BUTTERFLY.
. . . BUMS. I'arwana, . . . HIND. Papillon, . . . Fn. Pedants, . . . . IT. Sehmetterling, . . Gila. Mariposa, . . . . Se.
Butterflies are very numerous in the S. and E. of Asia, and many of them very beautiful. They are classed by entomologists in the insect order Lepidoptera. The largest and most gaudy of Ceylon is the great black and yellow butterfly, the Oruithoptera darsius, Gray. Its upper wings, which often measure six inches across, are of a deep velvet black. Its caterpillar feeds on the Ariatolochia and betel leaf, but the butterfly on the heliotrope. Papilio polymnestor, the black and blue butterfly, feeds on the ruddy flowers of the hibiscus or the dark-green foliage of the citrus. Papilio Hector has crimson spots on the black velvet of the inferior wings. When examining the Lachen valley, Dr. Hooker found the cater pillar of the swallow-tail butterfly (Papilio machaon) common, feeding on umbelliferous plants, as in England; and a sphynx (like S. euphorbim) was devouring the euphorblas ; • the English Cynthia cardui (painted-lady butterfly) was common, as were sulphurs, marbles, Ponds.
(whites), blues, and Thecla, of British aspect but foreign species. Amongst these, tropical forms were rare, except one fine black swallow-tail. Kallima inachis of India and K. pamlekta of the Malay Archipelago furnish wonderful examples of protective resemblance to dead or decaying leaves, every one of them being some shade of ash or brown or ochre. The Ornithoptera paseidon of the Aru Islands, is the bird-winged butterfly. In the western districts of Java are the calliper butterfly, Charaxes kadeni ; of birds, the elegant green and yellow trogon, Harpictes Reinwardti ; the gorgeous little minivet fly-catcher, Pericrocotus miniatus, which looks like a flame of fire among the bushes ; and the rare black and crimson oriole, Analcipus sanguinolentus. The Papilio arjuna has its wings covered with grains of golden green.—lVallace, p. 118.