472 
Mr. J. J. Walker on 
104 Papilio xuthus. 
Papilio xuthus, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., 2, p. 751, n. 34 
(1767). 
This conspicuous yellow-and-black swallow-tail/' so 
characteristic of the Chusan Islands and Japan, is here 
at the southern limit of its distribution, having been 
once or twice observed at Victoria Peak,'' but I have 
not myself met with it. I may here mention that on 
May 19th, 1893, I saw all the Hong-Kong species of 
Papilio, with the exception of P. aristolochise and xuthus, 
and took most of them at a small clump of Lantana 
camera at the head of the ''Happy Valley,'' in little more 
than an hour in the forenoon. 
105. Leptocircus curius, 
Papilio curius, Fabr., Mant. Ins., ii., p. 9, n. 71 (1787). 
The headquarters of this lovely little butterfly in 
Hong-Kong is the Happy Valley,"*' where I first met 
with it on February 13th, 1892, and on March 12th I 
took a very fine series ; in 1893 it was scarce, and did 
not appear before April 2nd. It is hardly possible to 
imagine a more dainty and elegant little creature, as it 
feeds at the white blossoms of its favourite shrub, 
Buddlsea asiatica, probing flower after flower of the 
racemes with its proboscis, with the long tails of the 
hindwings elevated and quivering, and vibrating its 
wings all the time without actually settling, like its 
larger relatives the Papilio' s. When alarmed, it booms" 
off rapidly, with a flight resembling that of the larger 
Hesperiidse. I have never seen it hovering over running 
water in the manner described by Mr. H. O. Forbes (Nat. 
Wanderings in the Eastern Archip., p. 139), although 
there is a fine stream in the gardens at " Happy Valley.'' 
It is by no means easy to obtain Leptocircus in good 
condition, the long delicate tails being very liable to 
damage. My specimens are in all respects identical 
with the Fabrician type of L. curius preserved in the 
Banksian collection at the Natural History Museum. 
