62 
INDIA 
hard to see. Of the gorgeous Hypolimnas bolina I saw one of each 
sex; it needed an effort to believe that they were one species. 
The Blues included Catochyrsops cnejus; Tarucus theophrastus; 
Chilades varunana , Moore ; and C. laius, Cram., this last was common. 
The only Skipper taken was Telicota augias , Linn. 
A little Geometer, Semiothisa fidoniata, Guen., like a Macaria, 
was common among herbage, and one specimen of Tephrina disput- 
aria, Guen., was taken in like situation. The first-named also came 
to light, along with Oligochroa akbarella, Bag. Can M. Bagonot 
have intended a deliberate insult to the memory of the great 
Emperor when he named this lowly and insignificant little Phycid 
after him ? 
Other moths taken in the Kudsia Gardens were the tiny Noctuids 
Metachrostis badia, Swinhoe, and Earias insulana, Boisd., the latter 
being common among bushes near a back-water of the Jumna. 
In the verandah of the hotel I took a fine Sphinx orientalis, Butl., 
the eastern form of convolvuli, Linn.; it had probably been attracted 
by the lights the night before. 
Lalkot. November 10 th. 
Eleven miles south of Delhi lies this glorious city of ruins, and 
there, under the shadow of the Kutab Minar, flying over the stones 
and amidst the thorny vegetation were many Whites and Orange-tips. 
The butterflies appeared especially to delight in flying about inside 
the thorniest bushes, or even flying through and through them, so 
that torn wings were almost the rule. Prominent in the countless 
crowd of Belenois mesentina so employed were Ixias marianne and 
/. pyrene; a female of the former was distinguished by the substitu¬ 
tion of cream-colour for white in the ground-tint of the wings. The 
delicate-looking Teracolus etrida, lover of ruins, was in abundance, 
flying close to the ground. 
The great mosque of the Kutab presents several points of archi¬ 
tectural interest, but one thing especially impressed me. It was 
erected by Kutab-ud-din Aibak, after the capture of Delhi, in 1191 
a.d. The Mohammedan soldier had to carry out his designs through 
the instrumentality of Hindu workmen, who were ignorant of the 
principle of the arch. Accordingly we see in place of voussoirs, or 
wedge-shaped stones fitting together and constituting the arch, 
successive horizontal layers of stone, each “sailing over” or projecting 
beyond the other, while two flat slabs at the top take the place of 
the keystone. [Fig. 4.] 
