KANDY 
353 
mind with hot countries than the merry gambols of the little yellow 
butterflies of the genus Terms. There is still considerable doubt as 
to the number of species belonging to the hecabe group. It will be 
seen that the question is by no means a simple one when it is borne 
in mind that not only do the sexes differ* but that both sexes are 
influenced by season so as to exhibit a wet-season and a dry-season 
form, the latter being commonly more marked in the female. More¬ 
over there are intermediate forms of all grades. Lastly, at least one 
of the species, or sub-species, or races, into which the insects of the 
hecabe group may be divided is extremely variable in respect to the 
width of the black marginal borders to both wings. While Messrs. 
Butler, Moore, and Swinhoe have described about thirty species, on 
the other hand Dr. Dixey at present includes them all under 
hecabe —provisionally at all events. 
Looking at the matter from a Ceylon point of view, one fact is 
prominent. Mr. E. E. Green and other experienced local collectors 
are familiar with two forms of larva, the one more or less solitary in 
its habits, having a green head and turning to a green pupa; the 
other gregarious, with a black head and producing a dark brown or 
black pupa. The latter we are told always produce butterflies with 
the character said by the late Capt. E. Y. Watson 1 to distinguish 
T. silhetana, Wallace, viz. a dark spot at the extreme base of the 
cell on the underside of the fore-wing, a character which he declared 
to be absolutely constant. The late Col. C. T. Bingham stated that 
the dry-season specimens of hecabe might be distinguished from 
silhetana (as well as from sari) by the reddish-brown season-mark 
near the apex of the fore-wing on the underside, forming a line or 
bar, sharply defined externally, whereas in the other forms it extends 
more or less towards the apex, forming a patch rather than a bar; 
in silhetana this patch is especially developed in the female. 
Now, in 1908 I brought home from Ceylon 136 Terias of the 
hecabe group. Rejecting four specimens (believed to be three hecabe 
and one silhetana) which were in such poor condition that no certain 
determination was possible, there remain 132. The large majority of 
these—eighty-four specimens (53 <£ 31 ?)—had, besides the reniform 
mark on the disco-cellular veins, two brown marks in the cell. These 
I call hecabe. In thirty-seven specimens (26 <£,■ 11 ?) there were 
three brown marks in the cell, the additional mark being a small dot 
at its extreme base. These I call silhetana. There remain eleven 
specimens (5 d, 6 $) having a distinct facies : they have but one dark 
mark in the cell, a transverse line. These seem to me to be rotundalis , 
1 He was “ sniped ” in camp during the Tirah campaign, Nov. 8th, 1897, 
2 A 
