356 
CEYLON 
ranks as a sub-species ( parinda , Moore), was almost common. It is 
a grand insect on the wing, but not easy to catch. 
It may be remembered (see above, p. Ill) that on my first visit 
to Kandy I was told that the male of the big Ornithoptera darsius 
had a scent like that of sassafras. At Kandy I was unable 
to procure that drug, but the Apothecaries’ Company of Colombo 
were good enough to send me some blotting paper that had been 
moistened with oil of sassafras, and I was thus enabled to make a 
direct comparison, with the result that the two odours appeared to be 
almost identical. This butterfly, certainly the most distinguished 
of those peculiar to Ceylon, was frequently to be seen, and when 
within reach it was not hard to catch. 
The Skippers are so very puzzling that it is almost out of the 
question to diagnose them in the field; the best way therefore is to 
box all that you come across and examine them at home; they 
usually travel well so, whereas pinching is especially destructive to 
members of the family since their large scales seem to be very 
easily rubbed off. At first I remarked that Skippers were very 
scarce at Kandy, but they got commoner as the season advanced. 
I had noticed in South Africa that insects of this group are early 
risers, and I took one of the dingy little Sarangesa albicilia , Moore 
(peculiar to Ceylon), rather early one morning. Of the handsome 
Tagiades obscurus, Mabille ( distans , Moore), I took one off Vervain 
flowers, on which it sat with wings fully expanded. Near the hill¬ 
top I took two of the striking black and white Tagiades atticus, Fabr., 
settled on the upper surface of leaves. A solitary specimen of the 
small greyish Hesperia galba , Fabr., was all that I saw of the species. 
Iambrix salsala , Moore (Astictopterus stellifer , Butl.), was rather 
common. The tiny grey Taractrocera maevius, Fabr., was 
occasionally met with among low herbage, but as it looks quite like a 
fly when on the wing, it might well have been overlooked. Of the 
brilliant little Ampittia dioscorides (maro), Fabr., the females—which 
are very different from the males—predominated. Telicota bambusae, 
Moore, a very wide-ranging species, has a more European appearance 
than most of the preceding; I took but one, a male, and noted 
that its hind-wing was folded when the creature was at rest. The 
neat, black and white Notocrypta feisthamelii , Boisd. (Plesioneura 
alysos , Moore), and the tawny Padraona gola , Moore, were both 
unique, but of Halpe ceylonica , Moore, I secured two specimens. 
Next I must mention three species which belong to a very 
difficult group and may be quite easily confounded, though really 
distinct enough. Parnara mathias, P. guttatus , Brem. & Grey (bada , 
