346 G. F. Hampson — Butterflies of the Nilgiri District. [No. 4, 



XIV. — The Butterflies of the Nilgiri District, South India. — By G. F. 

 Hampson, B. A., Coll. Exon. Oxon. Communicated by The Superin- 

 tendent OF THE Indian Museum. 



[Eeceived Sept. 10th ;— Read Nov. 7th, 1888.] 



The Nilgiris form the south- western extremity of the Eastern Ghats, 

 which branch off from the Western Ghats north of the Palghat Gap, the 

 only gap in the great range of mountains which run parallel with the 

 west coast of India from Cape Comorin to Bombay. Zoologically, the 

 Nilgiri District forms the north-eastern extremity of the Ceylonese sub- 

 division of the Oriental region — the sub-region extending northward 

 along the Western Ghats to Bombay — , and its fauna and flora is essen- 

 tially of a Ceylonese type, largely mingled with the wide-spread forms 

 of the plains of India. 



The district is a wedge-shaped triangle with a base of about twenty- 

 five miles resting on Malabar, its apex, forty miles off, pointing north- 

 east towards Madras. 



On the west, the Malabar boundary runs along the slopes of the 

 Nilgiris at an elevation of three to six thousand feet ; on the other sides, 

 the district takes in a narrow strip of the plains from three to ten miles 

 wide, bounded on the north by the Moyar River, on the other side of 

 which lies Mysore and the Wynad, and on the south by the Bowani 

 Biver, beyond which is the Coimbatore district. These rivers join at the 

 north-eastern apex of the Nilgiris to flow later on into the Cauvery. 



For zoological purposes the district falls naturally into four divi- 

 sions : — 



(1.) The plateau, with a general elevation of six thousand feet, 

 though the rounded hills and peaks run up much higher, some to nearly 

 nine thousand feet. Innumerable valleys, each with its swamp and 

 stream, cut up the surface of the plateau. The land is clothed with 

 short grass, and in every position sheltered from the wind are patches 

 of forest from one to several hundred acres in extent. The fauna and 

 flora of this division has a large remnant of Palsearctic genera and 

 species, though the forms have mostly become sufficiently differentiated 

 to form distinct species. 



(2.) The slopes of the hills, clothed with forest and long lemon- 

 grass, and ranging in elevation from 1000 ft. to 6000 ft. on the southern 

 slopes, and from 3000 ft. — the elevation of the Mysore plateau — to 6,500 

 ft. on the northern slopes. To this division most of the peculiar forms 

 belong, and it is by far the richest in species. 



(3.) The strips of cultivated land at the base of the hills, with an 



