-tail Drongo 

 feeding on the flight whites and Kallimas, but that is all, 



" I have seen a dragonfly catch and kill Zesvus chrysomallus 

 and another fly killing Papilios, Lycsenidse, Syntomiidse, with 



