PAPILlONINiE. 115 
Fig. 1, PI. X is from a $ taken in October, but the sexes are alike, some of the females 
being very large, but this insect varies greatly in dimensions. I have never taken it except in the 
autumn, October and November being the season when it usually occurs here. It breeds in this 
district, as I have taken specimens but just emerged from the pupa. 
Leptocircus curius, Fair. 
Very scarce and sporadic, some years practically absent. I have not seen it at Macao, and 
it appears to be getting rarer at Hongkong of late years. On the wing it somewhat resembles 
certain species of dragonfly, but I have seen so little of this insect that I cannot do better than quote 
Commander Walker’s account in the Trans. Ent. Soc. of London, for 1895. He says “The 
headquarters of this lovely little butterfly in Hongkong is the ‘ Happy Valley,’ where I first met 
with it on February 13th, 1892, and on March 12th I took a very fine series; in 1893 it was scarce, 
and did not appear before April 2nd. It is hardly possible to imagine a more dainty and elegant 
little creature, as it feeds at the white blossoms of its favourite shrub, Buddleia asiatica , probing 
flower after flower of the racemes with its proboscis, with the long tails of the hindwings elevated 
and quivering, and vibrating its wings all the time without actually settling, like its larger relatives 
the Papilio s. When alarmed it c booms ’ off rapidly, with a flight resembling that of the larger 
Hesperiidcc. I have never seen it hovering over running water in the manner described by 
Mr. H. O. Forbes (Nat. Wanderings in the Eastern Archip. p. 139), although there is a fine 
stream in the gardens at ‘ Happy Valley.’ It is by no means easy to obtain Leptocircus in good 
condition, the long, delicate tails being very liable to damage.” 
Fig. 4, Pi. X is from a ? taken at Hongkong in March, but the sexes are very similar. 
