370 
CEYLON 
that of our Small White, which—following Professor Image—I have 
all along compared to that of sweet-briar. Nychitona xiphia was 
rather common ; I suspected a slight sweet scent in one specimen, 
hut lay no stress on this observation. 
The most numerous of all the butterflies was unquestionably 
Catophaga paulina ; males greatly predominated over females, my 
takings being thirty-nine and six respectively, though the actual dis¬ 
proportion of the sexes seen must have been far greater. In phase 
they were all “ dry,” or at least “ moderately dry.” The males had 
a persistent sweet scent of the Stephanotis type; in one individual 
it was recorded as “ extremely sweet.” My note-hook contains the 
following:—“ Haragama, January 20th, about 1 p.m., saw numbers of 
males of Catophaga , all flying down the river, by ones or twos, but 
often three, four, or five together in strings. In the old spot by the 
bridge, where I had seen them four years before, were some twenty-five 
on the damp sand. With them were a male Hypolimnas bolina, a 
Hebomoia, a very few Blues, and some other things. When disturbed 
they would fly off and circle round, coming back to the favoured 
spots often five, six, or seven together, in strings, conforming to the 
movements of the leader, like wild geese.” [See above, p. 118.] Again 
on January 30th I saw a dense cluster of butterflies sitting together 
on the sand, and popped my net over them; about half of them got 
away, but I found in my net thirty-eight Catophaga , four Huphina , 
and one Hebomoia! At a moderate computation there must have 
been altogether eighty butterflies. The same day I disturbed another 
cluster of perhaps about the same number, and with three sweeps of 
my net caught about a quarter of them, to wit, ten Huphina , seven 
Catophaga , and two Ixias. 
Another Haragama Pierine, which if not so gorgeous as some 
others, is to my mind more exquisitely beautiful, is the pale blue, 
black-bordered Nepheronia ceylanica , Eeld. This lovely creature, which 
should be seen alive to be properly appreciated, has the underside 
of a delicate bluish white with a silvery or shell-like lustre. During 
life its eyes gleam like olivines. It is rather common in the forest, 
is somewhat partial to shade, and has an aggravating way of flying 
right into bushes, indeed, save when on Lantana blossom, it is a 
hard butterfly to net. A female so seen was actually taken for 
Parantica aglea , of which it is a very fair mimic. The lovely male 
is far more often seen than its comparatively dull partner, my 
numbers are 14 : 2. Apparently both sexes have a decided, but not 
very strong scent, like that of Freesia. Mrs. Longstaff described 
the scent of a female as “ slight frangipani.” 
