DAMBULLA 
373 
be called a break-down. Certainly motoring is the mode of pro¬ 
gression for the Tropics. The car was of course covered, that is a 
necessity, and the rapid motion through the air made it difficult to 
realize the heat of the low country through which we passed. The 
entomological results, however, might have been better had we 
travelled in a bullock-waggon. 
I have always urged that the irritation caused by the bites of 
insects is greatly increased by scratching, and that a little self-control 
will often lead to its rapid subsidence. But still more serious results 
may follow. We were going through a straggling native village 
when a small calf chose that occasion for strolling across the road ; 
the car would have easily cleared it, but at the critical moment the 
calf stopped and leisurely licked the small of its back! The car 
gave a jump, and when I last saw that calf it was on its back in the 
middle of the road, with its legs straight up in the air as stiff as those 
of a Noah’s ark beast that had been knocked over by a child. 
Dambulla, 45 miles due N. of Kandy, 334 ft. above sea-level. 
February 24th and 29th. 
The huge, almost smooth, isolated black rock rises about 700 ft. 
above the plain. On one side it overhangs considerably, and this 
portion, enclosed by walls, forms the celebrated Bock Temple, now 
something over 2000 years old. In the dim light of the temple, 
beneath the painted ceiling we saw rows of solemn Buddhas of 
stone, wood, or plaster, sitting in cross-legged meditation. They 
were usually dignified, often impressive, as was certainly the colossal 
recumbent figure, 47 feet long, carved out of the solid rock. 
We got an afternoon here for collecting on the outward journey, 
a morning on our return. The gorgeous Papilio hector was seen in 
larger numbers here than at any place, but P. aristolochiae was 
scarce. Nychitona xiphia was common, Talicada nyseus abundant. 
Here I found for the first time Azanus jesous, Guer., one of each sex, 
also Catochrysops strabo, Fabr., which was common, but all I took 
were of the male sex. It is sufficient merely to mention Catopsilia 
pyranthe (one), Terias hecabe (one), T. rotundalis (a male), Lampides 
celeno (one), Tirumala septentrionis (two), Chilades laius (two), Zizera 
indica (two), Polyommatus baeticus (one), and Atella phalantha (one) ; 
none of them were common. 
Wet sand in the river bed and some tributary streams attracted a 
fair number of butterflies. Catopsilia pomona and Catophaga paulina 
