TEINOPALPUS. 



511 



" This splendid insect is peculiar to Sikkim, and is found only in the forest 

 region from about GOOO to 10,000 feet elevation. Unless its habits are 

 known, it is most difficult to capture, on account of its remarkably strong, 

 rapid, and darting flight, and its habits of resting on high trees, from Avhich 

 it flies only during a few hours of the morning, during the rare intervals of 

 sunshine which prevail in these cloudy, damp, and rainy forests. The female, 

 Avhich seldom or never flies in the same places as the male, is so extremely 

 rare that, though for many years high rewards have been offered for it to the 

 natives who make a business of catching insects, only six or seven in all are 

 known to have been taken, and these mostly by chance in places outside the 

 forest. 



"In order to take the male, one must go early in the morning in the 

 months of June, July, or August, to one of the few spots in the neighbour- 

 hood of Darjeeling where a little cleared space is found on the summit of a 

 mountain top. Birch Hill, Sinchul, and Tonglo are all suitable places ; but 

 the top of Sinchul, called Tiger Hill, wdiich is over 8000 feet elevation, is the 

 best, as it is surrounded by a large tract of virgin forest. If the morning is 

 bright and sunny, about 8 o'clock one may expect to see Teinojja/jms flying 

 round the tops of the trees, and occasionally settling, but usually out of reach. 

 The natives lay baits of some evil-smelling nature to attract the insect, as is 

 done in Europe to attract Apatura iris, and with patience and the skilful use 

 of a long-handled net sometimes succeed in taking two or three in a morning 

 in this manner. The insects are so strong and active in the net, however, 

 that they are difficult to get in a perfect state, and always command a high 

 price, even at Darjeeling. The flight is usually over by 11 a.m., even if the 

 morning continues fine, w^hich is very rarely the case during the rainy season. 

 I have seen and taken Teinopaljnis as high as 10,500 feet on the top of 

 Tonglo, and also at Tendong and Rikisum, and I believe it occurs as far east- 

 ward as Buxa. The pupa has been found by Mr. Knyvett attached to the 

 leaves of Daphne nipalensis, a plant which is used for making a fine strong 

 paper in Nepal, and a female has been bred by him from one of these pupse. 

 This plant is probably the food-plant of the larva, and grows at 7-9000 feet 

 in the virgin forests where the insect occurs." (Elwes, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 

 1888, p. 421.) 



