CONTENTS OF VOLOCME XXX/.

No. 3

THE GAMF BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE. (With a coloured

plate.) The Purple Coot. (Porphyrio p. poliocephalus.)...

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY.

Part l.. By B. Blatter, S.J., PH.D. F.Z.S.:

SNAKES COLLECTED IN BuRMA IN 1925. With a EBC. BES

Col. F. Wall, ¢.M.G., K.H.S.. eetlecns cose

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE Son aoroGn OF pee Part II.

By the Late S. Basil-Edwardes, M.B.0.U., R.A.O.U........006

NoTEsS ON SOME NEW AND INTERESTING BUTTERFLIES FROM

INDIA AND Burma. Part II. (Wzth three plates.) By

Major-General H. C. Tytler, ¢.B., C.M.G., C.I.E., D.S.O.,

EPSIOU Siem ee ann) aeinnen! eee nnn hs pecerno ns Emo nich wee Man wrniee

BoMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY’S Nianinet SURVEY OF

INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. Report Nos. 43, 44 and 45

and Supplement to Report Nos. 23 and 31. By Mrs.

Fliecleme Nis WindSay MeAcs BiSCi ca, stad: eee sa4s5 soo Sane eeeeences

THE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BOGteE ise Part GI

(With a oe By Col. W. H.. Evans? DiS.Os. F:Z.5:,

B.ES.. : -

A ee OF Scuriaté Rena IN THE Coa

GUEEws by oir A. |: Wilson, K.-C. R., CSik, (C.M.G.%

DSO CtC.. Secaees

THE COMMON Bare OF THE owe OF en “Part

XXXVII. (Including those met with inthe Hill Stations

of the Bombay Presidency.) By T.. R. Bell, ¢.1.z., 1.4.s.

(Retd.):.. cP sf Diab bites senideeeyoecses he

THE BIRDS OF eunirien Pca Par I. (With two

plates anda map.) By C. B. Ticehurst, M.A., M.R.C.S.,

M.B.O.U., F.R.G.S.. Ee he Sula atte ve aee eae ate

Norus on INDIAN Pe. By Col. W. H. Evans,

DiGOm.E.ZeG, FHS: raha din en cates

AN ELEPHANT Sebon ON THE nee noes Coimbatore

Distriche (i711 @ plaice). By RC. Morris.s:..c. 0.3...

A New ICHNEUMON FLY OF THE GENUS Afhanteles from

the Death’s Head Moth Acherontia styx. (With a plate.)

By C. F. W. Muesebeck, with a note on its Life History

by C. McCann

Ce ee

PAGE

330

547

558

567

Sul:

615

638

655

687

1AZ

720

726

iv CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXI

NOTES ON SMALL GAME SHOOTING IN THE KHASI HILLs.

By E. .McCullochie ssi. aie ee

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES. Part XXV. (With one plate and five

text-figures.) By Lt.-Col. F. C. Fraser, 1.M.S., F.E.S..

LUMINESCENCE IN PLANTS AND ANIMALS. By E. Eee

9.55, SPA Dig ZS: ae es aca os eee

THE MASON Wasp (Lumenes ee Part II. By Major

R. W. G. Hingston, 1.M.S..

DRAGONFLIES—A REVISION OF THE GENOeL: Zygonyx, "Belvs:

(With a text-figure.) By Lt.-Col. Major F. C. Fraser,

I.M.S., F.E.S.. < wubttea ge 5 ssh Ghee a ee een aee ted ore

NOTES ON Ricdnee FROM Bowen ane HW... POwileris 2. sa

On A COLLECTION OF MOTHS OF THE FAMILY Geometride

from Upper Burma made by Capt. A. E. Swann. Part

Tit) “By 4B Prout) ress fest eee

REVIEWS :—GOLD FISH Goi tend FOR AM anon sist ead ina

BiG GAME HUN‘ING IN THE HIMALAYAS AND

‘THE JOURNAL OF THE aren eee NRE REE

HSnORY SOCIETY.’ pe RPh LS. COME aS

A HANDBOOK OF THE BIRDS OF HASTERN CHINA

EDITORIAL.. Ache,

Necaneeons Norns: —

I. A Panther Shoot at Sea. (With a photo.) By N.

Kirwan..

He fhe Breeding Habits of ee Pees (Belis porta)

By C. H. Donald.. : Me

Ill. A Tigress with os Cubs. ee R. ci ‘Merri. seta’

IV. Wild Dogs and Further Jungle Tragedies. By

R. C. Morris.. oe

V. ‘The Breeding She f ane Caen (Nemepheals

goval) and Himalayan Tahr (Hemttragus

jemlaicus). By Capt. E. E. G. L. Searight, R.z.

Vi; -Jackal and Hare. -By Salim -A. Ali... 15. ..0.03.0..5-2

VII. How do Wild Dogs kill their Prey. By Salim

Vee Oh UsReM Sabehn nee MA elt ei eae ana eA cto é Aon:

VIII. Twin Elephant Calves. (W7th a photo.) By Major

G; He Stockley). :.5. 055. :ipa) ae eee

IX. Notes on the Kashmir Stag (Cervus hanglu).

(With a photo.) By Major C. H. Stockley,,.....

X. List of Cetaceans taken in Travancore from

1902-19... By R. Shunkara Narayan Pillay.......

PAGE

728

733

748

754

762

770

780

800

801

8&0]

802

803

808

809

810

81]

812

813

814

815

XI.

XII.

XLT.

XV:

XVI.

ZV Ue

OVE

XIX.

OSG

XXI,

XXII.

OS UOTE

XXIV.

XXV.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXII

List of Birds observed in the Bheling Valley,

Tehri Garhwal. By Capt. E. E. G. L. Searight,

Rebetineec :

Aes taee neice of Sian Lae tea in yor Oe

Districts. by.J. ©. Higoins, Cis... sce A

Occurrence of the Indian Courser. (Czrsorius

coromandelicus) at Panchgani. By C. McCann.,,

Note on the Breeding of the Genus Caprimulgus

(Nightjars) in the Punjab Salt Range. (Wz7th a

Didies) yy EW. Watts, B6Z.Se: Ma OqU ahcc evs

Occurrence of the Sheldrake (Zadorna tadorna)

and Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) in Upper

Burma. - By J. kK. Stanford, 1:C.S:); Mm:8.0.0......

The Mating ‘of Crows. « By Salim Ay All.ic..<ces..

A Note on the Nidification of the Western Reef

Egret (Lepterodius asha) in Karachi City, Sind.

Cia a platein By Ky Ike Watesne. anita fone acas

Breeding of the Great Himalayan Barbet.

(Megalema virens marshallorum) in the Punjab

Salt Range. By H. W. Waite, F.z.S., M.B.O.U...

Extraordinary Tameness of the Garganey Teal

(Querguedula querquedula). By Capt. J. Mc.

C. Clive.,

The Red- legged ipelecnee SiH ve soa

Hawking Butterflies. By S. F. Hopwood, 1.F.s.

House Gecko (Hemidactylus sp.) shows a Sweet

Moouim sy Nic anny, 287 ).ca i. cceeteaee ene

Comments on Fr. Leigh’s Notes on Snakes.

CaMicGann> neve S ee Myek Stee eM LA Das. ot amc beh

Parturitions of een ree ae a ay Snake in

the Marine Aquarium, Madras. By B. Sundara

Fishing in Lonavla. (Wit a nde By ee

Evans.. : ae

Death from the ee of a one.

SUE calDyterN Tie Goce Sra ste mean men mises Weve vebaryesdsuooule;

|E*POKON DA OY GN OLS ae ert a ge a Oa eg ee

THE MoGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS AND

SPORTSMEN.

No. 4

Part I. (Wzth three plates.) By Salim

Core ene og 22% FSS FOF Ho,

823

825

826

827

828

803

833

vi CONTENTS QF VOLUME: XXXI

THE BrrRbDs OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN. Part Il. (With two

plates.) By ©. (8. WT icchurst, MAL; Rees. a Mee: ©: Ue.

InpIAN DRAGONFLIES. Part XXVI. (With three text- ie

By -Lt-Col. P.1C; Braserainmes. ens. a de

THE Mason Wasp (Zumenes be Patt 1p Ee Mason

R. W. G. Hingston, I.M.S.. Be x =

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE Bowe PResroenee:

Part ll. 7 vBy i. Blatter. ss. Ph peer ws.

IMPRESSIONS OF PACHMARHI BIRDS. Wit pr hie 8s

Capt. BS. .P. Bates...

On A COLLECTION OF Manel OF THE Hanae Gaynineie

from Upper Burma made by Capt. A. E. Swann. Part

IV. ..By. Ee Biv Prout) aes ie ests aerate error oe

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF haa (Includ-

ing those met with in the Hill Stations of the Bombay

Presidency)... Part 2 XSV Il. ( ByoPiwi ell scorn.

LBsS. (INCtCy) oe ed cs Son!aie oa MMA teleerer yee

NOTES ON THE BIRDS « OF . Kasamre. on I. (With a plate

and.a map.) By B. BeOsmaston, C.1.8...8.0;U...,-5.,

FURTHER NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF AMBALA DISTRICT. By

A. E. Jones.. ; chia, aban UN Nein Whe 8 Lae eee

A CRIPICAT Revi OF ee aie C. Bosk’s ‘ NERVOUS

MECHANISM OF ‘PEANTS: ~ By R.UH. Wasturi.. ces. ee

REVIEWS :—BIRD STUDY IN INDIA... ,....... ccc cseeseecntee eet eeetes

IN UNKNOWN ARABIA,, SNRs cine :

NOMOGENESIS OF Bony ONT DETERMINED BY

LAW.. ;

AN Tenor eCHIORE TO 5) EOL ae Buhne

PE DUTOR TAT: hese foe on, A er oe ee eats hat eR rer ee

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES :—

I. A Comment on ‘ Tigers and Elephants’ and Notes

on Tigers and Buffaloes. By Maharaj Kumar

Victor N: Narayen’ of Cooch Behar a...

II. Notes on Tiger preferring Carrion to live Bait.

By A Beginner.. So REA Mae ieetetrs Oe

TI. Black Leopards. ae fSeian A. "Att. cae ee at sidan

IV. Ships’ Cats, and an Instance of their Homing

Instinct’. By?3. WH. Hughes, i Bree

V. Wild Dogs in Mysore. By E. G. Phiyitian:

Adams, Major 1:A. CROtd:)iieicisc. can ceyssess'-+s0t

PAGE

862

882

890

897

918

932

gol

975

1000

1009

1015

1017

1018

1019

1020

1025

1027

1028

VI.

WAX.

VIII.

[X.

XL.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

aig

XVI.

XV IT.

DOVE LL:

XIX.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXI

Notes on the Long-armed Sheath-tailed Bat

(Laphozous longimanus Hardw.). By C. McCann.

CITE EDL OO SI ADIN Mig dhe, esse talsgint at asin oe

The Breeding of the Indian Rhinoceros (hino-

ceros unicornis) in Captivity. By Salim A. All...

Extension of Habitat of Hume’s Scimitar Babbler.

(Pomatorhinus horsfieldi obscurus) to Orissa. By

Salim A. Ali,. pA care

Indian Cuckoo Note Kel cone os oe

paceus) parasitising nest of Indian Oriole.

(Oriolus 0. kundoo.) By E. A. D’ Abreu, F.Zz.S....

Occurrence of the Wood Snipe (Gallinago

nemoricola) in Burma. By A. Macdonald.........

Arrival of Snipe in Mysore. By G. V. R. Frend.

Migration of Wiidfowl. By G. B. Pauri, Private

pecretary to H. H. The Maharaja of Dhar........

The Breeding of the Indian Lesser-Whitethroat

(Sylvia curruca aftinis) at Quetta. By Brig.-

Genli RM Bethamtit. 6.2 eos Zea oe eet ek.

The Effects of a Recent Cyclonic Storm on Bird-

Life in Karachi and its Environs. By K. R.

Strange Behaviour of a Truncated Fly. By Major

C. W. Sanders..

The Pairing of Ben ee

Commander A. R. Poyntz...

Occurrence of the Worm-like Base eran Cage:

phis monochrous Bouleng.) at Khandala, Poona

“(With a photo.) By

DIStHIChay SOY WICC AN cccccs auc Rocce Gace oes suce

Viviparity in a Thistle. ee a plate.) By E.

Blatter.. ‘ :

The Use of Patent Bales in eGhio: Cane By EE...

WiC Oe Wee 2) rine ab wae ha hens ce elmer ea ees en eee Ne

1030

1031

OSZ

1035

ALPHABETICAL TIS TOF CONTRIB EC LORS

VOLUME XxXxI

Nos. 3 and 4

PAGE

Ar. Sari A. slackal’ and of the Plains of India including

Hare ca wt: hie SO those met with in the Hill

peace —_——- : How do Wild Stations of the Bombay Presi-

Dogs kill their ae 813 dency, Part XX VAnL Ss.

—— ; The Mating of a ; Part XXXVIII

Crows 823 | BETHAM, BRIGADIER-GENERAL,

———_— ———-- ane Moghel R. M.; The Breeding of the

Emperors of Tete as Natura- Indian Lesser Whitethroat

lists and Sportsmen. Part I (Sylvta curruca afftinis) at

(with three plates) Senoso Quetta Me ae :

Be een 2 EBA ee BLATPER) = Hse) deg ean

pards . 1027 F.L.S.; Revision of the Flora

sneer eo _ The Breede of the Bombay ea

of the Indian Riinoeerae (Rh7- Part I

noceros unicornis) in Captivity. 1031 == Part IL is

—; Extension of : Luminescence in

Habitat of Hume’s Scimitar Plants and Animals

Babbler (Pomatorhinus hors- -—-—— ; Viviparity in “a

fieldi obscurus) to Orissa . 1032 Thistle (with a plate)

BARKER, ©. CO, SRUART. ds Chivas, (Capi ai Mc Cra sthas

RaZ. So. Wal Sig NEB O).2U ordinary Tameness of the Gar-

CG. EF. AO. VU. tmherGane ganey Teal Me cee guer-

Birds of the Indian Empire, guedula) 43 iy

Vol. V. The Waders and other D’ ABREU, E. A., P, Z,. Sets

Semi-sporting Birds, Part Il Indian Cielo Notes—Koel

(with a coloured plate) of Por- (Eudynamis s. scolopaceus)

phyrio poliocephalus polioce- parasitizing nest of Indian

phalus). The Indian Purple Oriole (Oriolus 0. kundoo)

Moorhen, The Kora or Water- Dastur, R. H.; A Critical Re-

Cock, The Indian Moorhen, view of Sir J. C. Bose’s ‘ Ner-

The Coot zs aaa ee e533 vous Mechanism of Plants’

BASIL-EDWARDES, The lateS., (communicated by E. Blatter)

MaBH4O. Cage Res 3O Wie DonaLp, C. H.; The Breeding

Contribution to the Ornithology Habits of the Panther (Felzs

of Delhi, Part Il Bee OO: pardus ) ae ae pi

Bates, Capt. R. S. P. ; Impres- Eatss, K. R.; A Noteon the

sions of Pachmarhi Birds (wth Nidification of the Western Reef

4 plates) : te als Egret (Lepterodius usha) in

BEGINNER, A. Noes on nieen KarachiCity, Sind (wth a plate)

1025 ——; The Effects of a

preferring eran to Live Bait

Breuer, 70. Ray CLE, Vise. 8.

(Retd.) The Common Butterflies

PAGE

recent Cyclonic Storm on Bird-

655

Jol

~ 1035

547

897

748

039

826

032

1009

809

823

Life in Karachi andits Environs 1035

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS |

EDITORIAL ;—Game Preservation

- Mr. B.C. Ellison ...

——; Mr. Prater in

America AN

= ——-—. : Shikar Stories

; Sir Sasson David,

Barts Ke Ca...

Evans, F. V. ; Fishing in Lon-

avla (with a text-figure) se

PuANG: COE, We H., D:5.0-,

F.Z.S., F:E.S..; The .Identifi-

cation of Indian Butterflies,

Part XI (w7th a plate)

; Notes on

——

Indian Butterflies

FRASER, Lt.-Cot. F. C., 1.M. S.,

BEsS.; Indian Dragondies:

Part XXV (with 2 plate and 5

text-figures) ee ise

—— ——; Part XXVI (with3 text-

figures) ;

——— ;A Revicon of the Saime

eee Selys. ae a text-

figure) sie ee

FOWLER, H. Ww. Notes on

Fishes from Be mnay

Frenp, G. V. R.; Arrival of

Snipe in Mysore ae

Hieerns, J.C., 1.C.8.; H Aseatiiede

names of certain Birda used in

Nowgong District bos

HiIncGSTON, Mayor R. W. G. ;

The Mason Wasp (/umenes

conica) Part II

— ; Part Ill i

HOPWwooD, S. E., 1.E.5..;° The

Red-legged Falconet (Mrc-

vohierax ‘eutolmus) Hawking

Butterflies ae

HUGHES, COMMANDER TOE ie,

M.B.E. ; Ships’ Cats, and an

instance of their pe

Instinct

Joneses, A. E.; Further Notes on

the Birds of the Ambala

District ak ee

KIRWAN, N.;A Panther Shoot at

Sea (with a photo)

LinpsAy, Mrs. HELENM.,M.A.,

B.Sc.; Bombay Natural History

Society’s Mammal Survey of

PAGE

803

804

805

807

828

615

712

1033

819

754

890

826

e027

1000 |

808

ix.

PAGE

India, Burma and Ceylon,

Report No. 43, Nelliampathy

Plateau and Palni Hills (w7th

Field-notes by the Collectors).

McCann, C. ; Note on the Life

History of an Ichneumon Fly

of the Genus Aphanteles (with

a plate)

; The Occurrence of

the Indian Courser (Cursorius

coromandelicus) at Panchgani.

; House Gecko

(Hemidactylus sp.) shows a

Sweet Tooth

; Comments on Fr.

Leigh’s } Notes on Snakes

- ; Notes on the

Long-armed Sheath-tailed Bat

(Taphozous longimanus,

Hardw.) (2ath a photo)

—-———— ; Occurrence of the

Worm-like Batic nantleniive:

phis monochrous, Bouleng.) at

Khandala, Poona District

MACDONALD, A. ; Occurrence of

the Wood-Snipe (Gallinago

nemoricola) in Burma

McCuttocy, E. ; Notes on Small

Game Shooting in the Khasi

Hills

McCoLtocH, E.

of Patent

Guns Sie ae :

Morris, R. C.; An Elephant

Shoot on the Baragur Hills,

(Coimbatore District) (wth a

plate)

-—

five:-Cubs .

The Use

in Shot

Bullets

Is phe with

———-; Wild seen and Fur-

ther, Tanele Tragedies...

MUESEBECK, C. F. W.; A new

Ichneumon Fly of the Genus

Aphanteles from the Death’s

Head Moth (Acherontia styx)

with a Note on its Life History

by C. McCann (witha plate)

NARAYEN, VICTOR; A Con-

ment on ‘‘ Tigers and Ele-

phants’ and Notes on Tigers

and Buffaloes

sel

726

820

827

. 1030

» 1039

. 1033

728

. 1040

720

810

811

726

71025

PAGE

Osmaston, B. B., M.B.O.U. ;

Notes on the Birds of Kashmir,

Part I (with a plate anda map) 975

PauRI, G. B. ; Migration of Wild

Fowl . 1034

PHYTHIAN- SASS Town: G.,

Le A, “GRetd2) a5) Wald mee

in Mysore . 1028

Pie PAN ak. feonimtens Maeagant

C.M. Z. a ; List of Cetaceans

taken in Travancore from 1902

to 1925 815

POVNTZ Cans eis Bee of

Sea Snakes a? a photo) « 1038

PROCEEDINGS ; 831

PRour, lb.B2, FsRas-, On HecE

lection of Mitte of the Family

Geometrid@ from Upper Burma

made by Captain A. E. Swann,

Part ITI ‘ aias Rel)

Panty vee Bae rene oP

Ras, B. SUNDARA ; Parturitions

of Electric Rays and a Sea

Snake in the Marine Aqua-

rium, Madras 828

REVIEWS:—Gold Fish Gultuns for

Amateurs wd 800

——-- —— ; Big Game Banenene in

Bie Himalayas

anid Eibet: 2. 800

-—_———— ; Zhe Journal of the

Darjeeling Natural

History Society,

Vol. 1, No. 1 S01

-——_——-— ; The Palms of British

india and Ceylon 801

———--—— ; A Handbook of the

Birds of Eastern

China sep 3OUZ

—-— -——— ; Bird Study in Oey. 1015

——. ‘In Unknown Arabia 1015

—_—; ee ee or Evo-

lution determined by

Law . 1017

—-—— ; An Introduction ‘S

Experimental Em-

bryology . 1018

-———— ;A_ Shikari’s Boeke!

300k .. 1019

SANDERS, MAJor C, W. Stanee

Behaviour of a Truncated Fly... 1037

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

PAGE

SEARIGHT, Capt. E. E. G. L.,

F.R.; The Breeding-seasons of

the Gooral (Nemorhedus goral)

and Himalayan Tahr (Hemitra-

gus jemlaicus)

A List of Birds observed in the

Bheling Valley, Tehri Garhwal,

April 1, 1926 to May 25, 1926,

from 2,000 feet to 13,000 feet...

SHUKLA, G.S., L.M.&S8S.; Death

from the Sting of a Scorpion...

STANFORD, J. K., M. B. O. U.;

Occurrence of the Sheldrake

(Zadornatadorna) and Lap-

wing (Vanellus ss ae in

Upper Burma

STOCKLEY, MAJOR C. H. ; Twin

Elephant Calves (wth a tyieo)

; Notes on the Kash-

mir Stag (Cervus hanglu)

(witha photo) ar

TICEHURST, C. Bs M.A; M. R.

Ca, M.B.O.U., F.RG.S.:

The Bird of British Baluchistan,

Part I (with two plates and a

map)

é eS, IJ Ca Hip slates) 862

TYTLER, MAJOR-GENERAL H.C.,

C, Bi CuMiG., (©. Des 05,

F.E.S. ; Notes on some new

and interesting Butterflies from

India. and Burma; Part-I

(with one coloured plate and

two black and white plates)

WAITE, H. W.; Note on the

Breeding of the Genus Capri-

mulgus (Nightjars) in the

Punjab Salt pone

; Breeding of fe

Great inmatagan Barbet (J/e-

galema virens marshallorum)

in the Punjab Salt-range :

Wat, “7 CoL.us Paes 2 Mr riG

K. H. S.; Snakes collected

in Burma in 1925 (wth a block)

WIISON, SIR ARNOLD T., K.C.

LEC Sa CoE Ge D.30

etc. ; A Summary of Scientific

Research in the Persian Gulf...

812

817

830

823

813

814

687

579

821

825

558

638

EUS. OF lei S:

VOLUME XXXI

No. 3

The Game Birds of the Indian Empire —

Plate—The Purple Coot (Porphyrio poliocephalus poliocephalus )

New and Interesting Butterflies from India and Burma—

Plate IlI—Fig.

Fig.

Fig,

Fig.

Hig:

Fig.

Plate IIl—Fig.

Fig.

Plate V-—Fig.

Fig.

Hic.

Fig.

Liminttts trivena pallida 2 ...

a », evivena 3

7 a ligyes $

», lepichinihydaspes Z ..

. Mantola pulchra astorica &°

. Liminitts lepichint gilgitica 4

. Satarupa splendens 3 :

9 zulla

9. Aemona lena haynet g

1. Neptis mackwood: 3g

“

ad SULLUSO

3. Theda doni &

. Apatura cooperi &

. Neptis zaida bhutanica 3

»» manipuriensis SB...

» », drummonai 3

. Virachola smilis smilis

. Apatura ulupi kalaurica 2

. Dophla coopert 2 as

. Charaxes durntordi merguia g ...

. Parnassius acco pundata 2

. Oenets garhwalica °

The Identification of Indian Butterflies—

Plate XXXII HESPERIIDH Pamphiline (Part)

The Birds of British Baluchistan—

1 Map of Baluchistan

2 (a) Hills from the Quetta Bene with Orne.

(6) Low bare hills, Sind—Las Belas Frontier

3 (a) Khirthar Range, Sind, Baluchi Frontier

(AS Tanei? ins the Juniper Forest dotted with wild Roce, etc.

An Elephant Shoot on the Baragur Hills—

ie (a) Mr. KR. C. Morris’s ‘Tusker

(6) The Trophies

A New Ichneumon Fly of the Genus Apanieles fron the Death’ S SE eaamoen

(Acherontia styx)—~

1 (a) Caterpillar with Ichneumon Cocoon on underside ...

(6) Lateral view of a.... ea we on ee

723

726

xii LIST OF PLATES

PAGE

Indian Dragonflies—

Dorso-lateral view of Macrogomphus annulatus a aoe = 10

i os seductus & ee ao 7 OO)

- A montanus go ae Ey OO

in Perissogomphus stevensi & ae Ee 8)

-, Acrogomphus fraseri & Eee oe sc OO

a Leptogomphus gestrot g ca is ek feo

3 inclitus & 2736

Note on tiie Breeding of the Genus Caprimulgus (Migntes). in rine

Punjab Salt Range.

(a) Typical Breeding Ground of Caprimulgus monticolus and

C. europeus unwint. Sethi, Jhelum District, Punjab Salt Range

(altitude 2,600 feet) ... He es ate ee Se aoe

(6) Caprimulgus europeus unwint, sitting on eggs Sethi, Jhelum

District, Punjab Salt Ranye (altitude 2,600 feet) ae saat Fete 74)

Note on the Nidification of the Western Reef Egret (Leplerodius asha)

in Karachi City, Sind—

(a) Nest of Ledlterodius asha depicting leafy type with leaves still fairly

fresh ne 823

(6) The same, ne leaf ee aie anally falling off Sane tb

leaves withering and dropping a wate A ake jae heed

No. 4

Mogul Emperors of India as Naturalists and Sportsmen—

Plate 1. The Emperor Jehangir shoots a Large Lion dss Ae IOOS

2. The Close of a Qamargah Hunt oa oe ne SA?

3. A Lion Hunt with Buffaloes se a hae Ua MRA

Birds of British Baluchistan—

Plate I.—(a) Inthe Juniper Forest, Ziarat as me .-. 868

(6) On the edge of the Juniper Forest » ... 868

Plate Il.—(a) Tangiin Ziarat Forest ... eat aoe O09

(6) Khirthar Range, Sind-Baluchi Browtice Mis <2 7 = 869

Pachmarhi Birds—

1. Indian Purple Sunbird os ane a, sa 40)

2. Northern Green Barbet ANE ne roe + see Oe

3 (2) Common Indian House-Crow ‘owe ons a se cual 4)

(6) Smaller White Scavenger Vulture... oe ee eee pce

4 (2) Common Hawk-Cuckoo _... aes be as ee 923

(6) Indian Magpie Robin sis oo Mie Ree Borda 9 PS}

Birds of Kashmir—

Map showing Dominions of the Maharaja of Kashmir .., pair, Oa S

1 (@) On the Dal Lake ... Scr see one ae <6 990

(6) In Camp—Sind Valley a Bee ne oe Aree e.0)

Viviparity in a Thistle | a i oe aa on = 1039

ENDER LPOSLLOSTRATIONS

VOLUME XXxXI

Acherontia styx, Pl.

Acrogomphus trasert, fig. 7,

Genitalia ; a“

Fig. 9, anal a apendaee

PAGE

. 726

a /09

ERE)

Pl. fig. 5. Dorso-lateral view of

male

Wings, fig. 3 oS

Zemona lena haynet, male, Pl,

fo. 9

Anormogomphus Fee DAs s:

fig. 12, anal appendage.

Dorso-lateral view

—--

a — LIF I1SCHENKOL,

, Wings of male, fig. 5 i

5730

» 139

. 38]

n739

744

fig. 11, anal appendage. Dorso-

lateral view

Se fig. See

Apatura cooperi, male, Pl. fig. at.

—-—— ulupi kalaurica, male,

Pia ho. 9 soe

Barilius bola, fig. ...

Caprimulgus euvop@us UNwWINt,

Photo (bird sitting)

Cervus hanglu, Photo

Charaxes durntordt merguta,

male; Pl. fig. 2

. 139

. 744

583

Ssyele:

. 823

7; 920

Dols

Te siei6)

Copsychus saularts saularis, Pl,

noe 2

Corvus splendens Ginene Ph

fig. 1 eae

Dophla coopert, bates leals

Elephas indicus, Pl. (Tusks)

Felts pardus, fig.

Hlesperiide, spp. Pl.

Fiterococcyx varius, Pl. fig. 1

Lepterodius asha, Pl. nests

Leptocoma astatica astatica, P\.

Leptogomphus gestroi, P|. fig. 6.

Dorso-lateral view of male... .

—_— —__—___-___-—_—_ , wings fig.

te bee

Photo of twin-calves

es ee

muvee

586

814

. 808

ee OLS

ase DoS

. 824

920

2 130

882

—Figs. land 2, anal appendage 886

PAGE

Leptogomphus gestrot, tnclitus, Pl.

fig. 7. Dorso-lateral view of male 726

— lansberget, figs.

3 and 4, anal appendage . 856

Liminttis lepichini gilgitica ,

male, Pl. fis. 6 Datel!

——— lepichint ee

male Pl. fig. 4 . 581

—__—_——_ trivena ligyes, male,

Pletig.. 3 Se et!

-—_—-——_-—— pallida, iaile.

Plo fie. 1 ar Pstail

a trivena, male,

Plofic. 2 at ol

Macrogomphus annulatus, figs.

1 and 2, anal appendage 5 109

—— i,

5, Genitalia so foe

— Pie ie, 1 Dorso- eter

view of male 736

——— montanus, PL.

fig. 3. Dorso-lateral view of male 7

—seductus, fig.

wings of male 733

Figs. 3 and 4, anal ppendawen: ae 730

a ——_——_-——fig. 6,

Genitalia ... d73o

—Pl. fig. 2. Dore: era

view of male eile)

Mantola pulchra astorica, eae

Pl, ios5 Ber yey

Natahannah,male se alor ean fe 565

Neophron percnopterus gingint-

anus, Pl. fig. 2 Have

Neptis, mackwoodi, male, Pl. fig. 1 583

suffusa, male, Pl. fig. 2 ... 583

zatda bhutanica, male,

Bl fic. 5 003

—_—_—_—-—. drummond, Baie

Pl, ig.7 = ay raters’

——- HARE DUVEASES. male,

Pi, 2.6 4093

xiv INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Oenets garhwalica, female, Pl.

fig. 4 : cas inn OOO

Pamphiline, Sr Pl, a Ole

Parnassius acco punctata, ediale,

GARR aed Se mee ” sae 980

Perissogomphus stevenst, He 8.

Genitalia, fig. 10, anal appen-

dage a ote 35 709

————__—_——_—_-—— , Pl. fig.

4, Dorso-lateral view of male. 786

Wings, fig. 4 ae wo. 742

Porphyrio p. poliocebhalus.

Pl, coi: sips se arene Benois:

PAGE

Satarupa splendens, male Pl. fig. 7 581

——_—_—_-——_-—__,, male Pl. fig. 8 581

Szeboldius nigricolor, figs. 5 and 6,

anal appendage ee Aas 8000

—— —— Wings wae cos ise 1007

Taphozous longimanus, fig. .. 1030

Theda doni, male, Pl. fig. 3 as, O80

Virachola smilis smilis, male,

PIERS © ke ee ae Sey oles)

Zygonyx tris malabarica,

fig. Larva ... 25 oom ix 768

ERRATA

Vol. XXXI, Nos. 3 and 4

Page 585, line 14 for Lycene read Lycena.

+ AGlele:

ce els)

Plate opp

sf 08

Old

ole

On)

eno

» 88l

5, 1001

5, 1006

, LU2o

dd)

Le)

9 from bottom for phillipfinus read philippinus.

aD een " 5, Rhiphidura read Rhipidura.

7 for craytal read raytal.

44 for Dendroocitta ~cad Dendrocitta.

37 ,, Acrocephalcus ead Acrocephalus.

. p. 696, fig. 1 for Kzpfolazs read Hippolats.

Page 698 line 1 for langiuda read languida.

)

47 ,, ceottoides ead cettoides.

44 for Calophaps read Chalcophaps.

57 ,, Gennes read Genneus.

9 from bottom /foy Barkhaw read Barkhan azd for Fort

Sandeman District vead Loralai District.

44 for Lynx vead lynx.

23 ,, Toccacua read Taccocua.

31 ,, Lanuis vecd Lanius.

8 from bottom for Hororins read Horornis.

20 for Hierauetes vead Hieraetus.

20 ,, mature vead immature.

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

Abraxas aphorista n. sp. 947

dichostata 950

———— illuminata 948

———— martaria 948

-——_——— metabasis ; 949

———— metamorpha sinicaria 948

——— picaria ... 949

——— pusilla 948

— suffusa ... 948

Acanthion leucurus “596, 605

Acanthis cannabina fringillirostris 864

996

Acanthopneuste magnirostris ... Sen

—__—__—_—__———occipitalis occipitalis 992,

1001

Acasis viretata 782

Acerbas albimedia 615

———— anthea ... 615

—-——. duris duris 615

-_———_. —— martini... Are 615

——_-———- nitidifasciata ... — ote, OLO

Acherontia styx ... 726

Acidalia zerata... ss see 787

——— tephrosaria fog

Acridotheres tristis tristis 704, ‘817, 819, Jus

Acrocephalus agricola agricola 697, 1001

——---——. arundinaceus zarudnyi 696

——_-——- ——. concinews concineus 989

—_———-——. dumetorum 696, 697

——_—_——__-—— stentoreus brunnescens 696,

989, 1001

—-—=+—— streperus... re aoe POU

Acrogomphus fraseri 739, 740

Actinor radians ... Shs ee 623

Adelura ccernleocephala 984

Adolias intermedia merguia 580

4Egithaliscus concinna iredalei.,,

———— leucogenys 693

—_——-—— niveogularis 978

A githina nigrolutea 1001

——-—— tiphia tiphia ... 1001

/Ethopyga siparaja seherize 1004

663, 817, 978 ©

PAGE

Agrobates galactodes familiaris 686

Aleemon alaudipes cinerea 873

Alauda arvensis cinerascens 1004

—. — intermedia 874

——— —— schach ... 874

——-—— cinerea ... 874

——— dulcivox . 874

+; 2ulsula oulonla 1004

———— inconspicua 874

Alcedo atthis bengalensis 568, 818

pallasii 568, 879, 1005

Alseonax ruficaudus 988

Alsodeia,zeylanica re 909

Amandava amandava ECE RE ie OOS

Amathusia phidippus binghami 5/9

— ~—— fredericki 979

Amaurornis akool 1007

fuscus bakeri 1007

-——— phoenicura... 1007

———_—__—___—_—_—__- chinensis 820

Amblonyx cinerea 594

Amblycephalus macularius 566

Amblypodia camdeo sebonga sub. sp. nov.

588

——— maymyoia Nn. sp. 588

suffusa atarana sub. sp. nov.

588

Ammomanes deserti iranica seen eodO

—_-—— - phoenicuroides ... 876

———_—_—— phoenicura zarudnyi 876

Anas platyrhyncha platyrhyncha S77 020

——- poecilorhyncha ees gs 977, 820

Anamirta cocculus “s 550

Anastomus oscitans aes "819, 820, 1007

Anaxa kaluga a, 797

Anhinga melanogaster .. 576, 820

Anonychia diversilinea ... 790

— grisea 790

_ —— latifasciaria 790

Anormogomphus heteropterus 744, 745

---——— kiritschenkoi 744, 746

Anser anser 577 , 820

XVili

Anser indicus

Anthracoceros coronatus albirostris...

Anthus campestris griseus

—cervinus ...

-hodgsoni...

— jerdoni

———- maculatus

- richardi rufulus

-———-~ rosaceus...

~ similis a

———- sordidus decaptus

— spinoletta blakistoni ...

——— -—_——— coutelli

———-~ trivialis trivialis

Anthyperythra hermearia

Apatura cooperi ...

ulupi florencice

~ kalaurica

- ulupi

Aphanteles acherontiz ...

Aplochlora viridis

Apodemus sylvaticus griseus ...

Apolectus niger

Aquila hastata ui

nipalensis nipalensis

rapax vindhiana... :

Arboricola torqueola torqueola

——

Arceuthornis viscivorus bonapartei ...

Arctomys littledalei

Ardea cinerea cinerea ...

Ardeola grayii :

Argya caudata caudata

eclipes. ...

huttoni ...

—-——— earlit

Arichanna plagifera

ramosa

-——— transectata ...

Artamus fuscus .. Ss

Asio flammeus flammeus

Aspilates falconaria

——-—- obliquaria

—— -—— trilinearia

Asthena lassa

Astrape dipterygia

Astur badius dussumieri

Augiades bouddha

brahma

——-—— crateis

ochracea

similis... wae

——e

——

PAGE

3/7,,020

319

873

872

ae & One

873, 1004

872

873

872

795

579

580

726

786

605, 611

774

571

$71

818

985

612

975

977, 820

694

947

827

1005

790

791

795

780

828

972. |’

629

630

629

INDEX OF SPECIES

Augiades sivas... ee aa

subhyalina subhyalina

thibetana

———-—— sylvanoides ...

—--——- sylvanus majuscula...

—_--—__-—_-——_ sylvanus ...

——_-—___+-—_—- —— venata

Autallacta subobliquaria

Auzea apicata

Balzenoptera indica

Baoris agna

alice

amalia

apostata ... eee

——— assamensis

——— aurociliata

——— austeni

——— bada

——— balarama ...

——— bevani bevani

——_— ——-— thyone

——— bipunctata

——— brunnea ... wee

—--— cahira austeni

—— —- bromus

—-— ——.- cahira

—— ——- carna

—_—- ——-- nirwana

——— ——- sirius

canaraica...

ceramica ... des

chaya

chimdroa...

cinnara

coere

coerulescens

colaca Pe

conjuncta conjuncta

narooa

connasa

contigua ..

— cormasa a) an

discreta discreta... Ses

——_—— himalaya

-—— ella...

—— eltola des

——— flava oe a aes

flexilis

fortunet

guttatus bada

—— ——_-— guttatus gee

——eee

ote ee

—__—_———-

———aaes

Seemann

— eee

a ee

636, 684

PAGE

629

781

797

815

633

634

635

636

634

633

681

wee) 8

636, 676

636

632

633

632

633

636

632

636°

675

634, 672

634

635

634

635

633

635

632

636

pecan hl oso)

636, 676

Baoris haga

intermedia

jansonis

jolanda

-———- juliana

kolantus

—— ——— lanka

kumara kumara...

—_—_ —-——- malaya...

—_—_ ——_—— _ moorei...

mangala ...

mathias mathias

—— ————_ midea ...

—— ——— thrax

mencia

raawbevhl ashes gy

monilis

nascens ..,

-- neophytes

niasica

nondoa

oceia farri...

—— leechi

— penicillata ...

———_— ———- OCela...

—— simillima

- pagana

pellucida...

——— philippina philip

philino. 23 “ae ies

pitied...

———— —_—- ——_—_ seriata

—— philotas

—— plebeia

——— prominens

quinigera

——— scopulifera

——— scortea ...

--—— seriata ...

- sidata

sifa

sikkima...

Siailis 4c.

sinensis sinensis

sodalis ...

subochracea

toona

——-— tulsi

-——— unicolor

zelleri colaca

— --———~— zelleri

Bapta alba

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

636

634

633

636

634, 667

634

636

632, 663

632

633

635

636

634, 667

634, 669

636

632, 667

632

mae. OGL

632, 679

635

sas, O34

632, 663

636

785

XIX

PAGE

Bapta aluta 785

———- distans ... 785

- ectiptica 785

~ ——- platyleucata 785

Baracus hampsoni 655

Baxa orellana ... o 909

Blepharoctenucha virescens 944

Boarmia conjunctaria 798

-————-- —— cyclophora 729

—— -—— fimbriata ocx WAZ

-——- —~ melanostieta catotasniaria,. 942

——-—— retrahens 942

——-—— virguncula 942

Boinbycilla garrulus centralasize 867

Brachypternus aurantius aurantius ... 567

-- —bengalensis dilutus 877

Bubo benghalensis ; 970

———bubo benghalensis ... 1006

- coromandus 570, 1006

Bubulcus ibis coromandus 577, S20

Buchanetes githaginea crassirostris ... 863

ss mongolicus 863

Bunearus fasciatus 564

MUI Licinetus 564

Burhinus cedicnemus indicus ... 574

Butastur teesa af Sy

Buteo buteo rufiventer ... 1006

ferox ‘as i nae MOL

Butorides striatus javanicus ... 577, 1007

Cacomantis passerinus... 1032

Cadaba farinosa... 901

indica ies 901

Calandrella acutirostris acutirostris ... 875

——— + tibetana 1004

——--——— brachydactylalongipennis 874,

1004

-——_—- -——. raytal adamsi 875

———--—— rufescens leucophzea 875

—-————_ ——-——_ persica... 875

——_ —-——- ——-——- seebohmi 875

——— ---— scistanica 875

Callacanthis burtoni 996

Callerinnys obliquilinea 792

Calliope pectoralis pectoralis ... 983

——— tschbaiewi 984

Callophis macclellandi 566

Collix lentiginosaria 796

Caltoris assamensis 663

———— aurociliata 663

——_——_ austeni... 663

——_————. bevani... 663

Caltoris cahira

———. canaraica

—— colaca ..

———. conjuncta

——— contigua

—————. discreta...

——— eltola

—_——— _ kumara...

——— moolata

————— onchisa

———-——- pagana..

-—_—_—— plebeia ...

————- seriata ...

———— tulsi

—_—— uma

Canis aureus

-——-- dukhunensis

——-— indicus

—-- naria

——- pallipes

Capella stenure ..

Capparis aphylla

-——--——— bisperma

———_--—— brevispina

——-—— cleghormii

—--—— dalzellii

——~—— decidua

————- divaricata

--—-———— diversifolia

galeata

——_--—— grandis

——----—— heyneana

———--——— horrida

——-+-—— incanescens ...

——-~-—— leucophylla

——--——- longispina

——---—— moonii

——-——— murrayana

——--——— pedunculosa ...

rotundifolia: ‘.:.

——-—— roxburghii

——-—-—— sepiaria

soddada

——--——. spinosa

——--—— stylosa...

tenera ...

tomentosa

vulgaris

zeylanica

Caprilia specularia

——. —:

—_———.

—

Caprimulgus asiaticus .

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

663, 667

601,

594,

663

684

663

653

663

852

1029

610

614

852

1033

906,

904

905

903

905

907

904

905

903

905

904

906

903

S10)

905

903

907

903, 907

903,

905

906

904

903

904

907

905

906

791

569

PAGE

Caprimulgus europzeus plumipes .. 880

—---——. unwini 822, 880

— - indicus jataka ... on wlO0S

— macrurus nipalensis .. 1005

— mahrattensis 821, 880

monticolus 821, 1005

Carangoldes malabaricus eo wae

Caranx djeddaba sh he nae ie

- kalla ue fe re sect nek

Carduelis caniceps caniceps 864, 995

—_—_-——_-——-—— orientalis .. .. 864

—_-— — paropanisi .. . 864

-—_—-—.——--———. subcaniceps 864

—— —-—_- Subitlata. |... a OOF

—- carduelis major a 864

Carine noctua brama ... he ra pea O

Carpodacus erythrinus roseatus 863, 994

——-— —-—— rhodochlamys grandis’... 863

-——- rubicilla severtzovi BG (ESS)

ee rubicilloides ee OOS

Carpospiza brachydactyla es ac OO

Casearia ferruginea 577, 820

———— esculenta ane asd i LG

——————. graveolens aa cee aye OS

-——-—— rubescens aon be a wl

———— tomentosa fH le ae GG

Catreus wallichi... nae wee a BLS

Centropus sinensis sinensis... 569, 819, 881

Cephalopyrus flammiceps ae emo

Certhia familiaris hodgsoni ... we O80

-——--—-~ himalayana Bes en Se OO)

- ————-—- limes Ae 5 695

Cervus hanglu ... are se ww. Ol4

Ceryle lugubris guttulata ak ie LS

rudis leucomelanura ... 568, 879

Cettia cetti.cettoides .... el ae 100

Chaimarrhornis leucocephala... 709, 983

Chalcophaps indica... Sse ea Ol

Chapra brunnea... wc ssh se~ 063

—--—-— mathias ... i 663, 678

-———-- midea ... a ee we 9663

——--- sinensis ... ae a Hie G00

-~— subochracea 663, 679

Charaxes durnfordi merguia ... oe OTS

Charronia flavigula ss. 602

Chaulelasmus streperus 977, 820

Chiasmia levata ... ae ane ee afc)

——--—— strigata ane eS me, (hoy),

Chibia hottentotta hottentotta ae OO

Chlamydotis undulata macqueeni 574, 1007

Choriotes edwardsi ae se B57 4

INDEX OF SPECIES

Chrysopela ornata

Cimicodes castanearia

Chulenmtariag | <p bib

Cinclus cinclus kashmiriensis

— pallasi tenuirostris

Cinnyris asiatica brevirostris ...

Circus macrourus

Cissampelos pareira

Cisticola exitis courtoisi

Clamator jacobinus :

jacobinus ...

Cleome angustifolia

——-~--— aspera

-——_—— brachycarpa

—_——-—— burmanni

————— chelidonii

——— felina

glauca .. ce

——-—— longipetiolata ..

monophylla ... es

——-—— papillosa

——_——- pentaphylla

———- quinquenervia..,

-__—_———- Separatum

simplicifolia ...

———- stocksiana ae

———_—— tinella

——~— — viscosa...

—- =:

Cleora aagostigma are siete

alienaria

———- cincinna

—-—— coniozona...

——— cryptogonia Acs

—— decussata ...

—— euphiles

eurydiscaria

--— imbecilis ... ee

incongruaria aan ap

latifasciata its see

pammicra

perspicuata

semiclarata

sericea

trisrapta® «..

——— variegata ...

—— vatia

—-— venustularia

PAGE

817,

564

797

993

877

972

Sess)

801

1005

938,

Coccothraustes coccothraustes aati he

Cocculus hirsutus

- pendulus vt

Cochlospermum gossypium

569

899

900

899

898

900

898

899

898

899

939

938

939

940

941

939

940

939

940

939

939 |.

940

942

940

938

941

939

862

552

910

Xxi

PAGE

Coluber oxycephalus 563

———-—- porphyraceus ... 562

~——_—— prasinus 562

———— radiatus , 562

Columba leuconota feiteoulota 818

——--— livia intermedia 973

Colymbus arcticus 1008

Copsychus saularis saularis SIGs Oza

Coracias benghalensis affinis .. 819

———— benghalensis benghalensis 567, 877

—— garrula semenowi 878

Corvus collaris at 692

= corax laurencei 691

—_—— - ruficollis ... 691

-———— --——— tibetanus 976

—————. cornix sharpei ... 692

—-—— corone orientalis 691, 976

-———-. coronoides andamanensis 819

————- intermedius 817, 976

-——— frugilegus “6 ss OOZ

= monedula scmmeringii 692, 977

- splendens splendens ... 819, 823, 922

-_—— ——--——— zugmayeri ... 692, 977

--tschusii .. 692

Corycia alba : 785

Corymica immaculata .. 791

——--—— specularia 791

Cossypha gutturalis 709

Coturnix coturnix coturnix 574

Cratzeva religiosa 901

Cremnomys australis siva 596

Creteus cyrina cyrina 617

-- -. parca 617

— meleagrina 617

Crocallis acutaria 797

—— bilinearia 796

Crocidura kingiana 601

--— rubricosa 600, 609

Crocopus phoenicopterus 973

phcenicopterus 801,

818, 1006

Crypsicometa homcema 788

Ctenognophos methoria 798

Cuculus canorus 880

ae telephonus ... 818

——— subtelephonus 881

————- telephonus 81, 1005

Culicicapa ceylonensis ceylonensis 988

Cuncuma leucorypha oA

Cuon dukhenensis 852

Cupitha alara 623

X11

Cupitha lycorias

——-——- purreea

———— tympanifera

verruca

Cursorius coromandelicus

Cynopterus sphinx ;

Cyanosylvia cyanecula aboot

= —-'suecica pallidogularis

—__—___- ——-— suecica

Cyclea fissicalyx ...

——- peltata

Cylindrophis rufus

Cyneelurus jubatus

Cynoglossus macrolepidotus ..

Cyornis superciliaris superciliaris

———- tricolor tricolor

Cyrtostomus asiaticus asiaticus

Dafila acuta

Decetia tinctaria

Delichon urbica ..

—_————- cashmeriensis

Delphinus celphis

Dendrocitta rufa pallida

Dendrocitta rufa rufa

Dendrocitta sinensis iia a

Dendrocygna javanica .

Dendrophis pictus

Dendrotreron hodgsoni

PAGE

623,

O10,

709,

377,

869,

Dicrurus leucophzeus longicaudatus ...

macrocercus ...

a ee es mibnicee

Dilophodes elegans

Diploclisia glaucescens ...

Diplurodes vestita

Dipodillus indus ...

Dipsadomorphus hexagonatus

multimaculatus

Dipterygium glamum ..

Discoloxia nigrifurca

—— purpuraria .

Dissemurus paradiseus grandis

Dissoura episcopa episcopa

Distira cyanocinctus

Dophla cooperi ...

Drepane punctata

Dryobates himalayensis

—--——._ macei macei

——--—— scindeanus

Dupetor flavicollis flavicollis .

Duranta ellisi

————

Sa TM ACLOCETCUSS ac

576,

623

659

623

820

593

983

709

557

556

559

850

Vee

987

287

817

820

789

999

816

692

817

Dei. $20, 1008

563

818

989

819

817

695

950

551

937

610

564

900

782

819

820

828

580

779

817

817, 1004

877

820

Vel

INDEX OF SPECIES

Dyspteris asiatica

Echinops echinatus

Ectropis ethregenes

Ectropis albibasis

————- chrysoteucta ...

—————-. conjunctaria

——_———- conspicuata

— cy. clophiora

———— defervescens

-——_——- dentilineata

—_--_— auplexa

embolochroima

——-~—— enormis

— —— hiulea

———— impos

——-——— inceptaria

—_——— indistincta

————- insecura

——_—— intractabilis

——-— irrorata

————— leucozona

————. lophomeris

——-—- marmorata

-——_—— nigrosparsa

—-—— ochrifasciata ...

— planaria

————— pulvicopia

————-— simplaria

Sp.

-— zotica

Eetion ayankara

eburus

—~—- elia

magniplaga

—

—— bisinuata Tenempee

Eeretta intermedia intornaeae?

pease each) &5 OX

Elanus cceruleus Rega aeee

Elephas indicus

—_——- maximus

Emberiza auricola

—.-—— _ buchanani

——-——- cia par

——--—— fucata arcuata

———-——- icterica

——-—— leucocephala ..

—-~-—— luteola

——-—— melanocephala

——-___— rutila

——-—- schceniclus paltidion

-———-—— stewarti ies

PAGE

782

1039

933

934

936

799

798

936

799

933

937

932

935

932

935

936

937

933

932

799

932

$37

933

799

934

616

S77.

577

O72

813

AB tele

868, 1003

eee OUR

867, 1003

998

ibe AOOo

867, 998

868

996

867

"867, 998

720,

INDEX OF SPECIES

XXili

PAGE PAGE

Emberiza stracheyi ee see 868, 998 | Funambulus sublineatus 595, 614

—- striolata striolata 868, 1003 —— wroughtoni 595

Enantiodes consanguinea 798 | Gabaria subalbataria 794.

Enicurus maculatus maculatus 982 | Galerida cristata chendoola 875

Eogenes ahrimani 637 | ——-——cristata magna 875

————- alcides FSG) Sem ns OAH) a 875

Eoglaucomys fimbriatus 603, 610 | Gallicrex cinerea : 537, 1007

Epione adustata 792 | Gallinago gallinago Canines 575

——--— obliquilinea 792 ———nemoricola ... 728, 1033

Erolia temminckii 3/5 —=—- Solitaria 729, 818

Eudynamis scolopaceus malayanus ... 819 | Gallinula chloropus 541

— scolopaceus 569, 1032 — parvifrons 541, 574

Eumenes conica 754, 890 —p oliocephalus 533

-— dimidiatipennis 758 | Gallus gallus gallus 819

Eupetaurus cinereus 612 | Gareeus apicata 797

Falco sp. ue a (OOo) a eae CHUCRT AUS 797

chiquera chiquera a72 —specularis - 797

peregrinus peregrinator... 1006 | Garrulax albogularis whistler! 817

tinnunculus tinnunculus... 5/2; 813 || —~=— leucolophus leucolophus 817, 1000

Fascellina chromataria 795 | ———— bispecularis bispecularis 817

——---——inornata 796 lanceolatus S17

——---——plagiata 796 | Gazella bennettii woe O12

Felis affinis 594,601 | Gegenes karsana 637, 661

——-~bengalensis 504,609 | ———— letebvrei eon LOSy,

—-domesticus 601 ———— nostrodamus .., 637, 661, 951

-——-leo 4/7) | PUTO 637

—-ornata Ase ae ... 609 —— pygmeus 637

——-pardus ie ... 601, 808, 809, 849 | Gehenna abima abima... 617

—-tigris 810, 831, 848 ——_—— Aneulitera 617

Flacourtis inermis SI SN Sli dawna 617

—-- integrifolia ... 4 erece 617

——--—— latifolia 913. | Gennzeus hamiltoni 818, 1006

os ontana Aras 912 -—_——--——horsfieldi horsfieldi... 730, 819

——--—— occidentalis ... 914 | Geometra dentisignata 786

-—— --—— ramontchi 912 — lutea 795

——--——sepiaria oe: .. 914 _ ——— viretata 782

Francolinus francolinus asize 574, 818 | Gerbillus gleadowi 610

———_-—_—_———_- ——melanonotus 819 | Gerres filamentosus 776

re! gularis 819 Glaucidium brodiei 1006

pondicerianusinterpositus 574 | Gnophos approximaria... 798

Franklinia buchanani 697 | ——-—— cinerea 798

Fringilla montifringilla .. 865 | Golunda ellioti : ee OUD

Fringillauda brandti heematopyga ... 998 | —— —— myothrix 605, 611

——-—neioricola altaica 997 | Gonodela khasiana 793

Fulica atra atra 544, 574 | Gonodontis acutaria 797

——-—cinerea 037 | = -—— bilinearia ... 796

Funambulus gossei 614. | ———--—— insulata 797

——_———— palmarum comorinus ... 614 - variegata .. 797

——- ——- —- palmarum ... 595 Graucalus macel 1002

woe pennanti , . - 603 Gunomys kok 596

—_ —————-—-—---— Arent scans), 610 | ———— wardi 604

XXiv

Gymnorhis xanthocollis transfuga ...

Gynandropsis pentaphylla

Gypeetus barbatus grandis

Gyps fulvus fulvescens

——-himalayensis

Halcyon smyrnensis

— —_—_——_-——_ fusca

—_— — —_ ——_——_ smyrnensis

Haliastur indus indus

Halpe aina : age

albipectus ene

———_—_-———_——- albipectus

—— albivitta

—-— astigmata

auriferus auriferus

— peletronix

bazilana

beturina

bivitta

blanchardi

——--- brunnea

burmana

cerata ‘sie He

débitis) 2. ets ie

decorata

egena egena

evershedi

fasciata

flava

grahami

gupta

hazis

hieron Ane

—~ homolea ceylonica

hoimolea

—————

honorei

hyrie

hyrtacus

insignis

-——-— joloana

knyvetti

kumara

latris

——— lucasi

——— luteisquama

majuscula

-——— marta

—— masoni

———. moorei

~-—_——- nephele

——— perara

PAGR

865

900

818

570

818

568

818

879

819

619

618

619

622

ce O2

621, 622

619

622

620

618

620

621

619

620

622

621, 622

622

620

621

622

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

Halpe perfossa 621

selangora awe 621

separata 618

sikkima palawea 621

——- ——sikkima ... 621

Sitala <. f0es. ae aes 619

— subflava. ols

submacula 620

sulphurifera 622

teliga 621

thandaunga 619

varia as 619

——— wantona 622

zema Ormenes 621

-—-—zema ees ven 62H

Harpiocephalus harpia madrassius... 593

Harpodon nehereus need aie

Hemerophila cupsearia 944

—_——-- rectractaria ses NOae

Hemichelidon sibirica gulmergi 705, 981

Hemidactylus sp. 827

Hemitragus jemlaicus 812

Herodias alba alba 820

- garzetta garzetta 820

Herpestes auropunctatus pallipes ... 610

-—_—---—— edwardsi carnaticus 594, 613

—-——- —-——- ferrugineus 601

——_———-- fuscus 594

- -—— viticollis 594

Heterogomphus pars 733

Heterolocha falconaria ... 790

—--- patalata 791

—--- segregis 791

Heterostegania nigrofusa 788

—- thamia... 788

Hidari bhawani 616

———-deesvena 616

——-—- hypoepa 616

———- irava 616

- ozias 616

- - thrax 616

Hieraetus fasciatus 571

- pennatus 1006

Hierococcyx varius 569518923

Hilsa blochii — wee eae! UML

Himantopus himantopus himantopus 575

Hippolais caligata 598

——--—— languida 698

—- pallida 2 1002

——--——- rama 697, 1001

—----—— scita AGE “06 2 O90

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

Hirasa contubernalis 944

—-—plagiochorda 944

-——-—scripturaria oe 944

Hirundo daurica erythropyga... 1003

—_—_——_——_ nepalensis 578, 817, 1003

—_——_——_——- rufula 870

—_——__———— striolata Sa Ole

——_——_ rustica rustica 870, 999

——-—— smithi filifera F Pe ey AY)

Hodgsonius phoenicuroides phceni-

curoides ir tee 981

Holorista usta 783

Homalium zeylanicum Dg SAY

Horornis pallidus pallidus 992, 1001

Horsteldia anita gigantea 587

Hyaena striata 852

Hyarotis adrastus 967

Hydnocarpus wightiana 915

Hydrelia bicolorata 781

——-—— enisaria 751

————- opedogramma 781

———— purpuraria 782

——_—— rufinota 781

Hydrochelidon leucopareia mica 5/5

Hydrophasianus chirurgus 1007

Hylobates lar 846

Hypacanthis spinoides Spinoides 999

Hyperythra calcearia 796

--——-spurcataria 793

Hypocolius ampelinus ahs 694

Hyprochrosis ancylotoxa 790

- ~ eurynota 789

hyadaria 689

——_—----———-mixticolor 789

- tinctaria 789

Hyria bicolorata 781

Iambrix salsala sae 971

Ianthia cyanura rufilata 984

Ianthocincla lineata ziaratensis 694

Ichthyophis monochrous 1039

Icterodes jaguarinaria 947

Ictinaetus malayensis perniger o/1

Idaea hyalinata fr aoe ioe a AOU

Ilisca indica se ATE

Inocotis papillosus apiloens es 976, 820

Ionidium suffruticosum 908

Iton azona 631

-semamora ... 631

——-watsonii rE 631

Ixobrychus cinnamomeus : 1008

—_——- - minutus minutus ... 1008

Ixulus flavicollis flavicollis

Iyngipicus hardwickii

pygmaeus

lynx torquilla torquilla ..

Johnius zeneus

CAarWutta =.

diacanthus

———-elaucus ...

Kogia breviceps ...

Krananda orthotmeta

Laiscopus collaris whymperi

—— --—— himalayanus...

Lanius colluris

———- cristatus picemieuiaides

—-—— excubitor

— aucheri

-—_—__ ——-——- — lahtora

—___——--— pallidirostris

—-:—_—— - ——_ przewalskii

—-—— isabellinus

—-—— minor

—-— schach ernronotds

—-— senator niloticus

—-—— vittatus

Lantana camera ...

_..

—

———— —

Larvivora brunnea mS be

Laticauda laticauda

Latticilla burnesi ...

Leggada booduga

—— palnica...

Leggadilla platythrix

Lepterodius asha

Leptocoma asiatica asiatica

Leptogomphus gestroi ...

inclitus ..

—_-—_—_-——- lansbergei

———— maculivertex

Leptomiza calcearia

Leptoptilus javanicus ...

Leptostegna asiatica

Lepus dayanus

nigricollis ...

oiostolus

ruficaudatus

Liminitis trivena gilgitica

—— hydaspes

—_——_—_——_ lepichini

——_______ —_- ligyes ...

——_—_—_———_-——- pallida

—— trivena

Liopeltis frenatus

3 (02,817;

XXV

PAGE

1000

1005

-- 1004

BO7 Ov

TI Om TUG:

778

817

792

986

702

702, 1035

701

702

988

702

988

702

988

727

981

564

697

605

596

604

823

920

884

883

885

886

796

820

782

612

614

613

605

581

563

597,

XXvI

Liopicus mahrattensis ...

Lioptila capistrata capistrata ...

Liponycteris kachhensis

Lobivanellus indicus...

vsom indicus ...

Locustella certhiola

Lomographa tenebrimedia

Lophobates ochreicostata

Lophoceros birostris

Lophophanes rufonuchalis eaten

Lophophorus impejanus

Loxaspilates obliquaria

—— trilinearia...

Loxotephria perileuca Ws

Luscinia megarhyncha golzii ...

Lusciniola melanopogon mimica

Lutjanus johnii

Lutra lutra nair ... a

Luxiaria amasa fasciosa..

— mitorrhaphes ...

— tephrosaria

Lyceena astorica ...

- baroghila

- christophi lesliei

- florencize

~ galathea Oitrralica

— depreei

-_——- metallica...

chitralensis ...

- orbitulus astorica

--——--—— —— ellisi

—- —__-—___——- jaloka

ee ———_— —__ —

eer we

—__ —_—_-——- -—— leela

——_———_ —_——_ walli ..

Lycodon aulicus...

————— fasciatus

Lymnocryptes minimus...

Lyroderma lyra

Macaca ferox

_——— mulatta ...

radiata

Macacus rhesus

Macaria monticolaria

— myandaria

Macrogomphus annulatus

——-——. montanus

———_—_--—- —— robustus

~—___-——---——- seductus

——-—__-- ———— wynaadicus

Meerua arenaria ... ict

——--—_—- var. scabra

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

567

817

608

820

818 |

S01 |

787 |

943

568

wring 817

818 |

791

795

793

709

697

774

603

792

584

583

584

583

585

584

586

561

562

3/5

608

592

608

592

845

794

734

734, 738

734, 737

SUS,

585,

3935

599,

a 100, Cos iod

734, 736

900

Meerua ascabra

ovalifolia ..

Manis crassicaudatus

Marcala obliquaria

Mareca penelope

Marmota himalayana

-——-—— littledalei

Martes foina

Medasina albidaria ule

basistrigaria ...

——--—— combustaria ...

———_-———. lasiochora

—~-——- livida ...

——~-—— objectaria

—- -—— _ parallela

tephrosiaria ee

Megaderma spasma horsfieidi...

PAGE

901

900, 901

614

789

820

603

612

602

946

945

946

945

946

945

593

SPF,

Megaleema virens marshallorum 817,825, 1005

Megalornis antigone antigone...

Melanocorypha bimaculata

Melitazea balba balbina

—— saxitalis lunulata

Melophus melanicterus

Mergus albellus ...

Merops apiaster

orientalis pelascnienel

——__-—__----——- orientalis

— persicus persicus

~- philippinus AP

~ superciliosus javanicus

Metaponia pusilla

Micrabraxas anisonoma

Microcichla scouleri scouleri

Microhierax eutolmus

Micropus affinis affinis ...

galilegensis

——-—— apus pekinensis

——-—— melba ..

—-—— murinus murinus

——-—— pacificus leuconyx

Microscelis psaroides psaroides

Microtus (Hyperacrius) wynnei

Millardia meltada

pallidior

Milvus migrans govinda sa

Mirafra assamica

———- cantillans .

— erythroptera Sige anae

574, 820

874, 1004

583

817

578

878

sites SODA

567, 878

sees OLS

567, 1005

996, 1002

946

982

826

569

880

eee OOO

879, 1005

880

818

«2 980

605, 611

596, 611

.. 604

972, 879

1004

875

Molpastes hcemorrhous intermedius 817, 1001

———— pallidus

leucogenys

1001

817

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

Molpastes leucogenys leucogenys 979

Monticola cinclorhyncha 985

——--—— erythrogaster... 1002

——-—— saxatilis 711

—— —- solitaria longirostris 7fa'3)

oo ——-—— pandoo 710, 985

————-- transcaspicus AX

Montifringilla nivalis adamsi ... 997

— — alpicola 867

Moringa concanensis 907

———~—— oleifera 907

-——_——- pterygosperma 907

Motacilla alba dukhunensis 870

——- -— hodgsoni 1003

——_--——_-— personata 871

——-—— cinerea caspica 871

—_- —— melanope 817, 819

—--—— citreola calcaratus Se raee pet oY

—-—_—__——_——citreola q 872, 1003

————-- feldege melanogriseus 871, 1003

——-—— flava beema 871, 1003

——--— — thunbergi 871, 1003

——-—— melanope 871

ae raii 871

Mungos mungo ellioti 613

Munia atricapilla 1002

Muntiacus vaginalis 606

Mus gerbillinus ... 611

——- homourus .. 604

—— musculus 596, 604

—— myothrix es 605

Muscicapa striata neumanni 704

Mustela alpina 602

—-—— canigula ... 602

— foina 602

———- hodgsoni pane O02

—-—--— temon 602, 603

-- whiteheadi 602

Mycerobas carneipes speculigerus 862

Myiophoneus horsfieldi temminckii 711, 817,

986

Myotis caliginosus 600

— moupinensis 612

- muricola... 600

Myrteta fuscolineata 784

- icuncula 783

— ocernaria 783

Nadagara epopsioneura 792

Naia hannah 564

-naia ... om 560

Natrix biteeniata ... 560

XXVIi

PAGE

Natrix clerki 560

gilhcdesi ... 209

-——— khasiensis ses 09

-——— trianguligera eas OOU

venningi 560

Nectogale sikkimensis hey Ol

Nemorhcedus goral 606, 812

Neomeris phoceenoides ... 816

Neophron percnopterus ae 57/1

~ percnopterus ginginianus 818, 922

Neptis mackwoodi 582

-——-— suffusa «bs 582

zaida bhutanica ... 582

———--—-—- druinmondi 583

—_——-——. manipurensis 583

—- zaida 582

Nerodia modesta 560

——_—— piscator... 561

Nesokia griffithi ... o>, “SOE

Netta rufina Ses Sa 578, 820

Nettion crecca crecca 977, 820

Nicevillea akar 623

—- alfurus 623

——-—— concinna 623

——-—— fabriolata 623

——-—— gola 623

—--——. goloides 623

——-—— grandis 623

——--—— locus 623

——————- naranata 623

———--—— nipata... 623

——_——- paragola 623

————-— pseudolus 623

——_-—-- rajagriha 623

——-—— taxilus... 623

-——-. trishna 623

' Niebuhria arenaria 900

——- oblongifolia .. 901

Niphanda cymbia 587

———_-—— marcia O57

- tessellata 587

Nothomiza eegriviridis 786

cinerascens ... 786

————— dentisignata 786

— ithyterma 786

— obscuristrigata 786

———_——- simpliciaria... 786

viridis 786

Notocrypta feisthamelii 959

restricta = 956

Nucifraga caryocatactes hemispila ... 817

XXVili

Nucifraga multipunctata

Numenius arquatus lineatus

Nyctalus labiatus

leisleri

——

Nycticorax nycticorax agen corax

Nyroca ferina ferina

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

977 | Otolithus ruber

575 | Otus sunia sunia

600 | Ourapteryx ebuleata

ey, 1000 fies - multistrigaria

577, 1008 | Ovis ammon

578, 820 -hodgsoni

—_-— fuligula 578, 820 | Pachydia vexillaria

se pha 1034 | Pachyura hodgsoni

——-——— rufa 978, 820 | ——-——saturatior Ae

- rufina 1034 | —— Sp. on

Ochotcna roylei 605, 613 | Padraona ahastina

——-—— wollastoni Ore) ahrendti

Occelophora agana 126 3 angustata

——-— lentiginosaria 796 | ———-——dara confucius

Oenanthe al boniger 706 | ——-——————- dara

——-—— capistrata 707 | ——-——-——— dilutior

———- deserti atrogularis ... 708 | ——-——--—— pseudomeesa

————---—_-— oreophila 708, 981 | ——~——-——— scrina

——_——-- finschii barnesi 707 | ——-——-—dushta

——_——- isabellina 708 | ——-——-—fettingi fettingi

—_— - leucomela 707 | ——~——-———_-orfitus

—————- monacha 706 | —————ganda

————- cenanthe 708 | ————-—heteerus

————- opistholeuca ... ... /06.| —————————chariyawa

————— picata , 706, 707 | ———-- ——-——-—heterus

——-—- xanthoprymna chry Laine 708 | —--——-——-——- —zatilla

Oenopopelia tranquebarica ss 819 | ——-——-—kobros rectifasciata...

— ——-——- tranque- -————— phellus phellus

barica 573 | ——-————-—-tanya ...

Oligodon aipocnent: 563 | —————meesia... i

——-—— herberti 563 | —-~———moesoides moesoides

——-——-purpurascens ... OS te OLA

——-—~—splendidus 563 | —————-——_——- ottalina

—_-—— theobaldi DOO ieee ee nala

Onryza meiktila 622 | —————nikaja...

siamica OO nitida

Onychogomphus Gesnene (Ne eae te a palnia

Opisthograptis molleri TO a ieee pava

— —-——swanni 791 | —————pseudomeesa

Oreicola ferrea ferrea 981 | ————-—purpura

Oreocincla dauma dauma 1002 | ————— sapitana

Oreocorys sylvanus 873 | ————— sunias satra

Oriolus indicus 819 | ——-—————-——sunias

— —-oriolus kundoo 703, 817, 992, 1002, 1032 | —_——-_-——— tropica

——-——— oriolus ... 703 | —————trachala

Orogomphus campioni ... (Ale yoiana

Orsonoba eethocrypta TOAg Ngee ee zebra

Orthomiella putaoica

Ostracion gibbosus

Otocorys alpestris albigula

———— penicillata ,..

587 | Paguma grayi

779 | Palumbus palumbus chaotas =

874 | Pamphila comma comma

874 demila

PAGE

...094, 600,

776

570

783

800

799

600

612

609

627

672

627

625

627

626

627

626

627

625

627

628

627

601

1006

630

INDEX OF SPECIES

Pericrocotus brevirostris Pieroni 703, 989

PAGE !

Pamphila comma florinda 630

—_—_—__——_-——- mixta 630

Paradarisa azyx Pf 937

—chloauges ... ae 937

Paradoxurus jerdoni 594

—_—niger 601

Pareechinus blanfordi 609

Parasynegia suffusa 788

Parnara bada 663

——-——canaraica 663 |

———\¥flexilis 663

———guttata 663

—-—-vaika S3 663

Parus major tater meatus tae 003

— ———-—— kashmiriensis 817, 978

—--— melanolophus 693, 978

——monticolus 817, 978

——— palustris korejewi : 693

——w—rufonuchalis ere eaite. 693, 979

Passer domesticus indicus 819, 865

———__————— parkini 865, 997, 1003

' ——-—-vriseigularis 866

——hispaniolensis Penceacnicts 866

———montanus dilutus 866

——— pallidus 866

———pyrrhonotus 866

-———rutilans debitis 997

Pastor roseus feat 2.05

Pavo cristatus 574, 819

Pelecanus <p. nee 576

Pellorneum ruficeps jonesi 1000

Pennahia eeneus 776

Peratophyga hyalinata 787

Percnia felinaria 950

XXix

PAGE

Phoenicurus hodgsoni ce 709

——————ochrurus Aiton icnroides., 709

817, 982

Phthonoloba decussata 782

Phylloscopus affinis 990

—-——collybita eOllpbita. 699

on ge A Gee ——tristis 699

————— collybitus sindianus vol

—_——- tristis 699, 991

——--——--——- griseolus won FOOL

—— ---—--humei 700, 991

—-——-—— indica : 699

——--— neglectus neg! stra 700

—_—_——__-——nitidus nitidus 700

—___-——-proregulus simlaensis ... 99]

—_—-—-——_+tytleri 900

Pica pica bactriana 692

Picus gorii 877

squamatus quviroetcs 877

—- — squamatus 817

striolatus 1004

Pipistrellus babu ; 606

—————ceylonicus indicus phe fe)

~— coromandra 593

—_———- kuhli lepidus 608

—- mimus 608

Pirdana albicornis 617

-——_——-albidiscus 617

————distanti 617

————-hyela 617

———_--_ismene 617

——-——niasica 617

——_——. pavona 617

———rudolphii 617

—_——-sargon 617

————scanda 617

Pithauria aithchisoni 618

~—— glauca 618

a marsena 618

—_—-——-murdava 618

f= ornare 618

—_—_——-straumineipennis 618

— subornata 618

Pithecus entellus 599

——-—anchises 592

a johni 592

Pitta brachyura 1004

Plataela leucorodia 819

Bers oe ee major 576, 820

' Ploceus manyar flaviceps 862, 1002

862

1 ———=— erythropygius 1002

-——_—_—_—_ ——-peregrinus 703

—————_——speciosus Spee 817

Perissogomphus stevensi 742, 743 |

Perissospiza icteroides icteroides 993

Petaurista fulvinus Se 003

mee oe nOTatus 603, 610 |

—-————— philippensis 595, 614 |

Petelica vexillaria 795 |

Petronia petronia intermedia 866

Phalacrocorax javanicus 576 |

Phalzena lutea 795. |

Philomachus pugnax 1007 |

Pheenicurtis erythronotus ar 709, 982

—————erythrogaster grandis 982

Phoenicurus frontalis 982 |

——_——- philippinus philippinus

XXX

PAGE

Plutodes warreni 787

Pnoepyga squamata 801

Poecilasthena burmensis 780

Polanisia chelidonii 900

-— felina 900

—viscosa 899

Polioaétus ichthyaétus eee OL

Polydactylus plebejus ge ds

—_—_—_—_-——sextarius 773

Polyodontophis collaris : 559

Polyommatus gigantea gilgitica 586

———-sarta gooraisica 586

aa - rapala 586

Polyplectron bicalcaratum Wicaleararenas 819

Polyscia ochrilenia TSM

Pomadasis hasta (hs)

- maculatus Nee sob 1aleo

Pomatorhinus erythrogenys erythro-

genys 1000

—-_—— horsfieldi 1032

Porphyrio poliocepaalus edwardsi 534

— > poliocephalus 533,

820

534

Porzana porzana 1007

——pusilla 1006

Prinia gracilis lepida 700

—inornata inornata... 701

———socialis socialis 1032

—sylvatica sylvatica 1001

Prochasma albimonilis ... 943

dentilinea 943

Propasser rhodochrous 994

thurus blythi a. = O04

Prunella atrogularis we Wald e SoO

ao fulvescens fulvescens... 986 |

——_————- ————— ocularis 711

— rubeculcides eve eeh9

——-—— strophiatus jerdoni 72986

Psammodynastes pulverulentus 564

Pseudasthena cinerea 798

Pseudochliarsa virgo 589

Pseudogyps bengalensis SY

Pseudomacromia torrida oe aoe

Pseudomija argentilinea eugraphes ... 797

—- castanearia 797

——_- cruentaria 797

Pseudorca crassidens 816

Pseudorhombus russellii 772

Pseudosciaena amblyceps Tid

Pseudostegania plurilinearia ... ae 780

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

Pseudotantalus leucocephalus leucoce-

phalus ze 1007

Psittacula eraneceniniel Seyaneceaunia 569,

818

Psittacula schisticeps schisticeps 2 LO00S

ee torquata 569, 818, 881

Psyra spurcataria 795

Pterocles indicus Dio

—- orientalis 3 373

—- senegalensis erlangett 974

Pteromys albiventer 603

—~ inornatus 603

Pteropus giganteus 600

Ptyas carinatus 562

————n ucosus 962

Ptynoprogne obsoleta pallida: fa OOO

-- ——rupestris 869, 999

Pucrasia macrolopha Becrplonne 818

Putorius alpinus 602

—canigula 602

Putrius erminea 602

Pycnonotus leucotis et 6$5

—-leucotis 694

Ee re 695

Pyctorhis sinensis sinensis 1000

Pyrrhocorax alpinus 693

———--——graculus 693, 978

-——-— -- ——pyrrhocorax 692, 817, 978

— nialewenee 692

Pyrrhospiza punicea humii 994

Pyrrhula aurantiaca ve 993

Pyrrhulauda frontalis affinis ... 876

-- grisea siccata 876

Python molurus 559

-reticulatus +, oe,

Querquedula querquedula 820, 826

Rapala rubida prorosacea Soe OOO

Rattus blanfordi 596, 614

—-fulvescens 604

—nitidus 612

-———-rattus gan earn arits wes, eOOE

———-———rufescens ... 596, 604, 611, 614

—— ——— sikkimensis foi OZ

—_——_—-wroughtoni 596, 614

vicerex 604, 611

Ratufa indica peneneesic 614

—— ———-maxima 595

———-macroura dandolena 595

Regulus regulus himalayensis... 992

-—tristis 696

Remodes fasciata ane he 783

coer

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

Rhabdophis bicolor fe: wide se HOOL

——-- speciosus ... Se a OO

~-——--——--stolatus as as ue OO!

—-——--—subminiatus ane fe SOO

Rhinobatus rhinobatus ae Fee, Ura

Rhinoceros indicus va ive alas the)

———--——-sondaicus ... Ae wee 1 OOO)

——-——-—sumatrensis ... ste tes COU

—- WHicornis — =... ae ig ee LOSZ

Rhinolophus beddomei ... : é oeo

—_—_— ——ferrum equnium earatns 600

a rouxi 593,613

Rhinopoma hardwickei 594, 609

kinneari was bea’, O09

Rhipidura albicollis stanleyi ‘a OL/

Rhodospiza obsoleta oi .. 864

Rhyacornis fuliginosa 709, 983

Rhynchops albicollis aoe fo O70

Riparia chinensis 7: .. 869

—riparia diluta 869, 1003

—-— riparia re 869

Rostratula benghalensis pee naleneis

5/5; 730, 1007

Sancus subfasciatus Ee Yee

Sarcidiornis melanota a cane OFT

Sarciophorus malabaricus 575, 1007

Satarupa splendens mae Spear!)

—_— Zin aises a eno”

Saurida tum bet on Bat wh

Sauris decussata ah we 182

fasciata ... a. ie). Os

ignobilis... i we 183

usta aes et wes > #08

Saxicola caprata bicolor ... 705, 817

Se rossorum nee tle

————insignis obi sa: - 1002

—-——macrorhyncha ... 22,7 406

——_——matura... cs ea, 20D

—---——-torquata indica ... 706, 981

Scotiodon acutus eae wee FAO

Scolopia crenata a eo)

Scolopax rusticola agar He ESOS

Scotocerca inquietus striatus aoe 100

Scotophilus kuhli ae 593, 608

Sciuropterus fimbriatus ... wen 8.003

inornatus San Pre, BOOS

Sebastonyma dolopia s sev O20

Seiaena dussumieri ae eae he,

Seicerens xanthoschistts Biasueérok

lians des ele Pe

Semiothisa neete eae eee gay hes)

xXx

PAGE

Semiothisa clivicola 794

——khasiana 793

—- monticolaria 794

-——-— myandaria 794

subalbataria 794

Semnopithecus entellus 845

Serinus pussillus 864

Seriola nigrofasciata do

Sieboldius nigricolor 2) 1008

Siphia parva parva 705, 987

hyperythra 705, 987

strophiata 1002

Sitta castaneiventris cinn anrrentde, 817

-kashmiriensis 695, 979

——-leucopsis leucopsis... SIS)

-neumayer tephronota 695

Somatina plurilineata ... 780

Sotalia lentiginosa 816

Sparus berda 779

-spinifer a HAS

Spatula clypeata.., 578, 820

Sphyroena barracuda hb2Z

Stephania andamanica... 553

— elegans... S00

———— glabra... 553

——— gracilenta Dod

——_——-grandulifera .., Fe ore)

hernandifolia... 553, 554

——japonica Jd5 000

Clypea wightii Doo

Sterna melanogaster 576

scena 576

Streptopelia chinensis mirateneis wis) ‘818, 819

decaocto decaocto 573, 818, 819

-orientalis agricola...

813

818

———--——-senegalensis cambayensis 573,

Strix ocellata ocellata

Sturnopastor contra contra

Sturnus humii

purpurascens

-vulgaris dresseri

——————_—___-——nobilior...

poltaratzskii

-——porphyronotus...

Suya crinigera striatula...

Swannia marmarea

Sylvia althza

-cinerea

-communis irenone

818, 819

1006

819, 1002

704, 993

704

709

.. 784

698, 699

690

698

Xxxii

PAGE

Sylvia curruca affinis 698, 699, 990, 1035

-- mimila 699, 1001

hortensis crassirostris 698, 1035

indica 700

nana nana.. 698

Sylviparus fodestus simlensis 979

Synegia suffusa ... : 788

Sypheotides Boa patencis. 820

Syrrhodia lutea ... 795

Sysstema aulotis ... 944

——-—longiplaga 945

——-——pauxilla... 945

——-——semicirculata ... 945

Taccocua leschenaulti sirkee 881

—sirkee sirkee 569

Tadorna tadorna 823

Tanaoctenia haliaria 786

‘Yaphozous kachhensis 608

——-longimanus 1030

Taractrocera aliena 625

——--——_——archias quinta 625

——————-ardonia : Bed 9).

—_-—_—_——-ceramas atropunctata .., 624

———__——-ceramas 624

——_—__—__-——_— — nicévillei 624.

———_—_———_—— — ——oberthuri 624

——— danna 624

——————— dhshalia 625

—————— dischaka 625

——-———— flavoides 624

—————— lineata 624

—~—- maevius flaccus 624

——— maevius 624

—--——— —myconius 625

——-—- sagara 624

—————— sangira 624

—————— silhetica Las ». 624

we sumatrensis ... 624

—-———-—— talantus 625

——— ziclea samadha 624

————_ — — ———_ + issara ... 624

Tasta argozana a» «=—6484

Tatera cuvieri... 595, 614

——-—indica .. teh 603, 611

Tchitrea paradisi turkestanica 705

Telicota augias augias 629

————palmarum : 628

———-—+prusias insularis ... 628

————pythias bambusae 629

—_——— ———— pythias 629

———-—upadhana mee ose Oe9

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

Tephrodornis pondicerianus pallidus... 703

Terpsiphone paradisi leucogaster 988

—— paradisi 817

Thamnobia fulicata cambayensis 710

Thecla doni dae ee

Therapon jarbua dis

Thereiceryx zeylanicus Gaiieope O21

Threlicornis melanocephalus mela-

nocephalus 820

Thymelicus actaeon 630

——————hyrax 630

-———— leonina 630

——-———-—lineola 630

——_———-—nervulata Sages 631

———— -——_-——- ——_ nervulata | 631

me —-stigma 630

——-——-— sylvatica occid SHOe 631

—_——_—_—_-——_——sy ]vatica 631

——_———_— —tenebrosa ... 631

—- --thaumas is Pare oro 0)

Tichodroma muraria 696, 980, 1001

Tiliacora acuminata 951

Timanda subobliquaria 781

Tinospora cordifolia 549

——---——malabarica Presto.

Torgos calvus 970, 878

Torpedo sinus-persici 770

Tribura major a 989

Trimeresurus gramineus 566

---——-monticola ... 566

Tringa erythropus 575

-glareola 575

-hypoleuca ofS

-ochropus 575

Trirhinopholis nuchalis 361

Trochalopterum lineatum griseicentior 979

—-— --variegatum simile 979

Troglodytes t. neglectus 696, 980

Turdus atrogularis 710, 985

-boulboul 1002

—— -——-castaneus castaneus 984

———-merula intermedia 710

—_——_-——--- maxima 710, 984

—.-—--unicolor 710, 985

——-—-viscivorus bonapartei ... 710, 817, 985

Turnera ulmifolia 897

Turnix javanica taigoor 1006

— —-tanki tanki 1006

Tursiops catalanta nee 816

——_——--dawsoni 816

———- ——-fergusoni 816

Tursiops gilli

Typhlops braminus

——-——-diardi

'Tyto alba javanica

Udaspes folus

Unkana attina

—harmachis

—staudingeri

Upupa epops epops

————_-——loudoni

——_——_-—— orientalis ...

———- ——subsp

Urapteryx ebuleata

——--—— kantalaria

--—multistrigaria

Urocissa flavirostris cucullata ...

Uroloncha malabarica ...

Vanellus vanellus

Vespertilio leisleri

—-moupinensis

Vesperugo leisleri

-—_—_——— oleisleri

Viola cineria

——--kathiawarensis

—--odorata

-——--stocksii

— --tricolor

Virachola dohertyi

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

816

see 55S

ay 2008.

570, 1005

964

616

e seo. O16

568, 879, 1005

tee OD)

568, 1005

818

783

817, 977

862

823

600

612

600

908

588

Virachola smilis nicevillei

———_——_-— -smilis

Viverricula malaccensis

Vulpes bengalensis

——-—-leucopus

——-montana

Xantholema hzemacephala indica.

Xenographia adustata

Xenopeltis unicolor ele as

Xenorhynchus asiaticus asiaticus

Zamenis korros

Zea miytheca

Zela zenon

-zeus optimus

—zeus

Zoothera monticola

Zygonyx ida

—-——-- ilia

—iris

———_——-aenea

—ceylanica

——_——_-——_davina

insignis

—isa s

malabarica

mildredz

———-torridaisis

XXXiil

PAGE

589

oe 559

601, 613

602

610

602, 610

567, 819

792

se OOS.

576, 820

562

616

615

817

769

741. 763

766

768

766

767

763, 768

766

769

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CONTENTS OF Vol. XXXII, No. 3

THE GaME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE. (Witha coloured plate).

By Bu. Staurt Baker; F.Z.S:, F.U:S., M-B.O.Uy, CoB.ALO.US ccc cseetsosee

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY. Part I. By

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SNAKES COLLECTED IN BURMA IN 1925. (With a block.) By Col. F.

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NoTrEeEsS ON SOME NEW AND INTERESTING BUTTERFLIES FROM INDIA AND

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BURMA AND CEYLON. Report Nos. 43, 44 and 45 and Supplement

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THE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BUITERFLIES. Part XI. (With a

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A SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE PERSIAN GULF. By Sir

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THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. Part XXXVI.

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A New IcHNEUMON FLY OF THE GtNuUS Adanteles from the Death’s

Head Moth Acherontia styx. (Witha plate). By C. F. W. Muese-

beck. With a Note on its Life History by C. McCann. ................

NotES ON SMALL GAME SHOOTING IN THE Kuasr Hitis. By E.

Ike At nrGe pl aesmwe neh eR URC Non ere eats t ath tc oeek tense tees hc weweet Cusmeaie! <oesbansveccbveses

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES. Part XXV. (With one plate and five text

figwress, ey Lt.-Col Bs C. Fraser; t:Mr$ij PBS 6 hoochie cele ceceses

LUMINESCENCE IN PLANIS AND ANIMALS. By E. Blatter, s.J., Ph. D.,

F.L.S. Ge eee se eor w Shor eZ rBererevoreseoeosecre PP CLHBOAFFLE2E2 F227: 20200088 Oeoerr*e eeersaoeen

THE Mason Wasp (Lumenes conica). Part 11. By Major R. W.G.

Hingston, BAITS eee erste ca cies cloteic ect e Sri es catenin eee pda esa ok Cdk wav beces ees

DRaAGONFLIES—A REVISION OF THE GENUS Zygonyx SELYS. (Witha

ule ta guy. oy | Major i. iC. hraser, 1.M.S.5 FeB.S.° ,opesesesssseee tes

NOTES ON FISHES FROM BOMBAY. By H. W. Fowler ....... Seas seis cdedoss

On A COLLECTION OF MOTHS OF THE FAMILY Geometrid@ FROM UPPER

BURMA MADE BY Capt. A. E. SwAnn.. Part III. By L. B. Prout,

ERE s Gis o hla c sitaiaale'e's $s bins eceasiase SORE sc aGset ae Mouhe eu ahican ara Meeetes Serhan tae Peaees Sales

REVIEWS: BEER FisH CULTURE FOR AMATEURS ......00. ce satobssraratechees

Bic GamE HUNTING IN THE HIMALAYAS AND TIBET ......

THE JOURNAL OF THE DARJEELING NATURAL HISTORY

DCI EM. Pee sda ticoestesdee.c alirejaig dis sts aiechoienale ScGiey owen cee Si osve tetas ee

“THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON ......scecceesseees

bs A HANDBOOK OF THE BIRDS OF EASTERN CHINA

PEMIEICE EAT idoeecaiecacesdspo0ss-cecees poeranduisiasieweldecscansseheras sacsc-oeees\iad: sores

PAGE

533-

ii CONTENTS OF Vol. XXXI,°No. 3.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES :—

I.—A Panther Shoct at Sea. (With a photo.) By N. Kirwan Souesae O00

Il.—The Breeding Habits of the Panther (Felis OECD: yc. He

Donalds xs eA tees eek Beet eae tena rence Means Bp TICE fe 809.

III.—A Tigress with Five Cubs. By R.C. Mortis, w.ssceccecseseeeeres 810

IV.—Wild Dogs and Further Jungle Tragedies. By R..C. Morris..... 811

V.—The Breeding Seasons of the Gooral (emorhedus goral) and

Himalayan. Tahr. { Feemetiragns gendaicus) ; By oie Es.

G, LAS aright Rin. so. eae shtick side (eae Gp aS yen ee

VI.—Jackal and Hare. By. Salim A Ali. AR PATE os reenter orien. f -» 842-:

VII.—How do Wild Dogs kill their Prey ? By Salim A. CA as é : 813

VIII.—Twin Elephant Calves. (With a photo). By C H. ‘Stockley, Rhee

MAYOR isc dacdss voscesverecsnee eo one ee ne Pee eee te a ate ce Ste a

1X.—Notes on the Kashmir Stag (Cervus pamela), (With a photo) )

. By C..H. Stockley, Majot ...iges2. de. 4 cectivseelovses eno mete 814.

X.—List of Cetaceans taken in Travancore from 1902°to 1925 <2... 10- 815

XI.—List of Birds observed in the Bheling Valley, Tehri Garhwal. — oie

By Capt. EB. E.G. L..Seariaht, Wei wees ee ee Pe Ae ars ROLLE

XII.—Assamese Names of certain Birds used in Nowgong Distict.

By. J.-C. icons, dei Cc Sie ates. ccs cenenae eanemeeea dees neice meee : 819

XIII.—Occurrence of the Indian Courser (Cursorius coromandelicus) at

Panchgani. By C- McCann .o..ccs-.:00.-0ssecenssaasocesse-nceseants 820°

XIV.—Note on the Breeding of the Genus Caprimulgus ( Nightjars) in -

the Punjab Salt Range. (Witha plate). By H.W. Waite,

E.Z:S.;, MsB.O.Us sseseseae as melee aeeiur See secesrces IS ote eetarcioulunciasieuleneatte eee ee

oN: —Occurrence of the Sheldrake (Paterna tadorna) and Lapwing.

(Vanellus vanellus) in Uppers Burma. By J..K. Stanford...

ZEC IS. OM. BeOas) se cena stcae eee tame tes cccee ini aa acini int ation 823

XVI.—The Mating of Crows. By SalimA. Ali .........004 Bae ae ; 823

XVII.—A Note on the nidification of the Western Reef Det ( Leptero-

dius asha) in Karachi City, Sind. (Witha Pia: By Kak...

THQECS 5% we heise da edeceos ans douse dew tatiana rae emertaa licensees cecen eee tecianseceeene 823

XVIII.—Breeding of the Great Himalayan Barbet ( Mescion vivens

marshallorum) in the Punjab Salt Range. By H. W. Waite,

FaZaSiy Mo BcO.U). seacsdasesss dsnataceaes esmecmecaan natalie cna camee ceeeean mmMEnO aed

XIX.—Extraordinary Tameness of the Garganey Teal Querquedula

guerquedula). “By Capt. J. Mc. C. CTIVG 2 ceegscensees ge sese cee o; Berd 314 Sie

XX.—The Red-legged Falconet (Microhierax eutolmus) Hawking

Butterflies. ::-By S..F. Hopwood, :F.S. (1... ..ccecsentecassevsscssesas 326"

XXI1.—House Gecko (ees Sp. ) shows a Sweet Tooth. Ze Cc

Me Canine ie scar cr tesa os ale eee ren ee en ee an Ee, “1997

XXII.—Comments on Fr. Leigh’s Notes on Snakes. By C. McCann = 827

XXIII.—Parturitions of Electric Rays and a Sea Snake in the Marine

Aquarium, Madras. By B. Sundara Raj PUN Na aa iexecsweee 828

XXIV.—Fishing in Lonavla. ( With a block). _ By F. V. Evans. itcoueneae 828

XXV.—Death from the Sting ofa Scorpion, By G. S Shukla, L.M.&s. 830

PROCEEDINGS Bisse sie nals teed cain Mele iuece staan seageceeee: de ceecpececeneeeiassesgeerdeeeeeres 831

;

ae ee ne ee

- _

. 7

? “7 :

JOURN BOMBAY NAT. HIST. SOC.

THE PURPLE COOT

Porphyrio p. poliocephalus

+ life size

JOURNAL

OF THE

Bombay Natural History Society

NOVEMBER, 1926 VWiOL xe No: 3

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE

Be CA STUART, BAKER, F.Z.S., F-L.S.;.M.B:0.U,, C.F.A;0.U.

Noi.

THE WADERS AND OTHER SEMI-SPORTING BIRDS

Part II

(With a coloured Plate)

(Continued from page 238 of Vol. XXXT)

PORPHYRIO POLIOCEPHALUS POLIOCEPHALUS

The Indian Purple Moorhen

Gallinula poliocephala Lath., Ind. Orn. Suppl., p. 68 (1801),

India).

Porphyrio poltocephalus. Blanf. and Oates, Avifauna B. L., iv,

p. 178; Oates in Hume’s Nests and Eggs, 2nd ed., ili, p. 384;

Sharpe, Cat. B. M., xxiii, p. 197.

Vernacular names—Kaim, Kalim, Kharim, Khima (Hin.), Mila

boli-kodi (Tel.); <Azttala (Cing.); lIndura kukula (do. South

Province) ; Sanxnary (Tam. Ceylon); Aaim-Sorat (Assam) ; Dao-di

Gatang-lili (Cachari). Lzla Jal al-kauri (Sylhet).

Description.—Lores and upper part of the head pale dingy grey-

brown changing into deep purple blue on the rest of the upper

plumage ; tail black with green reflections ; exposed portions of the -

wings and scapulars greenish blue; the outer primaries more blue,

the innermost secondaries centred darker bronze green which shows

up more as the blue-green edges become abraded; sides of the

head grey tinged with cobalt blue ; chin, throat and foreneck dull,

pale cobalt blue grading into darker greenish blue on the breast ;

abdomen and flanks purple showing obsolete pale edges, often

absent; vent blackish brown; under tail coverts white,

534. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XT

Measurements. —Wing 244 to 271 mm.; tail 82 to 108 mm.; tarsus 88

to 90 mm.; culmen 41 to49 mm. Unlike most of our water-birds the

female of this moorhen is quite as big as the male and the largest

measurements given above refer in each instance to a female.

Colours of soft parts.—Iris deep blood-red, more brown-red : in

females and young birds; bill and casque blood red-brown,

generally paler at the tip and more brown in the centre of the

casque and the centre of the lower mandible; legs and feet pale

dingy-red to dull red, browner at the joints; claws dull red, darker

at the tips.

Female like the male but with a smaller casque.

Young in down black with white shafts to the down of the head

and wings. Bill green at the tip, blackish at the base.

Distribution.—Throughout the plains of India, Burma and Ceylon,

wherever there are swamps, lakes and sufficient water. In Meso-

potamia and Baluchistan our Indian bird is replaced by a very

closely allied race P. p. setstanicus ; this form may possibly be

found later on within the limits of this work. In the Malay

Peninsula P. p. edwardsi takes the place of our bird. In this race

the wings and upper plumage are dark bronze green-brown and

possibly its status should be that of a species rather than a

sub-species.

Niditication.—The Purple Moorhen breeds practically all over

India and Ceylon wherever there are suitable large swamps and

Jheels with plenty of cover. The time during which they breed

depends entirely on the rainfall. Wherever, as inthe north-east of

India, the rains break about the middle of June, the birds will .be

found commencing nesting operations a few days after the first

heavy rainfall. In Bengal and Assam I have found nests as early

as the first week in July and as late as the last week in September,

both containing fresh eggs. In north-west India I think most

birds start rather later and few nests will be found before August,

whilst in Ceylon it is said to breed principally in February, March

and April.

The situation for the nest varies very considerably, most of those

I have personally found have been large structures of reeds and

grass mixed with a little water-weed and curiously enough very

often having the wettest weeds on the top of the nest. The

materials are fairly well put together but they are very untidy nests

with odds and ends of rushes, etc., sticking out in every direction.

The favourite site for these bulky rush nests is in amongst the

tangled masses of reeds which grow in clumps here and there in

all the Bengal and Assam swamps. Where the birds are especially

numerous as, for instance, in Sylhetand N. Lakhimpur, I have

sometimes seen five or six nests in one of these clumps, placed not

a dozen yards from one another. On the other hand, where the

birds are less common each pair usually occupies one of these

clumps to the exclusion of ali other birds.

Another common site for the nest is on the curious floating islands

of weed that one sees almost everywhere in India and Burma. So

matted are these weeds that they will often bear the weight of a

man waiking over them so long as he does not attempt to stop for

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 535

more than a second or two in any one place. The leaves and

flowers of this weed grow up above the level of the water for a few

inches and afford quite sufficient cover tor the Purple Moorhen’s

nest, but when placed on these floating islands itis generally a very

much smaller affair than when built on broken reeds. As arule it

is made principally of dead and, sometimes, very evil smelling

leaves of water plants and upon these are placed a layer of rush

blades and grass over which again other weeds form the actual bed

on which the eggs are laid.

Occasionally a nest may be built on the banks which divide rice

fields from one another and when so placed they are well hidden in

the dense herbage which almost invariably covers the banks, One

such nest which I took in North Lakhimpur was composed entirely

of young rice stems which the birds had pulled up by their roots

and massed into a smail, snug nest measuring barely six inches in

diameter.

Yet a further site of which these birds sometimes make use is the

flat top of a dense shrub which grows all round the edges of the

swamps in the cold season and is nearly submerged when the rains

are at their height.

The making of the nests seems to be a matter of only two or

three days for I have worked a piece of ground at the beginning of

the week finding no nests at all and at the end of the same week

have found nests built and in some cases two or three eggs laid.

As far as it is known at present, the female bird alone actually

makes the nest. I watched a pair once for some time while nesting

operations were going on and although both birds seemed to pick

up weeds, rushes, etc., only one bird ever went in to the patch where

the nest was being built whilst the other, presumably the cock,

after paddling and climbing about for a short time with his mouth

full of the material he had gathered, invariably dropped it and forgot —

all about what he had originally got it for.

The eggs vary very much in number, sometimes only three are

laid and incubated whilst at other times it is said to lay as many as

nine. Four or five, however, form the normal clutch, three, six or

seven being about equally often found.

In appearance the eggs are very much like large Moorhen’s eggs

but on the whole are moxe richly coloured and better marked. The

ground colour varies from a pale pinkish or yellowish-stone to a

rich warm buff or reddish-buff, whilst the markings consist of small

blotches and spots varying in colour from reddish-brown to deep

purple and blackish-brown. These markings are scattered lightly

over the whole surface of the egg but in the great majority of cases

are more numerous at the larger end though it is very exceptional

for them to form anything in the nature of. a cap or ring.

Occasionally a clutch of eggsmay be found of which the ground

colour is very pale making the markings look bolder and more

conspicuous. Even more rarely, the markings may consist of

larger blotches and of long lines and I have seen one clutch, taken

by Inglis in Behar, of which the ground colour is a deep rich buff,

the markings consisting of very large blotches of reddish-brown,

some of the blotches measuring over 12 mm. across.

936 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL. AIST. SOCIETY, VolLexX Xa

When freshly taken the eggs are much more bright in their

general tone but even in a very few days become comparatively

dull and faded. In shape they are rather long ovals distinctly

compressed towards the smaller end but seldom at all pointed.

The texture is fairly close and strong and when first laid there is

a slight gloss which, however, soon disappears.

The natives of Assam say that the eggs take 26-30 days to

incubate but I have no proof whether this is correct or not.

One hundred eggs in my own collection average 50°5 & 35:7 mm. ;

maxima 97:6 36:9 mm. and? 52:)) X- 37:2. mim. ;\ minimas7577 <<

36:1 mm. and 49°3 & 34:2 mm. Practically the whole of these were

taken in Northern India and it should be noted that Hartert gives

the average of fifty eggs taken in South and North-West India and

recorded by Hume as 48 & 35:3 mm. A few eggs, however, in my

own collection taken in Ceylon and not included in the above

hundred, measure almost exactly the same as the hundred.

The Purple Moorhen is undoubtedly a very handsome bird in so

far as colours go but its antics when courting appear, to the human

eye, extremely ludicrous. The two birds, male and female, may be

either swimming or clambering about the reeds together quite

quietly when suddenly he takes it into his head that it is time to

show off. If swimming on the water or running over the floating

weeds, he approaches his ladylove, holding in his mouth a few

weeds and when within a foot or two of her, bobs his head with

great emphasis about half a dozen times, uttering all the time a

curious little guttural cluck. He then raises both wings and flaps

them once or twice vigorously and draws himself up to his full

height and once more repeats his bows. Then, as a final display,

he brings both wing's well forward quivering them as he does so and

gives vent to a very loud sonorous chuckle or cackle. When he

wishes to display whilst clambering on the reeds he goes through

much the same performance, frequently, however, spoiling the

dignity of the show by toppling off the reeds in the water in his

final burst of energy.

As we know, with most birds the hen takes but little notice of her

husband’s proceedings but the female Purple Moorhen really does

seem to be to some extent impressed by his carryings-on and some-

times, at all events, will follow his repeated bows with little bows

of her own.

Habits.—The Purple Moorhen is essentially a bird of the plains

but the only essential thing for him is sufficient water and

water which must be stagnant and not running ; though on occasions

they may be seen on slow running rivers especially such as have

weedy rush-covered banks. For some reason the Purple Moorhen

has the reputation of being a shy retiring bird and a great skulker

but certainly this reputation is not deserved so tar as my own

experience goes. Where much interfered with or shot at, these

birds naturally cling to the denser cover and are then difficult to

force into the open but all over Assam and the wilder parts of

Eastern Bengal, they seem to spend the greater part of their time

in the open and even when clambering about in the reed beds they

constantly show themselves near the tops, seldom staying in them

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE LNDIAN EMPIRE 537

for any great length of time. One may see them sauntering about

over the tops of the water reeds, idly picking here and there as

they wander or sometimes half sitting on the weeds and half

floating in the water, basking inthe sun. Nor are they shy of

human beings so that it is very easy to get a dug-out within

50 or 60 yards of them and watch them for as long as one wishes

without frightening them away. ‘They are noisy birds and have a

very large repertoire of notes consisting of cacklings, cluckings

and hoarse rippling notes. When feeding they also constantly

utter a little soft ‘chuck-chuck’ to one another and, when as is

generally the case, they feed in parties, each member of the party

replies with a corresponding note. Moving about either in the

water or over the reeds, the Purple Moorhen does not seem to be

an awkward bird but when climbing about on the larger reeds its

movements are extremely ungainly. It is sometimes found in reeds

which are also occupied by the Indian Reed Warbler and the

actions of the tiny Warbler and the huge Moorhen when climbing

are curiously alike, although the former is so quick and graceful and

the latter so slow and clumsy. ‘The actions of the two have been

well compared to the actions of a donkey trying to emulate the

antics of a Jap dog. At the same time, this Moorhen is by no

means a bad climber and grasps the reeds in its huge feet, climbing

up them hand over hand until the tops bend down with its weight

when it either descends or flutters on to another group of stems.

Although it is generally loth to take to flight it can fly at quite a

fair speed when once it is well under way but it is a slow starter and

flys with very laboured flaps of its wings, its long legs and huge

feet hanging conspicuousiy below it. When a party of these birds

is disturbed they generally scatter in ali directions and do not, like

the Common Moorhens, fly off all together in one direction. As

soon, however, as the disturbing element is withdrawn, loud clucks

may be heard all round and the individuals soon gather together

into their original flock. The food is said to be entirely vegetarian

and no doubt for the most part this is correct, but I have frequently

taken small water shells and insects from their stomachs and whilst

watching them have been convinced that as they pick about they

constantly pick up whatever animal food may be available for

them. I have never, however, taken any fish from their stomachs.

Natives consider that the Purple Moorhen and its eggs are

excellent eating and possibly young birds might even suit the

European palate but two which I have tried myself were very tough

and coarse.

GALLICREX CINEREA

The Kora or Water-Cock.

Fulica cinerea Gmel., Syst. Nat., i, p. 702 (1789) (China).

Gallicrex cinerea Blanf. and Oates, Avifauna, B. I., iv, p. 176;

Oates in Hume’s Nest and Eggs, 2nd ed., iii, p. 387 ; Sharpe, Cat.

BeVign xxii) py, 183:

Vernacular names—Kora, Kongra, (Hin.); Kettala, (Cing. N.

Ceylon); Wali-kukulu (S. Ceylon); Zannir-kolt (Tam. Ceylon) ;

Boun-dote (Burm.) ; Khora-sorat (Assam).

538 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Description : adult male in breeding plumage.—Head, neck and lower

plumage black, the feathers edged with pale grey except on the

posterior flanks and abdomen where the edges are whiter and

broader ; hind neck, back, scapulars and wing coverts blackish-

brown, broadly edged with light slaty-grey ; rump and upper tail-.

coverts brown edged with fulvous-brown; outer wing-coverts dark

brown edged with fulvous ; quills blackish-brown, the outer web of

the first primary white; under tail coverts buff or buffy-white with

brown bars and centres.

Colours of sott parts.—Iris bright red; bill and shieid at the base

blood red, paling and becoming more dusky yellow at the tip; the

horn projecting from the back of the casque is bright red; legs and

feet dull to bright red.

Measurements.—Wing, 211 to 227 mm. ; tail, 77 to 83 mm. ; tarsus,

75 to 77mm. ; culmen 37 to 38 mm.

Male in non-breeding plumage.—Similar to the female.

Female.—Lores and feathers round the eye mixed dark brown and

fulvous white; crown brown faintly edged paler; upper parts,

scapulars, tail and wing-coverts dark brown broadly edged with

fulvous; quilis dark brown, the outer web of the first primary

white; lower parts paie buffy-brown, nearly white on the chin,

throat and centre of the abdomen, barred everywhere with wavy

lines of dark brown but the bars less obvious on the whitest parts ;

under tail-coverts buff, barred with blackish brown.

Colours of soft parts.—Iris yellow to yellowish-brown ; bill horny-

yellow with no casque, but the small triangle running into the

torehead yellowish ; legs and feet dull greenish-brown. ,

Measurements.—W ing, 172 to 184 mm.; tail, 65 to 75 mm. ; tarsus,

65 to 68 mm. ; culmen, 32 to 34 mm.

Young birds are like the female but less barred below.

Chick in down : black above more brownish below.

Distribution.—The whole of India, Ceylon and Burma, wherever

the country is suitable and wet enough, but especially common in

Bengal, Assam, the Malabar coast and the wettest areas in Southern

Burma. Outside our limits it extends practically throughout the

[ndo-Chinese countries, the Malay Peninsula and islands and again

east through China to Japan.

Nidification.—The Water-Cock is resident and breeds practically

wherever it is found as long as there is sufficient water and the

breeding season like that of the Purple Moorhen, depends entirely

on the rainfall. Over the greater portion of its habitat nesting

operations commence in early June and eggs continue to be laid

until the last week in September, but the very great majority are

laid in the last week of July or the first three weeks of August. In

Ceylon however, there seem to be two breeding seasons, first in

January and February, during which months eggs were obtained by

Jenkins, and again in July and August during which months eggs

have been taken by Wait and others. The favourite breeding site

is down amongst the roots of thick growths of reeds and rushes at

the edge of swamps or actually standing in a few inches of water,

but at other times they make their nests on and half supported by

leaves of water plants where there is not much cover to screen

had

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 539

them. They also occasionally make their nests in rice fields, not

like the Purple Moorhen, on the banks but in amongst the growing

rice. When placed amongst reeds the nest is often a very bulky

one made principally of the softer blades of reeds and rushes

mixed to a slight extent with water weeds. These nests often

measure as much as 15” across and perhaps 4” to 6” in depth, the

depression in which the eggs are deposited being considerable.

When, however, the nest is placed in rice fields or on floating

plants it is much more flimsy, seldom measuring more than 8 or 9”

in diameter and is only 2 or 3” in depth. In these instances too it is

noticeable that the birds employ more water weeds in the

construction of their nests though they nearly always line them

with rush leaves and dry grass. The eggs number 3 to 5 but

occasionally 7 or even 8 are said to be laid, although I have never

seen the latter number, and undoubtedly under 5 rather than over 5

is most usual. In character the eggs are distinctly Moorhen-like

but they are very much handsomer and generally very much

darker. The ground colour varies from almost pure white, which

is exceptional, through pale pink or yellow stone-colour, which is

usual, to a deep brick pink. ‘The markings consist of reddish-

brown blotches and spots generally rather long in character.

Under these are secondary markings of neutral tint and purplish-

grey somewhat less numerous than the superficial markings. In

the great majority of cases the markings are fairly profuse over the

whole surface cf the shel! being only slightly more so at the

larger end. Ina few cases these markings are so numerous as to

almost obliterate the ground colour whilst in a few others the

markings are quite sparse everywhere except at the extreme larger

end. The contrast between the darkest and the lightest eggs is

very great. The shell is stout and rather coarse but the surface

itself is very fine and in fresh eggs there is often a very consi-

derable gloss, occasionally the gloss being very highly developed.

In shape they are rather long ovals, one end decidedly smaller

than the other but very seldom at all pointed. One hundred

eggs average 42:231:0 mm.; maxima 46°633°0 mm. and

43:2 33'1 mm. ; minima 38:9 31:3 mm. and 39°5 mm. & 28-2 mm.

According to Sylhetis incubation takes 24 days.

When the nest is placed in amongst reeds the hen bird will often

sit very close, but when she builds it in the open or in rice fields

where there is not much cover, she sneaks away before she is

spotted and whilst the observer is still at a considerable distance.

If by any chance however, the observer comes suddenly on the bird

on her nest she flattens herself out into the body of the nest with

head stretched out in front until she becomes almost invisible, the

eye alone being noticeable. Some natives have told me that they

consider the cock bird to be polygamous but as far as I have been

able to observe myself, this is not the case and I think that really

they are always monogamous.

Habits.—Where undisturbed the Water Cock is a very familiar

bird and moves about a good deal in the open but where they are

much persecuted as is the case in Sylhet, Cachar and some other

parts of India, they become very shy and keep much to cover. Like

540 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

all the Rails it is somewhat crepuscular in its habits, and during

moonlight nights it probably feeds during the greater part of them.

It is very largely vegetarian in its diet, feeding a great deal on

young rice when that is available and also on shoots of various

water plants and on green crops when these are ripening. It

however, also feeds on small molluscs and practically any living

thing found on the reeds and rushes which it frequents but it never

takes fish, however small, nor as far as I know does it ever eat

small frogs or tadpoles.

The Water Cock for the table is not to be despised and if skinned

before it is roasted, makes a very pleasant change from the ever-

lasting #urghi of the Indian camp life.

From the point of view of sport however, its value is negligible.

Its flight is very poor and nothing like as strong or direct as that of

its relations the Coot and the Moorhen. Like them it flies with

rapid beating of the wings and its long legs hanging out beyond it

and held very low. Inits native element, however, either in the

water itself or amongst the weeds which cover it, it is very efficient

and although its motions are slow and dignified it is capable of

running at a considerable speed over floating weeds or of making its

way through the denser and more tangled cover of broken reeds. It

is probably the most pugilistic of all our water fowl, the males

fighting desperately through the breeding season challenging one

another with aloud booming call, several notes uttered in quick

succession and finishing with a much shriller one rising almost to a

scream. Its fighting qualities have made this bird a great favourite

with the natives of Sylhet and Cachar who keep them as fighting

birds and often wager considerable sums on the results of the

batties. With the Sylhetis indeed these birds take an even higher

rank than do other fighting cocks. Wild birds are said not to be so

good at fighting as those which are reared by the natives from the

eggs, so for this reason the eggsare taken and hatched by the

natives. The most usual manner in which this is done is for the

man himself or his wife to carry them about ail day fastened to his

or her stomach by a cloth. The heat thus engendered seems to be

ample for the purpose of incubation and I am informed that at least

two out of three of the eggs which escape being smashed hatch out

alright. The action of the Water Cock when fighting is rather

interesting and I have been fortunate enough to witness it when the

birds were fighting in their natural surroundings. Whilst hunting

for water birds’ eggs ina large swamp onthe north bank of the

Brahmaputra I was being pushed along in a small dug-out by a

man in the stern and as we were anxious to get close to the birds

on the nests, so that wecould identify them properly, we were

sneaking along as quietly as possible. On coming round the corner

of some dense high reeds we came on acock (Water Cock) just

starting booming. When we saw him first he was. three-quarters

‘on to us with his head held down quite close to the water. After a

second or two he raised his head and emitted a very small boom

and then in rapid succession, booms each one louder than the last,

the whole time his throat swelling until the feathers seemed to

stand out all on end; in fact the whole exhibition reminded me

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 541

much of the booming of the Bittern. Whilst thus engaged and

before the Water Cock we were watching could finish his challenge,

another bird started booming just inside the reeds close to him.

Then for a few minutes the second bird ceased calling and suddenly

there was a rush from the reeds and Water Cock number 1 was

sent flying over onhis side and into the water. He, however,

recovered himself immediately and thetwo birds went at it literally

tooth and nail, using their bills to hold one another by the neck

whilst they seemed to claw at one another with their feet, but I

could not see whether the feet were used actually for hitting or

scratching or whether merely forthe purpose of giving the bird a

better purchase for using his beakin pulling out the other birds’

feathers. Unfortunately after the birds had been fighting for a few

minutes, my boatman in his excitement dropped his paddle in the

water and in an instant both birds had cleared off into the jungle.

GALLINULA CHLOROPUS PARVIFRONS

The Indian Moorhen

Gallinula parvifrons Blyth, J. A. S.B., xii, p. 180 (1843) (Calcutta).

Gallinula chloropus Blanf. and Oates, Avifauna B.I., iv, p. 175;

Oates in Hume’s Nests and Eggs, 2nd ed., iii, p. 389; Sharpe,

Catalogue, B. M., xxiii, p. 169.

Vernacular names—Jal-Murghi, Pani-Murghi (Hin.); Dakab-

patra (Beng.); Jumbu-kod7, Loli-kodi (Tel.).

Description.—Head and neck black, passing into dark slaty-grey

on the breast, flanks and extreme upper back; remaining upper

parts rich deep mahogany brown the scapulars and feathers next the

grey tinged with olive ; tail almost black towards the tip; primary

coverts, primaries and outer secondaries blackish, the first primary

and border of wing edged white ; below the deep siaty of the upper

breast pales posteriorly and the centre of the abdomen is mottled

with white ; under tail coverts white except the central ones which

are black ; under wing-coverts grey tipped with white,

Colours of soft parts.—Iris red; frontal shield and base of bill

bright red, the terminal third greenish-yellow ; ‘tibia and front of

tarsus greenish-yellow, hinder part of tarsus and all toes slaty-

green; an orange ring round the tibia just below the feathered

portion.’ (Oates).

Measurements. —Wing, 152 to 172 mm. ; tail 52 to 68 mm. ; tarsus,

47 to 50 mm. ; culmen, 38 to 41 mm. ; 2 32 to 35mm.; the female

is very little smaller than the male.

Young birds have the upper parts all brown, less rich and maho-

gany coloured than in the adult and the lower parts are rather more

brown and less grey, much mixed with white.

Chick in down deep black throughout.

Distribution.—Throughout India, Burma and Ceylon; south to the

Malay States and east through the Indo-Chinese countries to China

and Japan.

Niditication.—Our Indian Moorhen breeds practically all through

the plains and ascends the hills to a considerable height being

found as high up in the Nilgiris and hills of Southern India as there

542° JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXAT

is water for it to breed near, as well as in al] the lakes and swamps.

of Kashmir up to about 8,000 ft. In the plains they commence, like

most of our water birds, to breed as soon as the rains break, I

should say about the middle of June, but in Kashmir they commence

to lay about the last week in May. Hume seemed to think that

they had two broods in the year in the hills, laying first in May and

again in the latter half of July but other observers think they have

only one set of eggs in the season, though as these are often de-

stroyed and the eggs eaten by otters and other vermin, they often

have a second nest under such circumstances.

The nest is just like that of the English Moorhen; sometimes

it is built in a bush or in reeds actually standing in the water and

is then a fairly compact well built nest of rushes and reeds generally

more or less mixed up with water weeds. At other times it is built

in amongst the water weeds and is then composed principally of the

weeds themselves with the upper half made of dryer rushes and

leaves. It is said sometimes also to lay its eggs ona mere platform

of broken-down reeds and rush leaves but I have never seen a nest

of this description. Occasionally the water hen makes her nests in

ditches or in amongst the weeds and cover surrounding the bigger

swamps yet a little distance from the actual water itself. Twice

whilst approaching swamps when about to hunt them for water

birds’ nests and eggs, I have almost stepped ona Moorhen’s nest

hidden, once in the coarse grass and once in growing rice at least

200 yards from the swamp.

The number of eggs laid varies from 5 or6to 12 or 14, the

former being the largest number I have ever personally seen.

They are of course indistinguishable from those of our English

Moorhen and they vary very little in appearance. In ground

colour they range from a very pale yellowish-stone, in rare

instances almost white to a deep buff stone or more rarely rich

pink buff. The markings consist of small blotches of dark reddish-

brown scattered thinly all over the egg and not much more

numerous at the bigger end than elsewhere. In the great majority

of cases the spots are rather small and dark, but now and then one

comes across a clutch in which the marks are larger and bolder and

of a paler yet richer tint; equally seldom one sees a clutch in

which the spots are distributed profusely over the whole surface.

In 9 clutches out of 10, however, the ground is a duil grey

yellowish-stone and the markings are neither large, numerous or

handsome. 200 eggs average 40°6 & 29:6 mm.; maxima, 45:0 & 30:0

and 40:0 & 32-2 mm.; minima, 36:2 30°4 and 39:3 & 27:0 mm.

Compared with English eggs those of our Indian bird are rather

smaller. Jourdain gives the average of 50 English eggs as 44°78

X 31:77 mm., whilst Witherby, probably including Jourdain’s eggs

gives the average of 100 as 44:44 & 31:31 mm.

In India, incubation according to the natives takes three weeks,

but they also say that if the weather is very hot, the eggs will

hatch a couple of days earlier whilst if there is much cole, rain and

wind they will sometimes take two days longer. The hen bird sits

fairly close when once the eggs are advanced in incubation but

prior to that stage she generally leaves her nest long before any

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 543

intruder comes close to it, sneaking off very quietly through the

weeds and cover or, if the nest is in the open, she slips quietly

into the water and diving, does not re-appear until she has put a

good distance between herself and her home. The cock bird

undoubtedly assists in incubation especially in the early mornings

and evenings when the hen bird leaves her charge to go out and

getameal. The cock also probably sits a good deal at night for

when traps are set by the nest for night work, it is generally a cock

bird which is caught. It is probable the birds pair for life as the

cock and hen remain in company throughout the winter months

and long after their young have been turned adrift to work on

their own.

Habits. —There is little to remark on in the Indian Moorhen in

which it differs from the European bird, but I think it is on the

whole more shy though occasionally when a pair take up their

quarters in some small village pond, they become very familiar and

will swim about apparently quite careless of the washerman lustily

banging his clothes about within a few yards of them. _

In Cachar, Sylhet and in Eastern Bengal where they are very

common in the huge swamps which cover so much of that country,

I have always found that they seem to resent being watched and

seek cover very quickly. They do not fly unless closely pressed,

prefering to hide but they can make their way through thick

tangles of vegetation very quickly, if very quietly, and a man

walking has little chance of overtaking them. When, however,

they are pushed to the edge of the cover, they take to flight, either

launching themselves from as high up as they can get on the reeds

and bushes or else skittering along the surface of the water until

they get well under way. Natives consider their flesh to be quite

first class, many of them preferring them to duck or teal but to

the European palate, though eatable, they certainly would not ever

find their way into the pot whilst duck were obtainable. If cooked

it should be remembered that they are better skinned and stewed

than unskinned ana roasted.

Their diet is almost omnivorous for though they feed very

largely on seeds, fruit, young grass crops and water weeds they

also eat equally freely almost any kind of water insect, locusts, '

grass-hoppers, worms and even young frogs and small fishes if the

latter happen to be trapped inasmall pond. In the twilight and

on moonlight nights, but I think not on dark nights, they will

wander some distance from the swamps into cultivation and I well

remember coming home one brilliant night in June when I had

been out after buffalo, putting up several oi these birds out of the

mustard fields as my elephant passed alongside them.

They walk well and quickly, holding themselves very erect,

their small tail well up in the air and constantly flicked up and

down as the bird bobs about snatching at passing insects or tearing

off buds and shoots. In the breeding season both sexes have a

little guttural ‘ chuck chuck’ which they use both in calling to one

another. and in collecting their chicks. The call of the cock bird

during the pairing season is a much louder, rather startling note

sounding rather like ‘ Tirruck tirruck’. In addition to these they

544 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

have quite a number of notes, rather soft’ and low, which they

constantly utter when they think they are unobserved.

When swimming, the Moorhen has a curious little bobbing

action much more emphasized than it is in most water birds. They

swim well and at a considerable speed but though they are quite

capable of diving and keeping under water for a considerable time

when there is necessity, they do not seem to indulge in diving to

any great extent under normal circumstances nor, as far as I know,

do they ever dive for the purpose of feeding on deep water piants

or the roots of the more shallow growing ones.

FULICA ATRA ATRA

The Coot

Fulica atra Linn., Sys. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 152, (1758) (Sweden) ;

Blanf. and Oates, Avifauna B.I., iv, p. 180; Oates in Hume’s Nests

and Eggs,,2nd ed., iii, p. 386; Sharpe, Catalogue B.M:, xxiii,

pa210.

Vernacular names—Dasari, Dasarni, Arti, Khurkul, Thekari,

(Hin.); Barra Godar (Purnea); Loli-kodz (Tel.)

Description.—Head and neck black shading into slaty-black on the

upper plumage the whole having a steel blue sheen; below the

black of the throat shades into the slaty-grey of the under parts,

palest on the centre of the breast and abdomen, darkest on the

vent and under tail coverts ; primaries and outer secondaries grey,

the first primary white on the outer web and the edge of the wing

also white; outermost secondaries paler grey and mottled with

white at the tips, then disappearing in very old birds.

Colours of sott parts. —Iris red, red-brown or blood red; bill and

shield white, the former tinged with fleshy pink, especially at the

base ; legs and feet dull greenish, tibia orange.

Measurements.— Wing, 185 to 220 mm. ; tail, 54 to 63 mm. ; tarsus,

56 to 64mm.; culmen 33 to 38mm. The measurements of the male

and female differ very little. Witherby gives the measurements of 12

British birds as, ‘ Wing, 200 to 225; bill from shield 33 to 38 mm.’

Young birds are brown above and have the lower plumage paler

‘and much more mottled with white.

Nesilings in down, black rather a greyish-black beneath; the

down with hair like tips, white over the body, yellowish on the

wings, orange on the neck and throat and crimson scarlet on the

forecrown and round the eyes.

Nestlings in later stage drop all the hair like tips except the

crimson ones.

Distribution.—Practically the whole of Europe and Asia. In India

it is found and is resident in every part of the country when there

are large lakes and swamps, but in those parts in which the water

dries up after the rains cease they are only seasonal visitors. It has

not yet been obtained in Ceylon.

Nidificatton.— Wherever there is sufficient water there the Coot

will be found breeding, nor is it necessary that the swamps and

lakes should be of any very great size for occasionally the Coot

will make its nest in or near quite small ponds and occasionally

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 545

even by extremely dirty roadside ditches. Naturally it prefers the

larger swamps and Jheels where the water is cleaner and food more

plentiful.

The nest differs from many of those of the other birds we have

discussed in this article in being as arule very much better built,

and in some instances very much larger. Hume measured one that

was no less than 3 feet in diameter at the bottom, about 2 feet high

and nearly a foot across at the top, which contained a depression

about 8 inches across and 3 inches deep. A nest like this however,

is exceptional both in size and construction even when placed in

amongst reeds at the edge of the water. Asarule the nests though

deep, are smaller at the bottom than at the top and are composed

principally of rushes which are wound round several of the sup-

porting reeds. In the base of the nest a good proportion of water

weed is used and this part of the nest may be actually in the water

or raised afew inches above it. The site selected varies a good

deal. I have seen nests placed in the very densest of reed thickets

and again ina place where the reeds were so thin that you could

easily see the nest from a few feet off. Sometimes, though I think

this is exceptional, the nest is actually built in the open on floating

water weeds but this is less common with our Indian bird than it

is with the European. In India our birds lay anything from 5 to

10 eggs but it is unusual to find more than 7 or 8 and I have known

3 eggs, possibly a second laying, well incubated. They breed both

in the plains and in the Himalayas up to at least 8,000 feet,

possibly considerably higher. In the latter the breeding season is

May and June but in the plains they very seldom begin to lay

until July and eggs may be found all through that month, August

and September.

In colour the eggs vary very little, the ground-colour ranges

from a pale yellowish or brownish-grey to a fairly warm buff or

pale café-au-lait. Over this is scattered tiny spots and freckles of

blackish brown with a few rather larger underlying markings of

neutral tint. A few eggs have the markings a little larger and

more of a red-brown in character but even in these the markings

are never very conspicuous or very large. One hundred Indian

egos average 33° K 35°6 mm. ; maxima, 57:0 37:1 and- 50:3 &

37'8mm. ; minima, 47°35 & 35:0 and 50°3 & 34:3 mm.

The eggs are said to take 21 days to incubate, occasionally

only 20. Both birds take their share of incubation and both

parents go about with the young when they are hatched and

probably they mate for life.

Habits.—The Coot is a bird which undoubtedly prefers the great

stretches of water which in addition to ample cover round the

shores, etc., have wide open spaces where they can swim about

during the daytime. On such pieces of water they often collect

in very great numbers and this especially in North-west Sind and

Punjab. In Sind on the Munchar and other lakes they are said

often to gather in flocks numbering hundreds of thousands. Here

they form an object of sport for some of the Mahommedan classes

who employ many ways of catching or killing them for the purpose

of food. One way is for the sportsman to wade into the water until

546 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

it comes about up to his shoulders or neck. He then covers his

head with the skin of an egret and walking quietly along is easily

able to get close enoughto his game to shoot them with the bow

and arrow and owing to the noiselessness of this weapon even the

struggle of the bird when not killed outright seldom seems to

warn its comrades of their danger. Sometimes the Coots are

driven over the heads of men who lie in wait for them with bows

and arrows, generally standing in the water sufficientiy deep

merely to allow them free use of their arms. As the Coots are

driven overhead the bowman shoots and very frequently hits his

object. Once on the wing Coots are no mean fliers so that it

speaks highly for the skill of the bowman if he can kill enough birds

in this way to make it pay. In getting off the water the Coot is

very little faster than either the Moorhen or the Purple Moorhen,

skittering along the surface just as they do before rising into the

air and then for some distance flying with his legs hanging down

and looking very ungainly. Coots are very gregarious and

apparently get on very well amongst themselves, but they are

notorious for their bullying propensities towards duck and teal who

breed on the same lakes with them and where Coots become too

numerous, duck seldom breed. In India of course we have but few

duck who breed near lakes. Comb Duck, Whistling Teal and

Cotton Teal all breed for the most part in holes of trees or banks

and suffer little from the persecution of the Coots, but the Spot-

billed Ducks who make their nests either in amongst the reeds or in

the cover close to the lake are often very much worried by Coots,

and I have seen a pair of these birds constantly following and

attacking a wretched Spot-bill who had hatched her chicks and

brought them on to the lake although at that time, April, the Coots

were not even thinking of breeding.

I cannot say that I have ever seen them attacking young duck-

lings with the idea of eating them though they are said to do this

sometimes in England. For the main part their diet is vegetarian

and consists of the shoots of the various plants that grow round

water as weli as the leaves and roots of those that grow init. To

obtain the latter they dive and are extremely active in so doing and

can stay under water for a considerable time, often as long as 60

seconds. They also eat almost any kind of insect, worm, small

fish, frogs, etc. and also devour the eggs of other birds should they

come across them. As an article of diet himself the Coot varies

greatly. When he has been feeding on grain and shoots of rice and

other plants his flesh is almost as good as that of some of the

ducks but when he has been indulging his appetite for fish to the

exclusion of vegetable diet his flavour is unpleasantly rank and

coarse.

He has a considerable repertoire of notes most of them rather

soft chuckling sounds and not unpleasant but his breeding season

call is aloud and rather harsh ‘ Kraw Kraw’. ‘The chicks utter a

rather shrill piping cry in reply to which the parent birds havea

little soft chuckle generally so low that to the human ear it is

inaudible 20 yards away although the young birds seem to hear it

to a much greater distance.

REVISION OF

THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY

BE. BLATTER, .S.J.; Ph.D., F.L.S.

PART I

Cooke’s ‘ Flora of the Bombay Presidency’ was completed in 1908. Since

then a number of monographs of various orders and genera have appeared. In

addition, botanical literature has been enriched by several new Floras which

reveal a more critical treatment of the subject than we find in many of the older

publications. I mention only Gamble’s ‘ Flora of Madras,’ Parker’s ‘ Forest

Flora of the Punjab,’ and Haines’s ‘ Botany of Bihar and Orissa.’

I propose to revise the ‘ Flora of Bombay’ by incorporating in a series of

articles all the changes.that the study of systematic botany during the last fifteen

years has made necessary. The articles will contain corrections, more complete

descriptions where such are wanted, changes of names wherever the laws of no-

menclature, or historical considerations, or the more detailed study of a species

or groups of species require it, descriptions of new species or of species new to

the Presidency, a careful examination of the synonymy of species, and, finally,

the distribution of species within our area as well as outside it where recent in-

vestigations have widened or reduced the geographical area of a species.

Wherever possible I shall refer to Cooke’s ‘ Flora.’ If this is done without

any further remarks I wish to imply that I agree with his names, descriptions,

or synonymy.

As to the delimitation of the families I have decided to follow ‘ The Families

of Flowering Plants’ by J. Hutchinson.

In order to avoid lengthy titles of constantly recurring references I shall use

the following abbreviations :—

Cke. ... Cooke, ‘ Flora of the Bombay Presidency.’

F.B.I. i ale DD Hooker “-Blora of British India.

Gamble... J.S. Gamble, ‘ Flora of the Presidency of Madras.’

Hainés. -.....-H. H. Haines, ‘The Botany of Bihar and Orissa.’

Parker ... R.N. Parker, ‘ A Forest Flora for the Punjab with Hazara

and Delhi.’

Talbot .. ‘Forest Flora of the Bombay Presidency and Sind.’

W. Ic. .. R. Wight, ‘Icones Plantarum Indiz Orientalis.’

It has been my endeavour to put in references to iconographic works wherever

ossible.

: Cooke, in his synonymies, refers to a number of authors whoin I shall not

consider unless the correctness of their identifications can or have been verified

by specimens, viz. J. Graham, ‘A Catalogue of the Plants grown in Bombay

and its Vicinity,’ Dalzell and Gibson, ‘ Bombay Flora, ’ Woodrow, ‘ Flora of

Bombay,’ in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, Watt, ‘ Dic-

tionary of Economic Products,’ Talbot, ‘A Systematic List of the Trees and

Shrubs of the Bombay Presidency.’

The revision will not follow any systematic order. Of some orders or genera

a considerable amount of material has accumulated, whilst for others further

investigations are required or are in progress. Besides I am not equally well

acquainted with all the orders and genera. It is, therefore, natural that the

results should be published in the order in which they have matured in the

course of many years, based either on the work of others or on my own

observations. : 7

My chief intention in publishing these revisions is to draw the attention of

local botanists to the progress made in the knowledge cf our flora and to

furnish materials towards a future publication of ‘A Flora of the Bombay

Presidency.’ I shall be grateful for any corrections or additions.

548. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOGIETY, Vol. oe

I take this opportunity of expressing my indebtedness to all those who have

helped me in many ways in the study of the Bombay flora. Mr. L. J.

Sedgwick, I.C.S., who collected in various parts of the Presidency and who

was a keen systematist, died in 1925. Mr. T.R. Bell, 1.F.s., late Chief Con- |

servator of Forests, put his rich herbarium at my disposal. Mr. C. McCann,

Assistant Curator of the Bombay Natural History Society, has made many

valuable observations and has helped me chiefly in working out the difficult

family Graminee. He has recorded over fifty species of grasses new to the

Presidency. Mr. T.S. Sabnis, now Economic Botanist to the Government of

the United Provinces, worked, as Professor of Botany, for a number of years in

the Herbarium of St, Xavier’s College. Prof. J. F. D’Almeida of the

same College, though better known by his researches on [Indian Ferns, has

added considerably to our knowledge of the distribution of the Phanerogams,

Prof. F. Hallberg has, during the short period of ten years, done more for the

exploration of the Bombay Flora than any other worker in this field. Un-

fortunately a premature death carried him away in 1924 before he was able to

publish his results.

{ must not forget to tender my sincere thanks to the Curators of the Herbaria

of the Agricultural College, Poona, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, of

the Forest School of Dehra Dun, of the Agricultural Institute of Coimbatore,

and of the Bombay Natural History Society.

MENISPERMACE (Cke. I, 17)

Genera 59; species about 340, distributed over the Tropics of both hemis-

pheres ; a few are temperate

Keys to Genera.—

1In many cases it will be found useful to have two or even more keys,

according to the number of characters considered in each key. Wherever I find

a really good key I shall not hesitate to borrow the whole or part of it.

First key (after Cke.)—

I. Ovaries 3 or more—

1. Seed oblong or globose.

(a) Style-scar sub-terminal ; filaments free

(6) Style-scar sub-basal ; filaments connate

2. Seed horse shoe-shaped.

1. Tinospora, Miers.

(a) Petals 6, minute, cuneate aft ... 3. Tiliacora, Colebr.

Anamirta, Colebr.

(6) Petals 6 auricled

* Condyle septiform

** Condyle globose or pyriform

II. Ovary solitary—

1. sepals airee.

Diploclisia, Miers.

Cocculus, DC.

(a) Petals of male and female 3-5, free .. 6. Stephania, Leotit.

(6) Petals of male 4, connate, of female 1 .. 7. Ctssampelos, Linn.

2. Sepals connate ie. 2. i 8. Cyclea, Ara.

Second key, to male specimens (after Gambie).--

I. Stamens connate, anthers in a terminal head or ring—

1. Flowers in stalked solitary or unbellate heads ;

anthers on the rim of a stalked disk .. 6. Stephania, Lour.

2. Flowers in panicles

(2) Anthers in a globular head, petals 0 .. 2. Anamirta, Colebr.

(6) Anthers in a ring, petals connate

* Calyx campanulate ... se ue 8.) Cyelea, Arn.

* * Calyx of 4 spreading sepals wie wi 7. Cissampelos, Linn.

II. Stamens free—

1. Leaves deeply cordate . 1. Ttnospora, Miers.

2. Leaves acute, obtuse, or sub- cordate at base.

(a) Flowers 2° ‘5 mm. long, anthers oblong,

opening down the sides Bh .. 3. Y2liacora; Colebr.

(6) Flowers 1 mm. long, anthers globose,

opening across the top.

* Panicles up to 30 cm. long, drooping ... 4. Dztploclisia, Miers

** Flowers in small fascicles or cymes . Ss Cotcalus, DE-

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 549

Third key, to female specimens Goes Gamble) :—

I. Style-scar terminal be ides ... 1. Tinospora, Miers.

II. Style-scar basal

1. Flowers in a raceme of small cymes subtended

by foliaceous cordate bracts ; drupe hirsute. 7. Czssampelos, Linn.

2. Flowers in compound umbels or panicles

(a) Ovary solitary.

* Flowers in panicles... 8. Cyclea, Arn.

** Flowers in umbellate’ heads or ‘in solitary

condensed cymes... ae .. 6. Stephania, Lour.

(6) Ovaries 3—many

* Drupes pedicelled on the receptacle.

@ Leaf-blade rotund-cordate, acuminate,

less than twice the petiole ; petals 0 . 2 MAnamirta, Colebr.

@ @ Leaf-blade ‘oblong-ovate, acute, seldom

cordate, more than 4 times the petiole,

petals 6, minute ... 3. Tiliacora, Coleb.

Mary Drupes sessile on the receptacle

@ Drupes elongate, 25 mm. Ee panicles

long, drooping : ... 4. Diploclisia, Miers.

@ @ Drupes pisiform, under 8 min. eae Os AGOCEULUS, ADE.

1. TINOSPORA MIERS (Cke. I, 18).

Species 25, occurring in most paleotropical regions, but most abundantly in

Indo-Malesia.

1. Leaves tomentose, often 3-lobed eae .. Ll. ZT. malabarica.

2. Leaves glabrous, not lobed ve x, Oe L.:Covatrolia.

1. Tinospora malabarica, Miers in Ann. Hist. Nat., 2. Ser. vii (1851), 38, in

Contrib: ii (1871), 335, FB... (1872), 96; Cke. 1 -(1903), 18; Haines 18.

Mentspermum malabaricum, Lam. Encycl., iv (1797), 96.—Cocculus malabaricus

DC. Prodr. i (1824), 97; Wall. Cat. (1828) 4969.—Pee-amerdu, Rheede Hort.

Malab. vii (1688) t. 19.—7Zznzospora tomentosa Miers in Ann. Hist. Nat., 3. ser.

xiii (1864), 319, in Contr. Bot. iii (1871), 33; F.B.I. I (1872), 96.—Cocculus

tomentosus, Coleb. in Transact. Linn. Soc. xiii (1822), 59; Wall. Cat. (1828),

4956.— Menispermum tomentosum, Roxb. FI. Ind. i (1832), 813.

I have followed Diels in Engler’s Pflanzenr., iv, 94 (1910), 142, in uniting

Tinospora tomentosa, Miers with 7. malabarica. The description, therefore,

has to be slightly modified.

Description: A large climber; stems about 2 cm. in diameter; old branches

smooth and shining, with light-coloured papery bark more or less warty ; young

parts clothed with whitish hairs. Leaves membranous or papyraceous,

sparingly pubescent above, pilose below, sometimes whitish tomentose, broadly

ovate-cordate or rotundate-cordate, sometimes obsoletely angular, acuminate,

7°5-23 cm. long and broad, 5-/-nerved ; petioles 6-12 cm. long, striate.

Pseudo-racemes often arising from the old branches, pedunculate, simple, up

to 15 cm. long. Male flowers: Pedicels fasciculate, about 3-5 mm. long;

sepals 6, yellowish-green, the outer ones minute, thin, 1-l‘4 mm. long, the

inner membranous, 3-5 mm. long, 2-5 mm. broad ; petals membranous, clawed

at base, obliquely rhomboid-ovate, acute, above the claw with the margin

slightly inflexed, about 2mm. long, 1-3 mm. broad; stamens 3 inm. long,

filaments slightly dilated towards apex. Female flowers not seen.

Drupes 1-3, scarlet or orange, smooth, on thick stalks ; endocarp with many

sharp-pointed tubercles.

Locality: Konkan; (Dalzell and Gibson). Kanara: Arbail Ghat, 600 m.

(Sedgwick 5125!) ; Yellapur, evergreen forests (T. R. Bell, 7521 !).

Distribution ; Bengal, Khasia, 300-1200 m., Assam, Orissa, W. Peninsula,

Madras Pres., in almost all districts, Ceylon.

Fruit; January.

2. Tinospora cordifolia, Miers in Ann. Hist. Nat., 2. Ser. vii (1851), 38, in

Ann, Hist. ‘Nat. 13..Ser.:xiii(1864),.317 ; F.B-1.:1. (1872) 97; :\Cke. I, 18 ;:Diels in

Engler’s Pflanzenr. iv, 94 (1910), 139; Haines 18.—Menispermum matlabaricum,

var. 6 Lam. Dict., (1797), 96, "— Cocculus cordifolius DC. Syst. i (1818), 518,

550 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Prodr. i (1824), 97 ; W. Ic.t. 385, 486 (1840).— ents permum cordifolium Willd.

Spec. Pl. iv (1805), 826; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii (1832), 811.—Cocculus verrucosus,

Wall. Cat. 4966 (1528).—Czt-amerdu, Rheede, Hort. Malab. vii (1688), t. 21.

Description : Alarge glabrous climber with succulent, corky, groved stems ;

branches sending down slender pendulous fleshy roots,* terete, striate, with

tubercled, pale, sometimes shining or glaucous bark. Leaves membranous,

7-9-nerved, 5-10 cm. or rarely 12 by 10 cm., roundish or subdeltoid. cordate

with a broad sinus and large basal lobes, obtuse or more or less cuspidate,

reticulately veined with microscopic glistening glands beneath (Haines) ;

petiole 2°5-7 cm. long.

Racemes rather lax, 5 cm. long, elongating and finally often longer than the

leaves, axillary, terminal or from the old wood. Male flowers clustered in the

axils of small subulate bracts. Sepals: the 3 outer very small, ovate-oblong,

acute, the 3 inner larger, membranous, broadly elliptical, concave, 3-4 mm.,

yellow. Petals 6, equal, about 2mm. long, broadly spathulate, each loosely

embracing a stamen when young, claw cuneate, lamina triquetrous or sub-

trilobed, reflexed at apex. Pistillode 0. Female flowers usually solitary,

similar to male, but sepals green, margins not reflexed, staminodes short

linear.

Carpels 1-3, widely separated on the short fleshy gynophore, dorsally convex,

ventrally flat or nearly so, scarlet, size of a large pea; style-scar subterminal.

Stone broadly ellipsoid, with a slender dorsal ridge and a ventral depression,

slightly muricate.

Locality : Konkan: Bhandup in Salsette (Blatter and McCann, 28892!).—

Deccan: Poona, (Woodrow !).—S. WW. Country: Belgaum (Ritchie) ; Badam?

(Cooke !) ;— Dharwar 700 m. (Sedgwick, 2867!) ; Mishrikot in Dharwar Dist.

(Sedgwick 2192 !).

Distribution : Throughout tropical India, Burma, Andamans, Ceylon.

Flowers: January and August, 1917 (in Dharwar), January 1919 (in

Salsette).

Uses: Several species of Tinospora (7. malabarica, T. crispa, T. cordt-

folia) are well known in Indo-Malayan countries as a tonic in fevers.

The roots, stems and leaves of 7. cordifolia yield a watery extract

which, from ancient times, was held in high esteem in Hindu medicine

(Gulancha).

2. ANAMIRTA Cotesr. (Cke. I, 19).

One species, in tropical Asia, from British India to New Guinea.

The name Anamirta paniculata, Colebr. must be changed into A. cocculus

Wight and Arn. as is evident from the following synonymy :

1. Anamirta cocculus, Wight and Arn. Prodr. 1 (1834), 446; F. B. Ii.

(1872), 98; Haines 17 ; Gamble 27.—A. paniculata, Colebr. Trans. Linn. Soc.

xiii (1819), 52, 66; Cke. I, 19.—A. toxzfera, Miers in Ann. Nat. Hist., 3. Ser. xiv

(1864), 51.—Cocculus suberosus, DC. Syst. I (1818), 519, Prodr. i (1824), 97.—

Menispermum Cocculus, 11. Spec. ed. 1 (1752), 340: Gaertn. Fruct. i (1788)

21, tab. 70, f. 7; Roxb.. Fl. Ind. ili (1832),807.—47. heteroclitum Roxb. Fl.

Ind. iii (1832), 817.—A7. monadelphum, Roxb. Cat. Merc. Angl. Ind. or. t.

130.—Cissampelos Cocculus, Poir.in Lam. Encycl. v (1804), 9, partim.— Tuba

flava Rumph. Amb. v (1685), 38, tab. 24.—Vatsjatam Rheede, Hort. Malab.

vii (1688), tab. 1.

Description: Cke. I, 19.

Locality : Konkan (Law).—-N. Kanara: (Talbot 3514).

Distribution : Khasia Hills, Assam, Eastern Bengal, from Orissa and the

Konkan to Ceylon, Malayan Islands to New Guinea.

Uses: The berries constitute the ‘ Cocculus indicus’ of Pharmacy, also

called ‘ Cogue du Levant’. In India and Malaya they are used for poisoning

fish and birds that do damage; it is stated that to eat animals killed in this

way is sometimes dangerous.

* For the anatomy of these roots see ‘C. Tadulingam and S. N. Chandra-

sekharan,’ Anatomy of the Aerial root in Zinospora cordifolia, Miers. Proc.

11th Ind. Sc. Congress, p. 149.

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 551

The Hindus mix the poison with ointments and use it medicinally.

The poison is contained in the albumen. It is the source of picrotoxin which,

in spite of many investigations, is very incompletely known. It also contains

fifty percent of oil consisting of elain and stearin, which is employed for

industrial purposes. In the mesocarp there is a tasteless substance, the

menispermin (C3, H,, NO,after Steiner) which causes vomiting. It is used

for adulterating beer. Root and stem are useful against fever and can also be

employed for dyeing yellow.

3. TILIACORA Coresr. (Cke. I, 20).

Species 15.—Warm regions of Continental Asia and Africa.

Diels has changed the name of 7z/zacora racemosa, Colebr. into 7. acuminata,

Hook. f. and Thoms. Dunn (in Kew Buil., 1916, p. 59) points out that Diels is

correct, underthe Viennarules of Nomenclature, in restoring this specific

name; but he is wrong in attributing the combination to Hook. f. and

Thoms. because it was used by Miers before.

1. Tiliacora acuminata, Miers in Ann. Hist Nat. Ser. 2, vii (1851), 39 ;

Hook. f. and Thoms. Fl. Ind. i (1855), 187 ; Scheffer in Nat. Tijdsch. Ned. Ind.

xxxii (1873), 396, tab. vii; Gamble 28 ; Haines 19.—7. racemosa, Colebr. in

Transact. Linn. Soc. viii (1522),.67 3. Miers, Contr. 111, (1871), 76. ts «L045:

FE, Bots 1 (1872),:99; Cke. "1, 20.—Cocculus acuminatus DC. Syst. i (1818),

527.—Cocculus variegatus, Wall. Cat. n. 394 (1828).— Cocculus polycarpus, Wall.

Cat. n. 4958, excl. K. and L. (1828).—MWentspermum acuminatum, Lam. Encycl.

iv (1797), 101.—A/enispermum polycarpon, Roxb. FI. Ind. tii (1832), 816.

Locality : Cooke has not observed the plant in the Presidency ; Graham and

Hook. -f. and Thomson say it occurs in the Konkan. I have seen one

specimen growingin Poona (Hallberg, 18069 !), but it may have been cultivated.

Distribution: Bengal to Orissa and the Konkan through S$. India to

Ceylon, Burma, Singapore, Cochin China.

Flowers ; June

4, DIPLOCLISIA, Miers.

Scandent shrubs; branches pendulous. Inflorescence compound, often

elongate. Male flowers: Sepals6, the inner broader. Petals 6, cuneate-ovate,

auricled atthe base. Stamens 6; filaments thickened upwards; anthers

subglobose, 4-lobed; rudimentary carpels minute. Female flowers: Sepals

and petals as in the male flowers. Staminodes 6, filamentous, provided at the

apex with the rudiments of greatly reduced anthers. Carpels 3; ovary gibbous-

semiglobose ; style short, stout.

Drupes 3 or 1 by abortion, curved in outline, oblong-obovoid, compressed ;

style-scar conspicuous, basal; exocarp thin-fleshy; endocarp transversely

ridged and centre reduced to athin flat septum. Seeds hippocrepiform ;

albumen scanty ; embryo hippocrepiform ; cotyledons broadly linear, foliace-

ous, slightly fleshy, incumbent, much longer than the very short radicle.

Species 3. Indo-Malayan countries, Central China.

Cocculus macrocarpus, Wight and Arn, (Cke. I, 20) has been restored to the

genus Diploclisia by Diels.

1. Diploclisia glaucescens. Diels in Engler’s Pilanzenr. iv, 94 (1910), 225,

t.77 ; Gamble 28.—D macrocarpa, Miers in Ann. Hist. Nat .2. Ser. vii (1851),

42 ampl.; Beccari, Malesia i (1877), 152; Gagnep. in Fl. gen. Indochine i

(1908), 140, partim.—Cocculus glaucescens, Blume Bijdr. (1825) 25.—Cocculus

macrocarpus, Wight, Ill. 1 (1840), 22, tab. 7; Wight and Arn. Prodr. FI. Ind. i

(1834), 13; F.B.I. i (1872), 101; Cke. 1, 20.—Dzploclisia inclyta Miers in

Ann. Hist. Nat. 3. Ser. xix (1867), 87 n.n.—JD. lepida, Miers in Ann. Hist. Nat.

3. Ser. xix (1867), 87 n.n., in Contr. Bot. iii (1871), 284.—D. pectinervis, Miers

fag, list. Nat... 3. Ser...xix (1867), $7 n.n., 1n.Contr, Bot: tii. (1871),

284.—Quinio cocculoides, Schlechtd. in Linnea, xxvi (1854), 732.—Cedatha

macrocarpa O. Ktze, Rev. gen. i (1891) L, 9.

Description ; Cke. I, 20.—Fr. reddish (Gamble), pale-orange (Diels).

Locality : Konkan: Juvem in Salsette (Blatter and Mc. Cann, 18046!) ;

Kenery Caves in Salsette (Blatter and McCann, 18690!) ; Bhorgiri near Bhima-

shankar (V. K. Vaidya, 18065!) ; Matheran (Woodrow ! Mary Ferreira, 17467!

552 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

17465! F. D’Almeida, 17470! 17469! 17451!).—Deccan: Khandalla in ravine

below Kuna (Blatter and McCann, 17473! ; Khandalla (Blatter and McCann,

17460 ! 18056 ! 18048 ! Loele 18045!) ; Bhor Ghat, (Meebold, 4489) ; Panchgani,

(May Langham, E. 17!) ; Mahableshwar (Birdwood).—N. Kanara: Without

locality (T.R. Bell, 5964!) ; Karwar (T. R. Bell, 4051!).—S. 4. Country :

Belgaum (Ritchie).

Distribution ; From the Konkan southwards, forests of the W. Ghats in

Malabar, Nilgiris, Pulneys, Travancore up to 1,800 m. Ceylon, Assam,

Chittagong to New Guinea, South China.

Flowers : March 1917, 1918 (Khandalla) ; March 1918 (Matheran) ; April

1918 (Matheran, North Kanara); June 1918 (North Kanara).

Fruit: April 1917 (Khandalla); May 1893 (North Kanara); May 1918

(Bhimashankar) ; July 1917 (Khandalla).

9. COCCULUS DC. (Cke. I, 20).

Species 11.—All warm countries.*

* Species of Cocculus have been found in the earliest Upper Cretaceous

sediments of the Missisippi. See Berry, E. W. Upper Cretaceous Floras of

the Eastern Gulf Region of Tennessee, Missisippi, Alabama and Georgia.

U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Paper, 112 (1919).

Cocculus villosus, DC. must be called Cocculus hirsutus, Diels.

1. Cocculus hirsutus, Diels, in Engler’s Pflanzenr. iv. 94 (1910), 236; Gamble

29; Haines 19.—C. villosus, DC. Syst. i.(1818), 525; F.B.I. i (1872),

101; Cke. i, 21.—C. sepium, Coleb., in Transact. Linn Soc. xiii (1822), 58,

tab. 6, fig. 2.—C. hastatus DC. Prodr. i (1824), 98. C. Aristolochie DC.

Syst. Veg. i (1818) 520.—Menispermum hirsutum, Linn. Sp. ed. 1 (1753) 341 ;

Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii (1832), 814.—J7. myosotoides, Linn, Sp. ed. i (1753), 341.—

M. villosum, Lam. Dict. iv (1797), 97, non Roxb.—Holopeira villosa, Miers,

in-Ann. Hist. Nat. 3. Ser. xix (1867), 28m:m.,.in’ Contr. Bot, 110) (4871) 270, pr

126.—Cebatha hirsuta, O. Ktze. Rev. gen. i (1891), 9.

Description : Cke. i, 21.—Leaves often coarsely toothed or with triangular

obtuse or acute lobes. Size of leaves: up to10 cm. long.—Sedywick’s No. 2241

is a common prostrate form in fields. It is very different from the hedge plant.

Locality: Kathiawar: Porbandar (Cooke!).—Khandesh: Chanseli Hill

(Blatter and Hallberg, 27348!) ; Dangri, bank of Bori River (Blatter and

Hallberg, 18047!) ; Bor, banks of Bori River (Blatter and Hallberg, 18050 !) ;

Amalner, banks of river (Blatter and McCann, 18051!) ; Umalla, banks of

Tapti (Blatter and Hallberg, 18075 3) ; Bhusaval, banks of Tapti (Blatter

and McCann, 18049!).—Konkan: Bandra, seashore (Sedgwick, 7332!) ;

Ghatkopar, Salsette (Blatter and McCann, 28946!); Thana Distr. (Bell,

3813!) ; Parsik Hill, Thana Distr. (Blatter and McCann, 28916!) ; Trombay

(Blatter and MHallberg!); Karanja Island (Hallberg!); Revdanda (M.

Ezechiel, 17448 !).—Deccan : Bairawadi, near Purandhar (Blatter and McCann,

17471!) ; Poona (Herb. St. X.C., 18068!) ; Panchgani (Blatter!).—S. J.

Country: Dharwar Distr. (Sedgwick, 1922! 2308! 2241!) ; Kappatgudd

Hills, Dharwar Distr. (Sedgwick, 5235! 5227!) ; Hubli (Sedgwick, 5171!) ;

Hulpur (Sedgwick, 5326!).—Kanara: (Stocks ex Diels).

Distribution : ‘Tropical and subtropical India, from the foot of the

Himalaya to Malabar, Ceylon, Pegu, South China, Arabia, tropical Africa.

Flowers : January 1919 (Dharwar, Hubli) ; February 1918 (Thana) ; March

1920 (Bandra) ; November 1918 (Salsette) ; December 1916 (Dharwar)’;

December 1918 (Khandesh, Thana Distr.).

Fryuit;: February 1917 (Revdanta) ; February 1919 (Dharwar) ; March 1919

(Dharwar).

Vern. Name: Vasant (in Khandesh).

2. Coccuius pendulus, Diels. in Engler’s Pflanzenr. iv, 94 (1910), 237 ; Gamble

29:—C. Legba DC. Syst. i (1818), 529; F. Bek. 1 (1872), 102; Cke. 1f:20.—

C. Cebatha DC. Syst. i (1818), 527, Prodr. i (1824), 99.—C. devis, Wall. Cat.

4975 (1828).—C. glabra Wight and Arn. Prodr. i (1834). 13.—C. Leeba Forsk.

Fl. egypt.—arab. (1775), 172 —Cebatha edulis, Forsk. Fl. egypt.—arab.

(1775) 171.-—-Cebatha edulis, Forsk. ex Vahl, Symb. Bot. i (1790), 80.— Cebatha

pendula O. Ktze., Rev. gen. i (1891), 9 —Epibaterium pendulum, Forst. Gen.

(1776) 108, tab. 54.— MM. le@ba, Del. in Descript. Egypt..t. 51, fig. 2,3. (1813):

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 553

Description as in Cke. I, 21.

Locality : Sind: near Karachi (Cooke! Woodrow!) ; Tatta, amongst tombs

(Blatter and McCann, D549! D548! D 598!).—Kathiawar: Porbandar

(Cooke!) ; Dwarka (Herb. St. X. C. 18067 !).—Deccan: Sajalpur-Ghanegaon,

Ahmednagar Distr. (Sedgwick, 7380 !),

Distribution : Punjab Plain to N. Circars, Deccan and Carnatic to Tinnevelly,

Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Arabia, tropical and subtropical Africa.

Note :—This.is a very variable plant as regards texture, size and nervation of

leaves and length of petiole. There are also many variations with regard to

the shape and hairiness of the leaves.

But as there are endless transition forms it is impossible to describe good

varieties.

Fruit: February 1920 (Ahmednagar Distr.)

6; STEPHANIA, Lour. (Cke. I, 22).

Of this genus 32 species are known. As to the Indian species there exists a

good deal of confusion. Hook. f. and Thoms. in F. B.I.i, 103 describe 3

species: S. hernandifolia. Walp., S. elegans, Hook. f. and Thoms., and S.

rotunda, Lour. Cooke in Fl. Bomb. i, 22 adopts the first name for the Bombay

plant, without giving any synonyms. Jn 1910 Diels monographed the Menzs-

permacee (Engler’s Pflanzenr. iv, 34). He mentions 7 species as occurring in

British India :

1. S. andamanica, Diels.

2. S. glandulifera, Miers. Syn.: S. rotunda, Hook. f. and Thoms.,

partim, non Lour.

. S. glabra, Miers. Syn. : S. rotunda, Hook. f. and Thoms., partim, non

Lour.—Clypea Wightiz, Arn.

4. S. elegans, Hook. f. and Thoms.

5. S. gracilenta, Miers.

6. S. saponica Miers.

7. S. hernandifolia, Walp.

To these Gamble (Fl. Madras 30) has added another species :

8. S. Wightit, Dunn.—Syn.: S. rotunda, Hook. f. and Thoms. (should

be artim), non Lour.—Clypea Wightiz, Arn. in Wight Ill. i, 22.

Nos. 1, 4 and 5 of the above list do not concern us for the present as they are

not represented in our area. Nos. 2 and 3 (.S. glandulifera and glabra) have

been separated from S. votunda of the F.B.1., i, 103 by Diels, and that for good

reasons. As to S. glabra, Dunnin Kew Bull. 1916, 59, does not agree with Diels’

conclusions. He says: ‘ Diels places Clypea Wightit, Arn. under S. glaéra,

Miers, a species described by him (Diels) as having ‘‘ flores filiformt-pedi-

cellati.’’ In Wight’s own specimen (No. 2462) in the Kew herbarium there is a

detached male inflorescence, however, which is a peduncled head, and similar

ones are in their natural position in the Calcutta specimen (Kew Dist. 45).

Wight himself describes the male flowers as being all ‘‘ collected into a single

capitulum.’’ (Ill. i, 22). Arnott’s species cannot therefore, I think. be so

placed, but must be provided with a distinguishing name in the genus.’ He

has given it the name S. Wightzz, Dunn in Gamble, Fl. Presid. Madras 30.

After the separation of these three species there is nothing left of the S.

rotunda of the F.B.I., especially as S. rotunda, Lour. is only known from Cochin-

china, and as so far no specimens have been discovered that agree completely

with Loureiro’s type specimen.

We come to Nos. 6 and 7 (S. japonica and hernandtfolia). The chief difference

between the two species is this: S. japonica nas glabrous inflorescence and

leaves, whilst S. hernandifolia has papillose-puberulous inflorescence and

leaves usually pubescent below. The question might be discussed whether the

two species should not be united, especially in the face of remarks hke this

made by Diels himself when speaking of S. hernandifolia (p. 281). ‘ Species

foliorum ambitu et pubescentia atque druparum structura haud invartabilis

observatur. Forme nonnulle ex Australia allate tndumento subtomentoso

excellunt; tamen intermedie transitorieque in eisdem regtonibus tam

numeroseé sunt, ut tlle a reliquis separari non possint.’ Also in his descrip-

tion of S. hernandifolia he mentions: ‘ Lamina supra glabra, suptus, precipue

ad nervos floccoso-puberula interdum subtomentella raro glabrata.’ Still,

considering that Diels had a great amount of material at his disposal, we must

554 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1 -

suppose that he had sufficient reasons for keeping the two species separate.

The descriptions of S. hernandifolia by Hooker f. and Thomson and Cooke

were evidently prepared from mixed material of both species.

I propose, therefore, to give in this place both species with their descriptions

and complete synonymy in order to avoid confusion. We must leave it to the

Bombay botanists to ascertain the distribution of the two species and, at the

same time, to determine their systematic value. As some changes have to be

made in the genera! characters of the genus I shall first give a full description

of Stephania, Lour. as conceived by Diels.

STEPHANIA, LOUR.

Scandent shrubs, rarely herbs. Leaves peltate. Inflorescence mostly pseudo-

umbellate, simple or compound, rarely paniculate. Male flowers: Sepals 6-8,

mostly subequal, concave, obovate, rarely unequal. Petals 3-4, dilate-obovate

or suborbicular, rarely 0. Stamens6; anthers on the rim of the flattened top

of the staminal column. Female flowers: Sepals 3-6, petals 2-4, similar to

those of the male flowers : carpe! 1; style almost absent ; stigma shortly lobed

or 3-6-laciniate.

Drupe: Exocarp fleshy, glabrous; endocarp bony, compressed, horseshoe-

shaped, dorsally tubercled, sides concave, often perforate. Seeds hippocrepi-

form, convex on the dorsal, almost plane on the ventral side ; embryo embed-

ded in fleshy albumen, hippocrepiform, terete ; cotyledons incumbent, almost

as long as the radicle.

Species 32.--Old World, chiefly tropical Africa. China and Malayan Islands.

Inflorescence papillose-puberulous, condyle perforate 1. S. hernandifolia.

Inflorescence glabrous, condyle not perforate ace 2: SO .JAPONICE,

1. Stephania hernandifolia, Walp. Repert. i (1842), 96; Hook. f. and Thoms.

Fl. Ind. i (1855),; 196, pavian ; F.B.I.1)103) partake: h-*22 a panten:

Diels in Engler’s Pflanzenr. iv, 94 (1910), 279.—S. discolor, Spreng. Syst. veg.

ed. 16, iv, 2 (1827), 316, 20%” DC.—S. discolor Spreng. var. hernandifolia

Boerl. Cat. Pl. Bogor. (1899), 42.—S. discolor, Walp. Repert. i (1842), 96;

Miers in Contr. Bot. iii (1871), 244.—S. hernandifolia. Walp. var. discolor Miq.

Ann Mus. Lugd. Bat. iv (1868), 85; var. pubescens Teysm. et Binnend. Cat.

Bogor. (1866), 173 —S. japonica O. Ktze. var. B puberula, O. Ktze. Rev. gen. i

(1891) 10 —S. Roxburghiana, Miers in Ann. Nat. Hist. 3. Ser. xviii (1866), 14

n.n., in Cont. Bot. ii (1871), 224.—Cissampelos hernandifolia, Willd. Spec. pl.

iv (1805), 861; DC. Syst. i (1818), 538, Prodr. i (1824), 100; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii

(1832) ,482.—C. Pata Buch., zon Roxb.—C. discolur,Wall., partim.—C.hexandra,

Roxb. F1. Ind iii (1832), 841.—Cocculus Roxburghianus, DC. Syst. i (1818), 516,

Prodr. i (1824), 96, zon Wail.—C. Finlaysonianus, Wall. Cat. n. 4974 (1828).—

Clypea discolor Bl, Bijdr. (1825) 26.—C7. hernandifolza Wight and Arn. Prodr.

i (1834), 14; Wight Ic. t. 939 (1840).

Description : Asiender twining shrub; branches thin, striate, sparingly pilose

or glabrate. Petioles 3-6°5 cm. long; lamina peltate, thinly papyraceous,

glabrous above, paler or glaucous below, with the nerves below floccose-

puberulous, sometimes subtomentose, rarely glabrate, ovate, rounded at base,

acute at apex or rarely obtuse and minutely mucronulate, 4-15 cm. long, 4-12°5

cm. broad.

Male umbels more or less puberulous, sometimes compound; peduncle

1°5-5 cm. long, often fuscous-puberulous ; rays and raylets when present 3-8,

producing globose-capitate cymules at the apex. Sepals 5-8, minutely pube-

rulous on the outer side, elongate-obovate, 1-1°5 mm. long, 0°5-0°6 mm. broad,

yellow ; petals 3-4, broadly obovate, 0°7-0°8 mm. long; synandrium 0°5-0°7

mm. long. Female sepals 3-4, about 1 mm. long, 0°6 mm. broad; petals

conchiform, about 0°8 mm. in diameter,

Drupe 6 mm. long, 4mm. broad, compressed ; endocarp with transverse ridges

which are often spinulate on both sides, 5-6 mm. long, 4-5 mm. broad ; condyle

perforate.

Locality: W. Ghats: Khandalla (Herb. St. X. C!)—Deccan: Hills near

Junnar (Herb. St. X.C; 18070!) ; Panchgani(Herb. St. X'C.):

Distribution : Coast of Coromandel, Cachar, Sikkim, East Bengal, Assam,

Penang, Siam, Malayan Islands, Australia.

Young fruit: September 1917 (Junnar).

RAVISION- OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 555

2. Stephania japonica, Miers in Ann. Nat. Hist. 3. Ser. xviii (1866), 14 n.n.,

in’ Contrib. Bot... 111 (1871) :213;, O07 Ktze. Revi gen. i (1891), 9) parvtzm.—S.

appendiculata, Miers in Ann. Nat. Hist. 3. Ser. xviii (1866) 15 n.n., in Contrib.

Bot. iii (1871), 221 —S. tntertexta, Miers in Ann. Nat. Hist. 3. Ser. xviii (1866),

15 n.n., in Contrib. Bot iii (1871), 222 —S. hernandifolia, Miq. Prolus FI. Jap.

in Ann, Mus. Lued. Bat. in (1867), 108; Maximow. Mel. Biol::xi (1883),

643, tab. ii, 1-9, partim.—Menispermum japonicum, Thumb. Fl. Jap. (1784),

195.—Cocculus japonicus, DC. Syst. i (1818), 516.—Clypea effua Miers in Ann.

Nat. Hist. 3 Ser. xviii (1866), 270 n.n., in Contrib. Bot. iii (1871), 207.—Cis-

sampelos psilophylla, Presl, Reliq. Haenk. ii (1835), 80.

Description : A scandent glabrous shrub; branches sulcate. Petioles 4-12

em. long; blade herbaceous or subpapyraceous, glabrous on both sides, below

pale-glaucous, broadly ovate or subrotund-ovate, at base rotundate-acute,

obtuse or subretuse at apex, 6-15 cm. long, 4°5-]13 cm. broad; primary and

secondary nerves below slightly prominent; veinlets reticulate, conspicuous,

scarcely prominent.

Inflorescence glabrous. Peduncles 2°5-4 cm. long; rays of the umbel 4-8,

simple, rarely producing other umbels; umbels or umbellules subcapitate.

Male flowers: Sepals membranous, glabrous, 6-8, obovate-elliptic, 1°5 mm.

long, about 0°7 mm. broad ; petals 3-4, broadly obovate, about 0°8 mm. long ;

synandrium about 1 mm. long. Female flowers: 3-4, ovate—or obovate—

elliptic, about 0°8mm. long, petals 3-4, minute, subquadrate-obovate, about

0°4 mm. long.

Fruiting umbels larger and stouter; peduncle up to 5 cm. long, rays of

umbel 2-2°5 cm. long ; pedicels 5-7 mm. long. Exocarp red ; endocarp on both

sides with a dorsal tubercled rib and with short transverse prominent ribs, 8

mm. long, 6 mm. broad ; condyle not perforate.

Locality: Konkan (Law ex Diels).—Deccan: Khandalla (Blatter and

McCann 17475!) ; Panchgani (Blatter !).

Distribution ; Forests of the W. Ghats, commom from Coorg to Tinnevelly,

up to 1800 m., Ceylon, Tenasserim, Central China, Japan, Philippines.

Flowers : July 1917 (Khandalla).

7. CISSAMPELOS Linn.

Species 21.—Warm regions of America, Africa, Asia, and N. Australia.

1. Cissampelos pareira L. Sp. pl. ed. 1 (1753), 1031 ampl.; F. B. I. 1

(1872) 104; Cke. I, 122; Diels in Engler’s Pflanzenr. iv, 94 (1910), 286.—

C. Caapeba Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii (1832), 842.—C. convolvulacea Willd. Spec. pl.

ive 1805), 663 ; Koxb. Kl. Ind. 111 (1832), 842; Wight et Arn. Prodr. I (1834)

14.—C. hirsuta, Buch. ex DC. Syst. i (1818), 635.—C. tetrandra Roxb. FI. Ind.

iii (1832) 842.—C. hernandifolia Wall. Cat. (1828) 4979. partim.—C. obtecta

Wall. Cat. (1827) 4981 F.—MWenispermum orbiculatum Linn. Sp. pl. ed. 1

(1753) 341,—Cocculus orbiculatus DC. Syst. i (1818) 523.—Cocculus villosus

Wall. Cat. (1828) 4957, partim.—Batta valle Rheede Hort. Malab. xi (1692)

1127; tab. 62.

The above synonyms refer to what Diels calls var. ¢typzca, and they cover

only the Asiatic forms of that variety. Diels characterizes his variety thus:

‘ Foliorum lamina utringue vel saltem subtus plus minusve pubescens, nonnun-

guam tomentosa, subtus pallidior, non glaucescens, plerorumque peltata.

Drupe patenti-pilose hispidule.’

Diels has divided C. pareire into nine varieties. I do not think the time

has come for distinguishing really good varieties. The plant is extremely

variable and we possess too little in the way of field notes which alone will

enable us to arrange the representatives of this protean species under naturai

groups.

Descripizon : Cke. 1, 22.

Locality: Sind (ex Duthie).—Gujarat: Godra (Herb. St. X. C. 18071!).—

Khandesh: Chauseli Hill, northern slope (Blatter and McCann 27100 !).—

Konkan : Parsik Hill, Thana Distr. (Blatter and McCann 28911 !) ; Andheri ;

Salsette (Blatter 18072!); Kenery Caves, Salsette (Blatter and Haliberg

17461! 18936!); Bassein (Blatter 17449! 17464); Bhandup (Blatter and

McCann 17459!) ; Condita, Salsette (Blatter and McCann 17456! 18052).—

Deccan: Gangapur, Nasik Distr. (Blatter 17464!); Bhor Ghat (Blatter and

556 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

McCann 18058!) ; hills near Junnar (Woodrow) ; Lonavla (Cooke!) ; Khan-

dalla (Woodrow !).—N. Kanara (Talbot ex Cke.).

Flowers : June 1917 (Salsette) ; July 1917 (Salsette) ; August 1917 (Salsette);

September 1917 (Nasik Distr., Thana Distr.) ; November 1916 (Salsette) ;

December 1918 (Thana Distr.).

Distribution: Warm parts of America, East Africa and Asia.

Uses: C pareira and its relations form in the roots a substance called

Bebirin. In nearly all the countries of their distribution they are used in

medicine and very often their importance is exaggerated beyond their real

value. Cissampelos pareira is official in the Addendum of the British Pharma-

copeeia as cissampelos in distinction from the root of Chondrodendron

tomentosum R. & P., which is also official as pareira. ‘The use of the name

pareira both as a specific name and as a pharmaceutical title, in addition to its

use as a vernacular name has led to a good dea! of confusion.*

8. CYCLEBA Arn.(Ckex1, 23.)

Of the 21 species known at present 2 occur in the Presidency. The

descriptions given by Cooke characterize the two species correctly, but

the names and synonymy have to be changed. Dunn, in the Kew Bulletin

(1916), p. 60 gives an explanation of how the confusion came about: ‘ There

appear to be three species of Cyclea in S. India, very similarin habit and in

foliage, but differing in the structure of their male flowers. By far the

commonest and widely diffused has globose or widely campanulate pubescent

calyces, with 6-8 anther cells on the rim of it as peltate connective. This is the

species described as C. Surmanni, Miers, in the Fl. Brit. Ind. i, 104. Miers

did not use the combination in the place cited and Hooker f. and Thomson

(Fl. Ind., 201) are the real authorities for this name, which is founded on

Cocculus Burmanni, DC. (Syst. i (1818), 517). But Diels who had the

opportunity of comparing a type with van Rheede’s Malabar specimen pre-

viously described as Wenispermum peltatum by Lamarck (Encycl. iv (1797), 96)

considered the two to be identical, and, as Rheede’s figure (Hort. Mal. vii. 49)

quite agrees with this conclusion, Lamarck’s specific name should be the one

used. Cyclea Burmanni, Hook. f. and Thoms. and Cyclea peltata, Diels are

synonymous and the fact that the combinations have been variously applied to

three very different species in all the important works dealing with them

during the last forty years has prepared the way for a complicated synonymy.

‘The combination C. Burmanni was applied by all authors up to the time of

Diels’s Monograph to the common globose-flowered species ; to the second

species having campanulate calyces and 4-5-celled androecia Hook. f. and

Thomson wrongly applied the name C. peltata, while Miers (Contrib iii. 236)

used the same combination, also wrongly, to designate a third species having

the male calyx divided nearly to the base into 4-5 segments. The second

species received the distinctive name of C. Arnotti from Miers (Contrib. Bot.

iii. 238), while for the third which was collected by Beddome in the Wynaad

and has not previonsly been separately recognized, I propose the name C. fzssz-

Calyx.

Calyx globose or broadly campanulate, lobes 4 of tube ... 1. C. peltata.

Calyx campanulate, divided nearly to the base aes 12. 5. LESSCEQTYX.

1. Cyciea peltata, Diels in Engler’s Pflanzenr. iv, 94 (1910) 312; Gamble

31.—C. Burmanni, Hook. f. et Thoms. Fl. Ind. (1855), 201 ; Hook. f. F. B. I.

i (1872), 104 ; Miers Contrib. Bot. iii (1871) 239, pl. 121; Cke. i, 23.—C versicolor,

Miers in Ann. Nat. Hist. 3. Ser.. xviii (1866), 19-nen., in Contr, Bot. au

(1871) 240.—Cissampelos discolor Wall. Cat. (1828) 4892, partim.—Cocculus

peltatus, DC. Syst. i (1818) 516, Prodr, i (1824), 96.—Clypea Burmanni, Wight

and Arn. Prodr. Fl. Ind. i (1834), 14.—Rhaptomeris Burmanni, Miers in Ann.

Nat. Hist. 2. ser. vii (1851), 41 n.n.—MWentspermum peltatum, Lam. Encycl.

iv (1797), 96 ; Willd. Spec. iv (1805), 827.—Pada Valli, Rheede Hort. Malab.

vii (1688), 93, tab. 49.—Smzlax sp. Burm Thes. Zeyl. (1737) t. 101.—Gaertn.

Eruct: (1788), t. 180 £, 12:

* See T. Holm., Czssampelos pareira. Merck’s Rept. 27 (1918) 7-9, 60-61.

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 557

Description: Cke. i, 23.

Locality: Khandesh: Dadgaon (Blatter and Hallberg 27248 !).—Konkan :

Borivli to Kenery Caves, Salsette (Blatter and McCann, 28993!); Bhandup,

Salsette (Blatter and McCann, 18064!) ; Thana (Blatter and McCann, 8702!) ;

Penn (Blatter and Hallberg, 18074!)—Deccan: Khandalla to Kampoli (Blatter

and McCann 18059!); Khandalla (Blatter and McCann, 18060! 17454!

18061! 18057! Blatter 18054!; Igatpuri (McCann 17474! 17450! Blatter

and McCann 18053! 17455!—S. 17. Country : Belgaum (Ritchie 976 ex Cke.)

Distribution : Western Peninsula, Ceylon, S. Andamans.

Flowers : January 1917 (Igatpuri); March 1917 (Khandalla) ; May 1917

(Khandalla) ; Jaly 1916 (Khandalla) ; July 1918 (Thana) ; September 1917

(Igatpuri) ; November 1916 (Salsette) ; November 1917 (Igatpuri) ; December

1918 (Khandalla).

Fruit : November 19!6.

2. Cycilea fissicalyx., Dunn in Gamble 31, Kew Bull. (1916) 60.—C. feltata,

Miers, Contrib. Bot. iii (1874), 236; Cke. 1, 24 (zon Hook. f. and Thoms,

neque Diels).

Description: Cke. i, 24.

Locality: W. Ghats: Tingorwadi near Igatpuri (Blatter and Hallberg

18062 !) Khandalla (Blatter 18055!). Apparently rare.

Distribution: W. Ghats of Bombay Presidency, forests of Wynaad in

Malaber.

Flowers: January 1917 (Igatpuri).

(Zo be continued)

SNAKES COLLECTED IN BURMA IN 1925

COLONEL F. WALL, C.M.G., K.H.S.

(With a Block)

My collection of snakes this year yielded 396 specimens, representing forty-

eight species. Father Gilhodes sent me 129 specimens from Huton, in the Kachin

Hills (4,500 ft.), and it is somewhat disappointing that among the 233 snakes

collected by him in 1924 and 1925, no single specimen of the rare viper Azemziops

fee should have been obtained. It may be that it frequents an altitude above

Huton. Among others who contributed to this years total, I have to thank

Mr. P. M. R. Leonard ot Kutkai. North Shan States; Mr. D. W. Lawson at

Shweli North Shan States ; Major Rodrigues at Taunggyi in the South Shan

States ; Major Cormack at Toungoo; and Mr. Pudden, 1. F. S., in the Tenas-

serim Province.

The following new species has been discovered. ARhabdophis speciosus.

The collection does not give an accurate estimate of the numerical strength

of all the species, as I had to discourage those kind enough to work for me,

from preserving large specimens, owing to the difficulty of sending spirit out

to remote jungle localities. Such species as the larger Coluber and Ptyas,

Python, Naia, and Vipera russell, etc., were purposely rejected.

Family—TYPHLOPIDA.

Typhlops braminus. (Daudin).

Seven examples from Mandalay and Maymyo. Two of these measuring

75 mm. (3 in.) were killed in Maymyo in August and September. One was

recovered from the stomach of a coral snake (Calliophis macclellandi).

Typhlops diardi. Schlegel.

Twenty specimens from Maymyo, and 20 from Huton, Kachin Hills.

Colour. One pale grey specimen was about to desquamate. The loose

epithelium when removed revealed a pale grey colouration beneath, which

tends to confirm my earlier observations (Bombay Natural History Journal,

vol. xix, p. 609) entitling such specimens to the status of a colour variety under

the name ¢cznereus.

Fors. One was extracted from the stomach of a coral snake (Callicphis

macclellandi).

GrRowTH. (a) The young. Four measuring 96, 96, 98 and 100 mm. (3,

3%, 37, and 4in.) appeared to have been very recently born.

(6) arly Life. Specimens measuring 125 mm. (5 in.) in May, 138,

140, 150, and 160 mm. (53, 53, 6 ard 63 in.) in June, July and early August

are clearly progeny of the previous year, and indicate a growth of about

50 mm. (2 in.) in the first year of life. Three specimens 216, 220 and

238 mm. (83, 8 and 93 in.) in May and July appear to represent broods of

nearly two years growth, showing an increase of about 50 mm. (2 in.) in

the second year of life.

species is sexually mature before attaining an age of two years.

(d) Maximum Length. My largest was afemale 418 mm. (1 ft 4¢ in.).

BREEDING. (a) Method of reproduction. 'This year’s collecting establishes

the fact that this snake is viviparous. One killed in July contained four

embryos that measured 44mm. (1% in.) when unravelled. These were con-

tained in sacs, and were clearly visible through the investing membranes.

(6) Zhe Brood. Seven femates were gravid, and contained from 4 to 14

eggs or sacs.

eggs in a more advanced state in June and July, and the one containing sacs

was killed on the 28th of July. Young of the year already alluded to measuring

from 96 to 100mm. (3g to4in.) were killed in September.

SNAKES COLLECTED IN BURMA 559

Family—BOIDAE.

Python molurus (Linné).

Four specimens from Zimba Chaung, Tavoy District ; Sedaw 16 miles from

Mandalay and from near Maymyo.

Hasits. (a) Disposition. The one killed near Maymyo, 9 ft. in length

was seen reclining on the ground and shot in jungle, and made no attempt

to escape. The one killed in Tavoy, over 6 ft. in length was seen with its

head beneath a rock, its body being too distended with a recent meal to permit

further ingress to its retreat. This struck at the coolies who found it, and

was despatched with a gunshot.

Foop. The Tavoy specimen was enormously distended, and was found to

contain a mouse deer (7vagulus minimus) in an advanced state of pregnancy.

BREEDING. (a) Sex. The nine footer killed near Maymyo proved to bea

male. Theclasper isa cylindrical uniramic organ about 3 in. long, bifid at the

extremity. It is encircled with loose folds, and has none of those recurved

processes so characteristic of most Colubrine and Viperine species. At the

base the anal glands contained an abundant secretion amounting perhaps toa

drachm on each side, of an opaque dirty ochraceous fluid. Pressure squirted

out a jet of this matter to a distance of about two feet.

(6) Season. Two juvenile specimens were found together at Sedaw on June

27, a fact which suggests that they had been recently hatched. One measured

628 and the other 685 mm. (2 ft. and $in. and 2 ft. 3 in.).

Python reticulatus (Schneider).

The skins of five specimens, all killed in the Tenasserim Province, were sent

to me for examination. The largest measuredin life 13 ft. 3 in,

Leprposis. Costals. Two heads-lengths behind the head 57, at mid-body

75, two heads-lengths before the vent 39. Ventrals. 308. Subcaudals. 90.

Family—ILYSIIDZA.

Cylindrophis rufus (Laurenti).

One specimen from Sahmaw, Myitkyina District in the plains on the West

bank of the Irrawaddy.

Lepiposis. Ventrals. 212. Subcaudals. 6 on left side, 7 on right. The

Ist, 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 8th entire.

Family—XENOPELTIDA.

Xenopeltis unicolor (Reinwardt).

Two specimens, one from Toungoo, and one from Sawmah in the Myitkyina

District.

Foop. One contained a small frog in the stomach.

Family—COLUBRIDA.

Polyodontophis collaris (Gray).

Six examples all from Huton, Kachin Hills.

Foop. A large skink (/aduza) had been swallowed by one.

BREEDING. Two females both killed before June6 were eggbound.

One of these measuring 506 mm. (1 ft.8in.) contained two very elongate

eggs 35 by 6 mm. (1% by 4)in length. The other 584 mm. (1 ft. -11 in.)

long, contained four eggs more than an inch in length.

Natrix khastensis (Boulenger).

-SynonyMy. WNatrix gilhodesit Wall. Bom. Nat. Hist. Journ., vol. xxx,

p. 587. |

I have had 48 more specimens of this snake this year all from Huton, Kachin

Hills. This further material compared with a long series of khastensis from

the Khasi Hills sent for my examination from the Indian Museum, Calcutta

and Bombay collections, bridges over the apparent differences of my earlier

specimens from the Kachin Hills, which led me to think these constituted a

distinct species. The acquisition of three skulls, where last year I had. but one,

shows agreement with the dentition of Khasi Hills specimens.

- Foop. A single frog had furnished the meal in eleven subjects, and twa

frogs were extracted from the stomach of one.

560 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

GrRowTH. (a) Early Life. Three specimens measuring from 232 to 272mm.

(93 to 10g in.) in June, July and early August represent the broods hatched

out last year. Twelve specimens from 386 to 436 mm. in length (154 to 17 in.)

in June, July and early August appear to represent broods hatched out in the

autumn of 1923.

(5) Maturity. Two egg-bound females measuring 430 and 436 mm. (1 ft. 5in.

and 1 ft. 5;in.) indicate that the species is sexually mature before attaining

two years of age.

the largest female a similar length.

BREEDING, (a) Method of Reproduction. It is almost certainly oviparous, as

eggs over an inch long have a tough white investment.

(6) The Clutch. No less than sixteen females were egg-bound, and contained

from one to four eggs.

August. It seems probable that eggs are not hatched out until the autumn.

Natrix trianguligera (Boie).

A single example was sent to me from Minhla in the Thayetmyo District and

was killed on the banks of the Irrawaddy. Thisextends the previously know

habitat, which until now was restricted to the Tenasserim Province.

CoOLOURATION. It is dark olive green with ill-defined and obscure quin-

cunciate dark spots, less indistinct anteriorly. The belly is dirty white, the

bases of all ventrals and subcaudals conspicuously black. Thereisa periocular

buff zone, and the upper labials have black posterior borders.

Lepiposis. Ventrals. 144. Subcaudals. 83.

DENTITION. Maxilla. Supports 27 teeth; syncranterian, anododont, feebly

coryphodont. Palatine. 24; feebly kumatodont. Pterygoid. 40 to 43; feebly

scaphiodont. Mandibular 38 to 39: feebly kumatodont.

Natrix venningi (Wall).

SYNONYMY. WNatrix nigriventer Wall. Bom. Nat. Hist. Journ., vol. Xxx, p.

588. An unaccountable error in the description of venningi (Bomb. Nat. Hist.

Journ., vol. xx, p. 774) led to my describing nigriventer as a distinct species.

In describing venningi, I recorded the costals as being disposed in 19 rows

whereas they number only 17. In subsequent references to this snake, I

have always looked up the printed description, and therefore perpetuated the

error. Only recently I discovered that the scales are recorded as 17 invariably

in my notebooks. The acquisition this year of a skull of mtgriventer from

the Kachin Hills, showed the dentition agreed with venningi, and led to the

discovery of my mistake.

I acquired three specimens this year from Huton, Kachin Hills.

Foop. One was found to have eaten two large and four small tadpoles.

BREEDING. A female killed before June 6, proved to be egg-bound and

contained two large eggs 37 by 7 mm. (1% by #; in).

Lrpiposis. Costals. In 17 rows in the whole body length. Ventrals. 155,

160, and 163. Sudcaudals. 129, 134 and 143.

DENTITION. Mavxilla. Carries 32 to 33 teeth: syncranterian, anododont,

feebly coryphodont. /alatine 17 to 18; anododont, feebly kumatodont.

Pterygoid 23? to 25; anododont, scaphiodont. Mandibular. 30? to 31?

feebly kumatodont.

Natrix clerki (Wall).

A single specimen from Sinlum Kaba, Kachin Hills described by me in

this journal (vol. xxx, p. 809).

Natrix biteniata (Wall).

Five specimens all from Huton, Kachin Hills. Described by me in this

journal (vol. xxx, p. 806). Has been confused hitherto with ARhabdophis

parallelus (Boulenger).

Nerodia modesta (Gtnther).

Four specimens from Huton, Kachin Hills.

BREEDING. A female measuring 574mm. (1 ft. 10$in.) killed between June

Shey ae 12, contained three large eggs in the oviducts 35 by 10mm. (1%

y ‘3 in.

SNAKES COLLECTED IN BURMA 561

Lepiposis. Ventrals. $156 and 160, 9 149. Subcaudals. % 118, 2 107.

DENTITION. Maxilla. Carries 29 to 32 teeth; syncranterian, anododont,

coryphodont, the last three slightly enlarged. Palatine. 18 to 20; feebly

kumatodont. Pterygoid. 23 to 26; scaphiodont. Mandibular. 33 to 34;

feebly kumatodont.

Nerodia piscator (Scheider).

Thirty-six examples from Rangoon, Shweli, Maymyo, and Huton, Kachin

Hills.

Rhabdophis stolatus (Linné).

Fifty-three specimens from Maymyo, Kutkai, Shweli. North Shan States ;

Toungoo, Mandalay, Myitkyina ; and Huton, Kachin Hills.

Foop. A single frog found in the stomach of several.

BREEDING. Three were egg-bound and contained from 7 to lleggs. Two

of these were killed at Maymyo in June.

Rhabdophis subminiatus (Schlegel).

Seventeen were killed in Maymyo, one in Katha, and nine at Huton, Kachin

Hills.

Foop. One contained a toad, and two a single frog.

GRowTH. Young of the year were represented in Maymyo by one 275mm.

(114 in.) in May, one 287 mm. (113 in.) in June, one 240 mm. (93 in.) in July,

and one 323 mm. (122 in.) in September. Broods hatched in 1924 were

represented by one 475mm. (1 ft. 6$in.) in March, one 562 mm. (1 ft. 103 in.) in

June, one 562mm. (1ft.10¢ in.) in August, and one 418 mm. (1 ft. 43 in.) in

September. Broods hatched in 1923 were represented by three 710, 760, 785

mm. (2 ft.4in., 2ft. 6in. and 2ft. 7 in.) in July, three measuring 735, 774 and

885 mm. (2 ft. 5 in. and 2 ft. 11 in.) in August. Hatchings of 1922 were

represented by one 1165 mm. (3 ft. 10 in.) in May.

BREEDING. No female was acquired in an egg-bound condition.

Rhabdophts spectosus (Wall).

This species described by me in this journal (vol. xxx, p. 734) was represented

by three subjects all killed before June 6 at Huton, Kachin Hills. A ¢

measured 804 mm. (2 ft. 72in.), another ¢ 710 mm. (2 ft. 4 in.) and a

@ 614 mm. (2 ft. 3 in.).

Lepriposis. Ventrals. & 166 and 168, 2 167. Subcaudals. 4 86 and 87,

87.

Rhabdops bicolor (Blyth).

Three examples, all adult males from Huton, Kachin Hills. These

measured 492, 512, and 516 mm. (1 ft. 73 in., 1 ft. 84 in., 1 ft. 8 in.).

Foop. One had eaten what appeared to be a slug, and another an arachnold

with eight legs but devoid of any hair. The last segment of the limbs was

compressed and had a few bristles beneath.

Leprposis. Ventrals. 190,191 and 192. Swbcaudals. 54, 62 and 64.

The tongue of this snake is peculiar in having extremely long points, fully

an inch from the point of bifurcation.

Trirhinopholis nuchalis (Boulenger).

Six specimens from Huton, Kachin Hills; and Kutkai and Maymyo in the

North Shan States.

LENGTH. The largest was a ¢ which taped 457 mm. (1 ft. 6 in.).

BREEDING. A female captured before June 6, measuring 430 mm.

(1 ft. 5 in.) proved to be egg-bound. The eggs, seven in number,

measured 28 by 6 mm. (1g in. by 4in.) and contained embryos that would be

about 25 min. (1 in.) long if unravelled.

Leprposis. Ventrals. 3 124 to 130, 2139 to 140. Sudbcaudals. & 24to 27.

was entire.

The testes in this species are remarkably large, being over an inch long.

Lycodon aulicus (Linné).

Six specimens from Mergui, Toungoo, Shweliin the Mongmit District, and

Sahmaw in the Myitkyina District.

Foop. One had swallowed a gecko.

362; JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXII

Lycodon fasciatus (Anderson).

Hight examples from Huton, Kachin Hills and Maymyo. All the five

Maymyo specimens were killed at dusk, or after dark, and in houses. Two

had clambered up the masonry to an upper story.

Foop. One had eaten a skink.

BREEDING. One female killed at Huton, Kachin Hills before June 6,

contained 5 eggs in the oviducts, and another killed between June 6 and

August 12, contained 4 eggs.

A slough found ina bathroom showed no traces of the black bands which

are such a conspicuous feature of the species.

Ptyas mucosus (Linné),

Nine specimens from Maymyo and Taunggyi.

Foop. A large toad had been eaten by one.

BREEDING. A female measuring 1930 mm. (6 ft. 4 in.) killed on

April 23, contained eight large eggs in the oviducts.

Piyas carinatus (Gtnther).

The skin of a large specimen measuring 2845 mm. (9 ft. 4 in.), tail

530 min. (1 ft. 9in.), killed by Mr. Pudden’s coolies when in camp at Thebyn

Chaung, Tavoy River, Tenasserim, was sent to me for examination.

COLOURATION. It is olive-brown dorsally with a series of light irregular and

broken crossbars. In the posterior third of the body there are six black

stripes which end at the vent. The uppermost of these involves the upper half

of the 4th, the 5th, and lower half of the 6th rows. The median involves the

contiguous halves of the 2nd and 3rd rows. The lowest involves the lower

half of the ultimate row, and the edges of the ventrals. On the tail the scales

are margined with black, leaving around light ocellus in the middle. Belly

yellowish with an irregular black median stripe.

Lepiposis. ostral. ‘The rostro-nasal sutures are nearly twice the rostro-

internasal and fully twice the rostro-labial. Juternasals. A pair; the suture

between them rather less than half that between the praefrontal fellows.

Praefrontals. A pair; the suture between then about two-thirds the length

of the frontal shield. Frontal. Touches 6 shields. Supraoculars. As long

as the prefrontals and internasals taken together, a shade longer than the

frontal, two-thirds to three-fourths the parietals. Loreal. One. Praeocular.

One. FPostoculars. Two. Temporals. 2+2. Supralabials. 10; the Ist

and 2nd touching the nasals, the 5th, 6th and 7th the eye, and the 8th and 9th

the lower anterior temporal. Sudblinguals. The posterior rather longer than

the anterior, in contact with the 6th and 7th infralabials. Costals. In 16 rows

two heads-lengths -behind the head to a point 3 or 4 heads-lengths behind

mid-body where the 3rd and 4th rows blend. The scales further reduce to 12

about two heads-lengths before the vent, the 3rd row disappearing at this

spot. Two median rows strongly keeled, and the next row feebly keeled in

mid-body. Posteriorly four rows are strongly carinate. Apical facets paired.

Ventrals. 212. Anal. ?. Subcaudals. 67 in pairs. (The tail may be

slightly incomplete).

Zaments korros (Schlegel).

One specimen from Fort Hertz in the Putao District.

Coluber porphyraceus Cantor. j

Three specimens, one from Maymyo, one from Taunggyi, South Shan States,

and one from Huton, Kachin Hills.

BREEDING. The one from Taungegyi killed before the 15th of June contained

five eggs in an early stage of development.

Coluber prasinus (Blyth).

Four specimens ; two from Maymyo and two from Huton, Kachin Hills. One

female measured 1,133 mm. (3 ft. 8} in.).

Coluber radiatus (Schlegel).

Four examples from Taunggyi, South Shan States; Namtu, North Shan

States ; Fort Hertz, Putao District ; and Huton, Kachin Hills.

SNAKES COLLECTED IN BURMA 563

Coluber oxycephalus (Boie).

The skin of one was sent to me by Mr. Pudden, 1.¥.S., killed at Yebusan,

near Migyaunglaung, Tenasserim. This measured 2,410 mm. (7 ft. llin.), the

tail (incomplete) 480 mm. (1 ft. 7 in.).

Dendrophis pictus (Gmelin).

Seven specimens, one from Huton, Kachin Hills, two from Maymyo and

four from Mergui, Tenasserim.

Oligodon herberti (Boulenger).

One specimen from Huton, Kachin Hills.

Lepiposis. Ventrals. 206. Subcaudals. 36.

Oligodon theobaldi (Ginther).

One specimen from Shweli, Mongmit District.

Oligodon albocinctus (Cantor).

Ten examples from Huton, Kachin Hills.

Foop. Two were found to have feasted on ophidian eggs. In one there

were four egys of Rhabdophis subminiatus containing embryos measuring 175

mm. (7 in.). Another contained four eggs probably of RA. subminiatus, the

embryo measuring 125 mm. (5 in.). A third specimen had swallowed the

eggs of a snake or lizard. One of these 25mm. (1 in.) long was impacted in

the mouth, and another had been swallowed.

Oligodon purpurascens (Schlegel).

Twenty-five examples from Maymyo, Namtu, and Shweli, North Shan

States ; Sahmaw, Myitkyina District ; Toungoo ; and Mergui.

CoLOURATION. A fine series of twenty from Maymyo, exhibit a wonderful

variety in colour and markings. Six of these conform to variety cyclurus,

characterized chiefly by the absence of the quadrimacular crossbars so typical

of variety maculatus. Both varieties ranged from a ground colour like a boiled

prawn, through ruddy browns to a deep cigar brown. One specimen was a

transitional form connecting the two varieties, by exhibiting very obscure,

quadrimacular bars, fainty traceable in the posterior part of the body. The

Mergui specimen conformed to variety maculatus.

BREEDING. (@) Method of Reproduction. 'The size and character of eggs

in the oviducts make it practically certain that the species is oviparous.

(6) The Clutch. Four egg-bound females contained respectively 6, 11 and

16 eggs.

the season probably extends over half the year judging from the growth of

this year’s specimens. Thus one example measured 470 mm. (1 ft. 623 in.) in

March, and another 458 mm. (1 ft. 6 in.) in September. Again three specimens

measured 600 mm. (1 ft. 11? in.) in April, one 595 mm. (1 ft. 113 in.) in May,.

one 575 mm. (1 ft. 10% in.) in June, one 575 mm. (1 ft. 102 in.) in July, one

584 mm. (1 ft. 11 in.) in August, and one 600 mm. (1 ft. 112in.) in October.

A specimen 192 mim. (73 in.) long in October, was the only representative of

this year’s hatching.

LEpPIDosIsS. Szpralabials. These are subject to great variation. The 2nd

and 3rd, or the 4th and Sth are sometimes confluent. The 4th and 7th are

sometimes cuneate and fail to reach the edge of the lip. The 4th is sometimes

divided into an upper and a lower part. Costals. ‘These are usually in 19

- rows to just behind mid-body, and then beconie 17 owing to a confluence of

the 4th and Sth, or 5th and 6th rows. In three specimens they were in 21 rows

in parts. In all of these the 5th row divided and the resultant rows blended

and redivided two or three times, before reducing to 19, and finally to 17.

GENITALIA. These are diramic, and completely devoid of any of the

recurved processes usually seen in Colubrines,

Oligodon splendidus (Gtnther).

One example from Mandalay. This was encountered by an orderly at night

in the British Station Hospital, who narrowly escaped being bitten by it.

Liopeltis frenatus (Giinther).

One specimen from Huton, Kachin Hills. This was a male with 163 ventrals

and 95 subcaudals. ‘The 2nd and 3rd infralabials were confluent on both sides.

564 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX]

Dipsadomorphus multimaculatus (Boie).

Six specimens from Maymyo and Toungoo. One was found coiled up in a

letter box. One killed on December 7, had evidently retired into winter

quarters selecting a holein alog. An orderly carrying this on his shoulder

from the stack to the house, had the disagreeable experience of seeing the

snake gliding leisurely down his coat.

Foop. One had swallowed a lizard of the genus Calotes.

BREEDING. A female killed on August 21, carried 7 eggs in the oviducts

nearly fit for deposition.

Dipsadomorphus hexagonotus (Stoliczka).

Three specimens from Huton, Kachin Hills and Maymyo.

BREEDING. One killed between June 6 and August 12, contained three

large eggs in the oviducts measuring over 50 mm. (2 in.) in length. A young

one killed on August 30, measuring 330 mm. (1 ft. 1 in.) was evidently recently

hatched.

LEPIDOSIS. Costals. The scales were in 19 rows at mid-body in all.

Psammodynastes pulverulentus (Gtnther).

Five specimens from Huton, Kachin Hills, and near Kya In, Amherst

District (1,500 ft.)

Foop. Two had swallowed a frog.

Chrysopelea ornata (Shaw).

Five specimens from Mandalay, Meiktila and Mergui.

One fell from the roof on to the tea-table among the assembled guests, and

another was encountered at night on a staircase.

COLOURATION. ‘The two Mergui examples were black with a centro-basal

yellow spot on each scale. A series of vermilion spots on the spine from nape

to vent. The head is barred black, and orange.

BREEDING. A female killed on May 23, was full of eggs, but having

been shot to pieces these could not be counted.

Laticauda laticaudata (Linné).

One fine female from the Andamans measured 888 mm, (2 ft. ll in.).

BREEDING. This contained five large sterile eggs in the oviducts measuring

43 by 18 mm. (1f by Zin.). The date of capture is not on record.

Bungarus fasciatus (Schneider).

Two specimens from near Taunggyi, South Shan States at 3,000 ft. eleva-

tion; and Sahmaw, Myitkyina District. One encountered at night in a

verandah wreathed itself round a servant’s leg who managed to kick it off

without being bitten. When searched for with a lamp, it was found in the low

branches of a bush. ,

Bungarus multicinetus (Blyth).

Three specimens from Fort Hertz, Putao District; and Ani Sakan near

Maymyo (3,000 ft.).

One was killed at night in a house. One measured 1,040 mm. (3 ft. 5

in.) another 1,015 mm. «(3 ft.)4-4in.)) ‘and — the, ‘third 314028 smn (gene

4 in.) The last when skinned and pegged out was 1,238 mm. (4ft. and #in.),

COLOURATION. One had 20 white bars on the body and 7 on the tail, and

another 31 bars on the body and 10 on the tail.

Foop. One contained a small mammal in the stomach.

GENITALIA. These are uniramic, cylindrical organs beset with small

recurved processes.

Naia hannah (Cantor).

Three specimens from Tenasserim ; and Shweli, Mongmit District.

One was chased up a stream and shot, another seen skulking in a bamboo

clump was also shot. The third a hatchling, was observed moving about ina

mysterious manner in a pool of water. Investigation proved that it was being

firmly held by a fresh water crab. On being landed the crab released its

grasp, and escaped leaving the snake almost dead on the bank. On examina-

tion I found the spine had been completely severed by the crab’s claw.

rey SNAKES COLLECTED IN BURMA 565

_Foop. One measuring 2,515 mm. (8 ft. 3 in.) was found to have

swallowed a large green snake.

BREEDING. Season. The hatchling alluded to measure L. 538mm. (1 ft.

91 in.). This was encountered on September 15, a date which con-

siderably increases the previously known appearance of the young. The only

other date that I am aware of being my own observation of hatching out at the

end of May in the Nilgiri Hills.

The above photograph shows the male organ of the King Cobra

to which reference was made in my recent paper on (‘Snakes collected

in Burma in 1924,’ vol. xxx, No. 4, p. 820). <A pair of hamadryads

discovered zz copula by Mr. Plunkett, 1.F.s., were both shot by him; they

were dragged apart and the male organ was amputated and preserved in

spirit. As stated in my previous article it appears to be a diramic organ of one

side and is so markedly different from examples of these organs in the cobra

(ata naia) in my possession, as to justify WV. hannah being placed in a

distinct genus. Each limb of the organ is about 152 mm. (6 in. long),

from the point of bifurcation to the extremity. A vaphé passes up the posterior

part. The basal four-fifths is surrounded by prominent transverse, somewhat

imbricate folds resembling the gills of a mushroom. Most of the folds extend

uninterruptedly right round the organ, others are discontinuous. In the distal

fifth the folds are broken up to form a sort of honeycomb.

Lepiposis. Ventrals. 244. Subcaudals. 3; the first to the twelfth

entire, :

Naia nata (Linné).

Three specimens from Impelet, 40 miles from Mandalay; Namtu, North

Shan States (2,000 ft.) ; and Myingyan.

COLOURATION. The Namtu specimen differs from all others with which I

am acquainted. It is a young one of variety fasczata, measuting 388 mm.

(lft. 3$in.). It is black with narrow white bars growing more and more

566 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

distinct posteriorly. The bars are interrupted over the spine. The belly is

black with white bars anteriorly growing fainter posteriorly.

A specimen of variety fasciata of a similar length from Myingyan is a

uniform light olive-brown, thus conforming to the type usually seen in Burma.

Calliophis macclellandi (Reinhardt).

Eight specimens from Maymyo all of variety macclellandt.

One specimen was found at night on a staircase. One caught on the road at

night was sent to me alive and unscathed. It proved a very lively creature

when liberated, making repeated endeavours to escape. When arrested with a

stick it flattened the whole body to a very remarkable degree.

Foop. One had swallowed a large 7yphlups diardi, and another a full

grown Typhlops braminus.

BREEDING. A female measuring 598 mm. (1 ft. 113 in.) killed on

July 8 contained fourteen eggs in the oviducts, with embryos that measured

about 25 mm. (1 in. in length).

Family—AMBLYCEPHALIDZA.

Amblycephalus macularius (Theobald).

Four specimens from Kalaw, South Shan States; Maymyo and Shweli,

North Shan States ; and Huton, Kachin Hills.

HaBits. One of these was found beneath a stone, and when touched made

no attempt to escape, but curled itself into a knot. Another juvenile specimen

was also dislodged from beneath a stone.

Foop. One had swallowed two slugs.

GrowTtH. A young one measuring 140 mm. (5% in.) was killed on

August 2.

LEprposis. Agrees in the following points in all. Pvraeocular. One.

Subocular. One, crescentic. Postocular. One. Supralabials. 7, the Ist and

2nd touching the nasal, the 2nd, 3rd. 4th and 5th the subocular, and the 5th

and 6th the lower anterior temporal ; 7th very long equalling the 4th, 5th and

6th taken together. Yemurals. In one specimen the two upper were confluent

on the right side forming a very long shield. In this respect it agrees with

the type of A. andersoni, a form I consider should rank as macularius (Rec.

Ind. on 1922, p. 24). Ventrals. 6142 to 150, 2 163. Subcaudals. 8 39

to 42, 9 41.

DISTRIBUTION. One specimen taken at Shweli at about 800 ft. close to

Hills that ascend to over 3,000 ft. All the other localities are over 3,000 ft.

Family—VIPERIDA.

Trimeresurus gramineus (Shaw).

Nine specimens from Toungoo ; Mayniyo and Muse, North Shan States ;

Sahmaw, Myitkyina District ; and Huton, Kachin Hills.

Hasits. One brought to me alive moved in a remarkable manner. It threw

forward its body, and then advanced the head and forebody till straight, and

repeated the action. It thus appeared to progress sideways, and did soina

laboured fashion. This struck viciously at a stick, and also at the forceps used

when trying to grasp its neck. One lying in the grass wreathed itself round

the hand of a grass cutter and struck -at him, but failed to implant its teeth.

One was found beneath a stone, and another reclining on a post.

Foop. One had swallowed a small mammal.

LEPIDOSIS. Costals. All had the scales in 21 rows at mid-body.

GENITALIA. These organs are diramic, and smooth except at the tips where

there are small recurved processes.

Evers. These in a live specimen were a brilliant ruby-red.

SKIN. This is remarkably loose, so that when pegged out the interspaces

are broader than the scale rows. The beautiful vivid green fades to black

within an hour or two of its removal.

Trimeresurus monticola (Ginther).

Five juvenile specimens from Huton, Kachin Hills, killed in June, July and

August. Three measuring 208 227 and 245 mm. (83, 9 and 92 in.) appear

to be this year’s production.

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY

OF DELHI

THE LATE S. BASIL-EDWARDES, M.B.O.U., R.A.O.U.

ParRtT II

(Continued from page 273 of this volume.)

Liopicus mahrattensis (Lath.). The Yellow-fronted Pied Woodpecker.

This bird is not very common at Delhi. An ad. 2 obtained on January 24,

1925, and another of the same sex seen at Kingsway on the sameday. On

January 31, 1925, another Q was obtained. No ¢¢ were seen. Freshly shot

birds have a pleasant woody smell.

Brachypternus aurantius aurantius (L.). The Northern Golden-backed Wood-

pecker.

Common. Two or three pairs are generally to be seen on the trees on any

of the roads leading out of Delhi. Seen in the larger gardens.

lynx torquilla torquilla (L). The Wryneck.

Not uncommon in thin babool jungle; but a most unobtrusive species.

Four specimens obtained at various times proved to be of the typical race.

Xautholema hemacephala indica (Horsf. and Moore). The Indian Crimson-

breasted Barbet.

Common, but not seen much during the winter. It became quite conspicu-

ous as soon as the weather warmed up by the middle of February, and

throughout March birds were sure to be heard calling or to be seen feeding

on peepul fruit.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. March-April. ]

The District Gazeetter states that ‘ Barbets of several kinds’ are found in

Delhi ; but I did not meet with any other species.

Coracias benghalensis benghalensis (L.). The Northern Indian Roller.

Abundant. Most birds had begun nesting operations about the time I left

Delhi

[Eggs taken by Bingham. May-July.]

Merops orientalis orientalis (Lath.). The Common Indian Bee-eater.

Very common. Several pairs were seen breeding towards the end of March.

Two pairs were excavating nesting-holes in a dry drain just outside the gate

of my house.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. April-May.]

Merops superciliosus javanicus (Horsf.). The Blue-tailed Bee-eater.

I have a recollection of seeing this species in 1921-22 at Kingsway. I saw

no specimens in J924-25, though I watched carefully for them towards the

end of March and the beginning of April, visiting likely places without

success.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. Beginning of May. ]

Merops persicus persicus (Pall.). The Blue-cheeked Bee-eater.

I left Delhi long before the arrival of this fine species. Bingham’s note is

worth reproduction and I cannot do better than quote it. He writes :—

‘ This large and handsome Bee-eater makes its appearance at Delhi, and

in the districts to the south. and west, in the end of April; at first in small

numbers, but about May in immense flocks. About Delhi itself they breed

sparingly, chiefly in high sandy banks near the Jumna; but at Sultanpoor,

near Gurhi Hursaroo, on the Rajputana State Railway line in great numbers,

The breeding season lasts from the middle of May to the middle of July, the

568 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

Merops persicus persicus.—(covdd.)

last eggs I took being on the 9th of the latter month ; but most nests contain

young by the end of June. Five is the greatest number of eggs I have found

in any one nest, and this only on two occasions; the usual number laid

I think is three or four.

‘The depth of the nest-holes varies from 3to7 feet ; in diameter they

vary from 2 to 34inches, and the tunnel almost invariably has a slight

inclination upwards, with an occasional divergence to the right or left, and

ends in a chamber about 9in. in length 4in. in breadth, and 4 in. in height.

This is never lined, the eggs being laid on the bare ground. In such nests

as I have been unlucky enough to dig out and found tenanted by young ones,

I found the remains of grasshoppers, locusts, and other insects, strewing the

floor of the chamber. I was glad to find that these latter nests, though ruined,

were not deserted by the old birds; but the young fed and taken care of till

able to fly.’

Ceryle rudis leuacomelanura (Reichenb.). The Indian Pied Kingfisher.

Common near canals and the riverside, and pieces of open water. Cole

obtained eggs as follows:

(a) Janvary 3, 1925. Four young about two days old.

(6) February 5, 1925. Nest with one egg.

(a) 3 7, 1925. Nest with three fresh eggs.

(e) March 10, 1925. Nest with five very hard-set eggs.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. March.]

Alcedo atthis bengalensis (Gmelin.). The Common Indian Kingfisher.

The occurrence of this race in Delhi is of some interest. Unfortunately I

obtained only one specimen of each race and I cannot state which is the com-

moner bird of the two.

Alcedo atthis paillasii (Reichenb.). The Central Asian Kingfisher. ,

A couple of small Kingfishers shot at Kingsway on November 16, 1924,

proved to examples of padlasizz and bengalensis. These little Kingfishers are

common along canal-banks, etc.

Halcyon smyrnensis (L.). The White-breasted Kingfisher.

A common species. As is the case with this Kingfisher it is often far from

water. Observed on trees on the roadside at Raisina, among trees on the Tis

Hazari grounds, and other places.. It appears that smyrnensis and fusca meet

in about the neighbourhood of Gurgaon, and without a series for comparison,

I prefer to treat the bird binomially.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. Month not mentioned.]

Lophoceros birostris (Scop.).. The Common Grey Hornbill.

Fairly common. Seen in previous years at Kingsway. A party of four or

five seen on the outskirts of Raisina on December 26, 1924. A specimen

obtained on that day was found to be coated with fat. Seen again the next

day among the trees on the Tis Hazari maidan. A pair observed near the

Jantar Mantar on March 5, 1925 and another specimen secured (sex ¢).

From time to time Hornbills used to visit a large peepul tree growing opposite

my house. This species is frequently seen in large gardens on /7cus trees.

The call is a loud harsh cry, very like ascream of distress. Another note

sounds much like that emitted by A/zlvus m. govinda.

Upupaepops epops (L.). The European Hoopoe.

Upupa epops orientalis (Baker.) The Indian Hoopoe.

Both races were common during my stayin Delhi. By the middle of March

the latter race was breeding. I saw many birds disappearing into crevices of

Wao Peta and ruins that abound in Delhi. A breeding ¢ shot on March

, 1925, has an extraordinarily long bill (80 mm.). Cole took a nest with

fresh eggson March 5, 1925. ' eee rc

[Eggs taken by Bingham. ‘ An early breeder. Hard-set eggs by first week

of April.’]

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF DELHI 569

Micropus affinis affinis (Gray). The Common Indian House Swift.

Breeds in numbers in the eaves of houses, in temples, tombs, under bridges,

etc. A specimen was caught by handin the Secretariat on March 3], 1925.

Dozens breed in crevices in the corridors of this building.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. March-April and August. ]

Caprimulgus asiaticus (Lath.). The Common Indian Nightjar.

1 kept a keen watch for Caprimulgidae but met with none. Cole was lucky

enough to procure a pair of specimens of this species on February 5, 1925. He

met with the birds in bare, open country which had been flooded over when the

river rose. The vegetation was very scanty there, and consisted of a few tufts

of long grass and one or two babool trees. It is possible that the birds were

inclined to breed : unfortunately, the genital organs of the specimens obtained

by Cole were not properly examined.

Hierococcyx varius (Vahl.). The Common Hawk-Cuckoo.

None were seen or heard till March 14, 1925, on which date I found three or

four pairs in babool jungle, and obtained an ad. ¢. Most of the birds were emit-

ting the trilling note and only ons was heard uttering the ‘ Brain-fever’ call,

Later on, up tothe end of my stayin Delhi, the ‘ Brain-fever ’ note was com-

monly heard.

Clamator jacobinus jacobinus (Bodd.). The Pied Crested Cuckoo.

Bingham says that he took several eggs suspected to be those of this Cuckoo

in nests of Argya malcolm ; but itis not clear whether these were taken in

Delhi ornot. Bingham may be referring to his experiences in Allahabad. I

did not see this Cuckoo during the period 1 was in Delhi, but it probably comes

in during the rains.

Eudynamis scolopaceus scolopaceus (L.). The Indian Koel.

Ithink Isaw a@ towards the end of my stayin Delhi. I left before this

Cuckoo had come in.

Tacoccua sirkee sirkee (Gray). The Punjab Sirkeer Cuckoo.

Not uncommon, but a most inveterate skulker and a silent bird. Its unob-

trusive habits make it appear less common than it reallyis. This curious

Cuckoo bears an astonishing resemblance to a Mungoose when seen for the first

time on the ground. Mr. E. H. N. Gill has also noticed the resemblance (J. &.

W..F7-S., Vol. xxx. p. 283). This*bird 1s capable of running along the

ground ata great pace, stretching out its neck and crouching low to attain

speed. When disturbed it can make itself scarce in no time, taking advan-

tage of every bit cf cover to escape observation.

[Eggs found by Bingham on canal-banks at Delhion April 4.]

Centropus sinensis sinensis (Steph.). The Chinese Crow-Pheasant.

Common in thick babool jungle, long grass, and tangled undergrowth in

gardens. None were heard calling in winter; but by the end of March the

weird, ventriloquistic hooting of this bird was heard daily. A specimen shot

on_January 11, 1925, measures: wing about 195 mm., tail about 345 mm. and

total length about 575 mm. Mr. Whistler has identifies this bird as being of the

above race.

Psittacula torquata (Bodd.). The Rose-ringed Paroquet.

Abundant. Numbers are to be seen among the ruins which abound in

Delhi.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. February-March. ]

Psittacula cyanocephala cyanocephala (L.). The Western Blossom-headed

Paroquet.

I do not think that this pretty little Paroquet is rare in the Delhi Province ;

but it is seldom seen as it haunts open country away from human habitation

and buildings. Five birds seen on February 8, 1925. anda juv. @ shot. This

bird was unfortunately too damaged to preserve. Four birds seen flying over

on March 21, 1925. This species can easily be recognized in the field from

torquata (a) by its smaller size, (6) by its swifter flight, (c) by its call-note,

which is a soft, pleasing jo-ee, zee, quite unlike the harsh screams of the larger

species. Numbers are brought round for sale.

570 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXi

Bubo coramandus (Lath.). The Dusky Horned Owl.

Seen at Dusk among trees on the less frequented roads and along the Ridge

near the riverside. Occasionally a bird perches on the roof of one’s house

This fine Owl is not infrequently seen in broad daylight perched quietly ina

clump of trees. This bird after the manner of other Owls, snaps its mandibles

together-in a most terrifying manner with aloud sound. A specimen was

brought to me in amuch mangled state. The flesh and bones of this Owl are

supposed to be of some medicinal value. The call has been aptly described

by Butler, and is commonly heard at dusk.

[Eggs taken by Bingham, 5th January.]

Bubo bengalensis (Frank.). The Rock Horned Owl.

This large Owl is also found in Delhi.

Tyto alba javanica. (Gmel.) Tne Indian Barn-Owl.

I heard a Barn-Owl on the night of March 30, 1925.

Carine noctua brama (Temm.) The Indian Spotted Owlet.

Abundant at dusk along the telegraph wires on the roads. I have noticed

this species hover as described by Mr. G. O. Allen (vide J.B.N.A.S., vol. xxvi

p. 1045) and by Messrs. Fletcher and Inglis in their book entitled Birds of

an Indian Garden. (p. 158). The habit has also been noticed by Messts

Whistler and Jones. ;

This Owlet is found in holes and crevices in most of the ancient buildings in

Delhi. I did not collect any eggs in 1925, but I obtained two clutches of four

eggs each on March 8, 1922, in holes of trees on the roadside at Kingsway.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. March-April.]

Otus sunia sunia. The Indian Scops Owl.

On March 22, 1925, while out collecting birds in a babool jungle at Raisina, I

had good fortune to meet with this Scops Owl. Having shot some birds anda

hare, I was resting with a friend under a babool tree when my attention was

drawn to a pair of Zephrodornis pondicerianus. On getting up to watch these

Wood-Shrikes, I noticed a long reddish-brown object among the topmost

branches of asmall kikar tree. At first sight this looked like a dried fruit of

some sort, but its curious shape and colour, and the fact that it was on a kikar

tree, caused me to take another view of it. When I did so and went round to

the other side of the tree, | was astonished to find that I saw looking at a

Scops Owl. The bird was easily obtained, it must have been in that spot all

the time we were under it! This was the only specimen I saw in Delhi.

Mr. F. H. Cole obtained another—a Q—in the Kudsia Gardens in the Old

Delhi on February 26, 1925. An examination of the genital organs of my bird

showed that it was an ad. ¢ about to breed. These two specimens belong to

the race Otus s. sunia. The 2 obtained by Cole differs from my ¢ in having

the lower part of the throat and the breast a rufous colour, and the stippling

on the sides of the abdomen less distinct.

Both are in the typical ‘ cinnamon-bay ’ phase.

Of the thirty specimens examined by Dr. Ticehurst in the British Museum

none are from Delhi.

The District Gazetteer mentions the occurrence of ‘Owlets of several

descriptions.’ I met with no Owls other than those noted above, but from a

description of an Owl given to me it appears that some other species of Scops

Owl is also found in Delhi.

Torgos calvus (Scop.). The Black, King or Pondicherry Vulture.

Seen on several occasions.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. 28th February. |

Gyps fulvus fulvescens (Hume). The Indian Griffon Vulture.

pS our records the finding of a nest of this Vulture in the following

words :—

‘On March 18, I found a nest of this Vulture placed on a solitary peepul,

standing in the middle of a plain not far from the left bank of the Jumna,

opposite the village of Wuzeerabad. The nest was a large rough unlined

structure of boughs and branches, larger than, but very like that of, P.

bengalensis. It contained a single hard-set dirty-white egg, which measured

3°78 by 2°68 inches. I shot the old female as she moved off the nest.’ This

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF DELHI 571

Gyps fulvus fulvescens—(contd.)

may refer to the village of Wazirabad near Delhi... I have no record in my

note-book of having seen this species.

Pseudogyps bengalensis (Gmel.). The Indian White-backed Vulture.

A large number of breeding birds were seen on the way to Ambala on

April 3, 1925. Almost every peepul tree held one or two nests, and some trees

held four or five nests. Cole obtained eggs as follows :—

(a) November 15, 1924. One hard-set egg.

(6) do. 21, 1924. One fresh ege.

(ad) do. 25, 1924. One fresh egg.

(2) do. One slightly hard-set egg,

(f) December 22, 1924. One slightly hard-set egg.

(g) do, One slightly hard-set egg. This egg was taken

from the same nest as held a fresh egg on

November 21, 1924.

(k) December 25, 1924. Nest containing young.

[‘ At Delhi these Vultures have several breeding-places on both the Eastern

and Western Jumna Canals.’ (Bingham). ]

Neophron percnopterus subsp.? White Scavenger Vulture.

White Scavenger Vultures are very common at Delhi, especially on the

outskirts of the City and just outside villages. I took an unmarked white egg

from a nest built in a large peepul tree in Old Delhi on March 28, 1921.

Blanford says (Fauna of British India, Birds, vol. iii, page 327): ‘ This

(percnopterus) replaces the last species in the extreme north-west of India,

and is the common bird of the Punjab, Sind and Cutch, extending east to

Delhi; farther east than this the yellow-billed birds prevail.’

It is probable then that both ginginianus and percnopterus occur in Delhi ;

but I have not been able to verify this definitely. At present, therefore, I am

unable to give the status of the two birds in Delhi.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. February-March. |

Aquila nipalensis nipalensis (Hodg.). The Eastern Steppe Eagle.

Seen throughout the winter, though hardly any were noticed in March. I

once surprised a bird which was feeding on the ground in babool jungle.

Aquila rapax vindhiana (Frank.). The Indian Tawny Eagle.

This species was seen from time to time. I watched a bird feeding on some

meat on March 26, 1925, and, having seen one haunting the same locality, I

presume it was breeding nearby. On January 4, 1925, Cole found a nest in

the Kudsia Gardens with two fresh eggs.

Aquila hastata (Less.). The Small Indian Spotted Eagle.

Eggs taken by Bingham, who writes: ‘On May 14 I found a nest of

this Eagle placed on an immense babool tree on the banks of the Nezzufgarh

Escape Canal, where it passes through a number of gardens under the Ridge

AbIOEMDT pecs

Hieraetus fasciatus (Vieill.). Bonelli’s Eagle.

I did not observe this Eagle. Cole saw it at Tughluqabad on December 27,

1924. Hume mentions that he found a nest at those ruins.

Ictinaetus malayensis perniger. (Hodg). The Indian Black Eagle.

In the winter of 1920-21 I saw an undoubted specimen of this fine Eagle on

the river-banks at Kingsway.

Butastur teesa (Fruh.). The White-eyed Buzzard-Eagle.

Fairly common. The stomach of an ad. 2 shot on November 4, 1924, con-

tained a lizard and the remains of some large insects.

Cuncuma leucorypha (Pall.). Pallas’s Fishing-Eagle.

I saw a fine specimen of this Fishing-Eagle on November 26, 1924, at Okla,

but was unable to obtain it. On January 11, 1925,1 saw a pair in the same

place, and I was fairly certain that they were nesting there in one of the larger

572 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX]

Cuncuma leucorypha.—(coztd.)

trees. Cole found the nest later, on February 3, 1925. It was on a tall cotton

tree and then contained young.

Polioztus ichthyetus (Horsf.). The Large Grey-headed Fishing-Eagle.

I saw a fine specimen of this species at Okla, on November 26, 1924, but

though fired at it got away. I did not meet with the bird again.

Milvus migrans govinda. (Sykes.). The Common Pariah Kite.

Observed many nests in February and March. Cole took three fresh eggs

on February 17, 1925.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. March-—April.]

Elanus coeruleus coeruleus (Desfon.). The Black-winged Kite.

Saw a pair at Raisina beating over scrub-jungle and babool trees, and

obtained the ~. Three seen on November 16, 1924, at the back of the Secre-

tariat in Old Delhi. One of these birds appeared to be a young one. A pair

seen beating over the Ridge at Raisina on March 25, 1925. These birds were

being badgered by Crows.

Circus macrourus (Gmelin.). The Pale Harrier.

Notcommon. A ¢ was obtained on November 13, 1924, beating over scrub-

jungle and grass-land. The stomach contained a lizard’s tail and insect

remains. Another specimen seen flying over my house o0 November 24, 1924.

Buteo ferox (Gmel.). The Long-legged Buzzard.

A solitary bird used to frequent a patch of open ground just opposite my

residence. Another bird would haunt a memorial column close by, and this

bird was eventually shot on February 24, 1925. It proved to be an ad. 2

in the pale phase. A toad was taken from her bill, and the stomach contained

a half-digested rat of some species. Scores of curious-looking parasites came

off this specimen when it was being skinned! The Long-legged Buzzard is

generally to be found in favourite spots haunting the same place day after day.

Most of the birds seen were in the pale phase, and I remember seeing only two

birds in the dark plumage.

Astur badius dussumieri (‘Temm.). The Shikra.

A fine ad. ¢ obtained on December 11, 1924, andan ad. 9 on January 24, 1925.

The latter bird had just caught a Palm Squirrel and was preparing to havea

meal when she was shot. The squirrel immediately scampered up the tree,

apparently none the worse for his experience! The colour of the claws of this

common species is black.

Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus (L.). The Kestrel.

A seen on the roadside on December 13, 1924. Two others, both QQ I

think, seen near the Secretariat at Raisina on February 17, 1925. One of these

was obtained. Mr. A.B. Jones has identified this bird as a specimen of the

typical race.

Falco sp?

A @, judging from its large size, used to frequent the towers of the Secre-

tariat at Delhi. This bird would take a regular and heavy toll of Columéa 1.

intermedia. A friend once saw it capture a Cercomela fusca. The capture

of a Pigeon was notified by the Falcon’s loud screaming. It was generally

to be seen perched on a tower, scattering the feathers of its recently captured

prey far and wide. ‘The Indians called it a Bhyree. I understand that one

or two are usually to be seen in favourite spots. Two are usually to be seen at

favourite spots. On one occasion I visited one of these spots, but I saw no

bird. A specimen was seen near my house on April 2, 1925.

Falco chiquera chiquera (Daudin). The Red-headed Merlin.

On January 6, 1925, I saw a pair perched on a large peepu! tree opposite my

residence. I shot the 4, a beautiful specimen, with my ‘410 bore walking stick

gun ; but the 2 flew off in alarm and I did not get her. She was seen again on

a low babool tree, but was far too wary to shoot.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. March 27.]

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF DELAI 573

Crocopus phoenicopterus, swbsp.? Green Pigeon.

Not uncommonin suitable localities, but I did not meet with any personally

and am therefore not sure of the subspecies to which they belong. I am told

that Green Pigeons visit the peepul trees in the District Jail. A few stray

birds were shot by a friend close to his house in Old Delhi. These birds were

feeding on peepul fruit.

Columba livia intermedia (Strick.). The Indian Blue Rock-Pigeon.

Large numbers are to be seen in the heart of the city, in the Chowk and in

other streets in the Indian quarter. Breeds in numbers among tombs and

ruins. Several pairs breed in a deep well on the Ridge at the back of the Balak

Ram Hospital. I have come across enormous flocks containing several

hundreds of birds, near Kingsway Station.

Streptopelia chinensis suratensis (Gmel.). The Indian Spotted Dove.

Specimens of this species are sometimes met with, but are likely to be

overlooked among the vast numbers of Streptopelia d. decaocto which abounds

in Delhi. I would describe the call of this Dove as a plaintive, gurgling coo,

which may be represented as cvo-coo, cOdr-rr-ro0, CO0-rr-v00. CO0d-rr-ro0.

Streptopelia senegalensis cambayensis (Gmelin.). The Little Brown Dove.

Both this species and Streptopelia d. decaocto are often seen together. The

coo of this Dove is very characteristic. It has several notes and may be

represented as c00-cuk Cuk-Cd0-CO0-cO0-co0, the second and third syllables being

accentuated and pitched higher than the first, and the remainder of the call

being uttered quickly. Breeds from February onwards. I have taken

eges in that month, and Cole found a nest with two fresh eggs on February 17,

1925.

[Eggstaken by Bingham. March-August.!

Streptopelia decaocto decaocto (Friv.). The Indian Ring: Dove.

Abundant and by far the commonest Dove in Delhi. It may be seen in

numbers all over along with the species last mentioned. Both are found

feeding in parties and small flocks in the early mornings and evenings, retiring

to the shelter of babool and other trees during the heat of the day. I found

this Dove a great nuisance when collecting birds in babool jungle. Birds

would dash out in ones and twos from every tree with such a flutter and

whistling of wings that anything worth getting was immediately frightened off.

Besides the coo, this Dove utters a harsh squaking note. The coo of this

species is atrisyllabic one—cd0-cd0-kuh, repeated several times. Throughout

the months of February and March the Ring-Dove was found breeding, and

wherever one looked, 4 were to be observed displaying. Most nests are built

fairly low down on babool trees.

[Eggstaken by Bingham. All the yearround. ]

Oenopopelia tranquebarica tranquebarica (Herm.). The Indian Red Turtle-

Dove.

Not common. Seen occasionally, feeding in company with Streptopelia d.

decaocto, the males being easily recognized by the grey head and reddish

colour. This Turtle-Dove was noticed on the railway journey between

Delhi and Ambala on April 3, 1925. It should be remembered that this refers

to the winter. This Dove is probably a summer visitor in Delhi.

One of the most noticeable features of the bird-life of Delhi is the abundance

of Doves there.

Pterocles orientalis (L.). The Large, Black-bellied or Imperial Sand-Grouse.

Found in flocks in suitable localities. May be seen at favourite drinking-

places.

Pterocles indicus (Gmel.). The Painted Sand-Grouse.

The following extract regarding the distribution of this Sand-Grouse is

taken from Nests and Eggs, vol. iii, p. 364: ‘ Throughout the so-called

Mewat Hills and the Aravallis which run down from Delhi to Mount Aboo, a

broad straggling broken belt of stony, detached; and often barrow-like hills,

they are common.’ eS

574. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol..XXXI1

Pterocles senegalensis erlangeri (Neum.). The Common Indian Sand-Grouse.

Also common in suitable localities. Several seen on February 17, 1925, in

small parties in dry, open ground on the outskirts of Raisina. AQ which

was preserved had her crop full of tiny, hard, gritty, pinkish-red seeds. Only

two pairs seen when I visited this place again on February 21, 1925. A pair

was shot and the ¢ made into a skin.

Pavo cristatus (L.). The Common Peafowl.

Common enough near villages and cultivation all over Delhi. Seen at

Raisina where it was very common when I first arrived. On November 15,.

1924, I saw a family party in which there were three or four birds about the

size of a domestic fowl. After a short while, by the end of November, the

birds disappeared from this locality and during the rest of my stay in Delhi

were not seen at Raisina again.

Coturnix coturnix coturnix (L.). The Common Quail.

Common in suitable country. Astray specimen was flushed in an open

patch of ground opposite my residence on December 29, 1924—a most unlikely

place for Quail.

Francoliaus francolinus asie (Bonap.). The Northern Indian Black Partridge.

Common in long grass, crops, and low bushes in the vicinity of water.

Francolinus pondicerianus interpositus (Hart.). The Northern Grey Partridge.

Abundant. On November 5, 1924, | came across a family party in which

there were four or five young birds. I shot the cock and also two juv. ¢¢,

one of which was preserved. These birds must have been about a month old.

Another family party seen on December 28, 1924, but the young birds were

much older than those seen on November 5, 1924. The breeding season of

this Partridge must either be a long one, or the birds must bring up two

broods.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. March-April. ]

Family Rallide. Rails.

I did not obtain or even see a single Rail of any sort, and my repeated

requests to sportsmen to bring me specimens fell on deaf ears. Had I the

time and opportunity of investigating suitable places, I have no doubt I would

have procured specimens.

Gallinula chloropus parvifrons (Blyth.). The Moorhen.

Quite common in the reeds at Okla and at the edges of jheels. Specimens

shot at Okla could not be retrieved.

Fulica atra atra (L.). The Common Coot.

Seen in pools in open country such as at Ghari-hari-saroor.

Megalornis antigone antigone (L.). The Sarus Crane.

Common in open country such as obtains at Ghari-hari-saroor. A full-

grown tame bird used to walk about the road near the Railway Dispensary at

Raisina. The owner of this bird informed me that he caught it at Palwal

when it was a chick and that the bird was over two years old. lt was very

tame and would peck at a closed door to intimate that it was meal-time !

Choriotes edwardsi (Gray). The Great Indian Bustard.

I am told that this species used to be found at Delhi some years ago. No

sportsman of my acquaintance has either seen or shot this Bustard in recent

years.

Chlamydotis undulata macqueeni. Macqueen’s Bustard or Houbara.

A friend tells me that he once saw twoorthree Houbaras in the Delhi

Province. Heseems to be quite sure of the identity of the birds he saw, as

one flew up within a few feet of him.

Burhinus cedicnemus indicus (Salv.). The Indian Stone-Curlew.

I remember shooting one of these birds some years ago on the river-bank at

Kingsway. Notseen in 1924-25; but it must be stated that I could pay no

attention to river-side birds.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. April-June.]

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF DELHI 575

Cursorius coromandelicus (Gmel.). The Indian Courser.

Seen in bare, open country at Kingsway and also at Raisina. Aspecimen

was brought to me for identification on February 20, 1925, but it was too badly

damaged to preserve. Messrs. Marshall, Cock and Bingham together found

several nests near the old contonments of Delhi at the end of March.

Lobivanellus indicus indicus (Bodd.). The Indian Red-wattled Lapwing.

Common in open country and fields near water.

Sarciophorus malabaricus (Bodd.). The Yellow-wattled Lapwing.

Not near as common as the last species. This bird is often referred to as

the ‘ Yellow-eyed Plover.’

Himantopus himantopus himantopus (L.). The Black-winged Stilt.

A small flock. of about ten birds seen on December 6, 1924. They were

rather wary, but I managed to drop one as the birds passed overme. This

proved to bea gin the first plumage. Though I visited the place again I did

not see any more Stilts. Hume states that this species breeds near the Sultan-

pur salt-works near Delhi, and Bingham says that when he visited the place

in May and June 1875, ‘the birds were breeding simply in hundreds.’ It would

be interesting to have details of a recent visit.

Numenius arquatus lineatus (Cuv.). The Eastern Curlew.

Specimens of Curlews are shot from time to time by sportsmen. I did not

receive any, but they are probably this species.

Tringa hypoleuca (L.). The Common Sandpiper.

Very common at pools of water, borrow pits near the railway track, canals,

etc.

Tringa glareola (L.). The Wood Sandpiper.

A specimen of this species was very kindly presented to me by a friend who

shot it on January 2, 1925.

Tringa ochropus (L.). The Green Sandpiper.

Seen in small parties at the edges of tanks and pools in open country.

Five birds shot on December 14, 1924, but only three could be recovered from

the water and preserved—two Q Q and an unsexed bird. A was given to me

on January 2, 1925. Several seen at pools by the railway lines on April 3, 1925.

Rather common.

Tringa erythropus (Pall.). The Dusky or Spotted Sandpiper.

About ten birds seen on December 6, 1924, at a shallow pool. A much

damaged specimen was brought to me on December 9, 1924. This species

swims quite well.

Erolia temminckii (Leisl.). Temminck’s Stint.

' A small party seen on a tank near the Hauz Khas ruin on December 28, 1924.

Three birds shot were far too badly damaged to skin.

Gallinago gallinago gallinago (L.). The Common Fantail Snipe.

~ Quite common in suitable country.

Lymnocryptes minimus (Brunn.). The Jack Snipe.

Also very common at the edges of jheels, etc.

Rostratula benghalensis benghalensis (L.). The Painted Snipe.

This ‘ aberrant Sandpiper’ as Mr. F. Finn calls the bird, isnot uncommon

in suitable ground.

Hydrochelidon leucopareia indica (Steph.). The Whiskered Tern.

One solitary specimen was seen flying up and down asmall pool near the

Hauz Khas ruin on December 28, 1924. The bird would occasionally settle on

a spit of muddy land along with several Sterna seena and melanogaster. The

short, barely forked tailattracted my attention, and the bird was very kindly

shot for me by a friend. Mr, H. Whistler has been good enough to identify

this specimen, : .

576 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol: XXX

Sterna seena (Sykes). The Indian River-Tein.

Very common on the riverside and the canal at Kingsway, and in any place

where there is sufficient water.

Sterna melanogaster (Temm.). The Black-bellied Tern.

Not quite as common as the last. Generally found along with Sterna seena-

Two or three pairs are always to be seen at the canal near Shah Alam’s Tomb

at Kingsway.

Rhynchops albicollis (Swains.). The Indian Skimmer.

Seen occasionally on the river.

Pelecanus sf. Pelican.

[ have myself never seen any Pelicans in the Delhi Province; but Mr. C. H.

Rees tells me that he saw a party of about five Pelicans on the riverside near

Jagatpur. He is unable to furnish a sufficiently detailed description and I

cannot even hazard a guess as to the species.

Phalacrocorax javanicus (Horsf.). The Little Cormorant.

I saw avery large flock, consisting of 200 birds or more, flying along the

Jumna at the back of the Secretariat in the winter of 1921-22. Common where

there is enough water.

Anhinga melanogaster (Penn.). The Indian Darter or Snake-Bird.

Single birds are usually seen in suitable stretches of water enclosed by reeds.

Generally to be seen at Okla.

Inocotis papillosus papillosus (Temm.). The Indian Black Ibis.

A party of about half a dozen seen feeding in fields off the Kutb road on

December 29, 1924, but they were rather wary and I did not get specimens,

Blewitt took a nest at Delhi towards the end of March. Bingham says :—‘I

have found only one nest of this, and that was placed in a large peepul tree in

the village of Okla, a few miles from Delhi. On May/7, the nest which

was a large firm platforni of sticks having a shallow depression lined very

thinly with grass, contained two eggs.’

Platalea leucorodia major (Temm. and Schleg.). The Indian Spoonbill.

Not uncommon. I saw a single bird near the canal at Kingsway three

winters ago. A friend gave me the head of an adult bird shot on March 23,

1925. Unfortunately I was too late to rescue the entire skin! Iam told that

this specimen measured about 4ft. 6 in. in expanse. The colour of the gular

patch nearest the base of the bill was dull green.

Dissoura episcopa episcopa (Bodd.). ‘The Indian White-necked Stork.

A pair seen on December 6, 1924. A small party seen on February 7, 1925,

and anad. ¢ obtained. I ate this bird as an experiment to discover its value

as an edible quantity. This species, as is well known, is called the ‘ Beefsteak

Bird ’, because steaks from its breast are supposed to be a good substitute for the

genuine article. I did not find the flesh anything like beef, and in my opinion,

it was hardly worth eating. It may be that I was unfortunate in getting a bird

which did not taste nice! This Stork is frequently seen soaring in small flocks

high in the air after the manner of Vultures. The principal haunts appear to

be fallow land in the vicinity of water. Several pairs may be seen on either side

of the railway track. Rather a wary species.

Xenorhynchus asiaticus asiaticus (Lath.). The Black-necked Stork.

Seen commonly on the riverside, open canals, etc., singly or in pairs. Hume

mentions a very large nest he found near Badli.

Ardea cinerea cinerea (L.). The Common Grey Heron.

A solitary specimen was generally to be seen near Shah Alam’s Tomb at

Kingsway. Severalseen on Aprial 3, 1925, on the way to Ambala on either side

of the railway lines.

[Eggs taken by Bingham at Burari village near Delhi at the end. of March. ]

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF DELHI 577

Egretta sfp. Egrets.

Seen at Kingsway, where a small party would roost among the babool trees

on the banks of the canal. Numbers may be seen at the edges of the Horse-

shoe Jheel and other stretches of water especially those with grassy margins.

No specimens were secured and the exact species is not known: probably all

three White Egrets are found in Delhi.

Egretta intermedia intermedia (Wag.). The Indian Smaller Egret.

[Eggs taken by Binghain. July-August]

Bubulcus ibis coromandus. (Bodd.) The Cattle-Egret.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. July-September. ]

Ardeola grayii (Sykes).

Common enough where there is sufficient water, though a couple of birds were

seen on a grassy plot opposite my residence far from water and in the midst of

human habitation.

[Eggs taken by Bingham. July-September. |]

Butorides striatus javanicus (Horsf.). The Indian Little Green Heron.

Hume mentions a nest containing three fresh eggs he found in a clump of

reed and rush outside the Western Jumna Canal afew miles from Panipat, on

July 21. I did not meet with this pretty Heron.

Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax (L.). The Night-Heron.

Seen at Kingsway. Not infrequently heard passing over at night, but

unfortunately 1 have no record of dates.

Sarcidiornis melanota (Penn.). The Nuklita or Comb-Duck.

Not uncommon.

Anser anser (L.). The Grey Lag Goose.

Quite common in suitable country. Flocks pass over certain localities at

fixed times of the day.

Anser indicus (Lath.). The Bar-headed Goose. |

Also common. This Goose is often seen on small Jheels and village pools

whereas A. anser prefers larger stretches of water.

Dendrocygna javanica (Horsf.). The Lesser or Common Whistling Teal.

Bingham found a nest near Delhi in a hollow of a decayed branch of a tree

on August 9.

Casarca ferruginea (Pall.). The Ruddy Sheldrake or Brahminy Duck.

Seen commonly, singly or in pairs, on the banks of the River Jumna.

Anas platyrhyncha platyrhyncha (L.). The Mallard.

Common in suitable jheels,

Anas pecilorhyncha pecilorhyncha (Forst.). The Indian Spotbill or Grey

Duck.

Like the ast, common in suitable jheels. I understand that birds have

been shot in winter in complete moult and quite unable to fly. When in this

condition, the birds hide closely in the reeds and are difficult to get at.

Chaulelasmus streperus (L.). The Gadwall.

This is a very common Duck in Delhi.

Mareca penelope (L.). The Wigeon.

Not uncommon. Four years ago I saw a fine ¢ which had been shot near

the waterworks at Kingsway.

Nettion crecca crecca (L.). The Common Teal.

Quite common. A stray ¢ shot on a small roadside tank on December

14, 1924.

Dafila acuta (L.) The Pintail.

Common, Large numbers are netted and brought round for sale.

578 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

Spatula clypeata (L.). The Shoveller.

Quite a common species.

Netta rufina (Pall.). The Red-crested Pochard.

Not uncommon. A few stray birds are met with, though in some years

quite a number may be seen.

Nyroca ferina ferina (L.). The Pochard or Dun-Bird.

Common.

Nyroca rufa rufa (L.). The White-eyed' Pochard or White-eye.

Common. AQ was brought to me for identification in the winter of 1921-22.

This bird had been shot by an Indian shikari on the riverside near the

Secretariat in Old Delhi.

Nyroca fuligula (L.). The Tufted Pochard.

I believe this Pochard is not uncommon, but I have not shot it.

Mergus albellus (L.) The Smew.

I am told that a specimen of this species was shot a couple of years ago in

Dlehi, but I did not see the bird. My informant seems to be quite sure that

the bird was a Smew.

ERRATUM

Hirundo daurica striolata. (Cf. vol. xxxi, p. 271.)

This.is a very coarsely marked swallow on the underparts, but there are

others equally coarsely marked in the British Museum from the Himalayas. It

is much too small however for s¢violata and I consider it to be . d. nepalensis

which varies much in striation. (C.B.Ticehurst.)

NOTES ON SOME NEW AND INTERESTING BUTTERFLIES FROM

INDIA AND BURMA

MAJOR-GENERAL H. C. TYTLER, C.B., C.M.G., C.I.E., D.S.O., F.E.S.

ParT II

(With one coloured plate and two black and white plates.)

Continued from page 260 of this volume.

54. Amathusia phidippus binghamt, Fruhst.

Several specimens were taken by Mr. G. Cooper in Mergui.

Amathusia p. binghami is from the Malay Peninsula and has not hitherto

been recorded from within Indian limits. The only form till now known from

Burma is Amathusia phidippus fredericki, Fruhst, from Pegu and the Karen

Hills. The yellow apical and sub-marginal markings on the upperside of

A. p. fredericki are absent in dimghami and are replaced by paler markings of

the ground colour. The underside is also somewhat different.

55. Charaxes durntordi merguia sub-sp. n. Pl. V, Fig. 2, ¢.

Male: Upperside differs from the typical form of Ch. durnfordi Dist. from

Sangei Ujeng, Malay Peninsular, in having the basal areas of both wings much

darker, as dark asin Ch. durnfordi staudinger1, Rothsch., from Jave but of a

warmer and redder brown, in Ch. durnfordz, Dist., the basal area is rather light

ochreous brown. Forewing, inner row of white lunules as large as outer row

as in Ch. durnfordi, Dist., but narrower, no white patch at the tornal angle.

Hind wing : white terminal area rather narrower than the typical form and the

inner edge even more curved than in that form, the brown discal area bordering

the white marginal area powdered with violet grey forming distinct patches in

interspaces 1-4, getting less distinct towards the costa.

Underside : very similar to the typical form but rather darker.

Expanse: ¢ 108 mm.

Several specimens were taken by Mr. G. Cooper in Mergui.

This race is much nearer to Ch. durnfordi, Dist., than to the race Ch.

durntfordi nicholi which occurs further north in the Karen Hills.

The type is in my collection and a para type is in the British Museum.

56. Apatura cooperi sp. nov. Pl. II, Fig. 4, ¢

Male and female: Upperside both wings tawny fulvous. Forewing; a broad

blackish bar at apex of cel] extending into interspaces 2 and 3, apical

third blackish with two tawny spots in interspaces 2, and a small diffused

blackish area near apex of interspace 1; pale spots from underside showing

through in interspaces 3, 4 and 5 as spots paler than the fulvous ground colour.

Hind wing basai and apical areas blackish, the discal band from underside

showing through as a pale band and most distinct towards the costa ; a black

spot in interspace 2; asub-marginal row of blackish spots decreasing in size

towards the dorsum followed by a blackish submarginal and terminal line.

Underside tawny fulvous but paler than on the upperside and with no dark

markings ; pale discal markings on both wings very similar to those in Af.

sordida M., with the exception that the white spot on the outer edge of the

ocellus in interspace 2 of f.w. is missing, and the large white spot in interspace

3 is divided up into two small spots, the inner one being tinged with blue} the

discal spot below this in 2 being also tinged with blue. Female similar to male

but paler and wings more rounded.

580 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Expanse: ¢ 66mm. ; 2 70 mm.

A very distinct species and nearest in style of markings to 4p. sordida, M. A

large series was obtained in Maymyo, Northern Shan States, in September,

October and November.

The types are in my collection and para types are in the British Museum.

57. Apatura ulupi kalaurica sub-sp. nov. Pl. II, Fig. 9, ¢

This race of Ap. ulupi is between Ap. ulupi ulupt Doherty and Ap. ulupi

tlorencie, Tyt.; the yellow markings of the male on the upperside are not so

extensive as the former but more so than the latter; the base of interspace 3

has a yellow spot, not present in the other two races; base of interspace 2 is

sometimes yellow as in Ap. ulupi ulupi and not dusky as in florencie ;

black ocellus in interspace 2 of hindwing larger in Ap. ulupi florencie it is

small and without the white dot. Underside very like florencig but with base

of interspace 3 of forewing yellow and not dusky and the black ocellus in

interspace 2 is usually white centred, in the other two races the white centre is

usually wanting. Hindwing: the tornal ocellus is larger than in the other

two races.

Female: very like Ap. ulupit florencie 2 f.albina Tyt. with all the

markings white. On the upperside it differs in having the base of interspace

3 of forewing filled with white, on the hind wing the submarginal white spots

are very smalland clearly defined and not large and diffused as in albinas

Underside as in albina, except that the base of interspace 3 of forewing is

white as on the upperside and the discal line on the hindwing is straight and

not curved.

Expanse: ¢ 68 mm.; 2 70 mm.

The type male was taken at Kalam, Southern Shan States, at 5,000 ft. and

several males and females were taken near Maymyo, Northern Shan States, at

3,800 ft. in October.

The types are in my collection and para types are in the British Museum.

The following is the distribution of the collective species according to our

present knowledge.

Ap. ulupi ulupi, Doh. Upper Assam; Abor Hills ;

Ap. ulupi florencie, Tyt. Naga Hills.

Ap. ulupi kalaurica, Tyt. Northern and Southern Shan States.

58. <Adolias intermedia merguia sub-sp. nov.

Male. Very like A. dirtea judeitina Fruhst., but can be at once distinguished

from that form by the antenne being entirely black and not red tipped. It

differs from A. intermedia Tyt. in having the terminal margin on both wings

broader. Several specimens were received from Mergui.

The ¢ type is in my collection.

59. Dophla cooperi sp. nov. Pl. V, Fig. 1, ¢

Very near to Dophla iva M. but differs as follows :—

Male and female. Upperside, a brighter and lighter green with all black

markings broader and darker ; the white spot of the discal band in interspace

2 of forewing oval in shape and smaller than spot in interspace 3; in D. iva

this spot is rectangular and much larger than spot in interspace 3; hind wing,

a conjoined diffuse whitish spot in interspaces 6 and 7 and not asin D. iva

which has 2 or 3 small separate and clearly defined white spots in interspaces

5-7. Underside, basal area of both wings greyish green, outer half blackish

green ; all black markings broad and conspicuous ; hind wing witha conjoined

diffuse spot in interspaces 6 and7 as on upperside and not a row of 5 or 6

small clear separate spots in interspaces 2-7 as in D. iva.

Expanse: ¢ 108 mm.; Q2 124 mm.

The types a ¢ and 2 were taken at Anisakan near Maymyo and at Maymyo

itself in the Northern Shan States respectively ; the ¢ type is in the British

Museum and the @ type taken in October is in my collection. Another ¢ was

seen in September at Maymyo but I failed to net it. Sie Sere

Puate III.

“eh N

ee an, Ue

RFLIES FROM INDIA AND BURMA.

ames

ees

f /

SomME NEw AND INTERESTING Burtt

JOURN. Bompay Nat. Hist. Soc.

SOME NEW AND INTERESTING BUTTERFLIES FROM

INDIA AND BURMA

EXPLANATION OF PLATE III

Fig. 1. Liminitzs trivena pallida, gf, sub-sp. n.

5. Mee i ,, trtvena, Moore, J.

Ce eas cP 3. leves, Hewit; .

pe ee be lepichint hydaspes, Moore, &.

, 9% Maniola pulchra astorica, 2, sub-sp. n.

, 6. Liminttis lepichini gilgitica, 3, sub-sp. n.

» @. Satarupa splendens, Tytler, 3.

Se AEs Y zulla, Tytler, 3.

»5, 9. Aemona lena haynei, 3, sub-sp. n.

SOME NEW BUTTERFLIES FROM INDIA AND BURMA_ 581

Since writing the above Mr. G. Cooper has taken several males and females

at Maymyo in September 1925. Some of his specimens have small black dot

in interspaces 4, 5 and 6.

60. Liminitis trivena M. Pl. Ill, Fig. 2°.

The several races or species closely connected to ZL. trivena M. have been

placed by various authors under the names of trzvena M., ligyes Henit, and

hydaspes M., but there has been considerable confusion and doubt as to which

forms these names correctly apply ; moreover there are more than three forms

and two of these will require new names. The forms flying at the extreme

limits of its range, e.g. Turkistan and Garhwal, are very different looking

insects, but whether they are distinct species or races of one species it is

difficult to say.

Commencing from the extreme north-west the following forms occur :—

61. L. lepichini Ersch.

This form from Turkistan has the white spots small and macular anda

conspicuous double row or red spots divided by black spots on the margin of

both wings in both sexes.

62. L. lepichini gilgitica, Tyt. sub-sp. n. Pl, II, Fig. 6, ¢

This form occurs in Chitral, Gitgit, Astor, Chilas, Kargan Valley, Hazara

and the Kishenganga Valley, Kashmir, on the Chilas Road from which place I

have received a solitary specimen. It is very close to L. lepichinz Ersch., but

the red spots are smaller and darker. A single male was taken in the Liddar

Valley, Kashmir, which may belong to this form but has the white spots much

broader and almost as broad as in ZL. d7gyes Hewit and broader than in Z.

hydaspes M. which is the local form flying in the Liddar Valley. Some of the

forms in Chitral are very close to the next form ZL. hydaspes M.

63, L. lepichini hydaspes M. PI. Ill, Fig. 4, ¢

This form oecurs in Gurais and in the Scinde and Liddar Valleys, Kashmir,

where it is common. Typically it differs from ZL. lepichini gilgitica Mihi in

the red spots on both wings being much smaller and inconspicuous in the male

and the inner row being obsolescent ; the white discal spots are macular as in

gilgitica but rather larger, being 3 mm. wide against 2 mm. The female

has the double row of red spots large and conspicuous as in gz/gztica.

64. L. trivena ligyes, Hewit, Pl. Ill, Fig. 3, 3

This form occurs in the Pir Panjal Range of Mountains, south of the

Kashmir Valley ; it is between ZL. hydaspes and L. trivena M. in the width of

the discal bands which are 4 mm. in width, and the discal bands are

continuous and not macular as in L. hydaspes. The male has only one outer

row of reddish spots ; the female has two rows of reddish spots but not so large

and conspicuous as in L. hydaspes M.

65. L. trivena trivena N. Pl. Ill, Fig. 2, ¢

This form which occurs in Murree and adjoining country I take to be typical

L. trivena M. as it agrees with Moore’s original description and has ochreous red

spots on the outer edge of the marginal black spots. The female often has

an inner row of similar spots on the hind wing. ‘The discal bands are 7 mm. in

width.

66. L. trivena pallida sub-sp.n. PI. III, Fig. 1, ¢

The form occurring in Simla differs from ZL. trivena M. from Murree as

follows :—

The white bands on the upperside are as wide as in ¢yzvena M. but there is

always a distinct white spot at the base of interspace 1 of the forewing (very

seldom present in ¢vivena M.) which is very often joined to the discal spot in

582 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY; Vol. XXXI

that interspace, which it never does in ¢vivena M.; the marginal black spots

are bordered outwardly by ochreous white spots instead of by ochreous red spots

as in frivena M. On the underside the ground colour is uniformly yellow and

has not any orange in the cell of the forewing or on the marginal area of both

wings as in L. trivena M.

For convenience sake I have placed those forms which have the discal band

on the hind wing composed of small macular spots as races of L. lepichini

Ersch. and those forms which have this band of broad spots forming a

continuous band as races of L. trivena M., as this division appears to form two

natural groups; but it is quite possible that all the forms are conspecific as

treated by Stichel in Seitz’s Wacrolepidoptera of the World, vol. i.

67. Neptis mackwoodi, sp. nov. Pl. Il, Fig. 1, ¢

Upperside: very like WV. ananta ochracea Ev., but the yellow markings are

somewhat different. Forewing with only two small apical spots instead of

three or four large spots as in JV. anmanta. Hind wing; a narrow suffused

sub-basal yellow band placed nearer to the base than in VV. ananta, a rather

broad suffused yellow band, twice as broad as the sub-basal band, placed rather

less than midway between the sub-basal band and the termen not reaching the

costa, in VV. ananta this band is narrower than the sub-basal band and nearer

to the termen than to the sub-basal band. Underside forewing very similar to

NV. ananta ochracea Ev. but the apical spots reduced to one. Hind wing differs

from JN. azanta ochracea Ev. in the sub-basal band being nearer to the base as

on upperside and in being very narrow and short only reaching to v. 6,

followed closely by violet bands, as in VV. ananta ochracea Ev. but nearer the

base and the ground colour between these two bands suffused with violet giving

the appearance of one broad violet band with small diffused reddish patches.

Expanse: ¢ 57 mm.

Habitat : Karen Hulls.

Described from a single male taken in April. Its nearest ally is VV. axanta

M. and the group which has only one streak at the base of the costa on

underside of hind wing.

68. Neptis suffusa sp. n. Pl. Il, Fig. 2, 3

Male. Upperside very similar to NV. ananta but yellow spots in interspaces

2 and 5 of forewing larger and more conspicuous.

Onderside : violet marking all lighter.

Forewing : sub-apical spots larger and spot in interspace 2 also larger than

in V. ananta; a violet speck at the end of the cell not shown in the figure and

a row of three similar specks midway between this and the sub-apical spots.

Hind wing: basal area washed with pale violet almost as far as the discal

band which is much wider than in WV. azanta; post discal violet bands wider

and more distinct, the sub-marginal band being distinctly double and paler

anteriorly.

Expanse: ¢ 57 mm.

Fabitat: A single male wes taken in the Bhamo Hills.

69. Neptis zatda Doubleday.

Type ¢ from Mussoorie is in the British Museum. There are two forms in

Mussoorie :—

(a) Upperside with all markings pale yellow as in the type.

(6) Upperside with all markings almost pure white, pallida forma nov.

Three other closely allied forms occur within the Indian region :—

Neptis zaida bhutanica sub-sp. nov. from Sikkim and Bhutan,

Neptis zaida manipuriensis sub-sp. nov. from Manipur.

Neptis zaida drummondi sub-sp. nov. from S. Shan States.

70. Neptis zaida bhutanica sub-sp. nov. Pl. Il, Fig. 5,

Upperside : very like the typical form but the discal band on the hind wing

is paler than the other markings and inclined to be whitish. Underside :

ground colour yellowish ae and darker with all pale markings more

distinct.

Journ. Bompay Nar. Hist. Soc. PLatTe <1.

Barbara Hopkins & Violet Borrow. John Bale, Sons & Danielsson, Ltd

SomE New AND INTERESTING BUTTERFLIES FROM INDIA AND BURMA.

“SOME NEW AND INTERESTING BUTTERFLIES FROM

INDIA AND BURMA

EXPLANATION OF PLATE II

Fig. 1. Neptts mackwoodi, 3, sp. n.

oy a One LV CPLS SULI1SA os SDN.

3 3: . Lhecla.donz, Tytler, 3.

» 4. Afpatura cooperi, J, sp. n.

» oo» Neptis zaida bhutanica, 3, sub-sp. n.

eh Os <3 5» . mantpuriensts, 3, sub-sp. n.

taney i i ,, arummond?, 3, sub-sp. n.

3, 8. Vurachola smilis smilis, Hewit, 3.

5, 9 Apatura ulupi kalaurica, 3, sub-sp. n.

SOME NEW. BUTTERFLIES FROM INDIA AND BURMA _ 5383

The type is from Darjeeling and there are specimens in the British Museum

from that locality and from Bhutan.

Expanse: ¢ 68 mm.

The ¢ type is in my collection and para types of both sexes are in the British

Museum.

71. Neptis zaida manipuriensis sub-sp. nov. Pl. II, Fig. 6, ¢

Male. Upperside: as in the typical form but all pale markings deep orange

yellow. Underside : asin NV. zatda bhutanica Mihi but much darker and reddish

brown with all pale markings darker (not pure white) and tinged with pale

yellowish brown on the forewing and with violet brown on the hind wing.

The markings on the Underside are nearer to VV. zaida bhutanica Mihi than

to VV. zaida zatda Doubleday.

Expanse: ¢ 68 mm.

Three males were taken on the Lengba River, Manipur, in April.

The male type is in my collection and a para type is in the British Museum.

72. Neptis zaida drummondi sub-sp. nov. Pl. II, Fig. 7, ¢

Male. Upperside: asin typical form but darker but not nearly so dark as

in WV. zaida manipuriensis Mihi. Underside ; as in typical form from Mussoorie

but darker.

Expanse: ¢, 68 mm.

Several specimens were taken by Captain Drummond at Loimwe, Southern

Shan States ; in April at about 4,500’.

The male type is in my collection.

73. Melitea saxitalis tunulata Stdgr.

A single female which agrees with specimens of Junulata Stdgr. from

Issykkul and Tashkent in the British Museum was taken in Misgar, Hunza in

August. This species has not previously been recorded from within Indian

limits.

74. Melitaea balba balbina sub-sp. n.

Smaller than J/. 6alba Ev. and much paler on both sides.

Several specimens of both sexes were taken on the Shandur Pass between

Gilgit and Chitral at 12,200’ in July. Ihave WZ. dalba Ev. from Chitral taken

at 11,000’ and there are specimens in the British Museum ; these specimens are

very constant in markings and do not intergrade with dalbina. The two forms

may be races flying at different altitudes.

The types are in my collection and paratypes are in the British Museum.

75. Lycena florencié, sp. n. Pl. I, Fig. 4

This very beautiful and distinct form appears to be allied to Ly. tsaurica,

Stdegr. from Syria, but the wings above are of a brighter shining blue without

a grey wash : below all the markings are similar but the spots on the hind wing

are larger and brighter, the red marginal spots being very conspicuous,

Expanse: ¢ 30 mm.

Two males were taken by Lieut.-Colonel Lorimer on the Baroghil Pass at the

extreme north-east corner of Chitral.

The type is in my collection.

76. Lycena baroghtla,sp.n. Pl. I, Fig. 1, 2

Male, Upperside both wings ashy brown with no markings. Underside

very similar to Ly. loewit sanoga Evans.

Female. Upperside very like the male, but both wings have a sprinkling

of blue scales in the basal area and the hind wing has a row of dark spots

edged with bluish grey on the terminal margin.

Expanse: ¢ 33 mm., 2 35 mm.

A male and female were taken on the Baroghil Pass, North-East Chitral, in

July by Lieut.-Colonel Lorimer.

The types are in my collection.

584 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

77. Lycena christophi lesliet sub-sp. nov. Pl. 1, Fig. 2, ¢

Ly. samudra M. was described from specimens from Skardo and the types

are in the British Museum; there are also specimens from Hunza, Ladak

and Kiris.

Four males and two females from Chitral in the British Museum are very

distinct and appear to be a well marked race of Ly. chrystophi of which

hitherto Ly. samudra has been the only representative recorded from within

Indian limits. On the upperside there is hardly any difference but on the

underside ad/ the black discal spots on the f.w. are much larger and strikingly

conspicuous.

The types are in the British Museum and originally came out of the collection

of G. A. Leslie and W. H. Evans.

Specimens from Gilgit are midway between typical samudra M. and lesliet

Mihi, specimens received from Ladak are typical samudra.

2 2 in the British Museum from Kiris on the upperside have much more blue

than the 2 2 of samudra from Skardo and Q Q of /esliez from Chitral and are

probably a distinct race.

A single 2 from Hunza is very similar to the 2 2 of the Kiris form and may

possibly be the same race but there is not sufficient material to say for certain.

78. Lycena astorica. sp.nov. Pl. 1, Fig. 3, 2

Male and female. Upper and undersides alike. Upperside: brown with a

black streak at the end of the cell of forewing.

Underside: very similar to Ly. irts ashretha Ev., but the f.w. is tinged with

brown, in some specimens from Gilgit yellowish brown ; the discal spots on

f.w. are evenly curved and the spots in 2 and 3 are not inwardly thrown out of

line as in ashretha . on the 4.w. the black spots in 5,6 and 7 are in line and

sloping back towards the base at a greater angle than the same spots do

in ashretha.

Expanse: ¢ 31 mm.; 2 32 mm.

The ¢ type is from Gudhai in Astor and the 9 type from Haitar nala in

Gilgit. Many of the specimens from Gilgit are larger than the Astor forms.

The types arein my collection and para types are in the British Museum.

79. Lycena metallica, de N.

The type is from Lahoul.

There are specimens in the British Museum from Kulu, Kokser and the

Baralacha Pass, north of Lahoul leading into Rupshu which are typical.

Ly. metallica, deN is an insect with a broad black border to both wings

4mm. wide and with the basal two-thirds blue tinged with green.

Specimens of females in the British Mesuem are completely brown with no

blue at the base.

80. Lycena metallica chitralensis sub-sp. nov. Pl. I, Fig. 6, ¢

This very distinct form of which there is a good series in the British

Museum taken by Maj. Wall in Chitral, probably in Southern Chitral as

specimens from the Shandur Pass in North-East Chitral belong to the race

below ZL. metallica gilgitica Mihi, differs from metallica de N. as follows:—

The black border is only 2°5 mm. in width and the blue is a bright purplish

blue with no greenish tinge.

The females are sometimes completely brown above and sometimes have

little blue at the base; one @ has indications of red spots.

81. Lytena metallica gilgitica sub-sp. nov. Pl. 1, Fig. 7, ¢

This form of metallica is very like Ly. metallica chitralensis in the width of

the black border but the blue is of a different shade being purplish and darker

and not so bright and is nearer tothe form Ly. metallica chrysopis Gr. Gr.,

which occurs in the Hindu Kush Mountains and in the Pamirs, except that

chrysopis has a very narrow black border to both wings the width being only

15 to 2mm.,, in gilgitica itis 2°55 mm. The females are completely brown.

Habitat. Shandur and Baroghil Passes in Chitral; Gilgit (Type) ; Astor.

SOME NEW BUTTERFLIES FROM INDIA AND BURMA_ 585

82. Lycaena galathea chitralica Ev.

Several typical males were taken in Chilas one male looks rather like a female

form and has the blue on upperside rather restricted and with faint red spots

on the terminal margin of the hind wings. Mr. Tams of the British Museum

kindly examined the specimen for me under a microscope and it proved to

be a male.

83. Lycena galathea depreei sub-sp. nov. Pl. I, Fig. 5, ¢

Several males taken by Colonel Depree in Dras differ from typical

galathea in their smaller size and darker blue colouration on the upper side of

the male and in the darker grey area on the uw#zder forewing. The black border

is usually narrow but in some specimens it is broad; in one male it is 3 mm.

in width.

Expanse: ¢ 30 mm.

84. Lyccene orbitulus jaloka M.

Mr. de Nicéville correctly described the three forms that were then known

and gave their geographical distribution, but since then various authors have

rather confused matters by placing Ly. e//ist Marshall as a synonym of /eela de

N. and by mixing up the localities from which the various geographical forms

come.

The ¢ type of Z. zaloka, M., a worn specimen, is in the British Museum and

is labelled Kashmir; the distribution of za/oka is given as Rajdiangan Pass,

Sursungun and Stackpida Passes, Baitul, but the exact locality where the ¢

type was taken is not given.

On the underside of the ¢ type f.w. there are traces of obsolescent black spots

within the white spots ; on the hind wing the basal dark area contains oniy one

distinct white spot at the end of the cell, the dzscal row and costal white spots

are hardly visible and are merged into the marginal pale area. de Nicéville

mentions this point as distinguishing zaloka from /eela and ellisz. In both the

latter sub-species, these white spots are conspicuous, and the costal ones enter

the dark basal area.

In specimens frorn the Liddar Valley the forewing on the underside is almost

white and devoid of all markings.

85. Lycena orbitulus ellist Marsh.

This is a very distinct form from the Sanch Pass Panji and there are specimens

in the British Museum from that locality and from Dugi and Kukti (presumably

in Pangi), the specimen from the latter two localities only differ from the one

from the Sanch Pass in their slightly larger size. On the upperside the spots

are pure white and not bluish white as in saloka and the white spot at the end

of the cell on upperside of the forewing bears scarcely any trace of black ; in

jaloka this spot is distinctly black and narrowly white edged. On the underside

all the spot are white and well marked and the basal area of the hind wing is

very similar to that of jaloka, the white spots only being more conspicuous.

Swinhoe’s figure of the second form of ¢ e/dist of which the original specimen

is in the British Museum agrees exactly with the figure of de Nicéville’s /eela

except that the spot at the end of cell in de Nicéville’s figure on the underside

of the forewing is shown as pure white but this is probably an error as in de

Nicéville’s description he distinctly says, ‘ all the spots are black centred’.

There is no doubt in my mind that this second form of e//zsz is nothing but

de Nicéville’s leela.

86. Lycena orbitulus astorica sub-sp. nov. Pl. I, Fig. 8

Three males and a female were taken in the Rupal Valley, Astor, which differ

from typical Ly. orbttulus lcela in the absence of the pale spots on the upperside

of the male and in the pale spots in the female being small and rather

indistinct.

A pair were also taken by Major Stockley on the Stacksby Pass, Gurais,

The types are in my collection.

586 | JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol: -XXX1

87. Lycena orbitulus leela de N.

The type 9 was taken on the Dras side of the Zogi La Pass and @ 9 were taken

on the Manika Pass, Ladak and Fotu La, Ladak.

On the upperside the pale bluish spot at the end of the cell forewing is black

centred, in e//zst it is practically white with the black centre reduced tca

point. On the wuderside the white spots on the forewing are conspicuously

black centred and on the hind wing the basal area is dark yellowish brown with

a large discal white spot and two distinct white costal spots entering this area ;

the discal row of white spots are distinct and sometimes are outwardly defined

by yellowish brown.

The foliowing appears to be the geographical distribution cf the various

LOLs! —

Ly. orbitulus wallt, Evans. 2 Gileit.. Chitral:

Ly. orbitulus astorica, Tyt. .. Astor, Gurais.

Ly. orbitulus leela, deN. ... ... Deosai, Dras and Ladak.

Ly. orbitulus jaloka, M. ... ... Kashmir, Tragbal, Scinde Valley,

Liddar Valley, Baitul.

Ly. orbitulus ellist, Marsh. wen DANS.

88. Polyommatus sarta rupala sub-sp. nov. Pl. I, Fig. 14, g; 15, 9

Male: Upperside: vary similar to P. sarta sartotdes Swinhoe but the blue is

not so extensive and is more powdery in appearance both wings have a dark

marginal area 3 mm. in width and much wider than is sartoides Sw.

Underside similar to sartoides Sw.

Female: differs from typical sartozdes 2 in red spots on h.w. not being so

conspicuous and in the f.w. all red spots being obsolescent, sometimes those in

1 and 2 being faintly visible.

Expanse: ¢54mm.; 2 56mm.

Habitat: Rupal Valley, Astor, wherea fairly good series was taken in July

and August.

89. Polyommatus sarta gooraisica sub-sp. n.

Three males and four females from Gurais in the British Museum which were

mixed up with specimens of P. devanica M. appear to be a sarta form. The

chief difference according to Col. W. H. Evans between devanica and sarta

forms is the position of the spots on the underside of the hind wing in interspaces

5,6 and 7. In devanica forms the spot in 6 is as a rule nearer to spot in 7 than

to the spot in 5 and is placed inwardly to a straight line between the two outer

spots, whereas in sarfa forms the middle spot in 6 is about half-way and is

outwardly placed to a straight line between the two outer spots, thus :—

devanica forms sarta forms

7° 6°

5° 5°

The specimens above referred to are different to any other sarta forms I have

seen and appear to bea good race of that species.

On the upperside of both wings the blue is much more restricted than in the

form P. sarta rupala Mihi.

Expanse: ¢ 32 mm.; 2 34mm.

Habitat : Gurais.

The types are in the British Museum.

90. Polyommatus gigantea gilgitica sub-sp.n. Pl. I, Fig. 16, ¢

The race of P. gigantea Gr. Gr. from Gilgit differs from the typical form from

the mountains of Hissar, Central Asia, ir the upperside of the male being of a

darker and brighter blue and notasilvery blue with the veins lighter and

silvery in some lights. Underside: very similar to the typical form.

Two males were taken in Yasin, Gilgit, in July.

The form of polyommatus recorded by Colonel W. H. Evans in the Journal,

Bombay Natural History Society, vol. xxx, 1925, under the name of P. zolas

is probably the insect now described. P. zolas from Europe and Asia Minor is

amuch duller blue above than P. gigantea Gr. Gr.and has a blue female

SOME NEW AND INTERESTING BUTTERFLIES FROM

INDIA AND BURMA

EXPLANATION OF PLATE V

Dophla cooperz, 3, sp. n.

Charaxes durntordi merguia, 3, sub-sp. n.

Parnassius acco punctata, 2, sub-sp. n.

Oeneis garhwatica, 2, sp. n.

eee ate eet

JourRN. Bompay Nat. Hist. Soc. PuLateE V.

SoME NEw AND INTERESTING BUTTERFLIES FROM INDIA AND BurRMa.

SOME NEW BUTTERFLIES FROM INDIA AND BURMA _ 587

with the costal and terminal borders heavily marked with black; on the

underside hind wing the row of discal spots is continuous and not broken in

interspace 2. In P. gigantea Gr. Gr. the males above are bright shining blue

and the female is pale brown with only a very slight dusting of blue scales

towards the base of both wings ; in some specimens of an unnamed race from

Ferghana these blue scales are entirely wanting. On tne underside hind wing

the discal row of spots is completely broken in interspace 2 by the spot in that

interspace being placed markedly inwards and so completely out of line.

91. Orthomiella putaoica sub-sp. n., Pl. I, Fig. 20, 3

Male; Upperside: both wings rich brown with the costal third of the

hind wing bright shining light purple, the lower edge being straight and

sharply defined. Underside markings similar to O. pontis El., but much

darker. ;

Expanse: 23 mm.

Three males were taken in Putao at the extreme north-east corner of Burma

in March and April.

This insect appears to be closely allied to O. rovorea Fruhst from the Chin

Hills and which I only know from the description in Seitz’s Macrolepiaoptera

of the World. It differs from the description of rvovorea in having the anterior

third only of the hind wing bright shining light purple whereas voverea is

described as having ‘a sharply defined light violet retlection on the anterior

halt of the hind wing’; the band on the underside of forewing is quite distinct

and not obsolescent as in rovorea and the band on the hind wing is also broad

and distinct and not narrow as in vovorea. O. putavoica flies with O. ponttis

the two forms being taken together, and therefore it cannot be considered

as arace of O. pontis.

The type is in my collection and a para type is in the British Museum.

92. Niphanda marcia Fawcett.

This form has been omitted by Colonel Evans in his ‘ List of Butterflies ’.

The females are brown and very like the females of VV. cymbia de N. but are

rather smaller and darker.

On the underside the female can be distinguished from the same sex of

NN. cymbia by having a complete row of large black marginal spots on the

hind wing ; in VV. cymbéza female in addition to the double tornal spot on the

hind wing there are only ¢wo other spots on the margin which are black the

remainder being greyish or obsolescent.

The males of WV. marcia are according Bingham and Swinhoe are lighter

in colour on the upperside but I have not seen a specimen.

Three females were caught at Sinha, S. Shan States, at 3,800’ in July. They

agree with a single femalein the British Museum.

93. Niphanda tessellata, M.

The females of this form can at once be distinguished from those of

N. cymbia and N. marcia by being blue above and not brown. On the

underside hind wing the female differs from the females of the above forms in

only having one terminal black spot in addition to the tornal double spot, the

remaining spots being greyish or obsolescent.

The distribution of the genus zphanda in India appears to be

NV. cymbia, de N. Sikkim-Manipur.

NV. tessellata, M. N. Shan States, S. Shan States.

N. marcia, Fawcett. S. Shan States, Mergui.

94° Thecia dont, Tytler, Pl. ll, Vis... 3;, ¢

I take this opportunity to figure the male type specimen of this insect which

was described in the Journal, Bombay Natural History Society, vol. xxiv,

p. 129, 1915, but which was received too late to be figured.

95. Horsfeldia anita gigantea sub-sp. nov.

Both the dry season and wet season forms of the race of A’. anita, Hewit.,

which occurs in Manipur, are very much larger than specimens from the

N. Shan States, Upper Burma aud from specimens from ee south which

agree with the type of H/. anzta Hewit, from Perak.

588 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

On the upper side the purple colour is brighter and the black terminal

border is much broader being 3 mm. against 1 mm. of typical H, anita Hewit.

On the underside the colour is a good deal darker.

Expanse: ¢¢ d.s.f. 54 mm. ; w.s.f. 56 mm.

0 d,s.f, 08:-mmo? wis.f..62 mn

15 $¢ and 19 of the d.s.f. were taken in the Manipur Valley and at Sebong

on the borders of Burma in April and June and5 ¢¢ and 19 of the w.s.f. were

taken at the same places in July and August.

The types are in my own collection and ¢ para types of both seasonal forms

in the British Museum collection.

96. Amblypodia camdeo sebonga sub-sp. nov.

The form of A. camdeo from Sebong on the Burmese border of Manipur

differs considerably from the ¢tyfzcal form and is between that form and 4.

camdeo varro Fruhst., from Burma.

Male. Upperside as in the typical form but rather darker. Underside, the

dark spots encircled with white are much paler and dvown and not blackish

byown as in the typical form and which contrast so sharply with the pale ground

colour of the wings ; on the Aiud wing the colour of the spots in many cases is

no deeper than the ground colour of the rest wing.

In acamdeo varro the colour of the spots is also brown and not blackish

brown but a good deal darker than the ground colour of the wings and the

colour of the wpperside of the wings is darker than in Manipur form.

Expanse: ¢ ¢ 49-53 mm.

Described from five males taken in April and June.

The type is in my collection and a paratype is in the British Museum

collection,

97. Amblypodia suffusa atarana sub-sp. nov., Pl. I., Fig. 13, 2

The form of A. suffusa Tyt. obtained by Mr. G. Cooper in the Ataran Valley,

Burma, is very different from the typical form from Manipur and appears to be

a well-marked race.

Female: Upperside, the blue colouration much bluer and vivid, very much

the same as in 9 A. mirabella————., and not purplish blue as in the typical

form of A, suffusa; the blue is also very much more extended on both wings

almost reaching the termen on the hind wing.

Underside ; ground coiour and markings as in A. suffusa Tyt.

Described from a female specimen presented to me by Mr. G. Cooper who

has other specimens from the same locality.

The @ type is in my collection.

98. <Amblypodia maymyota sp. nov.

Male: Upperside dark dull purplish blue very similar to A. dirmana M.; a

broad black terminal border, 2°5 mm., continued well along the costa on fore-

wing and to base of costa on the hind wing. Underside markings somewhat

similar to A. aberrans, de N., but ground colour darker and the discal band on

forewing not completely disjointed as in aderrans but merely out of line.

Female: Upperside somewhat like A. aberrans, de N., but much brighter

blue and with only the base of interspace 4 of forewing white. Underside as

in the male.

Expanse: ¢ 37 mm.; 2 37 mm.

Two males were taken in Maymyo, Upper Burma, at 3,500’ in April and a

female at Sinho, S. Shan States, at 3,800’ in July.

The types are ir my collection and a g paratype is in the British Museum.

99. Virachola dohertyt, Tytler, Pl. I, Fig. 17, ¢

I take this opportunity to figure the male type specimen of this very rare and

distinct looking insect which was described in the Journal, Bombay Natural

History Society, vol. xxiv, p. 138, 1915 and still remains unique.

—

SOME NEW BUTTERFLIES FROM INDIA AND BURMA _ 589

100. Virachola smilis nicévillei sub-sp. nov.

=V. smiles de N., Nee Hewit.

Hewitson described his Virachola smilis from a 2 specimen and gave the

vague term of ‘ East India’ for its locality. His insect may have come from

South Burma as Mr. G. Cooper has taken it there.

de Nicéville knew this insect only from Hewitson’s description and figure,

and on receiving a 2 form from the Andamans considered it to be Hewitson’s

insect and as Hewitson’s.description was not very full he described the Anda-

man insect in greater detail and figured it in the Butterflies from India, Burma

and Ceylon, vol. iii.

According to this description and figure the Andaman form is not typical

and differs from sazzlzs Hewit, as follows:

Underside. Forewing ; the discal band is only partially disjointed, the two

portions touching one another ; in szz/zs the two portions are completely dis-

jointed and the two portions do not touch. Hind wing: thereis no spot in the

middle of the cell ; in Hewitson’s figure a spot is shown and in my male this

spot is broken in the middle and becomes a double spot. deNicéville’s insect

appears to be an insular race of Hewitson’s smzdis and I propose the name of

nicévillet for it.

101. Vivachola smilis smilis, Hewit., Pl. Il, Fig. 8, 3g

I take this opportunity to figure the male of Hewitson’s insect as his figure

of the female type is probably not accessible to most collectors in India.

Expanse: ¢ 38 mm. ; ¢ 46 mm. (according to Hewitson’s figure).

Several males were caught by Mr. G. Cooper on Metharan Hill, S. Burma.

The ¢ type is in my collection.

102. Pseudochliarsa virgo Elwes.

In the Journal, Bombay Natural History Society, vol. xxiv, p. 139, 1 desribed

as a new species a male and two females under the name of P. virgoids and

also recorded the capture of two insects which I considered to be S. virgo as

they agreed with de Nicéville’s description and figure of the ¢ of that inset.—

Elwes’ type specimen was a female. ‘The two insects considered to be S.

virgo however had no secondary sex marks as in the genus sinthusa and

appeared to be females, and I expressed my doubt as to correctness of my

identification and as to the insect described by de Nicéville being the true male

of S. virgo El. or indeed a male at all and considered it possible though highly

improbable that the description was taken from a female insect ; and that my

P. virgoides might turn out to S. virgo El. and that de Nicéviile’s male and

my two insects might require a new name.

On proceeding to England J compared my five insects with Elwes’ ¢ type of

S. virgo in the British Museum and found my two fernales P. virgoides agreed

in all respects and were really S. virgo. Above the type specimen there were

several other female specimens of S. virgo and amonyst them was a male

which had been overlooked. This male agreed exactly with my ¢ P. wirgoides ;

there is no doubt in my mind that these males are the true males of S. virgo

E]. and so the name of virgoides must sink as a synonym.

The question then arose as tothe correct name of the ¢ insect described by

de Nicéville and my two insects which agreed with his description and figure.

On my return to India the two insects in the de Nicéville’s collection in the

Calcutta Museum considered by him to be males of S. virgo Elwes were

obtained on loan by Col. W. H. Evans and myself. On examination these

insects proved to be females and an egg was extracted from one. ‘These were

the only two blue specimens in the de Nicéville collection which could be

considered males, the third specimen over the label of S. vzvgo being a whitish

insect and the true 2 of Elwes’ insect. If de Nicéville really described his

male insect it is not in the Calcutta Museum now and until a male is discovered

agreeing with his blue females it must be supposed that he wrongly described

his male from a female.

In any case the two females in the Calcutta Museum and the two blue

insects in my collection which also proved to be females require a new name ;

but until a male is discovered agreeing with these females it may be as well to

590 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

treat this form, for the present, as a 9 variety of virgo, El. and I propose the

name & f. confusa. nov.

The type and para type are in my collection.

103. Rapala rubidan.n. prorosacea Tyt. n., Plate I, Fig. 18, ¢

In the Journal, Bombay Natural History Society, vol. xxiv, p. 138 of 1915

I described this species under the name of Virachola rosacea. 'The insect

appears to be an aberrant form in that, in general appearance, the upperside

looks likea Rapala but on the underside of the hind wing the style of markings

is closer to a Virachola ; and the sex mark on the upper hind wing is also like

that of a Virachola. The venation however is nearer to Rapala than to

Virachola and it is better to consider it as Rapala form rather than a Virachola.

The name of rosascea however is preoccupied, and was given by de Nicéville

to quite a different torm of Rapala and consequently the name of rosacea for

a insect will have to fall and a new name substituted. I propose the name

rubida.

104. Satarupa splendens, Tytler Pl. II, Fig. 7, ¢

This butterfly was described in the Journal, Bombay Natural History Society,

vol, xxiv, p. 147, 1915. I take this opportunity to figure the male.

105. Satarupa zulla Tytler, Pl. III, Fig. 8,

Two males have since been received from Sikkim taken in July and August.

I take this opportunity to figure the male of this species which was de-

scribed in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, vol. xxiv, p.

148, 1915.

BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY’S

MAMMAL SURVEY OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON

REPORT No. 43

NELLIAMPATHY PLATEAU AND PALNI HILLS

By Mrs. HELEN M. LINDSAY M.A., B.Sc.

(With Field Notes by the Collectors.)

COLLECTION esp INO 45¢

LOCALITY ... Nelliampathy Plateau, Palni Hills.

DATE .. April-June, Sept.—Dec. 1921; Feby.-June, 1922.

COLLECTED BY... C. McCann and the late J. Riley O’Brien.

Four Reports from areas in the Madras Presidency have already been

published, viz. :— No. 11 for Coorg, No. 31 for Nilgiris, No. 33 for High Wavy

Mountains, and No. 34 for South Travancore. These places all lie between

8°50’ and 12°50’ N. and 75°20’ and 78° E. thus representing the western

side of the Presidency. The collections described in this Report also belong to

this series and supplement in some instances the earlier ones.

The area from which these collections were obtained includes that of High

Wavy Mountains of Report No. 35, and stretches 76°50’ E. to 78°E. and from

10° N. to11 N°. Three distinct centres were visited but as these altogether cover

a circle of not more than eighty miles in diameter, it seemed better to deal with

them as a whole, especially as the same creatures were found in each, with

only a few local differences. .

The natural features are thus described for the Nelliampathy Hills by Mr.

O’Brien :—

‘The Western Ghats are broken only once in their entire length by a gap of

‘ fifty miles north to south, known as the Palghat Gap. The Palghat Hills lie

‘to the north of this and those to the south are called the Nelliampathy Hills,

‘ roughly thirty-five miles in length and five to ten miles broad. The latter show

‘four distinct divisions :--

‘(1) The northern slopes, rising precipitously from the plains and

‘clothed in deciduous jungle, cut by occasional gullies.

‘(2) Plateau country, consisting of undulating land clothed with dense

‘evergreen forest, coffee cultivation and occasional patches of lemon grass and

‘ Jantana scrub.

‘(3) The higher ranges with peaks about 5,000 feet above sea level com-

‘ posed of grassy downs interspersed with evergreen sholas.

‘(4) Southern slopes gradually dropping away into the Nelliampathy

‘ valley which are for the most part evergreen jungle, except to the east, where

‘it is more deciduous.’

The country is thus aseries of hills and valleys, clothed with dense evergreen

jungle, in which clearings for coffee have been made. ‘ The coffee area is

‘covered with closely planted coffee bushes interspersed with trees such as the

‘ silver oak, jack, etc., to provide shade for the former. The ground is carpeted

* with dead leaves making noiseless movement an impossibility.’

According to the Gazetteer, the Palni Hills are outliers of the Western

Ghauts, projecting in E.N.E. direction for fifty-four miles with an average

width of fifteen miles. The Kambam Valley, the region of Report No. 33, is

on their eastern slopes. A large number of prehistoric dolmens or burial

cairns are to be found on these hills, which are also famed for their wealth

of botanical interest, as noted by Fr. Blatter in vol. xxv, p. 290 of this Journal.

These hills are situated 10°-10°26’ N. and 77°14’ and 77°52’ E.—a total area

592 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

of 800 sq. miles. On the south side they end in steep sheer precipices, such as

the Kambam area, but on the north the slope is more gradual. They show the

same grass-covered downs as the Nilgiris and Nelliampathy Hills.

Both areas are composed mainly of Archzean gneiss buried in many parts

under alluvium. They are inhabited by an indigenous race of miserable

jungle folk, called Karders in the Nelliampathy Plateau and Paliyans in the

Palni Hills, who dwell in rocks or encamped under trees, living on vermin,

roots and honey. Coffee planters and their employees are now the other

members of the population.

In a letter, the late Mr. O’Brien asked us particularly to thank Mr. A. P.

Kinloch of the Cotengady Estate, twenty-four miles from Palghat, for his

hospitality and kind assistance. This place was the headquarters of the Survey

work for the Plateau.

The localities from which specimens were obtained are :—

(1) Nelliampathy Plateau.—Cotengady Estate; Seetagundy Estate ;

Shernelly ; Karapara.

(2) Palni Hills.—Kodaikanal as centre; Palni Town; Udamalpet ;

Peruinal ; Machur ; Shambagunar ; Silver Cascade—-all not more than twenty-

five miles distant from Kodaikanal.

Although the Nilgiri ibex, tiger, panther, sambur, barking deer and

mouse deer are known to be found in these regions, no specimen of them

was obtained in these collections. Mr. O’Brien notes that they are fairly

numerous, but difficult to find in these heavy jungles. No specimen of

Hipposideros was obtained, perhaps because the collecting grounds were for

the most part at altitudes over 3,000’ which Mr. Shortridge in the Coorg

Report No. 11, noted as the limit for these bats. But at Perumal, near

Kodaikanal, at 5,000’ asingle specimen of the new sub-species, Harpiocephalus

harpia madrassius was found. A new species of Leggada was also got at that

place. There is still no trace of Viverra civettina in this region. In Report

No. 34 for Travancore, Mr. Wroughton comments on the fact that not since 1862

had a specimen been collected in South India, though the original one came

from Malabar.

The three collections number 349 specimens, belonging to 30 genera in 43

species, thus :—

(1) Macaca FEROX, Shaw.

The Lion-tailed Macaque.

1792. Simia ferox, Shaw, Mus. Leverianum, p. 69.

1889. Macacus silenus, Blanford, Mamm., No. 5.

Cotengady Estate, Palghat—l.

(2) MAcACA RADIATA, Geoff.

The Bonnet Monkey.

(Synonymy in No. 5 under J. sinica.)

Shernelly, Palghat. ¢1, 91; Palni Hills, 91; Perumal, 5,000’, ¢ 2:

Machur, 4,000’, ¢1, 91.

Mr. McCann notes that ‘ this monkey is fairly common, and is seen moving

‘about in troops in the sholas. Early in the morning when it is cold I

‘have seen the monkeys sitting together in groups of twos and threes, if I

‘mistake not, to keep each other warm. ‘They relish the fruit of the Eleo-

carpus tuberculatus and Pygeumt gardneri.’

(3) PITHECUS ENTELLUS ANCHISES, Blyth.

The Southern Langur.

(Synonymy in No. 5.)

Shernelly, Palghat—? 1.

(4) PITHECUS JOHNI, Fischer.

The Nilgiri Langur.

(Synonymy in No. 11.)

Palghat—Kumblacodie, ¢ 1; Anamaad, ¢ 1; Palagapandy, 61; juv. Coten-

gady Estate, 3 3, a apa cies Seetacundy, SL;

Palni—Machur, oe a3 i: Kukhal, 6,100’ 2 1; Pamber River, Kodaikanal,

7 000’,

MAMMAL SURVEY OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON _ 593

‘ This animal is extremely shy and difficult toapproach. They move about

‘in troops in the dense evergreen. One specimen weighed 25 lbs. Young

‘females are frequently found solitary or in pairs. The flesh of these

‘monkeys is greatly prized by the natives who thus use it :—

(1) ‘ The blood when fresh is drunk as a medicine against any sickness.

(2) ‘ The flesk is hung up and dried or smoked and when required made

‘into soup to be taken as medicine against asthma and coughs.

(3) ‘ The gall is drunk also as a remedy for sickness.’ C. McC.

(5) CYNOPTERUS SPHINX, Vahl.

The Common Plantain Bat.

(Synonymy in No. 6.)

Palghat—Karapara, g 1; Cotengady, ¢ 2, 21.

(6) RHINOLOPHUS ROUXI, Temm.

The Rufous Horse-shoe Bat.

(Synonymy in No. 5.)

Perumal, Palni—@Q 1.

(7) RHINOLOPHUS BEDDOMEI.

The Himalayan Horse-shoe Bat.

(Synonymy in No. 11.)

Shernelly, Palghat.— 1.

(8) MEGADERMA SPASMA HORSFIELDI, Blyth.

The Malay Vampire Bat. |

(Synonymy in No. 5 under 1. sp. trifolium.)

Cotengady Estate, Palghat.—¢ 2.

(9) LyRopDERMA LYRA, Geoff. |

The Indian Vampire Bat.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Pundi, Palni—¢ 1, 2 3.

(10) PIPISTRELLUS CEYLONICUS INDICUS, Dobson.

Kelaart’s Pipistrelle.

(Synonymy in No. 1 under P. ceylonicus.)

Palni Hill—Silver Cascade, 5,800’, ¢1; Shambaganur, 6,000’, 91 in al. 1;

Machur, 4,000’, in al. 2.

(11) PIPISTRELLUS COROMANDRA, Gray.

The Coromandel P1pistrelle.

(Synonymy in No. 5.)

Palni Town, ¢ 2.

(12) ScoTOPHILUS KUHLI, Leach.

The Common Yellow Bat.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Seetagundy Estate, Palghat— 1.

(13) HARPIOCEPHALUS HARPIA MADRASSIUS, Thos. sub-sp. Nov.

The Hairy-tailed Bat.

1923. Harpiocephalus harpia madrassius, Thomas, J.B.N.A.S., vol. xxix,

p. 88, Perumal, Palni Hills, 5,000’, 9 1.

‘other insects. It would not eat any fruit. It used its tail membrane as a sort

‘of bag when it was eating, into which it buried its head, suspending itself

* with the: claws or wings -from the top of the cage, and using its feet for

‘ pushing the insect to and fro. It ate only the body of-moths.’ C. McC.

594 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXII

(14) RHINOPOMA HARDWICKEI, Gray.

The Lesser Indian Mouse-tailed Bat.

(Synonymy in No. 3.)

Paloi Fills, 2.

(15) PACHYURA, sp.

Palghat—Seetagundy, ¢ 2; Cotengady, @ 2.

Palni Hilis— 9 1; Kodaikanal, 7,000’, #6, 2 2, ? 1.

: Pamber River, gs Ly ¢ il Kukhal, 6, 100° 2 1.

Shambaganur, 6, 000’ a 4,24.

(16) FRLIS AFFINIS, Gray.

The Jungle Cat.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Perumal, 5,000’, 2 1.

(17) FELIS BENGALENSIS, Keer.

The Leopard Cat.

(Synonymy in No. 11.)

Silver Cascade, 5,800’, ¢ 1.

(18) PARADOXURUS JERDONI, Blanford.

The Brown Palm Civet.

(Synonymy in No. 11.)

Silver Cascade, 5,800’, g 1; Tiger Shola, ¢ 1, 291; Pamber River, 7,000’, 3

1, and 1 skull only.

‘ This animal was up a tree during the day eating the fruit of Ficus macro-

‘carpus, alarge climber. The fruit of this fig is supposed never to be eaten

‘ by any animal, but I actually saw this animal eat the fruits although they

‘were not ripe.’ C. McC.

(19) HERPESTES EDWARDSI CARNATICUS, Wroughton.

The Common Carnatic Mongoose.

(Synonymy in No. 22.)

Palghat—Shernelly, ¢ 1.

Palni Hills—Kombu, ¢ 1; Udamalpet, 2 1.

(20) H®RPESTES FUSCUS, Waterh.

The Nilgiri Brown Mongoose.

(Synonymy in No. 11.)

Tiger Shola, Palni Hills—¢ 2.

(21) HERPESTES VITTICOLLIS, Benn.

The Stripe-necked Mongoose.

(Synonymy in No. 11 also see No. 31.)

Shambaganur, 7,000’, ¢ 1.

(22) CANIS NARIA, Wroughton.

The Jackal.

(Synonymy in No. 1 under C. aureus.)

Perumal, 5,000’, 9 1; Kukhal, 6,100’, 1 skull only.

(23) AMBLONYX CINEREA, Illig.

The Clawless Otter.

(Synonymy in No. 11.)

Kodaikanai, 7,000’, 1 skull only.

‘ These animal]s inhabit almost all the streams round about here but are very

‘difficult totrap. This specimen was caught in the stream not four yards

‘from my tent, while the lamp was still burning and shining on the water.

‘ Their chief food is crabs which are plentiful in the streams, where fisn are un-

‘ obtainable.’ C. McC,

MAMMAL SURVEY OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON _ 595

(24) LUuTRA LUTRA NAIR, F. Cuv.

The Common Otter.

(Synonymy in No. 11.)

Pamber River, Kodaikanal, 7,000’, 2 1.

‘This animal was caught by bait of raw meat. Its stomach contained

‘crabs, decayed wood in plenty, bark and some leaves—a case of adap-

‘tation to circumstances. These animals are never seen in the daytime.’

C. McC,

(25) PETAURISTA PHILIPPENSIs, Ell.

The South Indian Flying Squirrel.

(Synonymy in No. 6.)

Palghat—Palagapandy Estate, 91; Karapara, 21; Shernelly,? 1.

Palni Hills—Kodaikanal, 91; Tiger Shola, ¢ 2, 21.

‘This animal lives in hollow trees during the day. No matter how the

‘hollow is tapped or even has stones thrown into it on top of the animal, it

‘refuses to come out, and hasto be poked out. It has apparently only one

‘young atatime.’ C. McC.

(26) RATUFA INDICA MAXIMA, Schreb,

The Malabar Giant Squirrel.

(Synonymy in No. 33.)

Palghat—Cotengady Estate, ¢ 3,25; Anamaad, ¢ 4, 2 2.

Ottacoolie Estate, 2 1 and 1 skull only.

Shernelly, ? 4.

Palni Hills—Gungavadorai, 1; Palni,21; Tiger Shola, 1; Machur,

4,000’, 1, 21; Kukhal, 6,100’, ¢7, 27.

‘ The nest of this squirrel is composed of leaves and twigs lined inside with

‘moss, which is scratched off the rocks or trees by the front feet and carried

‘in the mouth to the nest. When alarmed they lie quite still and flat along

‘the branch of the tree. Their cry is much sweeter than that of the ordinary

‘ Ratufa,’ C. McC.

(27) RATUFA MACROURA DANDOLENA, Thos and Wroughton.

The Grizzled Giant Squirrel.

(Synonymy in No. 13.)

Palni Hills, ¢ 5,26; Kombu, J 1, 2 2.

(28) FUNAMBULUS PALMARUM PALMARUM, L.

The Palm Squirrel.

(Synonymy in No. 2.)

Palni Hills, #1; Nellitorre, ¢ 1,91; Perumal, 1,21; Machur, #1, 92.

(29) FUNAMBULUS WROUGHTONI, Ryl.

The Coorg Striped Squirrel.

(Synonymy in No. 11.)

Cotengady Estate, ¢ 2,26; Shernelly, ¢ 3, 9 4.

(30) FUNUMBULUS SUBLINEATUS, Waterh.

The Dusky Striped Squirrel.

(Synonymy in No. 11.)

Shernelly, ¢ 2; Kodaikanal, ¢1; Perumal, 2“1; Tiger Shola, 91; Sham

banagur, 6,000’, ¢ 1,21; Bombay Shola, 7,000’, ¢1.

‘ This animal is either not very shy or it is short-sighted, for close approach

‘to it can be made without disturbing it. It feeds on the same trees as the big

‘squirrels, e.g. Eleocarpus tuberculatus. It also plunders birds’ nests.’

C, McC,

(31) TATERA CUVIERI, Waterh.

The Madura Antelope Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 33, also Nos. 8 and 9, under 7. zxdica.)

Nellitorre, $1; Vellapathy, (1,21; Kombu, @ 1, juv.; Manapati, ¢1,

Salers Palni, 9 1, juv.

596 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

(32) GUNOMYS KOK, Gray.

The Southern Mole Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Kukhal, 6,100’, ¢ 1.

(33) RATTUS RATTUS WROUGHTONI, Hint.

The Nilgiri Tree Rat.

_ (Synonymy in No. 33.)

Cotengady Estate, ¢ 32,27; Palagapandy, ¢ 5, 9 4; Ottacoolie Estate,

6 1: Seetagundy, ¢ 5,‘2 Lb; Karapara,' ¢'2; 9 3; ‘Shernelly, 44,09; ¢ 1.

Vellapathy, 6 1;.Pundi, ¢ 1,9 13*-Palniy:g 1; ‘Kodaikanal)4'3; Oo" (Perumal

65,24; Shambaganur, ¢ 6, 9 4; Kukhal, 21. Silver Cascade, 5,800’,

Jo 4,96. Cees

(34) RATTUS RATTUS RUFESCENS, Gray.

The Common Indian Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Cotengady Estate, 5,22; Karapara,? 1; Shernelly, ¢ 1,21; Perumal,

5,000’, ¢3, 21.

(35) RATTUS BLANFORDI, Thos.

The White-tatled Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 2.)

Perumal, 5,000’, 291; Machur, 4,000’, 1, 22.

(36) CREMNOMYS AUSTRALIS SIvA, Thos.

The Mysore Rock Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 3, under C. Cues)

Kombu, ¢ 2, @1.

See notes on this genus by O. Thomas in J. B. NV. e Sic rele xxiv, pe 209,

(37) MILLARDIA MELTADA, Gray.

The Sott-furred Field Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Udamalpet, ¢ 2,21; Palni, Jl.

(38) LEGGADILLA PLATYTHRIX, Benn.

The Deccan Spiny Mouse.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Machnr, in all, 12; Silver Cascade, in all, 1.

(39) Mus mMuSscULUS, L.

The Common House Mouse.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Manapati, ¢ 1.

(40) LEGGADA PALNICA, Thos., sp. nov. |

The Palni Hills Field Mouse.

1923. Leggada palnica, Thomas, J.B.N.A/.S., vol. xxix, No.1, p. 87.

Kodaikanal, 7,000’, ¢1, 21; Shambaganur 60007). 372 3.

Perumal, 5 000" , ool, 3; in alt 6; Silver Cascade, 5,800” , 3 1.

(41) LEGGADA BOODUGA, Gray.

The Southern Field Mouse.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Cotengady Estate, ¢ 2,21; Karapara—? 1; Manapati, ¢ 3; Palni, ¢ 2.

(42) ACANTHION LEUCURUS, Sykes.

The Indian Porcupine.

Shambaganur, 6,000’, 2 1.

MAMMAL SURVEY OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON 597

(43) LEPUS NIGRICOLLIS, F. Cuv.

The Black-naped Hare.

(Synonymy in No. 5.)

Cotengady Estate, $1,291; Kombu, § 1; Palni Hills, 2 1.

Report No, 44.

KANGRA AND CHAMBA

By Mrs. H&LEN M. LINDSAY, M.A., B.SC.

COLLECTION a ... No. 44.

LOCALITY _ .. Kangra and Chamba, Punjab.

DATE see ... February 1922-January 1923.

COLLECTED BY ~~ 4.5 ovr. Be Wie Wells,

Collections have already been made along the areas of the Himalayan

range, viz. :—Bhutan Duars (No. 27), Sikkim (No. 23), Darjeeling (No. 26),

Nepal (No. 37), Kumaon (No. 15). This present collection continues the series,

and represents the tract which abuts on Kashmir, towards the Western end of

this huge hill system.

The places visited by Mr. Wells form six groups.

(1) KancGra District, an area of 9,978 sq. miles lying between 31° 21’

and 32° 59’ N. and 75° 37’ and 78° 42’ E. The Gazetteer notes that it shows

two distinct tracts :—(a) the Western block of Kangra proper—‘ an irregular

triangle whose base lies on the Hoshiarpur border, while Chambi and Mandi

constrict its apex to a narrow neck known as Bangabal, which is at one point

less than ten miles wide.’ (6) The eastern block which embraces the Kulu

sub-division comprising the tahsils of Kulu and Saraj, also the mid-Himalayan

cantons of Lahul and Spiti. More important in population and cultivation and

covering an area of 2,939 sq. miles, the first of these tracts has two wide fertile

valleys, the Kangra Valley between the Dhaola Dhar and the long irregular

mass of lower hills which run almost parallel to the Dhaola Dhar from north-

west to south south-east famous for its beauty due to the everchanging views of

this mountain whose snowy peaks rise above the valley up to 13,000’ ; the

other valleyruns between these hills and the Sola Singhi range, thus lying

parallel to the first.

(2) JAGATSUKH, the largest valley in Kulu, Mr. Wells notes, is well-wooded

up to 10,000’, then it narrows to less than 3 mile being more open, with here

and there patches of forest, consisting chiefly of sycamore and a species of

Lauristinus. ‘These patches invariably cover amass of huge rocks where

Ochotona make their homes.. Up to 7,500’ the chief trees are the holly oak,

then forests of deodar mingled with small patches of maple and Indian

Horse-chestnut which with their bright green leaves show up in strong contrast

to the dark green of the deodars.

(3) LanuL, also in the Kulu sub-division, comprises 1,764 sq. miles

bounded on the north by the Ladakh’ province of Kasnmir, and on the west

by Chamba State. It includes the headwaters of the Chenab River, which

begins from the Bara Lacha Pass, 16,500’, on the north-east border, in two

branches flowing with a general south-west direction till they meet to form

the main stream at Tandi. These branches, known as the Chandra and the

Bhaga, enclose a great triangular mass of mountains consisting of one almost

unbroken icefield with impassable barriers of naked rock. South of the highest

peak, 21,415’ above sea-level, a glacier stretches downwards for a distance

of 12 miles. This mass forms the centre of the canton and is united with

the north and east ranges at Bara Lacha Pass. The main axis of the centre

raass lies from north to south with a branch going west. Lateral spurs fringe

these two lines, all the intervening valleys being filled with glaciers. The

whole. country is higher than Kulu, for the peaks rise here to 21,000’ and

include the Gyephong Peak which can be seen from Simla.

The Bara Lacha Pass is an important feature in the general configuration of

the country. It is nearly five miles long and consists of a high neck of land

connecting the central mountains with the main Himalayas. The name in

Tibetan means ‘ pass with cross roads on the summit’ from the fact: that

roads from Zangshar, Ladakh, Spiti, and Lahul all meet on the top. Kyelang,

§98 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXT

the chief village of Lahul, lies on the trade route between the Rohtang Pass

from Kulu and the Bara Lacha Pass into Lahul.

* The scenery in Lahul is almost oppressive in its beauty and grandeur, the

country being wild and desolate, for the villages and cultivated lands are mere

specks up vast mountain slopes. But there is something pretty and smiling

about the near view of the villages, composed of flat-roofed houses, clumps

of pollard willows standing in plots of green turf with terraced fields neatly

kept. On the banks of the fields under the small canals are the ‘‘ dang ’’ or

hayfields in which the grass grows luxuriantly, mixed with bright flowers as in

an English meadow, with here and there wild roses, crimson and yellow, and

wild currant and gooseberry bushes. Wherever water is brought this verdure

springs up, but without irrigation crops are impossible and grass extremely

scanty. At Gondla on the Chandra River the mountains on the left bank rise

abruptly in a stupendous precipice nearly 4,000’ sheer. This is considered one

of the most impressive sights in the world.’

(4) PATTAN VALLEY, LAHUL, runs practically due east and west from the

junction of the Chandra and Bhaga Rivers, and the Chandrabagha (as the

upper waters of the Chenab River are called) flows through its entire length

till it reaches Chamba territory beyond Triloknath. ‘The average elevation of

the valley is about 10,000’, but on either side the mountains tower abruptly up

to 16,000’ and even 18,000’. Pattan is the most thickly populated part of

Lahul, villages and cornfields forming a continuous broad band along the

right bank of the river, which is the only part where cultivation is possible.

With the exception of the willow groves round the villages the country

remains absolutely sterile.

Distinct from that of Kulu, the flora of Lahul is all of an Alpine nature

owing to the perennial desiccation of the country caused by strong winds and

scanty rainfall during the growing time from April to September. The

varieties are very limited in number, and almost all the herbs have covering

of hairs and long root systems for protection against drought. At 11,000’

juniper grows freely in sheltered places, but beyond this the hillsides continue

to be absolutely devoid of tree or bush of any sort. North-east of the Bara Lacha

Pass lies the plain of Lingti a huge alluvial stretch at the junction of three

streams. The soil here appears to be alkaline and the flora differs in conse-

quence from the rest of Lahul. On the plain itself the vegetation is limited to a

Caragana which on the sandy wastes at the northern end forms mounds of

spiny scrub with a golden papery bark and typical legumes. A few plants

of Gentianacee, Composite, and Boraginacee occur near the streams. The

huge screes near the main ridge close to Kyelang bave a flora quite their own,

composed of species of Stellaria, Silene, Astrologus, Meconopsia, Salvia,

Borages and Primulaceous plants with occasional shrub of Salix.

The climate of Lahul is very bracing, for the air is crisp and keen especially

in the valley of the Chandra. The average rainfall is 23 inches.

(5) DuHamtTaL in Pathankote about 25 miles from Kangra, is a small

reserved forest consisting of low bamboo jungle interspersed with deciduous

trees among dense thorny undergrowth.

(6) CHAMBA STATE, with its main town of Chamba, seventy miles fron)

Pathankote, is wholly mountainous and exhibits all the characteristics

of the North-west Himalayas. Along the S. margin of this region are found

the Lower Siwalik or Nahan sandstones and the Upper Siwalik conglomerates,

the Nahan series predominating. The State has an almost purely Tibetan

flora. In these mountain tracts are found bear (black and brown), ibex,

leopards, Kashmir stag, goral, barking deer, serow, and snow leopard.

In this whole area of Kangra and Chamba, tke Gazetteer says, three sets of

stratified rocks of the Himalayas are found.

(1) Spiti shows the Tibetan zone of Cambrian series with Cretaceous rocks

to the north. There is a granite range between Spiti and Kulu.

(2) The central zone is slates and conglomerates and limestone.

(3) The sub-Himalayan zone of shales and sandstones of Lower Tertiary

(Sirmur series) and sandstones and conglomerates belonging to the Upper

Tertiary Siwalik series. Gypsum occurs in Lower Spiti.

The Beas is the chief river of Kangra District. Rising in the Kulu snow

ranges it traverses the native state of Mandi, flowing south-west through Kangra

and debouching upon the plain at Mirthal Hat near Hajipur. Reports say

that the valley of the Upper Beas is favourably situated for sheltering many

MAMMAL SURVEY OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON _ 599

kinds of wild life usually found in. temperate climates. Froin a list of these

printed in 1917, the following mammals are said to occur:—Bears (red and

black) panthers, wild cats, hyzenas, jackals, foxes, pinemartens, weasels,

otters, wild pig, porcupine, wild sheep and goats, large and small flying

squirrels, flying foxes, monkeys (macaques and langurs) musk and barking

deer, goral.

The average rainfall of Kangra is 70 in. but the amount varies locally to a

great extent. Lahul and Spiti are almost rainless, glacier streams being the

chief source of water. The forests of Kulu resemble those of adjacent parts of

the Himalayas. ‘There are some fine though not extensive alder woods in the

Beas Valley up to 6,000’ ; then occur blue pine, spruce and fir to 11,000’ then

brown oak and silver fir to 11,500’ after which only birch and mauve

rhododendron occur in any quantity but with them are mixed willow, mountain

ash, and wild apple.

Mr. Wells notes the difficulty of collection of mammals in these areas owing

to the habits of a criminal tribe of Bangalis who are constantly hunting about

with muzzle loaders and packs of mongrel dogs. Kach man usually has six

dogs. This people eat everything they catch, even civets and jackals. The

Gaddis, a pastoral hill tribe moving about with their flocks, and the Kanet

tribes, who trap creatures, using the method of long rough fences with

openings at intervals in which are set snares and deadfalls, also drive away all

game. From the foregoing description of the country, which has been drawn

from the diaries of Mr. Wells and the Gazetteer, it can easily be understood

that creatures are scare in these regions, since there is so little food available

for their sustenance, and conditions are altogether so unfavourable for their

life. Still Mr. Wells was successful in obtaining 1,237 specimens which belong

to 39 genera in 53 species. These were got in the following localities :—

KANGRA VALLEY ... Gopalpur, Guggal, Palampur (5,000’), Kangra

Fort, Baijnath, Triun, Samayala, Dharmsala.

KULU re .. Kothi (8,500’), Naggar, Sultanpur, Manali,

(6,200’), Rahla (8,840’), Jagatsukh (6,000’-

14,000’).

LAHUL .. ... Lingti, Sissu, Kyelang (10,380’), Patseo, Koksar,

Gondla, Kyiutung, Pattan Valley (10,000’),

Chirot.

PATHANKOTE .e» Dhamtal (2,800’).

CHAMBA ... .. Chatri, Tissa Range with Chalan, Siul, Siluni,

Dedlah.

(1) Macaca MULATTA, Zimm.

The Rhesus.

(Synonymy in No. 7 under /. rhesus.)

Dharmsala, ¢1; Samayala (5,000’), ¢2; Gopalpur, ¢1.

These monkeys are fairly common, frequenting the rocky hillside and cliffs

bordering the streams. They are difficult to catch as their habit of robbing

the fields and gardens makes the local people drive them away.

(2) PITHECUS ENTELLUS, Dufresne.

The Langur.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Chichian (9,000’), 91; Gopalpur (9,000’), 1, juv. ; Samayala, 91; Rahla,

92; Jagatsukh (11,000’), 91; Kangra, (1, juv., 9 1; Kangra, Fort, ¢1;

Chatri (6,000’), ¢1, @!, juv. ; Chalan Tissa (6,700’), § 2; Bara Tissa (7,500’),

&61; Deolah, é1.

At Kangra Mr. Wells notes, ‘the absence of adult males is particularly

noticeable, only one really adult specimen having been seen with this group,

although there are numbers of females with young and also young males.’

The muscular development of the large male from Kangra was noteworthy,

the biceps being quite as large as an ordinary man’s,

Measurements of this specimen :—

Head and Body, 780; tail, 860; Hind Foot, 218; Ear, 37.

Weight, 46 lbs. Furlong and dense, not darker on feet but much darker

on arms and back of hands. Fur of head, whitish.

600 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol:-XXXI

(3) PTEROPUS GIGANTEUS, Braenn.,

The Common Flying Fox.

(Synonymy in No. 2.)

Kotla (3,100’), 98; Gopalpur, ¢1, 24.

No lice were found on the specimens from Kotla. The male specimen

differs from the females in that the fur on the lower back is chocolate instead

of blackish, and the forearm when fresh is 10’’’ longer.

(4) RHINOLOPHUS FERRUM-EQUINUM TRAGATUS, Hodgs.

Hodgson’s Horse-shoe Bat.

Manali (6,500’), ¢2, 221.

These bats were caught under a large rock. Their colour is light brown to -

fulvous above, paler beneath.

Head and body, 70; tail, 33; forearm, 62; ear, 24.

(5) NycTALUS LABIATUS, Hodgs.

The Indian Noctule Bat.

Kangra, ¢1; Sissu, Lahul (10,000’), ¢1.

The colour is chocolate brown above, paler beneath. The wings are hairy

inside to the thumb.

Head and body, 69; tail, 53; forearm, 55; ear, 13.

(6) NvycTALUS LEISLERI, Kuhl. %

The Hairy-armed Noctule..

1817. Vespertilio leisleri, Kuhl, Deutsch, Federn, p. 38.

1872. Vesperugo Oletslert, Hutton; P.Z:S., p. 707.

1888. Vesperugo leisleri, Blanford, Mamm. No. 182.

Chamba (3,300’), 21.

The subgeneric name of Vyctalus was given by T. Ed. Bowdick in 1823.

(7) PIPISTRELLUS BABU, Thos.

The Babu Pipistrelle.

(Synonymy in No. 26.)

Gopalpur, ¢ 2.

(8) Myotis MURICOLA, GRAY.

The Wall Bat.

(Synonymy in No. 17.)

Chirot, Pattan VaHey (10,000’), 21.

(9) Myotis CALIGINOSUS, Tomes.

Tomes’ Whiskered Bat.

(Synonymy in No. 23.)

Chatri, Chamba (6,000’), 9 3; Samayala, 9 4.

(10) PacHyuRA, Sp.

Gopalpur, ¢ 3, 91; Dhamtal, ¢ 11, 2 8, in alcohol 1.

Chamba. .(3,300%), 1, 2.4:

(11) PacHYURA HODGSONI, Blyth.

The Himalayan Pigmy Shrew.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Dhamtal (2,800’), ¢ 1.

(12) CrocrpURA RUBRICOSA, And.

Anderson’s Assam Shrew.

(Synonymy in No. 25.)

Tissa (6,300’), 9 1; in alcohol 1.

MAMMAL SURVEY OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON 601

(13) CROCIDURA KINGIANA, Anderson.

King’s Shrew.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Rahla (9,000’), ¢2; Jagatsukh (11,000’), ¢3; Chirot (9,700’), 91, juv.

(14) FELIS paRbDUS, L.

The Panther.

(Synonymy in No. 5.)

Dharinsala (4,000’), ¢ 3, 9 1 immature.

(15) FELIS DOMESTICUs.

The Domestic Cat.

(Synonymy in No. 9.)

Gopalpur, ¢ 2.

The colour is much darker than typical Felzs chaus also more striped.

(16) FELIS AFFINIS, Gray.

The Jungle Cat.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Gopalpur, 23; Dhamtal, ¢1; Dharmsala (5,500’), 21.

(17) VIVERRICULA MALACCENSIS, Gmel.

The Small Indian Civet.

(Synonymy in No. 3.)

Kangra, ¢ 2,92; Kangra Fort, 1, 21.

The Bangalis rather spoil the specimens by making a ventral cut to obtain

the civet pouch which they sell for medicine. These civets are of a golden

brown colour, the whitish tips of some of the hairs giving a greyish appearance.

Markings are very indefinite, except on the tail which is whitish-brown, having

five or six broad black rings. The feet are black, and the skins are saturated

with grease.

(18) PARADOXURUS NIGER, Desm.

The Indian Toddy Cat.

(Synonymy in No. 5.)

Gopalpur, ¢ 2; Kangra, ¢ 3, Q 3.

This civet is a nightly visitor to the fowl houses around and also it is said

to enter shops to steal sugar. Mr. Wells could not catch these creatures in

traps though he tried all sorts of bait. The females are rather more greyish

on the back than usual and the black lineal stripes are very distinct. These

stripes show up more as the civet is shedding its winter coat, the fur then

being fairly thin and straggly, very different to the usual appearance.

(19) PAGUMA GRAYI, Benn.

The Himalayan Palm Civet.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Pangi (9,000’), ¢ 1; Deolah (6,000’), ¢ 1.

(20) HERPESTES EDWARDSI FERRUGINEUS, Blanf.

Blanford’s Indian Mongoose.

(Synonymy in No. 24.)

Chamba, ¢ 1, 2.3; Gopalpur, 22; Kangra, ¢:13, 27; Guegal, #1, 91;

Samayala, 61; Dhamtal, 2 1.

The specimen from Samayala weighed 4 lbs.

(21) CANIS AUREUS, L.

The Jackal.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Gopalpur, ¢ 2; Kothi (8,500’), f 1; Dnamtal, g 1, 2 1; Siluni, 2 1.

These hill jackals seen: to be of a slightly smaller build than those of the

plains. Their measurements are the same as Blanford’s young Q from

Rajputana, thus:

Head and body, 790 ; tail, 240; hind foot, 150; ear, 80.

602 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol, XXX1

(22) VULPES BENGALENSIS, Shaw.

The Indian Fox.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Gopalpur, 2 1; Kangra, 2 2.

(23) VULPES MONTANA, Pearson.

The Hill Fox.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Chatri, 91; Bara Tissa (7,500'), 64, 2:1; Chalan’ Tissa‘(6,7007),. 0 377Pukda,

31,921; Siluni, 1; Gopalpur, § 2; Baijnath, 1 juv. ; Samayala, @ 1.

One male specimen measured. Head and body, 670 ; tail, 445 ; hind foot, 147 ;

ear, 95; weight, 114 Ibs.

(24) CHARRONIA FLAVIGULA, Bodd.

The Northern Indian Marten.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Tissa Range (5,400’), 2 1; Chalan Tissa, 21; Tissa (6,400’), ¢1, Kothi

(8,000’), 21.

These are said to be common but are seldom seen.

(25) MARTES FOINA, Erxl.

The Beech Marten. i

1777. Mustela foina, Erxieben, Syst. Regn. An., p. 458.

1820. Martes foina, Nilsson, Faun. Scand., 1, p. 38.

1889. Mustela foina, Blanford, Mamin., No. 78.

Kyelang 1, unsexed.

Hitherto not taken by the Mammal Survey.

(26) MUSTELA WHITEHEADI, Wr.

The Indian Stoat.

1889. Putrius erminea, Blanford, Mamm., No. 81.

1908. Mustela whiteheadt, Wroughton, J.B.N.A.S., vol. xviii, p. 882.

Gondla, ¢ 1.

This is the first occasion on which this animal, the Indian representative

of the European stoat, has been taken by the Mammal Survey.

(27) MUSTELA CANIGULA, Hodgs.

The White-nosed Weasel.

1842. Mustela canigula, Hodgson, J.A.S.B., vol. xi, p. 279.

1843. Mustela hodgsont, Gray, A.M.N.H., vol. xi, p. 118.

1888. Putorius canigala, Blanford, Mamm., No. 83.

Bara Tissa (7,500’), ¢ 1.

Hitherto not taken by the Mammal Survey.

(28) MUSTELA TEMON, Hodgs.

The Pale Weasel.

1823. Mustela alpina, Gebler, Mem. Soc. Imp. Nat. Mus., vol. vi, p. 213.

1857. Mustela temou, Hodgson, J.A.S.8B., vol. xxvi, p. 207.

1889. Putorius alpinus, Blanford, Mamm., No. 84.

Pattan Valley (10,000’), 2 2; Kielang 1, lunsexed.

This is the first time this weasel has been taken by the Survey. The 2 was

shot through the anal glands, and there was a most fetid smell all over the

fur. This weasel is by no means common, but when the snow is deep in

winter a few are generally killed, mostly near villages. It lives in holes

amongst rocks and feeds on small animals and birds, especially chukor. The

colour is reddish brown on back and tail, dirty white beneath. Soles of feet

hairy.

Measurements :—

Head and body, 222; tail, 122; hind foot, 57°5; ear, 22; Weight, 4°5 ozs., 4

pairs of mamme., |

MAMMAL SURVEY OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON _ 603

(29) Lurra LUTRA NAIR, F. Cuv.

The Common Otter.

(Synonymy in No. 11.)

Dhamtal (2,000’), 2 1.

_ This other must have been a stray one from the Beas River some miles away

as the Chakhi River has no fish of a size worth its catching. An otter is never

attracted by bait.

(30) PETAURISTA INORNATUS, Geoff.

The Kashmir Flying Squirrel.

(See Report No. 42.)

1844. Scturoterus inornatus, Geoff., Voy. Jacq. Zool., p. 62.

1888. Pteromys inornatus, Blanford, Mamm., No. 228.

Chalan Tissa, ¢ 1.

(31) PETAURISTA FULVINUS, Wr.

Hodgson’s Flying Squirrel.

1834. Pteromys albiventer, Gray. Lil. Ind. Zool., vol. ii, pl. 18.

1911. Petaurista fulvinus, Wroughton. J.B.N.H.S., vol. xx, No. 4, p. 1021.

Jalori, 2 1; Dharmsala (2,000’), 1 unsexed; Triun (9,800’), ¢ 1; Kothi

(8,400’), $3; Rahla (8,840’), J 6.

This is the first time this species, described by Mr. Wroughton from material

collected in Simla and presented by A. O. Hume, Esq., has been obtained for

the Survey, According to Mr. Wroughton it represents in the Western

Himalayas the species albtventer described in Report No. 14 from Naini Tal,

and it is quite distinct from the species zmornatus of No. 42 from Kashmir.

‘These squirrels possess remarkable powers of guidance, performing quite a

series of evolutions, gliding round first in an almost complete circle and then

launching itself again in the form of S. before finally coming to rest on a

dead tree. These squirrels often spend the day roosting on branches of fir

trees, generally in the angle formed by a branch with the trunk, so that it is

impossible to spot them. The only cry I have heard is a faint squeak, uttered

3 or 4 times just before taking flight.’ H.W.W.

(32) EOGLAUCOMYS FIMBRIATUS, Gray.

The Smaller Kashmir Flying Squirrel.

(See Report No. 42.)

1837. Sciuropterus fimbriatus, Gray, Charlesworth’s Mag., vol. i, p. 584.

1889. Sciuropterus fimbriatus, Blanford, Mamm., No. 233.

Nagegar Castle, ¢ 1, 91; Pangi, Chamba, 1 unsexed.

(33) FUNAMBULUS PENNANTI, Wr.

The Common Five-striped Squirrel.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Dhamtal (2,800’), ¢ 5, 2 5.

(34) MARMOTA HIMALAVANA, Hodgs.

The Tibet Marmot.

(Synonymy in No. 23.)

Patseo, f 1,21; Kyelang, ¢ 2,21; Lingti Plain, ¢ 11, 92 11.

(35) TatTERA INDICA, Hardw.

The Indian Gerbil.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Dhamtal, ¢ 34, 2 30.

These J7atera are of a greyish fawn colour on the back, the basal two-thirds

of the hair being ashy. Tips of hairs on back grey, underneath pure white.

Hind feet above white, soles naked and slightly annulated. The breeding

season is in May and June and from 3-5 young are born. The tip of the tail

has longer black hairs.

Measurements are :—

Head and bedy, 170; tail, 190; hindfoot, 37; ear, 23; mamme, 2-2 = 8,

604 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX/

(36) GUNOMYS WARDI, Thos,

The Kashmir Mole-Rat.

1908. Gunomys wardi, Thomas, J.B.N.H.S., vol. xviii, No. 4, p. 745.

Siluni,’¢3,° 015) Tissa; fol 2 A Weolam.g cas Siul River (4, 000’), g) I,

Dhamtal, “2, juv.; 2 8 (4 juv..):-

Only one animal was ie at each burrow which bears out Blanford’s

observations.

(37) RATTUS RATTUS GANGUTRIANUS, Hint.

The Common White-bellied Indian Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 1 under R. rufescens.)

(See also Scientific Results by M. C. Hinton, J.B.N.H/.S., vol. xxvi, pp. 56

and 384).

Chamba, (9, 2 7; Deolah, 91; Bara’ Tissa,¢ 1; Gopalpur, ¢3;,24;

Dhamtal, 9 1; Dharmsala, ¢ 1, 9 2; Kangra, ¢ 1; Pattan Valley, 2 2;

Jagatsukh, ¢ 1; Kyelang, ¢1.

‘This rat burrows in rice fields during the rice harvest. The cultivators say

it is migratory.’

(38) RATTUS RATTUS RUFESCENS, Gray.

The Common Indian Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 1.) ;

Dhamtal,¢ 1,23:

(39) RATTUS VICFREX, Bonh.

The North Asian Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Chatri, 3.9, 9:6; Kalhel, ¢ 1; Bara ‘Tissa,'¢ 11, O'S’: *Chalan Wissan 7 6,074:

Deolah, 3 4, 2 10 ; Siul River, J 1, 94;/Gopalpur, §1; Rahla, 3 3, 2 3; Chirot,

oA, juv. Kothi, Q 25 Jagatsukh, 3 4, "6 4 (1 juv.); Samayala, 91; Kyelang,

Oats Pattan Valley, g (ip A ONY,

(40) RATTUS FULVESCENS, Gray.

The Chestnut Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Chatri, 6-4, 2 2; Bara Tissa, ¢ 23, Chalan Dissa, 2°23) 0 15; -Deolahte a7,

(41) MILLARDIA MELTADA PALLIDIOR, Ryl.

The Northern Softt-furred Field Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 12.)

Gopalpur, ¢ 2, 9 2; Dhamtal, ¢ 12, 92 5, in alcohol 5.

(42) LEGGADILLA PLATYTHRIX, Benn.

The Deccan Spiny Mouse.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Dharmsala, ¢ 1; Kangra Fort, ¢ 25,2 17; Kangra, ¢1; Dhamtal, ¢ 20,

(43) Mus muscuuus, L.

The Indian House-Mouse.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Gopalpur, ¢ 1; Dhamtal, ¢ 4, 2 6.

(44) Mus HomouRUS, Hodgs.

The Himalayan House- Mouse.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Chamba, ¢ 12, 6 6;. Chatri, ¢ 4; Siluni, 74, 21; Tissa, ¢ 16, 9:10); "Bara

Missacuonecde s Chalan Tissa, Cialis wel Deolah, 3 aD 1; Kalhel, 3é 3, in

alcohol 3

MAMMAL SURVEY OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON 605

(45) LEGGADA BOoODUGA, Gray.

The Southern Field Mouse.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Gopalpur, 9 4, 1 unsexed.

‘It lives in burrows amongst grass and stones, or in hedgerows.’

(46) GOLUNDA ELLIOTI MYOTHRIX, Hadgs.

The North Indian Bush Rat.

1837 Golunda ellioti, Gray, Charlesworth’s Mag. N.H., vol. i, p. 586.

1845 Mus myothrix, Hodgson, A.M.N.H., vol. xv, p. 267.

1888 Golunda ellioti, Blanford. Mamm., No. 299.

1923 Golunda ellioti myothrix, Thomas, J/.B.N.H.S., vol. xxix, No.2, p. 376.

Gopalpur, 6 3, 95; Kangra Fort, 91; Dharmsala, 9 2; Kangra, f1, 2? 1;

Samayala, 21; Dhamtal, ¢ 9, 2 18.

‘The Stomachs were frequently full of a small purple berry that grows on

the scrub.’

(47) APODEMUS SYLVATICUS GRISEUS, True.

The Long-tailed Field Mouse.

(Synonymy in No, 15.)

Pattan Valley, ¢ 2,22; Chirot, ¢ 2,210; Koksar, ¢1; Kyelang, 67, 26;

Gondla, 9 2; Jagatsukh, ¢ 58, 975; Rahla, ¢ 25, 2 17; Kothi, @ 3.

(48) Microtus (HYPERACRIUS) WYNNEI, Blanf.

Rahla,d/7,211; Jagatsukh, ¢ 7,.2 8; Sissu, f 1,21; Koksar,. J 1;

Kyelang, § 5,2 2; Zinzinghar, ¢ 1; Vispa, 2 2; Pattan Valley, ¢ 4, 99;

Patseo, 91; Gondla, 91; Kyelang, 93; Lingti Plain, 1,96.

This collection is under consideration.

(49) ACANTHION LEUCURUS, Sykes.

The Indian Porcupine.

(Synonymy in No. 1 under Aystrix leucura.)

Kangra Fort, ¢ 1, 2 1.

These porcupines weighed ¢ 32 lbs., 2 31 lbs., Mr. Wells says that they

cannot be caught in gins.

(S0) LEPUS RUFICAUDATUS, Geoff.

The Commn Indian Hare.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Samayala, ¢ 1.

(51) OCHOTONA ROYLEI, Ogilvy.

The Himalayan Mouse Hare.

(Synonymy in No. ]5.)

diese; Rahla, 4,94; Jagatsukh, ¢ 22,225; Vispa, ¢ 1,91;

Losar, 1 unsexed ; Pattan Valley, ¢5, 94; Chirot, ¢5, 27.

‘These creatures live in holes among rocks and stones on the open hillsides.

Their presence may always be recognized by their habit of depositing their

droppings at the mouth of the burrows. The droppings are quite distinct,

being small and spherical, unlike any other small mammals in this area,

They breed during July and August the time varying with the elevation, and

have from 3-5 young.

Measurements :—

Head and body, 162; tail, 8; hind foot, 32; ear, 24.’

Mr. Wells found alarge white grub embedded beneath the skin of the

abdomen, very much alive and measuring 23 mm. long, 12 mm. broad. One

mouse hare had 9 of these just under the skin.

‘The cry is a weak piping sound of one note, uttered at intervals, inaudible

15 or 26 yds. away.’ H. W. W.

606 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

(52) NEMORHGDUS GORAL, Hardw.

The Grey Himalayan Goral.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Kalhel, ¢ 1; Jagatsukh, 9 1.

‘ The 2 was of a brownish grey colour, having a black dorsal line down the

neck and back, much more pronounced on the neck. The throat was white

with a black patch on the chest and front of forelegs also black. The cry is

peculiar, something like the noise ofa file scraped on a piece of tin. It is

very abrupt and 1s often uttered 10-15 times.

Measurements :—

Head and body, 1235; tail, 140; hind foot, 285; ear, 120.

(53) MUNTIACUS VAGINALIS, Bodd.

The Barking Deer.

(Synonymy in No. 2.)

Kotla, Kangra—(2300’), 2 1.

As in the case of Sikkim (No. 23) and Kumaon (No. 15) this collection from

Kangra and Chamba contains representatives of both the Gangetic Plain and

the Himalayas. Mr. Wroughton in No. 23 points out that ‘Vulpes bengalensis

and Funambulus pennanti are characteristic of the plains fauna, while Vulpes

montana, Ochotona, and Microtus are exclusively Himalayan.’ All! these

species are present in this collection, which has too for the first time for this

Survey specimens of Martes foina, Mustela whiteheadi, Mustela canigula,

Mustela temon, and Petaurista fulvinus. A specimen of Moschus moschiferus

was brought to Mr. Wells by a shikari. The musk pod had been cut out

immediately after the death of the animal since it contracts and forces the

essence out, so that the musk loses its value on contact with the air. The

musk fetches a fairly good price since the Kulu people use it extensively as a

medicine, especially in cases of pneumonia, taking a small pinch of it with

their food.

Report No. 45

THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE AND MURREE

BY Mrs, HELEN M. LINDSAY, M.A., B.SC.

COLLECTION a eee WNOS45!

LOCALITY ae .. Salt Range and Murree, Punjab.

DaTE ee .. Ist February—lsth June, 1923.

COLLECTED BY se vse, Mr. H.-W. Wells.

In Report No. 42, dealing with Major Stockley’s collection, part of the

ground covered by this present set of specimens has already been described.

But by far the greater number of the specimens was obtained by Mr. Wells

from the area of the Punjab Salt Range which merits description on account of

its distinct character.

The Salt Range is the name given to the hill system in the Jhelum, Shahpur,

and Mianwali Districts of the Punjab, deriving its name from the great depo-

sits of rock salt, the largest known in the world, and extending from 32° 41’ to

32° 56’ N. and 71° 50’ to 74° E. It was known to the ancients as the Mak-

hialah hills and the Koh-i-jud. This range, Mr. Wells says, ‘ first enters the

Jhelum District at its extreme south-west corner where the spurs of Mount

Sakesar descend into the village of Lawa and the whole lower boundary of Tahsil

Talagang is fringed by the northern ridges of the hills. In this part of its course

the range keeps mostly to the district of Shahpur, but when it reaches the

boundary of Tahsil Pind Dadan Khan, it passes altogether into the Jhelum

District. Here it consists of two distinct lines of hills ranning west and east at

a distance from each other of five miles each made up of a number of parallel

ridges though this parallelism is modified by a marked tendency toa linked and

lcoped formation.

A striking feature of the Pind Dadan Khan Hills isthe series of plateaux

they enclose. Thetwo parallel ridges, from 2,500’ to 3,700’ in height, support be-

tween them at an elevation averaging 3,500’ a series of fairly level uplands,

richly cultivated and carrying a dense population. In the midst nestles the

beautiful lake of Kallar Kahar. The rocks which build up the range are

MAMMAL SURVEY OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON 607

throughout tilted ata very high angle, but there are few peaks which are

either detached or conspicuous. On the south the range presents a monotonous

line of parched and barren slopes, rarely more than 700’ descending abruptly to

the valley of the Jhelum River, whilst on the other side they gradually sink down

into the Chakwal Plateau, a country itself lying at levels from 1,300’ to 1,900’.

With these differences of altitude in the surrounding country, the appear-

ance of the range differs greatly at different standpoints. Thus from the

south the view is dreary, the hills being almost devoid of vegetation with afew

half-starved and sickly bushes to emphasize the general barrenness which is

not relieved by much grandeur of form. In fact the east side of the range is

decidedly tame, but towards the west where the limestone rocks become pre-

dominant, there are often long lines of lofty cliffs best seen in the narrow gorges

which carry down the drainage of the interior upland to the Jhelum. Of these

the Nilli Vahn near Kandwal is one of the finest examples, but, imposing as

some of these gorges are, they are too barren and desolate to he called beauti-

ful. On the north side of the mountains the plain country lies high and the

range has the appearance of a low mountainous ridge broken at long intervals

by the higher peaks such as Chal and Karangal. The drainage gathers into

small lakes, and there is afuller vegetation, for the long slopes of the hills are

often covered with low brushwood and a good dealof wild olive. ‘Trees are

very rare since the rainfall is scanty and the surface soil merely bare rock or

stony debris.

Throughout all these ranges, the main hills are frequently belted sometimes

on both sides, by a broad band of hard clay ravines, often of considerable

depth, which all run parallel to the mountains and thus to one another. They

area hard, nodular marl, dusky red in colour and almost bare of vegetation.

The only river is the Jhelum which forms the east and south boundaries and

skirts the district for about 120 miles.

The Gazetteer states that ‘few areas are of greater geological interest than

‘ the Salt Range, the sedimentary rocks in which have yielded fossils ranging

‘from Cambrian to Tertiary series, while the deposits of rock salt constitute one

‘of the most difficult problems with which the Indian geologist has to deal.’

The lowest bed is the salt mar! and rock salt which affords the material for an

extensive mining industry. The flora of the areais not important. Dalbergia

$issoo grows in the riverain tract, especially round Jhelum, and Acacia arabica

is common all through the alluvial plain, though it does not succeed in the

hills probably owing tothe severe winter frosts. Acacia modesta is the

commonest tree in the hills and on the plateau. Rawalpindi has its predomi-

nating vegetation, Oriental and European in character, and not Himalayan.

Thus one finds there species of Resedace@, many species of Crucifere and also

the remarkable palm, Minnarrhops ritchieana, for which the Salt Range is the

north-east limit.

The fauna of the Salt Range is not extensive. At intervals leopards cccur,

preying chiefly on the Urial or mountain sheep. Hyzenas and jackals are not

common, while near Tilla a badger is said to be found. Some years ago a

curious animal was brought in for reward in the West Salt Range It was

about the size of an ordinary villagedog, light yellow in colour with a catlike

head and long poiited ears, probably some kind of lynx. The characteristic

big game shooting of the district is afforded by the nrial found in herds of from

6to 12. Large heads are not now common, 23 in. or 24in. being considered

good. Wild pig, cats, and foxes are sometimes found, also porcupines, hares and

hedgehogs. ‘There are no monkeys in this area, the ‘ langurs’ talked about at

Choa Saidan Shah and naturaliy supposed by those who have not seen them to

be monkeys, being really a kind of polecat. These are to be found in the

Gandhala gorge and Charronta flavigula has appeared ina gorge near Rohtas

In his diary Mr. Wells, has described most of the places he visited thus :—

Jhelum.—There is a wide expanse of level plain prolonged into a narrower

strip along the course of the river. It is the head-quarters of the

district, and is near Rohtas, with its old fort.

Ara.—This and Ohoa Saidan Shah are on the edge of the range overlooking the

Jhelum Valley. The plateau is very fertile, being one stretch of

green fields as far asthe eye can reach, with here and there a

small group of barren nullahs. Plague was bad at Ara when Mr.

Wells was in that neighbourhood and great care had to be taken

especially about catching rats.

608 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

Chakri.—With Jalalpur was in barren country, but near the town were some

fields of wheat and mustard and a few gardens watered from

wells.

Gandhala.—Is in a broad valley and reserved forest, a well-wooded nullah,

enclosed by ranges of hills up to 3,200’ in height.

On the trees at this part can be found traces of floods more than

13 ft. above the present level of the water.

Dalwal.—Here all the animals were trapped in hedges surrounding small irri-

gated gardens. Beyond these patches the country is barren.

Crops are grown on alternate years.

Kallar Kahar.— This lake lies under the north slope of the Salt Range at alti-

tude 2,100’. The surrounding country is quite barren, but round

the edge of the lake are irrigated gardens with fruit trees. The

lake is 3 miles in circumference and is about 4 ft. deep. The water

is very salt so that most of the lake is open water, but there isa

large area of marshy ground. Leeches swarm, though the water

is so saline.

Sakesar.—Is the summer station for Shahpur, Attock and Mianwali districts.

It is at 4,992’ altitude. The rainfall is 26’ and there is great water

scarcity, all the drinking water fit for use having to be carried from

the plain below.

Murree.—Also a hill station that suffers from water scarcity. The cost of

transport in this area Mr. Wells found prchibitive.

Charihan.—(6,300’ ) is 6 miles south east of Murree, in reserved forest of Pinus

longtfolia and oak with little undergrowth.

Patriata.—(7,150’) also in reserved forest more mixed than at Charihan and

with more undergrowth.

Banni.—(6,000’) is an area most unsuitable for small mammals as it has not a

trace of cover.

This collection numbers 974 specimens which belong to 28 genera in 33

species :—

(1) Macaca MULATTA, Zimm.

The Indian Macaque.

(Synonymy in No. 7, under 7. rhesus ? .)

Patriata (7,150’), g 1, 91.

(2) LYyRODERMA LYRA, Geoff.

The Indian Vampire Bat,

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Lehtrar (3,000’), ¢ 11, 9 15 (11 Juv.)

(3) PIPISTRELLUS KUHLI LEPIDUS, Blyth.

The Kandahar Piptstret.

(Synonymy in No. 24.)

Chakri (900’), ¢ 1.

(4) PIpISTRELLUS MIMUS, Wr.

The Common Dwarf Pipistrel.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Chakri 71,943 Kallar Kahar (2,113), ¢ 1, 2 1.

(5) ScCoOTOPHILUS KUHLI, Leach.

The Yellow Scotophi.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Chakri, ¢ 2,23; Sanghoi (900’), ¢ 2, 28.

(6) LiPONYCTERIS KACHHENSIS, Thos.

The Cutch Sheath-tailed Bat.

1872. Zaphozous kuchhensis, Dobson, P.A.S.B., p. 152.

1891. Taphozous kachhensis, Blanford, Mamm., No. 221.

MAMMAL SURVEY OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON 609

1922. Liponycteris kachhensis, Thomas, A.J/.N.H., ser. 9, vol. ix, p. 267,

Jhelum, ¢ 1, 291; Rohtas (1,100’ ), db 27, Q Bes

These were found in the old fort at Rohtas in an old circular domed room

simply crammed with bats. There must have been hundreds of them and the

noise of their guarrelling was deafening. The colour varies in both sexes from

light chocolate brown on the back to dark brown, and from mustard yellow to

brownish yellow beneath. As arule the males are darker in general colour

than the females. The tail projects through the upper half of the interfemoral

membrane, the latter half being free. H.W.W.

(7) RHINOPOMA KINNEARI, Wr.

Kinnear's Mouse-tatled Bat.

(Synonymy in No 3.)

Sakesar (4,500’), ¢ 1,23; Rohtas (1,100’), 2 42, unsexed 8, in alcohol 7.

‘This genus occurs throughout the whole of the Salt Range at elevations from

‘1,000’ to 5,000’ wherever there are caves or old ruins, and are most frequently

‘found in large numbers together. The general colour is light greyish to brown

‘on the back, paler beneath. At present (June) there is little fat deposited

‘round the foot of the tail. These bats when at rest have a habit of contract-

‘ing their ears to about half the original size, making them appear quite

‘different.’ H.W.W.

(8) RHINOPOMA HARDWICKEI, Gray.

Hardwicke’s Mouse-tailed Bat.

(Synonymy in No. 3.)

Sakesar, ¢ 6, 911; Rohtas, 23; Chitti Dil, J 1, Q 3.

(9) PARAEKCHINUS BLANFORDI, And.

Anderson’s Hedgehog.

Chakri, ¢ 6, 9 4 (limmature), 2 unsexed ; Candhal, 61; Ara ¢ 9, @ 4;

Sakesar, 9 3; Rohtas, ¢ 1; Makhiala, ¢ 1.

This hedgehog has the division of the spines on the crown of the head,

average length of spines being 35mm. The colour of spines is blackish

with two bands of white. The head is whitish mixed with black. Ears are

large and covered with long white hairs. Most of the speciinens have the under

parts covered with long black hairs. ‘This hedgehog is fairly common in the

low tracts of the Salt Range along the river, and is generally found under piles

of brushwood in thickset hedges and occasionally in houses where it evidently

goes after beetles. They usually sleep at full length or half-curled, only rolling

up tightly when frightened. When caught, one 2 specimen made a peculiar

noise exactly like a jungle cat that is wounded. H.W.W.

(10) PaCHYVURA Sp.

Lehtar, ¢ 2,92; Kohala (1,900’), ¢1; Patriata, ¢1; Pathankote, ¢1;

Gandhala, 2 1; Kallar Khar, ¢ 8, 9 5.

(11) CrRocrpURA RUBRICOSA, And.

Anderson’s Assam Shrew.

(Synonymy in No. 25.)

Murtee (7,030’), $6; Jalalpur, ¢ 1.

(12) FRLIS ORNATA, Gray and Hardw.

The Desert Cat.

(Synonymy in No. 2.)

Rohtas (1,100’), ¢ 2 (1 juv.)

(13) FELIS BENGALENSIS, Kerr.

The Leopard Cat.

(Synonymy in No. 11.)

Kotli (5,800’), ¢ 1.

610 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

(14) HERPESTES AUROPUNCTATUES PALLIPS, Blyth.

The Small Sind Mongoose.

(Synonymy in No. 24.)

Chakri: (Q005) 7 Guzen Ae

‘The fur of these creatures is close and short, the pattern very fine. They

frequent hedgerows round gardens and wheatfields. ‘The body of a hedgehog

was used as bait to catch them. One specimen measured head and body, 270 ;

tail, 220; hind foot, 48; ear, 24; weight, ll? ozs.’ H.W.W.

(15) Canis rInpicus, Hodgs.

The Jackal.

(Synonymy in No. 3.)

Pathankote (1,200’), ¢ 2; Dalwal (2,400’), ¢ 1.

Chakri; 7;1.

(16) VULPES LEUCOPUS, Blyth.

The Desert Fox.

(Synonymy in No. 3.)

Ara (27100723007) eZ.

‘ These foxes frequent the scrub jungle rather than the cultivated areas and

live on rats, mice, etc. The colouring is something similar to that of V.

montana in summer pelage, but is not so well marked. The tails are very

poor, being matted with burrs. The underneath parts have a decided pinkish

tinge, owing no doubt to the nature of the soil where they have their burrows.’

H W.W.

Vernacular name—‘ Lunbar ’ (Punjabi).

(17) VULPES MONTANA, Pearson.

The Hill Fox.

(Synonymy in No. 23.)

Kotli (5,800’), ¢ 1.

(18) PETAURISTA INORNATUS, Geoff.

The Large Red Flying Squirrel.

(Synonymy in No. 42.)

Lehtar (3,000’), ¢ 1; Murree (7,000’), ¢ 2.

(19) EOGLAUCOMYS FIMBRIATUS, Gray.

The Smaller Kashmir Flying Squirrel.

(Synonymy in No. 42.)

Bhurban (6,400’), ¢ 1.

(20) FUNUMBULUS PENNANTI ARGENTESCENS, Wr.

The Sind Banyan Squirrel.

(Synonymy in No. 24.)

Pathankote, ¢ 2,21; Madhapur, ¢ 1; Rohtas, 61, 2 2.

Chakri, 61,21; Ara, ¢ 3, 93; Choah Saidan Shah, ¢1.

Kallar Kahar;.¢ 11, 2:2; Sodhi (4/9007); 9.2.

(21) GERBILLUS GLEADOWI, Murray.

The Sind Gerbil.

(Synonymy in No. 12.)

Chakri, 2 1.

(22) DrpoDILLUS INDUS, Thos.

The Little Sind Geroil.

1920. Dzpodillus indus. Thomas, J/.B.N.H.S., vol.xxvi, p. 935.

Chakri, 21, juv.; Rohtas, ¢ 1, 9 2.

MAMMAL SURVEY OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON 61

(23) TaTERA INDICA, Hardw.

The Indian Gero1l.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Madhapur, ¢ 8, 93; Rohtas, 10,99; Ara, 9,29; Mogli (1,002’), 47,

24; Chakri, J 18,929; Gandhala, ¢ 12,95 Dalwal, 3; Kallar Kahar,

ol; 22:7 Sakesar (4,500’); 63; 2 6.

(24) APODEMUS SYLVATICUS GRISENS, True.

The Long-tailed Field Mouse.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Murree (7,000’), ¢ 25, 2 10.

(25) GOLUNDA ELLIOTI MYOTHRIX, Hodgs.

The Northern Golundi.

1845. Mus myothrix, Hodgs.,A.M.N.F7., vol. xv, p. 267.

1923. Golunda ellioti myothrix, Thomas, J.B.N.H1.S., vol. xxix, p. 376.

Gandhala, ¢ 3,21; Dalwal, 92; Sakesar, ¢ 3, 9 2, in alcohol 1.

(26) MILLARDIA MELTADA, Gray.

The Softt-furred Field Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Pathankote, $6; in alcohol l.

(27) MUS GERBILLINUS, Blyth.

The Sind Wild Mouse.

(Synonymy in No. 24 under /. bactrianus.)

Pathankote, 4 1, 2:1; Rohtas, 65,9 4; Moeli, 47, 2 3.

Chakri, o 18, 9 135, Jalalpar, o 1; 2 ly Ara, o3l, 231; in alcohol: 1-

Chaoh, 2; Gandhala, ¢2; Dalwal, ¢1,21; Kallar Kahar, ¢ 26, 2 28;

Pail,» 3; scakesar, @ 8,9 4,: lsexed ; | Jhelum, (i304; Lehtrar, 7 14,95;

Sambli, 1,23; Banni (6,000’), ¢ 2; Patriata (7,150’), #1.

(28) NESOKIA GRIFFITHI, Hardw.

The Mountain Mole-rat.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Ghakri, O)1,jtv,; Ata, 9.1; Gandhala, ¢ 1, 9 T-

Kallar Kahar, ¢ 4, 99.

The young of Nesokia are very much darker inthe fur than the adults,

Mamme are 2-2=8.

(29) RATTUS RATTUS RUFESCENS, Gray.

The Indian House Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Pathankote, 1; Madhapur, 91; Chakri,2Q“1; Ara, 61, 292; Choah

S. Shah, ¢ 1; Sakesar, @ 1.

(30) RatTTUS VICEREX, Bonh.

The Central Asian Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Charihan (6,300’), ¢ 3,25 (ljuv.); Banni, 22 (juv.); Patriata, ¢ 7, 2 10

(10 juv.) ; Kotli, 1; Lehtar, ¢ 8, 9 4.

Sambli Beramal, ¢ 2, 92; Bhurban, ¢ 15, 2 13 (10 juv.)

Murree, ¢ 14, 9 17 (7 juv.)

Rohtas,2“1; Ara, #5,21, in alcohol1; Sodhi, §1; Choah S. Shah,

Gale. 2; Gandhala, 18,910; Kallar Kahar, 3; Sakesar, 73,95, in

alcohol 1

(31) Mricrotus (HYPERACRIUS) WYNNEI, Blanf.

The Murree Vole.

1880. Arvicola wynnet, Blanford, J.A.S.B., vol. xlix, pt. 2, p. 244,

1889. Microtns wynnei, Blanford, Mamim., No. 303.

Murree, ¢ 13, 2910; 2 unsexed ; in alcohol 3.

612 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

(32) LEPUS DAVANUS, Blanf.

The Sind Hare.

(Synonymy in No. 2.)

Rohtas, 2 2 (1 juv.); Nurpur, 9 2; Ara, ¢ 1; Gandhala, 9 1; Lehtar,

agi, 91; Murree, ¢1; Sambli, 3 1 (juv.).

‘This hare is a sandy brown colour on the back mixed with black ; under

fur whitish, sides paler with a tinge or fulvous; fur beneath pure white

except on the throat where it is brown. Chin is white. Tail dark brown

above, white below. Ears very thinly clad with short brown hair, outer edges

trimmed with whitish fur.’ H.W.W.

(33) GAZELLA BENNETTII, Sykes.

The Indian Gazelle.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Ara, 02.

They are said to breed twice during the year, in April-May and October-

November. Bucks and does are always seen together, and the former

seem if anything the more numerous, a point in which they differ from the

Ovis vignet.

SUPPLEMENT TO REPORT No. 23,

A SMALL COLLECTION OF MAMMALS MADE BY COL. F. M. BAILEY

This collection was made over by Col. Bailey to Mr. H. W. Wells in 1922 at

the time of the Kangra and Chamba work. As the places from which the

specimens were obtained are for the inost part near Sikkim and Bhutan it

seems better to class the collection with those from the East Himalayas.

(1) Mvyoris MOUPINENSIS, A.M. Edw.

Mitne-Edwarad’s Mouse-eared Bat.

1872. Vespertilio moupinensis, Mylne-Edwards, Rech. Mamm., p. 253.

Tsamba—Bhkutan, 1 unsexed.

(2) PACHYURA SATURATIOR, HODGS.

The Brown Musk Shrew.

1855. Sorex saturatior, Hodgson, A..N.H., 2, vol. xvi, p. 110.

Gangtok, Sikkim—1 unsexed.

(3) EUPETAURUS CINEREUS, Thos.

The Woolly Flying Squirrel.

1888. Eupetaurus cinereus, Thomas, J.A.S.B./., vol. vii, pt. 2, p. 258.

Gyantse Bazaar—Tibet, 1 unsexed.

Dried skin purchased.

(4) MARMOTA LITTLEDALEI, Thos.

Littledale’s Marmot.

1909. <Arctomys littledalet, Thomas, A.MW.N.H., ser. 8, vol. iii, p. 259.

Paik, Tagdumbash Pamirs (13,000’), 1 unsexed.

Yelpak Tash, Chinese Turkistan (11,000’), 1 unsexed.

(5) RATTUS NITIDUS, Hods.

The Nepal Shiny Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Bumtang, Bhutan (9,000’), ¢ 2.

(6) RATTUS RATTUS SIKKIMENSIS, Hint.

The Common Sikkim Rat.

1918. Rattus rattus sikkimensis, Hinton, J.B.N.H.S., xxvi, pp. 59, 384.

Ganetok, Sikkim, 1 unsexed.

MAMMAL SURVEY OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON 613

(7) LEPpuUS. O1IOSTOLUS, Hodgs.

The Woolly Hare.

1840. Lepus vistolus,. Hodgson, J.A.S.B., vol. ix, p. 1186.

1899 Blanford, Mamm. No. 324,

Long To, Tibet (15,0007), 1.

(8) “OCHOTONA ROVLEI, Ogil.

The Himalayan Mouse-Hare.

(Synonymy in No. 15.)

Che Lang La, Tibet (14,500’) - ah

Sang Trongo, Tibet (14,000’ yi unsexed,

Gyantse, Tibet, 4.

(9) OCHOTONA WOLLASTONI, Thos.

The Mount Everest Mouse-Hare.

1922. Ochotona wollastoni, Thomas, A.M.N.H., ser. 9, vol. ix, p. 184.

Long To, Tibet (15,000’), 1 unsexed. .

(10). NECTOGALE SIKKIMENSIS, de Wint.

The Stkkim Water-Shrew.

(Synonymy in No. 23.)

Sikkim, 1 unsexed ; Punaka, Bhutan (5,000’), 1 unsexed,

(11) Mustera tEMon, Hodgs.

The Pale Weasel.

(Synonymy in No. 44.)

Tuwa, Tibet (12,000’), ¢ 1

SUPPLEMENT TO REPORT No. 31.

ON A COLLECTION OF SPECIMENS FROM THE

NILIGIRIS, No. 31-A.

By Mrs. HELEN M. LINDSAY, M.A., B.SC.

This collection of 95 specimens made by the late Mr. J. Riley O’Brien in the

months of June and July, 1921, follows closely the earlier Report No. 31, but

there are five species in it which find no representative in that collection.

These are Ahinolophus rouxi, Ratufa indica bengalensis, Funambulus

palmarum comorinus, Tatera cuviert, Mantis crassicaudatus.

Though the Gazetteer mentions the Nilgiri Ibex as peculiar to the Nilgiri

District, no specimen of it has yet been received from this area. No diary of

the collecting tour has been found, so any notes on the habits of the creatures

is impossible.

The specimens belong to 11 genera in 15 species, as follows :—

(1) RHINOLOPHUS ROUXI, Temm. ‘

The Rufous Horse-shoe Bat.

(Synonymy in No. 5)

Benhope (3,000-4,000’), ¢6, 92.

(2) WVIVERRICULA MALACCENSIS, Gmel.

The Small Indian Civet.

(Synonymy in No, 3)

Benhope (3,000’), ¢1, Q 1.

(S) HERPESTES EDWARDSI CARNATICUS, Wroughton.

The Common Carnatic Mongoose. i

(Synonmy in No. 22, under Mungos mungo ellioti. See also Results,

JBN 1 S., vol. xxviii No! 1 of 1921.)

Massingudi (3,500’) ¢1, 21.

614 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

(4) CANIS NARIA, Wroughton.

The South Indian Jackal.

(Synonymy in No. 1 under aureus.)

Massingudi (3,500’), ¢1.

(5) PETAURISTA PHILIPPENSIS, Elliot.

The South Indian Flying Squirrel.

Benhope (3,000’-4,000’), ¢ 3, 9:2.

(6) RATUFA INDICA BENGALENSIS, Blanf.

The Central Indian Giant Sgqutrrel.

(Synonymy in No. 7.)

Massingudi (3,500’), ¢1, 21.

(7) FUNAMBULUS GOSSEI, Wroughton.

Gosse’s Squirrel.

Benhope (3,000’-4,000’), ¢ 4, 23.

(8) FUNAMBULUS PALMARUM COMORINUS, Wroughton.

The Travancore Palm Squirrel.

(Synonymy in No. 34.)

Benhope (3,000’-4,000’), ¢ 10, 99.

(9) FUNAMBULUS SUBLINEATUS, Wroughton.

The Dusky Striped Squirrel.

(Synonymy in No. 11.)

Benhope (3,000’-4,000’), ¢ 4, 2.1.

(10) TATERA CUVIERI, Waterh.

The Madura Antelope Rat.

Massin gudi (3,600’), ¢ 10, 27.

(11) RatTuS BLANFORDI, Thos.

The White-tailed Rat.

: (Synonymy in No. 2.)

Benhope 1. Massingudi, ¢1, 2 2.

(12) RATTUS RATTUS RUFESCENS, Gray,

The Common Indian Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 1.)

Mettapallaiyam (1,200’), ¢3, 91.

(13) RATTUS RATTUS WROUGHTONI, Hint

The Nilgivit Tree Rat.

(Synonymy in No. 33.)

Benhope (3,000’-4,000’), ¢ 8,27; Massingudi, ¢ 4, 21.

(14) LEpUS NIGRICOLLIS, F. Cuvier.

‘The Black-naped Hare.

(Synonymy in No. 5.)

Massingudi, ¢ 1.

(15) MaANis CRASSICAUDATUS, G. St. Hailaire.

The Indian Pangolin.

(Synonymy in No. 3.)

Massingudi, ¢ 1.

JOURN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc.

106.6. 406.7.

onl ne

115.49. 445.23. 415.28. 115.30 115.34. |

I. Hesperiide. Pamphiline (Part).

THE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BUTTERFLIES

Cob W. ‘EH. EVANS, D:S:0.,cE.2 S.,: F.E.8;

(Continued from page 446 of this Volume )

Part XI

(With a Plate)

“|. 89. Zela. The Redeye Palmers.

Above dark brown with white or pale yellow hyaline spots on F. Uph un-

marked, cilia yellow, broadly so at tornus,

1 (2) g upf with a broken black seam from mid v1 to just after base 3, where

it meets a small glandular patch at base 3, angled at v2 ; uph disc clothed long

hairs. Upf single lower cell spot in ¢, double in 2, oblique spot mid 2, spot

in 3 and apical in 6. Unf dark brown, costa overlaid dark ochreous scales and

dorsum in Q pale brown, in ¢ overlaid centrally pale ochreous scales. Unh

-chestnut brown, basally paler, a pale yellow spot end cell.

a. Larger. Upf and unf outwardly conspicuously paler.

zeus optimus, Fruh. (46-47). The Redeye Palmer. Assam. Tavoy. VR.

B. Smaller. Upf and unf not paler outwardly. Unf unmarked.

zeus zeus, DeN. (44-46). Sumatra, Pulo Laut, Borneo, Mindoro.

2 (1) ¢ upf no brand ; uph a conspicuous tuft of brown hairs from near base

-cell overlying cell ; the cell H unusually short=% wing and lower angle bent

up at origin of v3 at right angles to v6, v4 arising half-way between, no trace

of v5, v2 opposite v8 ; F dorsum bowed ; unf dorsum and uph costa polished.

Above brown, white hyaline spot near base 3 and a narrow irregular spot below

itin 2. Below paler, dcv F and H marked pale yellow and apex F paler.

zenon, DeN. (45-47). The Tufted Redeye Palmer. Borneo, Pulo Laut. VR.

‘1. 90. Acerbas. The White Palmers. (Plate 32.)

Above dark down with white hyaline spots F and a white central band H; F

comparatively small spots in 2 and 3 and apical in 6-8, no spot in 1. H lobed

and excavated at vl and tornal cilia white. Unh broad white central band

continuous from mid dorsum to costa before apex.

1 (2a) Unh white band connected broadly to dorsum in space 3. Upf no

-cell spot and unf no spot in 1. Uph white band to v4. Unh white band silvery.

Body white below, dark brown above.

* anthea, Hew. (30-43). The white Palmer. Dawnas to S. Burma, Siam,

Malay Peninsular, and Islands. (==tagzadoides, Fruh, cilzatus, But). R.

2a (1) Unh white band not connected to termen.

2 (3) Unf single upper spot in cell immediately over the spot in 2. Unh

band dull white. Uph white band to v6. Unf large white spot in 1 in@. Body

whitish above, striped below.

a. Uph white band illdefined anteriorly. Below no purple wash. Unh

white band uniform, contracted at costa.

duris martini, Dist. (38-48). The Dull White Palmer. Borneo, Pulo Laut,

Sumatra. R.

8. Uph white band sharply defined. Below purple wash over the dark

areas, especially at apex F. Unh white band yellow in 7 and 8, not contracted

-at costa.

duris duris, Mab. Philippines. R. (= mabdzllet, Stg).

3 (2) Upf 2 spots in cell well behind the spot in 2. Unh band glistening

white, very broad.. Uph ¢ white band only to vl, thence obscurely whitish

to v4 ; in 9 white band to v4. Body white above and below. Unf mid dorsum

whitish.

* nitidifasciata, Elwes. (48-50). The Silver Palmer. Dawnas to S. Burma,

Selangor, Borneo, Labuan. R.

|? (albtmedia, Joicey and Talbot is a very distinct species from Dutch New

Guinea).

616 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

I. 91. Zea. The Silver and Yellow Palmer.

Above dark brown. Upf prominent yellow separate hyaline spots ; across

cell from origin of v3; in 24 along v2, in 33 along v3.. Uph costa before apex

whitish. Unh dark brown with a very broad silver band from mid vl to-

costa behind apex, 5 mm. wide.

mytheca, Hew. (48). Victoria Point, S. Burma, Malay Peninsular, Suma-

tra and Bormeo. VR:

I. 92. Eetion. The Whitespot Palmer.

Above dark brown with hyaline spots F and H; upf with an upper cell spot,

large spot in 2 verticaily below it, small spots in 1, 3 and 4, apical dots in

6-8 and sometimes 2 dots in 5. Uph a transverse row of hyaline white spots.

separated by veins in 1-4; dorsum dull whitish. Unh basal area to v8 shining

white from the base to the discal spots.

elia, Hew. (50). S. Mergui, VR. Malay Peninsular, Sumatra, Borneo.

(=eburus, Plotz ; ayankara and magniplaga, Fruh.)

I. I Unkana. The Hoary Palmer. (Plate 32.)

1 (2) Above ¢ dark brown, 2 black. Upf large hyaline spots, pale yellow in

g and white in 2; in cell behind origin of v3, in 33 along v4 and in 2 midway

between ; subapical spots in 4 and 5 near margin and apical in 6-8.° Uph

plain in a, in 2 lower discal area to base and. “dorsum white. Unf co apex

broadly paler, veins black, some purple white scales and violet washed ; in 2

large whitish suffused spots before termen in 3, 4 and 5. Unh in ¢ dark

brown ‘with obscure purple wash, veins black, whitish central area extending

to base 7, obscurely paler between veins near termen; @ with a broad trans-

verse white area crossed by black veins from base to’ below apex.

* atlina, Hew. (64-72). The Hoary Palmer. Bassein to S. Burma, Malay

Peninstlar’ and Islands. NR: (=-dalara,- Dist:;*laivezlle:, Wd. sev wad, ise

anitta, Plotz. The Philippine race is sabzllet, Stg.==palawana and mindan-

ensis, Fruh.)

2 (1) Above dark brown with large conjoined bright yellow hyaline spots on

F, forming a broad central band from 1-3 and cell, apical spots in 6-7. Unf

lower part of spot in 1 whitish and unh margin broadly paler.

harmachis, Hew. (53-55). The Orange Palmer Malay Peninsular, Sumatra,.

Banka. VR (=staudingert, Dist.)

I 94, Hidari. The Palmers. (Plate 32.)

1 (2a). Upf with large conjoined hyaline yellow spots as in harmachis, no

apical spots. ¢ upfaseam from mid 1to base 4. Unf apex grey powdered.

and unh 2 grey bands as in Gangara thyrsis. Antennee yellow banded below

clio... ~

ozias, Hew, (54). The Javan Palmer, Java. VR.

2a (1) Upf hyaline spots on F pale yellow, well separated ; spot across cell,

in a 3, semi-hyaline spot in 1 against v1, apical spot in 6 only. No brand.

2 (3. 4). wes spot in cell with its centre against the origin of v3; spot in

cell 4 along v4 ; spot in 2 not reaching origin of v3, well separated from cell

spot, its inner gies in line with the centre or outer edge of the cell spot. Below”

dark brown, costa and apex F and all H pale brown with a faint purple wash ;

some rather obscure small dark spots about apex F and discal spots in 1-6 on

H as well as a pale yellow spot unh in cell under the origin of v7.

*trava, M. (54-58). The Greasy Palmer. Burma, Malay Peninsular and.

plans. NR. (=hypoepa, Hew ; thrax, Hub in errore).

3 (2-4). Above as zvrava. Below pale yellow, unh evenly striated, a east

fel near costa and near dorsum.

bhawani, DeN. (56). The Veined Palmer. Arracan Coast. VR.

4 (2.3). Upt discal spot in 2 shifted in to the origin of v3, joining cell spot.

Unh spot in cell white, smaller. Spot in 1 F more upright and diffused below...

Below darker, dark spots obscure or absent.

doesoena, Martin. (55-58). The Sumatran Palmer. Sumatra. VR.

I]. 95. Pirdana. The Green Palmers. (Plate 32.)

Above unmarked, no hyaline spots.

la (3). “Antennze plain black. ¢ above dark brown; 2 with basal? F and:

3H dark metallic green.

_LHE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BUTTERFLIES © 617

I. 95. Pirdana.— (contd.)

1 (2). Below dark brown, veins broadly green on costa and apex F and all

H ; dorsum F pale brown in ¢ whitish in 2. Uph tornus narrowly orange in

¢, broadly so in 9.

* hyela, Hew. (40-55). The Green striped Palmer, Assam to Burma. R.S.

China, Hainan, Siam, Malay Peninsular and Islands, Palawan. (=rudolphiz,

El. and DeN.: ; 'scanda, Fruh.)

2 (1). Below uniform rather dull dark green, unstriced, dorsum F pale and

space 1 F and H purple. Uph tornus narrowly orange.

distanti, Stg. (50). The Plain Green Palmer. Karens to S. Burma, R.

Malay Peninsular, Sumatra, Nias, Borneo and Java (=azasica, Fruh; pavona,

DeN. ismene, Fd. = sargon, Mab. is an allied species with a dark green under-

side and pale veins from the Celebes).

3 (la.) Antenne shaft white above to base club and club white banded

before apiculus. ~ above dark brown, bases shining metallic green, elsewhere

purple washed. Below as distanti. Uph tornal orange area broad, reaching

v4.

albicornis, E\. (50). The Albicorn Green Palmer. Borneo. VR. (Allied

species are—fiacellia, Hew, Aru and New Guinea—albidiscus, Joicey and

Talbot, Schouten Is. New Guinea).

I. 96. Creteus. The Nonsuch Palmer.

Above very dark brown, ochreous hairs at bases and on body and dorsum F;

eg pale yellow white hyaline spots F and H. Upf 2 spots in cell, spots in

1, 2, 3and apical 6-8 uph spot in cell, 2, 3,6 and mid 7, tornal cilia broad

yellow terminal border from dorsum to v3; unh terminal yellow border from

tornus to just above 4 and angled inwardsin 2. 2 spots above larger.

a. Unh yellow border comparatively narrow.

cyrina parca, DeN. (46-48). Assam. VR.

8. Unh yellow border considerably broader.

cyrina cyrina, Hew. Borneo. (= meleagrina, Stg.).

I. 97. Gehenna. The Swollen Aces. (Plate 32.)

Above dark brown with pale yellow spots on F ; 2small spots in cell (upper

may be absent or minute), oblique narrow spot in 2 immediately under cell spot,

small spot in 2,3 and apical spot in6. In@ spots are larger, spot in 2 is

quadrate, small spots in 4 and 7 and non-hyaline spot in 1. Unf dorsum outer

half white in 9

1(2). Unh unmarked. Below dark brown, costa F and all H overlaid sparse

yellow scales. H scv. and v8 hair-pinwise.

gree, DeN. (35). The Plain Swollen Ace. Malay Peninsular (Bukit

Tanga), Sumatra. VR.

2(1).. Unk marked with aseries of small,dark discal spots. H v8 and sev

normal. .

a. Below costa and apex F and all H overlaid ocherous green scales, leaving

on H very obscure dark discal spots in 1-6 and cell; in 9 the spot in 2 is white.

3 uph greenish hairs on disc.

*abima dawna, noy. (35). The Spotted Swollen Ace. Dawnas to Mergui.

VR.

8. Below clothed greyish yellow scales; unh with prominent dark discal

spots in 1-6 increasing in size posteriorly and a spot in cell.

abima angulifera, El. Mindoro. VR.

Y. Upfcell spots conjoined and above clothed ochreous hairs ; unh with 5

ill-defined brown spots.

abima abima, Hew. Macassar. Celebes.

I, 98. Pithauria. The Straw Aces. (Plate 32.)

Above dark brown ; pale yellow (2 white) spots on F, double in cell, mid 2

in 3 and apical 6-7 (rarely 8) ; the spots in the ¥ of the first 2 species may be

aie reduced or entirely absent, especially those in the cell, but are prominent

below.

la (3). Unhno prominent pale spots and no brand in ¢.

1 (2). ¢ base and dorsum upf and all H except for the broad and dark border

clothed straw coloured hairs, dense on H. Unf area mid dorsum to cel! and

v2 pale yellow. Below brown, apex and costa F and all H clothed greyish

ochreous scales ; obscure indications of spots unh,

618 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Il. 98. Pithauria.—(contd.)

straumineipennis, WM. (44-50). The Light Straw Ace. Sikkim to Burma

(Tavoy), W. China, Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra. NR.

2(1). ¢ darker, clothing of greenish hairs above and ochreous scales below,

Unf no pale area mid dorsum ; unh pattern not quite so obscure.

murdava, M. (36-50). The Dark Straw Ace. Sikkim to Burma. Malay

Peninsula, Borneo. NR.

5 (la). @ with brand upf. Above ¢ base and dorsum F and all H except

costa clothed greenish hairs. Below dark brown costa and apex F and all H

closely overlaid golden ochreous scales ; unhsmall pale yellow spotsin 2, 3, 6

and base 7; may be dotsin 4,5 and1. 2 unf small white spot in 1 against vl

and tornal spot in 1; unh chestnut brown with large silvery white conjoined

discal spots in 1-5, where it joins a broad silver streak reaching to base 6,

above which there is another silver streak filling most of 7, also a silver spot in

1 under cell the markings unh are very variable and sometimes the spots are as

small as in the ¢.

* marsena, Hew. (44-50). The Branded Straw Ace. Assam to Burma,

Malay Peninsular, Tonkin, Sumatra, Nias, Java and Borneo. NR. (= aztchi-

sont, WM. and DeN.; glauca, Ste.; uma, DeN.; ornata, Fd.; subornata,

Ploz.). (The 9° of these 3 species appear to be extremely rare).

I, 99, Halpe.. The Aces. (Plate 32.)

Above dark brown; upf normally 2 cell spots, 2: discal (2 and 3),3 apical

(6-8) ; cell spots may be conjoined or one or both may be absent and the apical

spot in 8 is often absent (Azeron is spotless). Q usually has a non-hyaline spot

in 1 (present in* 4 masont) ; spots white to golden. Uph unspotted (except

submacula), but there may be a yellow patch on the disc (decorata, honoi ei and

masont) ormore usually dull ochreous hairs. Below dark brown, costa and

apex unfand all unh overlaid differently coloured scales; unf apex may be

spotted ; unh may be plain, marked with dark or pale spots or with a pattern.

The ¢ brandis missing in honoret, masont, astigmata and hieron; it may

be just aseam from vl to base.3 or consist of 2 whitish pouches, vl may be

distorted and v2 bent up.

la (27a). Upf (or at any rate unf) either 2 cellspots present or upper one is

absent (individuals of gupfa and the ¢ of decorata are aberrant).

lb (Sa). Upfcell spots immediately over the spot in 2. Unf mid dorsum

pale.

Separata Group.

lc (3a). Unh and apex unf unmarked, clothed dense dark ochreous scales.

Upf cell spots conjoined.

1(2). Above cilia prominently wkite, chequered brown at ends of veins.

Unh olive ochreous.

separata, M. (35-37). The Chequered Ace. Kumaon to Manipur. R.

2 (1). Above cilia brown, very obscurely chequered. Unh dark ochreous.

* grahami, nov. (33-36). Graham’s Ace. Assam, Manipur. R.

Qa (Ic). Unh marked.

3 (4). Unhyellow, small black discal spots in 2, 3 and 7, upf cell spots

usually conjoined.

subflava, Leech. (29-32). The Chinese Yellow Ace. W. China.

4 (3). Unh dark purple brown, with an irregular white basal area, extend-

ing to centre of wing. F cellspots separate.

hyrtacus, DeN. (32-36). The White-banded Ace. Coorg, N. Kanara. VR.

5a (1b). Upf cell spots well behind the spot in 2.

5 (6a). Unh veins conspicuously pale; chequered irregularly with dark

brown spots on a whitish ground, discalspot in 4-5 being very large. Palpi

white below. F cell spots separate. Unf whitish streak mid dorsum.

Albipectus Group.

albipectus, DeN. (28-30). The Silverbreast Ace. N. Shan States to

S. Burma. NR.

6a (5), Unh veins never pale,

6b (19a. 26). Unhunmarked or with pale streaks or spots; not with dark

spots nor with a pale continuous band.

6¢ (14a). Cilia not chequered at ends veins uph,

THE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BUTTERFLIES 649

I. 99. Halpe.—(cozzd.)

Varia Group.

6a (9a. 13). Cilia uph bright ochreous throughout. ¢ upf brand consists of 2

whitish pouches.

6 (7.8). Unh unmarked, overlaid greenish ochreous scales. Upf spots

yellow, cell spot double.

aina, DeN. (36-38). The Garhwal Ace. Garhwal to Assam. R. -

7 (6.8). Unh densely overlaid ochreous brown scales ; silver dash in 2,

long streak in 3, obscure spot in 4, very long streak in 6. Unf apex with

submarginal yellow spots. Upf spots prominent, cell spot double. .

bivitta, Ob. (33). The Silverstreak Ace. W. China, E. Thibet. R.

(=albivitta, Ob.).

8 (6.7). Unh ferruginous brown, very small white discal spots in 2 and 3,

obscure spot in 6 and 2 small spots in 1. Upf spots small, cell spots separate.

sitala, DeN. (37). The Tamil Ace. Nilgiris and Animalais. VR.

9a (6d. 13). Uph cilia white or very pale yellowish.

9b (lla). Unh whitish discal spots in 2, 3 and 6; overlaid greenish

ochreous scales. Upf spots white.

9 (10). Unh veins not dark; spots obscure. ~¢ brand as in sztala group.

Upf spots may be absent, but show unf,

gupta, DeN. (36-40). The Olive Ace. Garhwal to N. Burma (Ber-

nardmyo), W. China. R. (=caents, Leech and fusca, Elwes).

10 (9). Unh veins prominently black; spots very prominent. Upf upper

cell spot often absent.

varia, Murray. (34). TheJapanese Ace. Japan. NR.

lla, (9b). Unh marked with more spots thanin 2, 3and 6. Upf cell spots

usually conjoined.

11 (12). Of small size with rounded wings. Unh overlaid ochreous brown

scales ; very obscure series of discal yellow spots in 2, 3 and 6 and a post-

discal series in 1-5. F v2 much bent up at origin. Palpi more porrect.

blanchardt, Mab. (30). Blanchard’s Ace. W. China,

12 (11). Larger, wings more pointed. Unh greenish ochreous, obscure

whitish spots in 2, 3 and6and a pale subterminal macular band (described

thus but figure shows a continuous discal row of yellow spots 1-6 and no

subterminal band).

debilits, El. (54). Elwes’ Ace, Assam (Tring, Mus.). VR. (I have not

been able to recognize this species. ?*=—dazleyz, South S.E. Thibet, unh

reddish ochreous brown, with a post median series of yellow spots in 3«7).

13 (6d. 9a). Uph cilia cinereous. Unh and apex unf overlaid very dense

ochreous scales; unf pale yellow submarginal streaks at apex; unh obscure

yellow discal dashes in 2, 3; 6 and 7 as well as an obscure series of submarginal

dashes in 1-6. Upf spots pale yellow, cell spots separate.

thandaunga, nov. (38-41). The Thandaung Ace. Karen Hills, 2 ¢ ¢ in

April 1914. Resembles a Pithauria.

14a (6c). Uph cilia prominently chequered. Upf cell spot usually double.

Cerata Group.

14b (18). Unh with more than one pale spot or streak.

14 (15a). Unh no spot base 7; ochreous brown with whitish discal streaks

in 2, 3, 5 and 6 and silvery streaks in 1,2 and 3. Upf cell spots separate. Unf

no pale marking in 1. |

latris, Leech. (35). Leech’s Ace. W. China. VR. (=ferbella, Hering,

China, upf lower cell spot elongated towards base, unh 2 long pale streaks

from base, some discal and submarginal markings or pale streaks, 29 mm).

15a (14). Unh more or less prominent pale spot base 7, Unf a pale marking

in 1 and submarginal spots at apex.

15b (17). Unh very dark brown, markings white. Unf pale streak in 1

nearly reaching to termen,

15b (17). Unh markings consist of small dots and are very variable ; the

series is discal spots in 2-6 and 2 spots in 6 also an obscure submarginal

series. (no brand.

astigmata, Swin. (35-40,. The Southern Spotted Ace. Coorg, N,

Kanara. N.R : 5 |

620 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol, XXXi

1. 99. Halpe.—(con?d.)

16 (15). Unh markings larger and more constant, similar, but only a single

large spot in base 7 in addition to the submarginal spots. ¢ with brand.

Uph white spots in 2, 3 and 4 show through obscurely from below.

*cerata, Hew. (35-40). The Northern Spotted Ace. Sikkim to Karens.

17 (15b). Unh ochreous brown with very large numerous yellow markings ;

discal and submarginal markings conjoined in 4-5, cell yellow and large spot

beyond, also a double basal streak inl. Unf short pale dash mid 1 against

vl. Uph prominent whitish hyaline spots in 2,3 and6. Wings produced.

‘submacula, Leech (42). The Chinese Spotted Ace. China (Chang

Yang), Tonkin, Formosa.

18 (14b). Unh bright ochreous brown, single white spot in 6 and very

obscure traces of darker diffused discal markings. Unf traces of a submargi-

nal apical fascia and a very small spot in 1 against vl. Uph cilia cinereous,

chequering rather obscure.

hyrie, DeN. (32-37). DeNicéville’s Ace. Sikkim to Shan States. R.

(I have a ¢ from S.E. Thibet which has a plain underside and the cilia are

unchequered).

19a (6b). Unh with dark spots.

19b (24a). Uph cilia not white.

Masoni Group.

19¢c (21a). Uph unmarked, cilia, dull ochreous brown, broadly chequered

at ends veins.

19 (20). F cell spot double. Unf apex and costa vivid rufous. Unh olive

rufous with a series of more or less obscure black discal spots.

lucasz, Mab. (35). Lucas’ Ace. Mupin, E. Thibet.

20 (19). F. cell spots small separate, all spots small. Unh bright ferrugi-

nous shining, base and margin darker, a discal row of small diffused black

spots 2-7,.- Unf apex rather narrowly ferruginous

evershedi, Evans. (36-37). The Palni Ace. Palnis and Travancore. VR.

21a (19c). Uph a discal yellow patch divided by dark veins.

21 (22a). Uph cilia dull ochreous broadly chequered at ends veins. ¢ unh

dull chrome yellow, small black discal spots in 1-7; unf submarginal yellow

spots at apex. @ unh ferruginous, spots obscure ; unf apex ferruginous. Upf

lower cell spot absent in 9 and in ¢ continued towards the base. & with

‘brand. ;

~* decorata, M. (30-36). he Ceylon Ace. Ceylon R.

22a (21). Uph cilia yellow, unchequered. Unh yellow with small. black

discal spots 1-7. g¢no brand. ©

22 (23). Uph yellow area ‘broad, diffused. ie upf no spot in Lor very

obscure. Unh spots may be absent. . GSES

honoret, DeN. (30-36). The Madras Ace. S. India to N. Kanara. R.

23 (22). Uph yellow area narrow and sharply defined. GQ upf a double

Spot in- J.

* masont, M. (28-34). Mason’s Ace. Chin Hills to S. Burma. Tonkin. ?

Philippines (lave ) ae

24a (19b). Uph cilia white. Unf submarginal pale spots at apex.

Insignis Group.

24 (25). Unh dark brown, sparsely overlaid whitish scales leaving dark

veins and obscure dark discal spots. Upf spots small, spots in 2 and 3 not

overlapping. Uph cilia pure white throughout. Wings produced.

insignis, Dist. (30-34). The White-fringed Ace. S. Mergui, Malay

Peninsular, Sumatra, Borneo. VR.

25 (24). Unh densely overlaid pale ochreous scales, leaving a series of large

dark discal spots and also a submarginal conjoined series. Upf spots large,

spots in 2and 3 overlap. Uph cilia grey white. Wings rounded.

burmana, Swin. (29-33). Swinhoe’s Ace. N. Shan States to Ataran

Valley. R.

26 (6b. 19a). Unh a broad continuous white band from mid 1 to apex,

spots in 6 and 7 forming part of the band may be small; a spot in cell and

near base 7, which may be absent; usually some small discal spots in 5 and 3

just beyond the band; variable number of small submarginal spots in 1-3.

THE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BUTTERFLIES 621

I. 99. Halpe.—(cozzd.)

Unf prominent whitish submarginal spots from 2 to costa. Uph cilia grey

white, faintly chequered.

Moorei Group.

mooret, Watson. (30-34). Mocre’s Ace. S. India, Mussoorie to Burma,

Andamans. N.R. Hong Kong, Annam, Siam, Sumatra, Borneo, Bazilan, Jola

Is. Celebes. (= /eliga, Swin, beturina, baztlana and joloana, Fruh. ‘The

Celebes form passes tnder the name defurza Hew and the type in the B. M. =

mooret, but Hewitson’s description applies to the insect Elwes redescribed as

majuscula, No. 39).

27a (la). F either a single upper spot in cell or none.

27b (31a). Antenne above white banded below club.

Zema Group.

27 (28a). Unh prominent continuous white discal band from mid 1 to apex,

no submarginal or other markings. Cilia above whitish at tornus F and H,

turning brown towards apex.

a. Large. Upf spots large, those in 2 and 3 overlap. Unf with sub-

marginal apical spots. Unh clothed brown ochreous scales; discal band very

wide, 2mm. Upf 3 apical spots.

*zema zema, Hew. (32-37). The Banded Ace. Sikkim to S. Burma,

Malay Peninsular. NR.

B. Smaller and darker. Upf spots smaller, those in 2 and 3 separate. Unh

discal band narrow, l1tols mm. Unf submarginal apical spots obscure. Upf

2 apical spots.

zema ormenes, Plotz. Described from Nias. Fliesin S. Mergui as a race or

variety of typical zema, which seems to occur with it (possible races are

vilasina, Fruh., Sumatra; vzstara, Fruh., Java; mahapara, Fruh., Philip-

pines).

28a (27). Unh no white band.

28a (30). H termen rounded at tornus.

- 28 (29). F spots prominent, yellow, those in 2 and 3overlap. Cilia pale to

dark ochreous. Below apex F and all H overlaid ochreous brown: unh un-

marked or with very obscure postdiscal yellow spots, that in ] being largest.

| kumara, DeN.. (32-36). The Plain Ace. Sikkim to Naga Hills. R.. (=?

perfossa, South, S.E. Thibet).

29 (28). F spots small, white, those in 2 and 3 separate. Cilia white on H

and brown on F. Below apex F and all H rather dark brown, with more or

less prominent post discal small white spots. —

'fasciata, Elwes. (35). ‘The Bornean Ace. Borneo. VR.

30 (28a). H termen excavated before tornus, wings produced. Upf spots

white, those in 2 and 3 overlap. Unh and apex unf olive brown. Unf

traces of a pale fascia; unh obscure row of black postdiscal spots. Cilia

brownish white on H, brown on F. .

knyvettt, Elwes. (32-30). Knyvett’s Ace. N. Kanara, VR. Sikkim to

S. Burma, NR. Sumatra.

3la (27b). Antenne above not white banded below club.

Egena Group.

- 31b (33a). Unh no pale central band. Cilia whitish H, darker on F,

unchequered.

31 (32), Upf with spots. Unh with discal black spots which may be out-

wardly bordered by obscure pale spots, Tegumen hooks pointed and simple,

not forked or truncate.

a. Upf often with a cell spot; spots in 2 and 3 overlap, 2 or3 apical

spots. Unh ochreous brown, variable. Unf obscure pale submarginal fascia.

Tegumen hooks short.

stkkima, stkkima, M. (30-36). The Sikkim Ace. Sikkim to Dawnas. NR.

Malay Peninsular, Sumatra, Borneo. (? = selangora, Swin, Selangor).

B. Upf cell spot absent ; spots in 2 and 3 small, only one apical spot.

Rather pale brown above as /ieron, ‘Tegumen hooks long, longer than

tegumen.

stkkima palawea, Stg. Palawan. (szkkima probably occurs elsewhere, but

is difficult to recognize).

622 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

1. 99. Halpe.—(conid.) ,

32 (31). Upf spotless or only a very faint discal spot in 2. @ no brand.

Very pale brown above. Unf discal and 1 apical spot show. Unh and apex

unf olive brown, traces of a pale submarginal fascia. Tegumen horns truncate.

hieron, DeN. (34). The Pallid Ace. Sumatra.

33a (Slb). Unh in well marked specimens a white or yellowish central

band, divided by dark veins, from mid 1 to apex; spot in 4--5 large; sub-

marginal row of pale spots unf and unh; very variable and there may

appear to be two pale areas separated by a continuous row of dark discal

spots. Tegumen hooks always truncate, forked or with a side projection (in

sulphurifera).

33b (37a). Unf submarginal row of spots do not extend into 1, nor is there

any pale patch in 1 beyond the band.

33c (36). Tegumen hooks truncate at ends.

33d (35). Genitalia clasp double toothed.

33 (34). H cilia whitish, prominently chequered on F.

a. Small. Urh central band whitish, prominent, continuous.

* homolea ceylonica, M. (30-34). The Indian Ace. Ceylon, India. NR.

B. Large. Unh central band very variable, never continuous and often

absent.

*homolea homolea. Hew. (31-32). Sikkim to Karens. Singapore (=?

veluvana, Fruh. W. Java. homolea was described from Singapore and until

its genitalia are examined its identity will remain in doubt).

34 (33). Above cilia F and H greyish brown, unchequered.

a. Below vinous brown, band and spots obscure. Upf dark, spots small,

no cell spot, one apical spot, spot in 2 crescentic.

egena egena, Fd. (30-35). The Dubious Ace. Ceylon VR. (= brunnea, M).

B. Smaller. Unh very variable, resembling homolea.

egena aucma, Swin. Assam to Tavoy. C. (= perara, marta and wantona,

Swin;? &usala, Fruh, S. Annam).

35 (33d). Genitalia clasp plain.

a. Identical with awcema, only to be distinguished by the clasp.

auriferus pelethronix, Fruh. (30-34). The Similar Ace. Tavoy to S.

Burma. NR. Java. R.

B. Cilia more ochreous. Spots F small, none in cell, only one apical spot.

Unh central band prominent, markings bright ochreous yellow.

auriferus auriferus, E}. Nias. R. (= hazis, DeN-).

30 (33c). Tegumen forked and tips pointed; clasp as homolea. Cilia as

aucma. Unh ochreous yellow markings.

flava, nov. (30-34). The Tavoy Sulphur Ace. TavoytoS. Burma. NR.

37a (33b). Unf with a pale marking in 1.

37 (38a). Unf pale marking in 1 discal, a spot across 1 just beyond the

brand. Uph clothed long grey hairs. Upf cell spot obscure, 2 apical spots.

Unh bard pale yellow, prominent.

sulphurifera, AS. (34-38). The Sulphur Ace. Philippines and Sulu

Islands. R. (= lutetsquama, Mab.).

38a (37). Unf pale markings in 1 marginal, an extension of the marginal

fascia. :

38 (39). Unh markings yellow, prominent. Upf spots complete.

nephele, Leech. (40). The Chinese Sulphur Ace. W. China. R.

39 (38). Unh markings much paler and diffused. Upf no cell spots and

only 2 apical spots.

BY Alec Hew. (36-38). The Celebes Sulphur Ace. Celebes. (=majuscula

Elwes).

I. 100. Onryza. The Brush Ace. (Plate 32).

Above brown, dorsum and base F and most of H clothed yellow hairs ;

cilia pale ochreous H, brown F. Upf with yellow hyaline spots, double in cell

lower part produced towards base, spot in ] against vl, spot mid 2, in 3 and

apical in 6 and 7. Unh and apex costa and cell unf more or less overlaid

ochreous scales, tending on F to form a narrow yellow submarginal band and

on H leaving a chequered pattern, which is obscure in pale specimens.

* metktila, DeN. (30-34). Meiktila to Dawnas. R. (szamica, Riley and

Godfrey, N. Siam, is a brighter race).

THE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BUTTERFLIES 623

I. 101, Sebastonyma. The Tufted Ace, (Plate 32.)

Above dark brown with pale yellow hyaline spots on F, figure of 8 spot in

cell, spots in 2, 3 and apical 6-8. Uphapale brown area mid disc. Below

dark brown ; unf mid dorsum whitish and a narrow pale yellow submarginal

band. Unh broad yellow transverse band from near base at vl to apex, a

streak under v8 from origin to middle and an irregular submarginal line,

*dolopia, Hew. (30~-34).% Sikkim to Karens. NR.

I. 102. Actinor, The Veined Dart. (Plate 32.)

Above brown clothed ochreous hairs on dorsum F and all H, cilia grey;

semi-hyaline pale yellow spots F and H and the veins beyond the spots pale

yellow. Upf double cell spot, continuous row 1-5 (double in 1) and conjoined

apical spots in 6-8. Uph large spot across cell and postdiscal row 1-5. Below

paler and all veins pale yellow; Unh spots dark edged and more extensive, a

spot base 7, central row 1-7 across cell and postdiscal row from 1-6.

* vyadians, M. (34-42). Chitral to Kumaon at 4,000 feet. R,

I. 103. Cupitha. The Wax Dart. (Plate 32.)

Above dark brown with yellow markings. Upf basal half, costa yellow; a

discal band 1-7, the part in 1 continued along vl towards the base; lower spot

in cell over origin v3, conjoined to the band ; upper end of band incurved in 7.

Uph costa yellowish white, yellow transverse broad discal band from 1-4.

Cilia pale yellow H, chequered on F. Below entirely yellow except for a broad

dark brown central band from base to middle on F and brown tornus F and H.

* purreea, M. (28-33). S. India, Sikkim to Burma, Andamans, NR.

Malay Peninsular and Islands, Philippines, Celebes. (=/ympanifera, M.;

verruca and lycorias, Mab.; alara, Fruh.)

I. 104, Nicevillea. The Dartlets. (Plate 32.)

Above dark brown with tawny markings. Upf lower part of tawny discal

band central not distal as in Padraona, etc., 1.e. spotin 1 isin the middle of 1,

spot in 2 under the origin of v3 and spot in 3 reaclies base 3; base and costa

always dark; spot in 4 to base 4, may be a discal spot in 5 uniting the discal

and apical spots in 6-8; spot near end cell against lower edge, conjoined to

the spot in 2, but separated by a short black bar from the spot in 3, may be an

upper cell spot above it. Uph tawny discal band, but no spot in cell or in 7.

] (2a). Uph discal band narrow composed of smaliconjoined spots 1-5.

Above very dark with dark orange markings. Upf spot in cell small, no upper

spot orspotin 5. Below costa and apex F and all H overlaid dark ochreous

green scales, discal band prominent on F but obscure on H.

concinna, El. (30). The Tamil Dartlet. Palnis to Nilgiris. R.

2a (1). Uph discal band broad, continuous, markings bright orange.

2 (3). Below costa and apex F and allH yellow to orange, discal band on

H and upper part of F only defined by black spotting.

* gola, M. (26-28). The Common Dartlet. Ceylon, S. India, Sikkim to

Burma, Andamans. NR. S. China, Malay Peninsular and Islands, Philip-

pines and Celebes. (= goloides and naranata, M.; locus, fabriolata and

alfurus, Plotz.; taxilus, pseudolus, akar and grandis, Mab.; rajagrtha,

trishna and nipata, Fruh.).

3 (2). Below dark brown, sparse ochreous scales on costa and apex F and

on H, discal band F and H yellow, sharply defined and not edged black spots.

paragola, DeN. (26-28). The Malay Dartlet. Dawnas to Mergui, Sumatra,

Malay Peninsular. Borneo. NR

(The following belong to this genus—augustula, HS = melanion and fitji-

ensis, Mab. Oceania, Fiji and N. Australia—waméba, Plotz,=? tabla Swin and

rudha, Fruh. New Guinea, Aru and Key Is—fulvomargo, Joicey and Talbot,

Dutch New Guinea).

I. 105. Taractrocera. The Grassdarts. (Plate 32.)

Above dark brown with pale discal spots in 1-8, those in 4 and 5 shifted out ;

an upper cell spot beyond mid cell and a lower conjoined spot towards base.

Uph spot mid cell and a discal series 1-7, upper two often absent.

la (4a). Above markings white to pale yellow, narrow, separated by dark

veins, spots in 4 and 5 upf remote from spot in 3 and 6.

lb (3). Unha pale streak in mid 1 from base to termen, H spots in 1-4

in a straight line. Below spots white. Cilia whitish,

624 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL. AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

1. 105. Taractrocera.— (contd.)

1 (2). _Unh no spot mid 7 or base 7 ; sou in 6 large, nearly to base ; spot in

cell against upper edge ; no spot in 1 but the white streak is very broad and

prominent. Unh closely overlaid greenish scales, veins concolourous.

_*danna, M. (25-30). The Himalavan Grassdart. Kashmir to Bhutan,

NR.

2 (1). Unh spot mid 7 and obscure spot base 7; spot in 6 small; cell spot

across cell; a spot in 1 and the white streak is narrow.

a. Unh closely overlaid dark ochreous scales, veins concolorous.

maevius maevius, F. (20-28). The Common Grassdart. Ceylon. C.

8. Unh overlaid dark ochreous to whitish scales, veins prominently pale.

maevius flaccus, F, India, Burma. C. (=sagara, M.; silhetica, Plotz and

lineata, Druce, Siam).

3 (1b). Unh no pale streak mid 1; spots pale yellow, discal row more

curved, a spot mid 7, none base 7.

ardonia, Hew. (22-28). The Malayan Grassdart. Malay Peninsular,

Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes. (= sumatrensis and sangira, Plotz).

4a (la). Above markings tawny to orange.

b (7a). Uph or unh a yellow spot mid 7.

4 (5a). Unf yellow cell spot not nearly as far back as the origin of v2.

a. Above spots small and separate. Upf usually nospot inl, spots in 4

and 5 remote from those in 3 and 6, cell spot small and against upper edge.

Uph spots in 4 and 5 remote from those in 2 and 3, spot in 6 often absent, no

spot in 7. Unh more or less overlaid dark ochreous scales.

ceramas ceramas, Hew. (22-27). The Tamil Grassdart. Travancore to

N. Kanara. NR, on plateaux.

8. Above all markings much broader. Upf spotsin 4 and 5 touching spot

in 6, remote from spot in 3; always a spot in 1. Uph complete conjoined series

1 or 2-7, spot in cell prominent. Unh overlaid ochreous scales leaving blackish

edges to the spots.

*ceramas nicévillei, Wat. N. Kanara to Bombay. NR. (=coras, Auct

nec Cramer).

Above markings still more extensive ; upf spots in 4and 5 touch spots

in 3and 6. Unhcompletely overlaid ochreous scales, cell spot and elongate

spot in 4-5 only visible by translucence.

ceramas oberthurit, El. Anaimalai Hills, S. India. VR.

6. Above as ceramas, but uph spots in 2 and 3 ear spots in 4 and 5.

Unh margin only yellow giving a prominent black spotted effect round the

yellow spots.

ceramas atropunctata., Wat. Chindwin, N. Burma, Hong Kong, R.

oa (4). Unf yellow cell spot at least as far back as the origin of v2; upf

always a spotin 1.

5 (6). Unh a yellow spot base 7. Above markings very broad and rather

pale yellow ; spots in 4 and 5 joined to spots in 2 and 3, cell and costa yellow.

Uph discal series complete and conjoined, cell spot large. Unh overlaid

ochreous scales, leaving prominent small black spots. Apex F more produced

than usual.

flavotdes, Leech. (26). The Chinese Grassdart. ~W. China.,°R;

6 (5). Unh no spot base 7. But forthe antenne exactly like Padraona

meésoides. Unh yellow spots more or less separated by black veins.

a. Above markings narrow and all divided by black veins. Upf spotsin 4

and 5 remote froin spots in 3 and 6, cell spot only reaching to origin v2. Uph

small cell spot, discal row 1-5. Below apex F narrowly and all unh overlaid

sparse cchreous scales: unh spot mid 7 and smniall spot base 6.

_ siclea samadha, Fruh. (22-28). The Veined Grassdart. Thayetmyo to S.

Burma, Peninsular Siam. VR.

B. Above darker ochreous and markings broader ; upf spots in 4 and 5 join

spot in 3 but not spot in 6. Uph spot in cell obscure. Unh darker due to less

ochreous scaling, veins towards termen distinctly darkened.

- ziclea tissara, Fruh. Sumatra, Borne», Java. (Fruh, separates the form from

Java as tkramana. The Philippine race is ziclea, Plotz.=/uzonensis, Mab..,

sudodana, Frub. is the race described from Sumba).

7a (4b). Uph or unh no spot mid 7. Upf markings broad, spots in 4'and 5

almost completely overlapping the spot in 3; cell yellow. Uph spots coalesced.

7 (8). Upf spots in 4 and 5 just touching the spot in 6 ; the yellow cell area

THE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BUTTERFLIES 625

I, 105. Taractrocera.— (contd. )

may be conjoined to the discal yellow band through the spot in 2. Uph usually

a spotin 6; cell spot prominent or absent.

* archias quinta, Swin. (22-28). The Yellow Grassdart. N. to S. Burma,

VR. Siam, Annam, Malay Peninsular, Borneo. (The following races have

been described—xigrolimbata, Snell=turica, Plotz, Java=godhania, Fruh,

Sumba=2£7zsaga, Fruh, Lombok=déavius, Mab., Timor=antalcidas, Fd,

Celebes=archias, Fd. Amboina=uadraka Fruh, Dutch New Guinea).

8 (7). Upf spots in 4 and 5 overlapped by spot in 6, forming a compact band

from dorsum to apex: the yellow area in the cell may or may not be joined to

the discal yellow area in 2, Uph usually no spot in 6; cell spot present or not.

Smaller than archias.

aliena, Plotz. (20-25). The Alien Grassdart.- Java. (=myconius and

dischaka, Plotz. and dhshalia, Mab. Probably ¢alantus, Plotz from-Celebes is

an aliena race).

(The Australian group have a brand on upf and appear to comprise 3

species—dolon, Plotz., N. Queensland, for which the older nanie may be

rectivitta, Mab.—antsomorpha, Lower, N. Queersland—fapyria, Bdv., Aus-

tralia=agraulia, Hew., fumosa, Guest., celaeno, Cox, alix, Plotz and minimus,

Miskin).

I.106. Padraona. The Darts. (Plate 32.)

Above marked much the same as in) the last two genera. Upf the discal

band with the lower part distal, spot in 1 beyond the middle of 1 and spot in 2

beyond the origin of vein 3 never joining spot end cell.

la (3a). Upf no spots in 4 or 5.

Fettingi Group.

1 (2). Above dark brown with a purple sheen. No brand. Markings very

narrow, dull yellow and separated by veins. Upf double elongate spot end

cell, discal spots 1-3, apical 6-7. Uph discal spots 1-4, no cell or costal spot.

Below as above, unf purple brown, apex and all unh overlaid dark ochreous

scales ; discal spots unh purplish. Tegumen simple, tapering to a blunt point ;

clasp simple, rounded.

purpura, nov. (32). E. Java, 5,000 feet. The Purple Dart.

2 (1). Above no purple sheen. All markings narrow, orange, separated by

veins. Uph discal band 1-5, no spot in cell or in 7.

a. Above generally paler and markings broader, cell spot obsolete upf. ¢

upf a continuous dark shining silky brand (disappears with petrol) mid 1 to

base 3, behind the yellow discal band. Uph spot in 4-5 small and against

outer edge of the spotin 3. Unf apex and all unh ferruginous; unf discal

band and cell spot yellow; unh a spot in 6. Tegumen broadly bident ;

clasp with dense fine hairs at tip.

fettingt fettingt, Mosch. (33). Sumatra. (= eurta, Plotz and pavor, DeN.)

8. Above darker and markings broader ; cell spot prominent and prolonged

towards base along mv. Uph discal spots in 2, 3 and 4-5 equal. ¢ brand

black, hard to see (not disappearing with petrol), irregular, disconnected.

Below much darker ferruginous, veins on H black, no spot in 6, traces of

cell spot, sometimes basal and central spot in 7. Unf cell spot, discal band and

apical spots yellow; unh spots very dark orange, but a yellow detached

spot in 1.

fettingt orfitus, Mab. W. Java.

3a (la). Upf always a spot in4 and in 5.

3 (4a). ¢Upf with a black brand behind the yellow discal band, continuous

and narrow. Uphnocostalspotin 7. Upfin ¢ the discal yellow band from

1-5 very straight and even width throughout, joining the outer edge of the

spots in 6-8 ; in 9 the lower part 1-3 is wider as usual; cell and costa all yellow

to central black Y band in 4, basal half dark in 9; a dorsal streak from discal

band to base in ¢ anda streak above it in 1 from inner edge of brand to base.

Uph continuous broad discal band from 1-5, continued into 6 by a small inner

spot ; cellspot present. Below costa and apex F and all H rather pale yellow,

discal band H defined by irregular narrow black edging. Tegumen simple,

tapering to a blunt point, clasp simple rounded,

626 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

I. 106. Padraona.—(conid.)

Kobros Group.

kobros rectifasciata, El. (29-32). The Branded Dart. Karens toS. Burma,

NR. (cakka, Fruh. is the darker race from Java; svavasta, Fruh. from Nias

and probably occurs on Sumatra; kobros, Plotz.=procles, DeN.. occurs on Aru,

Key, Mysol and Gilolo; the following are probably referable to kobros—

tranqguilla, Swin., Milne Bay. N. G.—terranea and paceka, Fruh., Dutch New

Guinea—dhamika and dipavansa, Fruh., Waigou. ‘The following species

belong to this group with a brand upf from 14—wa/lkeri, Heron, N. Australia—

heterobathra, Lower, N. Australia and Key Is.).

4a (3) ¢ upf no brand from vl-4. Uph usuallya costal spot mid 7 and a cell

spot ; unh also a spot base 7.

Dara Group.

(The examination of the genitalia has proved that the dara group contains a

number of almost exactly similar species; numerous names have been

published usually with inadequate descriptions ; I have assigned these names

as best I can so as to avoid the creation of more names; only a genitalia

examination of the types will settle the matter of names finally.)

4 (5a). Upf no brand at all; cell and costa yellow to the dark Y band, may

be a dark narrow basal] streak in the cell; discal band confluent and touching

the outer edge of the apical spots, spot in 5 overlaps the spot in 4. Uph discal

band confluent, spots in 4 and 5 not advanced; spot in cell and mid 7.

Tegumen broadly tapering and minutely bifid.

a. wph discal band usually continued into 6 by ashort bar on inner edge

towards spot in 7. Unf apex and all unh yellow, discal band defined by

prominent sma!l biack spots; base H black dusted. Unf cilia obscurely

chequered in ¢%, prominently in 9.

phellus phellus, Mab. (23-27). The Brandless Dart. Sikkim to S. Burma.

NR.

8. Upf a narrow yellow discal streak over vl from discal band to base.

Uph no spot in 6. Below yellow scaling sparser, effacing the black spotting ;

unh no spot in 6.

phellus tanya, Fruh. (24-28). Java. NR.

Sa (4). Upf ¢ with a short obscure brand over middle of vl, behind the

discal band or just entering the yellow discal area, easily seen with petrol.

5b (8a). Upf and uph discal band divided by dark veins. Upf spot in 4

does not overlap spot in 3 and spot in 5 does not touch spot in 6 as a rule.

5e (7). Unh no discal spot in 6 linking the discal band to the spot in 7.

5 (6). Large. Tegunien broadly, bident tip clasp fringed.

a. Upf markings narrow, costa and base dark. Unh very dark ferruginous

ochreous. Uph discal band not entering 6.

hetaerus zatilla, Plotz (31-35). The Large Dart. Bassein to S. Burma. VR.

(2 specimens examined).

B. Above markings broader; upf spot in 5 just touches spot in 6 and spot

in 4 just overlaps spot in 3; uph discal band just enters 6 centrally as in

augias.

hetaerus chariyawa, Fruh. Java. (1 specimen examined).

Y. uph discal band very irregular, spots in 4 and 5 shifted out and the

discal band just entering 6 by a spot on the inner edge of 5. Markings broad.

heterus heterus, Mab. Philippines. (1 examined).

6 (5). Small. Tegumen slenderly and gradually pointed, tip of clasp

pointed and not conspicuously fringed. Upf markings narrow ; costa and base

cell ochreous with a black streak in the cell of may be all darkened at base.

Uph spots in 4 and 5 overlap to the middle of 3, no extension into 6. Unh dark

ochreous with discal band showing prominently, no black spotting.

a. Above markings very narrow and unh very dark.

mcsotides ottala, Swin. (24-28). The Lesser Dart. Karens. R.

8. Above markings wider and unh not so dark.

* mesoides mcesoides, But. Dawnas to S. Burma, Malay Peninsular,

Banka. C. Probably throughout Macro-Malayana. (?==/flavoguttata, Plotz,

Philippines).

y. Larger. Upf markings narrow. Uph discal band more confluent and

spots in 4 and 5 shifted out.

mesotdes ottalina, nov. (29). Andamans, VR,

THE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BUTTERFLIES 623

I. 106. Padraona.—(conid.)

7 (5c). Unh a spot in 6 connecting the discal band in 5 to the spot in 7.

Tegumen undivided.

a. Above markings very narrow and pale yellow; cilia grey throughout.

Uph a spot in 6 against the inner edge of the spot in 5 and a spot in 7, which

may be obscure or absent. Unh pale yellow, black dusted, discal band

outlined black spots. Tegumen blunt, slightly expanding.

dara dara, Koll. (27-29). The Common Dart. Chitral to Kumaon from 4 to

10,000 feet. NR. (= maesa, M.; nala, Plotz. zebra, Mab).

8. WSF above and below darker, markings darker and broader. Uph

usually no spot in6or7; tegumen blunt not expanding. DSF much paler

below and above; wings rounded as in 99; tegumen bluntly triangular.

dara pseudomesa, M. (27-30). Ceylon. Sto Central India. C.

y. Larger and more brightly coloured. Same seasonal differences in

appearance and genitalia. Unh in WSF is bright orange, prominently black

spotted. Uph often a spot in 6 and usually one in 7. Very variable.

* dara confucius, Fd. (29-36). Mussoorie to Shan States, NR. China

(allied race angustata, Matsum = pava, Fruh, Formosa).

6. Comparatively small. Uph usually no spot in 6. Unh duller, black

spotting not so much in evidence.

dara serina, Plotz. (28-33). S. Burma, Malay Peninsular, NR. Sumatra,

Java, Lombok, Sumba, Sumbawa, Nias. (==yvojana, ganda, sapitana, Fruh).

y. Very dark with narrow pale yellow markings. Unh pale yellow.

Tegumen as in DSF form of pseudomesa.

dara dilutior, Elwes. (28-33). Borneo, Pulo Laut. (= ahastina, Fruh).

8a (5b). Upf and uph discal band confluent ; upf spot in 5 usually touching

and may be conjoined to the spot in 6 and the spot in 4 overlaps the spot in 3.

8b (10). Unha spot in 6 connecting the discal band to the spot in 7; uph

spot in 6 may be present and always a spot in 7.

8 (9). Tegumen variable, but never ending in 2 long points as in sztida,

always broadly bident.

a. Small. Upf discal band completely confluent from 1 to apex.

suntas satra, Fruh. (22-25). Ceylon and Andamans, C. The Tropic

Dart.

8. Larger. Upf apical spots in 4 and 5 not completely conjoined to the

discal and apical spots. Very variable. a

suntias tropica, Plotz. (25=34). S. India, Sikkim to Burma, Malay Penin-

sular and Islands to Celebes.C. (= falnia, Evans; dushta and nikaja, Fruh. ;

philenus, Mab. incorrectly assigned a brand from 1-4 by Elwes. flava,

Murray = japonica, Mab is the race from Japan and China). The specimens

I have examined show the following variation :-- 5 each a

Var. 1. Unh bright ochreous, black spotting prominent. Markings broad.

(25-29 mm.) from S. India, N. Shan States to Tavoy, Sumatra, Java, Batoe

Is, and Celebes—23 examined. .

Var. 2. Unh pale yellow, band and black spotting obscure. (26~29).

From Assam to Karens—4 examined.

Var. 3. Unh darker, black suffused presenting a greenish appearance,

(27-33). from 8S, India, Sikkim to Dawnas, Sumatra—14 examined. ‘This is

‘what I described as paluza.

Var. 4. Darker above with very narrow markings. (25-29),

Rangoon to S. Mergui—4 examined.

Var. 5. Dark with broad markings. Unh dark greenish. (30-34), from

Karens—2 examined ; may be a var. of hefaerus.

Yy. Above markings darker and tend to be separated by veins. Unh dark

orange band rather obscurely black edged.

sunias suntas, Fd. (25-27). Moluccas. (== ahvendti, Plotz.).

9 (8). Tegumen deeply bident. Superficially inseparable from some

forms of swm#ias. Unh ochreous, black spotting prominent. Upf ¢ brand

longer than usual, covering centre third of v1; dorsal yellow streak restricted,

not reaching to outer edge of the discal band.

nitida, Mab. (26=28). The Narrow Bident Dart. Ataran and Tavoy, NR.

(8g and 3@). Philippines (1).

10 (8b). Unh no spot in 6; black dusted and discal band prominent. Above

much darker than usual, markings very dark orange. Very like mcésoides,

‘Tegumen broadly bident.

from

628 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY; Vol. XXX

]. 106. Padraona.— (contd. )

trachala, Mab. (24-26). The Broad Bident Dart. Assam to Burma, C.

Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java and Borneo.

I, 108. Telicota. The Palmdarts. (Plate 32.)

Above dark brown with yellow to orange band of decreasing conjoined spots

1-5, to outer edge of apical spots in 6-8 ; “costa to apical spots and all end cell

may be yellow leaving only a dark central band from mid “to voor; usually

2°, cell and costa may be dark leaving oly a yellow spot end cell ; basal 4 of 1

usually dark with a tawny streak along v!; dorsal streak from base to discal

band. Uph normally cell spot joined to base by a yellow streak and a broad

discal band of conjoined spots 1-4 or 5, but uph may be plain tawny. Unf

dark brown ; apex and costa F and ali H overlaid from pale ochreous to dark

ferruginous scales; markings at apex F and on H may be edged black spots.

All species are very variable.

la (4). ¢ with an alar sex mark.

1b (3). @ with a prominent brand upf mid 1-base 4, no tuft. ¢ with a straight

grey brand in the middle of the black central band; F v3 from mid 2 and 4,

3 upf cell yellow and costa yellow to the apical spots ; basal half of 1 yellow,

black dusted. Q base dark leaving yellow spot end cell. Uph cell spot and

discal band well marked. Unh very variable, discal band usually outlined

black dots. Tegumen deeply divided.

Augias Group.

1(2). Upf outer edges of discal spots deeply excavated iand continued

along veins to termen in 3, a similar tendency uph.

augias augias, L. (30-35). The pale Palmdart. Ceylon, S. Indiato Sikkim

to Burma, Andamans, NR. China, Malay Peninsuiar and Islands to Australia.

(= colon, F. The Australian race is krefftiz, McLeay = olivescens, HS. argeus,

Plotz, ancilla, HS. and ? anisodesma, Lower).

2 (1). Upf outer edge of discal spots hardly excavated ; veins at termen

not yellow. Tegttmen stouter and clasp more compact.

a. Rather paler. ,

* pythias bambuse, M. (30-35). The Dark Palmdart. Ceylon, India,

‘Burma,:Andamans.. China, Hainan, Siam, Annam and Tonkin. C.

(Fruhstorfer separates the Formosan form as formosana).

8B. Rather darker.-

pythias pythias, Mab. Malay Peninsular and Islands. (The named races

are~upadhana, Fruh., Lombok—vasana, Fruh., Phillippines—vahula, Fruh.,

Celebes. Some 14 names have been assigned to pythias like forms found in

the Moluccas, New Guinea and Australia; there are certainly 2 or perhaps 3

species in the area. In New Guinea, Aru and N. Australia there flies an

allied species with an irregular brand, for which the oldest name-is probably

macleayt, Pl. Australia = autoleon, Misk with races aruana, Pl. Aru and

stlativa, Swin., New Guinea).

SCD) ee uph with a tuft of hairs from base 6. Bases.dark: H no cell

spot. Unh discal band not traceable ; uph with a discal band (absent in some

races).

Prusias Group.

prusias insularis, El. (34-40). The Tufted Palmdart. Borneo, Pulo Laut.

(=Zkreon, Fruh. The Philippine race is prusias, Fd.== matinus, sariputra

and padhana, Fruh. Moluccan race datchiana, Swin. Celebes hercules, Mab.

= androsthenes, Fruh. and New Guinea fenebricosa, Mab.).

4 (la). @no alar sexmark. upf dark central band constricted in the

middle opposite v2; spcts in 4 and 5 present and touch the spots in 6-8;

markings very broad, all cell and costa yellower markings narrow and base

darkened. @ yellow spot at end cell. Below yellow brown to ferruginous,

lilacine glaze in 9. End of tegumen trident.

Augiades Group.

* palmarum, M. (35-45). The Plain Palmdart. Calcutta to Assam to

Burma, Siam, Malay Peninsular and Islands. NR. (=veaktaja, Fruh. ; fayapu,

Doh ; daweana, Fruh. ; the Philippine race is chrysozona, Plotz. = negrostana,

Fruh. From the Celebes ise Australia numerous names have been assigned to

what probably represent 3 or 4 species belonging to the brandless group of

Telicota.. A great deal of research work is “still required to clear up the

identity of the species belonging to this and allied genera in the Papuan region).

THE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BUTTERFLIES 629

1. 109. Augiades. The Darters. (Plate 32.)

Above tawny with dark borders or dark brown with yellow spots F and H.

Upf always spots in 1-3 and 6-8.

a (6a). Unh without spots or with a continuous discal row of ochreous

spots 2-6 or 1-7 and a more or less prominent spot end cell. Upf spots non-

hyaline (except subhyalina) and spaces 4, 5 near termen with spots or

ochreous.

lb (3a). Unf dorsal area below v3 entirely pale, except below v1 and basal half

of space 1, which is black, and a more or less apparent dark terminal border.

1 (2). Uph tawny discal area not to v7 and no traces of spots uph or unh.

Tawny with black veins.

ochracea, Brem. (28-32). The Amur Darter. Amur, Corea. (=vrikuchina,

But, Japan, a larger race).

2 (1). Uphtawny area to v7; always at least traces of pale yellow spots

upf and uph.

a. Upf tawny with broad dusky border and patch end cell, Unh greenish

with the spots pale yellow.

sylvanus sylvanus, (28-36). The Palearctic Darter. Europe to N. Asia.

C. (There are a number of named European forms; nearly allied races are

anatolica, P\, Asia Minor and hyrcana Christoph, Persia).

B. Larger. ¢ paler, dusky areas faint ; below yellow, markings faint. Q

rather dark brown with the discal spots pale yellow; below dusky over the

yellow base, spots prominent.

sylvanus venata, Br. and Gr. (37-40). Altai and Turkestan to Amur,

N. China and Japan. (=selas and amurensis,, Mab. herculea, But.).

Y. g above borders broad and dark. Above and below veins prominently

black.

sylvanus majuscula, E\, (43). Shanghai.

3a (1b). Unf dorsum below v3 entirely dark brown, except for the yellow

discal spots. Above dark brown with yellow or tawny spots and with ochreous

hairs basally : upf double spot end cell and in @ aspot in base 2; costa and

cell more or less tawny.

3b (5). Upf none of the spots hyaline.

3 (4). Wings produced. Cilia fuscous grey. Below much darker than the

next and the spots more prominent.

similis, Leech. (38). The Similar Darter. West China.

4 (3). Wings rounded. Cilia pale yellow. Below costa and apex F and all

H overlaid greenish ochreous, obscuring the spots, Tegumen with 4 horns as

in sylvanus. .

pages Leech, (34). The Chinese Darter. West China.

5 (3b). Upf spots above v2 hyaline. Wings rounded and cilia pale yellow.

.Below costa and apex (to tornus) and all H overlaid dense ochreous scales,

Tegumen with 2 horns.

a. Larger.

subhyalina subhyalina, Br. and Gr. (44-48). The Sub-hyaline Darter.

Amur, Corea and Japan.

6B. Smaller.

subhyalina thibetana, Ob. (36-40). C. and West China. Thibet, Assam. R.

a (la). Unh with 3 sharply defined, dark edged, white (yellow in crat@is)

discal spots in 2, 3and 6; sometimes traces of a spot end cell. Above dark

brown, basally clothed ochreous hairs; prominent hyaline yellow spots F and

H, and sometimes traces of spots uph in4and5; upf no spots in 4 and 5

(rarely a dot in 4), spots in 2, 3, end cell and apical 6-8, also non-hyaline spot

in 1. Unf-dorsal area below v3 dark brown, except for the discal spots.

Below cell, costa and apex to tornus F and all H overlaid dark ochreous scales.

Cilia yellow grey. Tegumen with 2 front and 2 back horns.

6b (8a). ¢ upf brand uniform black.

6 (7). Wings rounded. Top of clasp convex or flat.

bouddha, Mab. (32-35). The Buddhist Darter. West China and S, E.

Thibet. (2 var consors, Leech with white spots upf).

7 (6). Wings produced. Top of clasp concave and produced.

* siva, M. (34-40). The Assam Darter. Assam to Karens. NR.

8a (6b). ¢ upf brand with a central whitish line, interrupted at vl.

-8 (9). Comparatively small. Unh spots white. Upper apex of clasp

produced.

630 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

1. 109. Augiades.—-(contd.)

brahma, M. (31-37). The Himalayan Darter. Mussoorie to Sikkim. Sylhet,

Chin Hills. NR.

9 (8). Comparatively large. Unhspots yellow. Upper apex of clasp not

produced.

crvat@is, Leech. (43-46). The Great Darter. West China.

I. 110. Pamphila. The Chequered Darter. (Plate 32.)

Above tawny with dark borders. Unf paler; apex F and all H overlaid

ochreous to green. Unf 3 apical spotsin 6-8 and 2 discal in 4 and 5 near

margin; unh curved discal row 1-7, spot in cell and on either side of it at

bases 1 and 7; spots white. These spots appear above as tawny spots,

usually prominent on F and obscure or invisible on H.

a. Above dusky borders broad. Unh greenish to reddish grey.

comma comma, L. (30-35). Europe to Amur. (There are many named

European forms).

8. Above border very narrow and sharply defined. Unh greenish, spots

white and glossy.

comma mixta, Alph. Tian Shan, Ferghana and Turkestan.

y. Above border broad dusky, elsewhere dark tawny. Unh dark green,

discal spots dark bordered, conjoined or nearly so.

* comma dimila, M. Chitral to Kumaon. (lato, GG, from the Dschakar

Mts., Thibet and? West China is probably a good race).

6. Above very dark and dusky border very broad, leaving only spots on H.

Unh ochreous, spots obscure, whitish, reduced, usually only spot in cell and

discal row 2-6.

comma florinda, But. Japan and Amur (=vepuguans, Ste. and micado,

Mab).

1. 111. Thymelicus. The Midgets.

Above red to golden ochreous with dark borders and in some species dark

bases, areas end cells and veins. No species has as yet been recorded from

Indian limits.

la (6a). Veins nowhere conspicuously black.

lb (5). ¢ with a brand upf.

Ic (3a). @ brand continuous from vl to base 3 and not reaching mv till

mid 2 and 3. Above border narrow, well defined.

1 (2). Above more or less overlaid dark ochreous; 2 with pale yellow

spot end cell and a discal row 3-8, which may appear mee or less in the

¢. Below golden yellow ; dorsum F dark brown. Costa = 17 dorsum.

actaeon, Rott. (27). The Dark Midget. Prussia to South Europe, North

Africa and Syria. (There are several named forms, that from Syria being

phoenix, Graves).

2 (1). Above reddish yellow, unmarked. Below apex F and all H except

dorsum greenish ochreous, rest reddish yellow.

thaumas, Hufn. (28). The Common Midget. Europe and Asia Minor

ale named forms, the Syrian being syrzaca, Tutt).

a (ic). pt brand broken at v2, upper part lying against mv.

rooney

3 (4) ¢ brand long, lower part crosses space 1; upper part to under v3.

As thaumas, but border above broader and more diffused.

hyrax, Led. (27). The Dusky Midget. Asia Minor to Turkestan.

4 (3). @ upf brand thin and short, lower part consists of a spot under

v2 and upper not to origin of v3. Above pale golden yellow, border very

narrow, and sharply defined.

lineola, Ochs. (27). The Golden Midget. Europe to Turkestan and Algeria.

(There are several named European forms).

5 (1b) ¢ no brand. Above border broad, sharply defined, bases dark.

Below uniform pale ochreous ; unf dorsal dark area to 3 along v2.

stigma, Stg. (28). The Turkestan Midget. Turkestan.

6a (la). Veins conspicuously black. Tawny above and below.

6 (7a). @upf brand as thaumas, S$ above border narrow, @ border broad,

bases dark and a dark patch at end cell F; unf tornal dark patch not to

dorsum. .

deonina, But. (30). The Tawny Midget. Japan, Corea, Amur. West

THE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BUTTERFLIES 631

I. 111. Thymelicus.— (contd. )

China. (The West China form is smaller and probably deserves a racial

name).

7a (6). og no brand.

7 (8). F no black streak in cell and unf dark tornal patch not to

dorsum.

a, Above borders broad, basal area H/dark ; dorsum F dark throughout.

nervulata nervulata, Mab. (30). The Veined Midget. West China.

B. Above borders narrow and generally less dark.

nervulata astigmata, Leech. C. China.

8 (7). F a black streak in cell and unf dark tornal area to dorsum.

Above borders very broad and bases dark also a dark area at end cell F;

dorsum not continuously dark but divided by a pale area in the middle;

in Q cell is dark.

a. Paler,

sylvatica sylvatica, Brem. (30). The Chinese Midget Japan, Amur and

Corea.

B. g darker. @ nearly black.

sylvatica occidentalis, Leech. West China.

y. Above with purple reflexions. Below veins broader black.

sylvatica tenebrosa, Leech. C. China.

I, 114. Iton. The Wights. (Plate 32.)

Ja (3). Unh cell all white. Above dark brown; upf with white hyaline

discal spots in 2, 3 and 4 (and sometimes 5) and apical 6-8, often nonhya-

line spot in 1, which does not show unf. Below dark brown, costa and

apex F and dark areas H overlaid ochreous scales; unf mid termen whitish.

Unh dark brown costa above cell and v7, dark brown central area below cell

and dark margin, remainder white.

1 (2). Uph broad white tornal area extending to half-way up dorsum and to

v4; dark marginal area usually tapers to v1 but may end there broadly. Unh

central dark area absent or at most small in 2 and 3; marginal band in

spots separated by white veins. ¢ unf a dense tuft of upturned black hairs

from near base dorsum.

* semamora, M, (42-46). The Common Wight. Sikkim to Burma, Malay

Peninsular, Sumatra, Borneo and Philippines. NR. (=éarea, Hew and

adamsont, Swin).

2(1). Uphtornal white area absent or obscure, more developed in Q and

divided by black veins. Unhthe central dark area largein 1-3; marginal

band not broken into spots and much broader. ¢ unf no tuft.

watsoniz, DeN. (44-48). Watson’s Wight. Chin Hills to Dawnas. West

Siam. Perak (Adams’ coll.). NR.

3 (la). Unh no white in cell and not overlaid ochreous scales. Upf spots in

2,3,6-8. Junf no tuft.

azona, Hew. (56). Celebes.

I. 115. Baoris. The Swifts. (Plate 32.)

Above dark brown, bases may be clothed ochreous hairs ; upf with separate

white or pale yellow hyaline spots, toa maximum of 2 incell, 1 or 2 (non-

hyaline) in 1, in 2, 3, 4and apical 6-8. Uph unmarked or the spots unh may

appear. Below dark brown, costa and apex F and all H usually overlaid

greenish or ochreous scales; unf often a pale diffused discal patch in 1. Unh

may have up to a maximum of a pale spot in cell against mv and a

discal row 1-6.

la (9a). ¢ with alar sex-marks.

lb (3a). @ with no brand upf.

1 (2). ¢ uph a prominent tuft of paintbrush like recumbent hairs, dark

brown, springing from below costal vein between origin of vs 7 and 8 and over-

lying loose grey modified scales occupying the whole cell; unf a polished

dorsal area below v2, containing a yellow brown oval brand on either side of

the middle of v1; dorsum F bowed. ¢ upf very dark brown, never a spot in

1; 2 usually fully spotted. Uph spotless. Unh may rarely have small spots

in 2 and 3 in@; not overlaid usually.

Oceia Group.

a. Upf no cell spots and usually no apica! spotin ¢. 2 unf single diffused

spot in 1, .

632." JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATCORAL AIST SOCIETY Vale Rg

. 115. Baoris.—(contd.)

oceia penicillata, M. (38-47). The Paintbrush, Swift, Ceylon. NR.

8. Very variable, from fully spotted to spotless (var umicolor). & clasp

outer angle produced asa spine. Below slatey brown, not overlaid ochreous

scales.

*oceta farri, M. South India to Sikkim to Burma, Andamans, Siam,

Tonkin, Hong Kong, Malay Peninsular, Sumatra, Nias, Java. C. (= scopuli-

fera and unicolor M. sikkima, Swin).

y. Unh greenish yellow brown.

oceia leecht, Elwes. C. and West China.

oO. Unh purple brown.

oceia simillima, Elwes. Borneo, Pulo Laut.

7. Unh plain brown as in a and p. Clasp outer angle sloped.

oceia oceia, Hew. Philippines. (=wxeophytes, Mab.).

2 (1). & unf a brush of upturned dark brown hairs from along dorsum.

F no cell spots; 9 no spot in 1, in 9 1 or 2; wunf whitish discal area in 1,

obscure in ¢, large in 9. Unh plain dark brown in <<; in 2 more or less

overlaid dark ochreous scales and may be spots in 2 and 3; 2 very like Q of

kumara, but unf spot in 1 not separable into 2.

Plebeia Group.

plebeta, DeN. (36-38). The Tufted Swift. Sikkim to Burma, Java, Borneo,

Pulo Laut. (== mormo, Mab.). NR.

3a (1b). @ upfa whitish centred seam from mid vl to § along v2 (under

the discal spot in 2).

Mathias Group.

3b (7a). F v2 opposite vll or just before it. Wings produced. F with 2

cell spots ; 2 1 or 2 spots in 1 upf.

3c (5a). Uph and unh unmarked. Antenne long = vl2.

3 (4). Above dark brown, bases overlaid dark greenish hairs. Below purple

brown, mcre or less overlaid on H with dark ochreous scales. @ very like

cahira 2, but v2 F is nearer v11.

brunnea. Snell. (44-47) The Dark Branded Swift. Sikkim to Burma, S.

Annam, Java, Bali, Borneo. NR. (= coere, DeN. and sodalis, Mab.).

4 (3). Above brown overlaid yellow hairs. All spots small and yellow ;

no spot in 8. Below brown, overlaid ochreous. ‘Tegumen long ending in two

divergent points and with two incurved side horns (as conjuncta) ; clasp as

sinensis. Palpi 3rd joint more prominent than usual. Below body, etc,

ochreous.

flava, noy. (40). The yellow Branded Swift. Kanbauk, Tavoy, one male

April 1924.

5a (3c). Unh and sometimes uph more or less white spotted. Cilia grey.

Unh overlaid greenish scales. Tegumen divided. Antennz short, shorter

than v12.

5 (6). Large. Tegumen not tapering. Unh with prominent spots in cell

and discal 2-6, some may be absent and some show uph.

a. Tegumen tips parallel or divergent. Unh spots rarely complete and

rarely showing tuph.

sinensis subochracea, M. (36-39). The Large Branded Swift. Ceylon, S.

India to Bengal. R.

B. Tegumen tips connivent. Spots usually complete and usually appear-

ing uph.

* sinensis sinensis, Mab. (40-47). Kangra to S. Shan States. W. and C.

China. NR. (= prominens, M. and similis, Leech).

6 (5). Tegumen tapering, tips connivent. Unh spots much smaller, very

variable, may be a full series (cell and 1-7) or none; uph usually unmarked,

but frequently the spots in 3, 4 and 6 may show.

a. Very pale.

mathias thrax, Hub. The Small Branded Swift. Aden, Syria, Mesopota-

mia, Lahej.

Bi Pate.

mathias midea, Walker. (32-38). Sind, Cutch and S. Punjab. C.

y. Normal dark brown form. Typically with prominent spots upf; a

larger darker form occurs with the spots reduced or absent (agua).

mathias mathias, Fab, Ceylon, India, Burma,. Andamans. C, Japan,

THE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BUTTERFLIES 633

I. 115. Baoris.—(contd.)

Formosa, Chinato Australia. (=agnaand chaya, M. ; monilis, Mab. ; 7ulzana,

Lat.; ella, balarama, ceramica, Plotz.; niasica, Fruh; the Australian race

seems larger and might stand as race /yell/i, Roth, described from Vulcan Is.)

7a (3b). EF v2 well before vll. Unh white spots in 2-5, which may show

uph. Antenne short, not as long as v12. Wings broad.

7 (8). Above pale brown, upf 2 cell spots; brand in ¢ prominent and more

oblique than usual. Below overlaid greenish scales.

mencia, M. (42). The Chinese Branded Swift. Shanghai, Nankow,

Ningpo, Kiukiane.

8 (7). Above dark brown, single upper cell spot upf ; brand incomplete and

obscure, in two parts and lower part may be absent. Below much darker and

overlaid ochreous scales.

nascens, Leech, (44). The Semi-branded Swift. W. China.

9a (la). ¢ no alar sex mark.

9b (22a). Antenne long, at least as long as v12.

9c (17a). Uph never spotted and unh at most 2 spots (in 2 and 3) in some

9, very rare in ¢. Dark brown.

Philippina Group.

9d (14a). Upf with spots in the cell.

9 (10a). Upf spots in cell conjoined to a figure of 8; 9° with a spot in 1.

Below dark brown, not overlaid differently coloured scales. Above spots pale

yellow. Cilia greyish to pale yellow.

pagana, DeN. (46--50). The figure of 8 Swift. Sikkim to Dawnas, NR.

10a (9). Upf cell spots not conjoined.

10 (lla). Upf spots in cell prominent and sub-equal (in individuals the

spots may be somewhat obscure) ; Cilia greyish. Below more or less over-

laid dark ochreous scales. Normally with no spot in 1 upf in ¢; 2 with 1 or 2

spots.

a. As austent, larger. Q unh with a spot in 1.

cahira bromus, Leech. (42-46). The Colon Swift. W. China, Hong Kong.

8. Comparatively small and pale. Upf spot in 1 usually absent, always

present unf. Lower lobe of clasp is produced, but this feature is variable.

cahira austenit, M. (38-42). Sikkim to Manipur. NR. (= onchisa,

Swin.),

Y. Large and dark. Upf always a spot in 1 in ¢; unf the spot is double.

Horns on top of tegumen not traceable as separate from the lobes, vertical

aspect triangular ; lower lobe of clasp bent right over.

* cahira sirius, mov. (42-46). Karens to Dawnas. NR.

6. Small and rather dark. Spots and cilia whiter than usual. Upf no

spot in 1, but usually traceable unf. Genitalia as cahtra.

cahtra carna, noy. (36-42). Rangoon, Tavoy. NR.

9. Larger and very dark. Upf no spot in 1 or 4in 4. Tegumen horns

separate from the lobes.

cahira cahira, M. (40-44). Andamans and Nicobars. NR.

&. Large resembling szvzus, but spots are smaller. Upf no spot in 1 and

obscure unf. Genitalia as szrzus.

cahira nirwana, Plotz. (42-46). Siam, Tonkin, Malay Peninsular and

Islands. (The smaller and paler Philippine and Celebes form is sefavana,

Fruh. and robusta, Elwes, from Sangir probably is a cahira race).

lla (10). Upf upper spot in cell absent or just traceable; lower spot

prominent.

11b (13). Above cilia brown yellow.

11 (12). Wings produced. Upf spot in 4 absent or just traceable ; apical

spots absent or a dot in 6; obscure spot in 1, which unf is prominent and

suffused. Below dark golden brown. Tegumen ending in 4 points.

aurociliata, Elwes. (43). The Yellow Fringed Swift. Sikkim to Manipur.

12 (11). Wings broader. Upf spots small, but the spot in 4 and the apical

spots 6-8 prominent; no spot in 1 upf or unf. Unh dark brown, overlaid

ochreous brown scales. Tegumen rounded at top.

chimdroa, ney. (38), The Abor Swift. Chimdro Valley, Abor Valley (3 3;

see B.N.A.S. Journal vol. xxiii, p. 546). :

14. |

634 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol, XXXI1

I. 115. Baoris.—(conzd.) .

13 (11b). Above cilia greyish ; dark brown, apex F broadly paler. Unh

dark purple brown overlaid dark ochreous scales; apex unf markedly paler

brown. Upf spot in 1 absent or just traceable, prominent in 9; unf always a

spot in 1.

Cones Hew. (38-40). The Full Stop Swift. Sikkim to Burma, Siam,

Malay Peninsula and Islands. R. (= ¢connasa Swin. and Fruh, in error;

dravida, Mab. ; moolata, M.).

14a (9d). Upf no spots in cell.

14b (16). Unh uniformly overlaid ochreous or greenish scales,

14 (15). Unh overlaid dark ochreous scales. @ upf no spot in 1 (rarely just

traceable) ; present in 9.

a. Large and dark. ¢ unfno spot in] or just traceable. Q unh no spots,

Tegumen top horns insignificant.

kumara lanka, nov. (42-46). The Blank Swift. Ceylon. NR.

B. Paler. Unf pale diffused spot 1, sometimes traceable upf. Tegumen top

horns short, but conspicuous. 9 unh usually a spot in 2 and sometimes in 3,

kumara kumara, M. (39-44). S.Indiato N. Kanara. NR.

y. Similar but rather darker. Tegumen top horns long, divergent.

kumara moorei, noy. (39-44). Sikkim to Dawnas. R.

6. Smaller, darker; spots on F much yellower; upf no spot in 1 and

usually not traceable unf. Tegumen lobe tips and horns equal, prominent ;

horns not so long as in ooret.

kumara malaya, nov. (36-40). Mergui, Malay Peninsula. NR. Java

(Elwes and Fruh). Borneo (Elwes).

15 (14). Uph overiaid greenish scales. Wings more pointed, ¢ upf always

a prominent spot in 1.

a, Large and darker. Unh greenish scales sparse. ¢ upf usually a second

spot in 1.

* philippina seriata, M. (40-44). The Philippine Swift. Ceylon. NR.

8. Smaller and paler. Unh greenish scales often dense.

* philippina philippina, HS. (39-42). S. India, R. Sikkim, Burma. VR.

Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines. (? races are larika, Pag,

Amboina, Moluccas; mehavagga, Fruh., Celebes; subfenestrata, Rober.

Key Is. :

16 (lab). Unh dark brown with a broad purple white central area from

dorsum to costa, broken in 1; unf traces of similar colour on the costa. Upf

and unf in ¢@ no spot in 1.

tulst, DeN. (40-48) The Purple Swift. Sikkim to Karens. NR. Java.

(= jolanda), (Plotz).

17a (9c) Unh and often uph with prominent pale spots. Upf always pro-

minent cell spots.

Conjuncta Group.

17b (19a). Upf the spot in 2 with its inner edge in line with the outer edge

of the spot in the cell or still nearer the termen ; always prominent lower and

often small upper spot in 1; cell spots separate or conjoined. Above dark

brown, basally clothed dark ochreous hairs. Below dark brown overlaid dark

ochreous scales. Unh spotting variable up to a maximum of a spot in cell and

a discal series 2-5 more or less equal.

17 (18). Uph only prominent elongated spot in 4. Spots white.

* assamensis, WM. (50-60). The Great Swift. Central Provinces, Ganjan.,

Mussoorie to S. Burma, Formosa, S. China, Malay Peninsula. NR.

(==0/702,. 1012.)

18 (17) Uph small round spots in 3 and 4 and sometimes 2; frequently

more. Upf spots yellow.

a. Darker. Unh spots comparatively large, complete, and prominent.

* conjuncta narooa, M. (45-52). The Conjoined Swift. Ceylon, S. India. R.

8. Paler. Uph spots small and often incomplete.

conjuncta conjuncta, HS. Dun to Burma, Andamans, Nicobars, R. S.

China, Annam, Malay Peninsular and Islands, Philippines, Lombok,

Banka, Timor, Sumbawa. (= javana, Mab. Races are Jdervaka, Plotz,

Celebes ; stictica, Fruh., Moluccas. Jlaraca, Swin., is probably referable to

alae ; it occurs on Woodlark, Dampier and Vulcan Islands and N. Aus-

tralia).

Yttek IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BUTTERFLIES 638

1. 115. Baoris.—(contd.)

19a (17b). Upf spot in 2 immediately under the cell spot.

19b (21). Unf cell spots completely conjoined and a prominent spot in 1

against vl, spots large. Above dark brown, basally clothed ochreous or

greenish hairs. Unh overlaid dark ochreous scales. Uph 3 prominent discal

spots, of which the double spot in 4-5 is largest and spot in 3 smallest (may be

absent) ; third spot in 9.

19 (20). Hyaline spots bright yellow ; cilia bright yellow ; base and dorsum

F and dorsal ¢ H clothed ochreous hairs. F spots larger; inner edge of spot

in 3 nearly touching the outer edge of the spot in 2; spot on 1 elongate oval.

Unh dark ochreous, veins obscurely black. Tegumen with 4 horns, lower and

outer pair stout and divergent; inner and upper pair slender and nearly

parallel.

* eltola, Hew. (35-45). The Yellow Spot Swift. Mussoorie to Karens.

20 (19). Hyaline spots white or pale yellow; cilia nearly white; bases

clothed greenish hairs. F spots smaller, inner edge of spot in 3 separated by

its width from the inner edge of the spot in 2; spot in 1 pyramidal. Unh

greenish ochreous, veins not dark. Tegumen ending ina blunt tip,

quite different to e/tola.

a. Larger. Wings more produced. Hyaline spots pale yellow.

discreta himalaya, nov. (35-42) The Himalayan Swift. Murree to Kumaon,

NR.

B. Smaller. Wings more rounded. Hyaline spots white.

discreta discreta, Elwes. (34-37). Sikkim to Dawnas.,

21 (19b). Upf spots small, white, cell spots separate, no spotin 1. Above

dark brown, no clothing of ochreous or greenish hairs and H unmarked.

Below dark brown, costa and apex F and all H overlaid very sparse ochreous

green scales. Unh a discal row of 5 small white spots 2-6, in @ only

in 2 and 6,

minuta, noy. (26-30). The Baby Swift. 2 ¢ Perak, JOR, Camp, 2,000 feet,

August 1922. I 9 Kanbauk, Tavoy, April i924.

22a (9b). Antennee short, shorter than vl2.

22 (26a). Upf spot in 2 placed well back so as to be under the cell spot or

at least so that its inner edge is in line with the outer edge of the 2 cell spots

(2 contigua aberrant, but distinguished by the conjoined cell spot).

Pellucida Group.

22c (25). Unh normally with discal row 2-6 and sometimes obscure spot end

cell ; at least spots in 4 and 5 present.

22d (24). Upf always a spot in 1.

22 (23). Upf cell spots separate. Uph a complete series. Above bases

clothed dark greenish hairs. Unh overlaid greenish ochreous scales. Wings

broad.

pellucida, Murray. (40). The Pellucid Swift. Japan and China (= guzn-

guepuncta, Mab.).

23 (22). Upf discal spots conjoined. Uph and unh very variable, complete

series may be preSent or only spots in 4 and 5. Above brown, overlaid ochreous

hairs. Below overlaid ochreous brown scales. Wings more pointed. H v7

opposite v2.

*contigua, Mab. (36-42). The Contiguous Swift. S. India. Kumaon

to Burma. China, Formosa, Siam, Tonkin, Malay Peninsula and Islands,

Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Celebes. (= doona, M. and scortea, Mab.)

24 (22d). Upf no spot in 1 or upper cell spot ; spots in 2, 3 and 4 elongated

to bases of their interspaces. Uph discal spots in 2-5 elongate and prominent.

Above brown, overlaid ochreous scales and all spots yellow ; below similar,

paler.

amalia Semp. (30) The Australian Swift. N. Australia. (= fulgidus,

Miskin and szgzda, Mab.)

25 (22c). Unh only spots in 2 and 3 of which that in 3 appears above. Upf

spot in 4 absent and spot in 1 small; apical dots in 6 or6 and 7; cell spots

separate. Above dark brown, heavily overlaid ochreous hairs. Below overlaid

bright ochreous green scales, rendering spots unh difficult to see. Wings

produced,

636 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX]

. 115. Baoris.— (contd. )

bipunctata, Elwes. (40-44). The Moluccan Swift Batjan, Moluccas.

(= sidata, Fruh, Buru;? contigualis, Roth., New Guinea).

26a (22b). Upf spot in 2 not before the origin of v3 and well in front of the

cell spots, if latter are present. Never with the yellow appearance of the last

group.

Guttatus Group.

26b (31). Upf spots in 2, 3 and 4 equidistant and never a spot in 5.

26c (29a). Unh normally discal spots in 2 5 or 6 and at least spots in 4, 5

present. Upf no spotin 1.

26d (28). Uphunmarked Unh spot in cell against upper edge and discal

series 2-6.

26 (27). Upf2 prominent spots in cell. Above rather pale brown ; below

similar, more or less overlaid ochreous green scales. Unh spots white.

jansonis, But. (40). Janson’s Swift. Japan, Corea.

27 (26.) Upf single upper spot in cell or none. Above dark brown and

spots white. Unh dark ochreous and spots pale shining purple.

coerulescens, Mab. (44). The Bluespot Swift. W. China.

28 (26d). Uph marked as unh. Upf no spots in cell (very rarely 2 are

traceable). Above dark brown. Below apex and costa F and all H densely

overlaid pale greenish scales. Unh normally only spots in 2-5, but occasionally

a spot in 6 and in cell are traceable.

a. Large. Uph discal spots in a straight decreasing row

* guttatus guttatus, Brem (34-40). The Straight Swift. Chitral to Assam,

Hills 2-9,000 feet. China and Japan. C. (=fortunet, Fd.; mangala, M. and

cinnara, Wall, Formosa).

B. Small. Uph and unh spotting very variable, discal row may be as in

guttatus or curved and irregular.

guttatus bada, M. (32-36). Ceylon, India, Burma, C. China, Hainan,

Formosa, Tonkin, Siam, Malay Peninsula and Islands, Philippines, Celebes,

N. Australia. (= fphilino, Mosch; haga, sifa, intermedia, nondoa and

kolantus, Plotz; guinigera, M.; apostata, Snell; philotas, DeN.)

29a (25c). Unh no spots in 4 and 5. Below apex and costa F and all H more

or less overlaid pale greenish ochreous scales.

29 (30). Unh with a broad pale central fascia, caused by the greenish

ochreous scales being rather denser there ; normally decreasing white spots in »

2 and 3, which do not appear uph. Upf 2 prominent cell spots; ¢ without, 2

with spot in 1, present unf. Above brown, bases and most of H clothed

obscure greenish hairs.

canaraica, M. (42-44), The Kanara Swift. S. India. R. (= flexlis. Swin.).

30 (29). Unh uniformly overlaid dense greenish ochreous scales. Very

variable. Upf cell spots present or absent, always a spot in 1, Unh usually

white spots in 2, 3 and 6; usually the spot in 3 appears upf.

a. Generally paler.

zelleri zelleri, Led. (30-36), The Rice Swift. Syria, N. Africa.

B. Generally darker.

* gelleri colaca, M. Ceylon, India, Burma, Andamans, Nicobars, C. Formos4,

Hainan, Malay Peninsula, and Islands, Philippines, Moluccas, N. Australia

(= cingala and hainana, M.; saturata, WM. and DeN. ; dzstictus, Holland ;

saruna, daendali and urejus, Plotz & ? ogasawarensis, Matsumura, Bonin Is.).

31 (26b), Upf spot in 3 nearer spot in 2 than spot in 4, usually a spot in $ ;

only an upper spot in cell, which may rarely be absent. Above rather pale

brown. Below apex and costa F and all H closely overlaid pale greenish

ochreous scales, Unh small white spots in 2-6, those in 4 and 5 often absent ;

these spots appear uph more or less obscurely.

a. Upf no spot in 1.

bevant thyone, Leech. (30-36). Bevan’s swift. C and W. China, Formosa.

B. Upf 2 with a spot in 1; in ¢ present or absent.

* devant bevant, M..Ceylon, India, Burma, Andamans, Nicobars, C. Malay

Peninsula and Islands, Philippines. (=vazka, Plotz.) (Ihave been unabie to

place the following ; —vepetzta, But. New Lauenburg; aldbiclavata, But., New

Pomerania and Georgia; cretura, Plotz, Celebes ; wzzcolor, Dist., Malacca ;

yanuca, Fruh., Formosa; palawanica, ? figured in Seitz; ztmpar, Mab

Australia or Oceania).

THE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIAN BUTTERFLIES 631

I. 116. Gegenes. (Plate 32.) The Dingy Swift.

Above very dark to very pale brown in desert areas. ~ normally unmarked

above, but in pale specimens the spots from below may show through; in 2

upf the spots from below always show through, Cilia dusky grey. Below costa

and apex F and all H clothed grey scales. Unf in 9 complete row of discal

whitish spots, 2 in 1 (upper small and against outer edge or lower spot), in

2 and 3, small in 4 and 5, apical 6-8 ; in ¢ the spots are reduced and the spot

in lis rarely traceable. Unh a discal row of obscure small grey white discal

spots in 1-5 and a spot in 6 further from termen.

* nostrodamus, Fab. (28-35). Baluchistan, Sind, Punjab, Chitral to Kumaon.

NR. S. Enrope, N. Africa, W and C. Asia. (= pygmeus, Auct in error ;

pumtlto, Hoff; lefebvrez, Ramb. ; karsana, M.,—the desert form).

I. 117. Eogenes. The Torpedo. (Plate 32).

Above brown, cilia grey ; semi-hyaline spots on F only, double spot in cell,

discal row pointing to apex, consisting of double spot in 1, in 2 and 3 (coalesced

in 2), smail dots in 4 and 5 (often absent), conjoined apical spots in 6-8

Below brown, apex F and all H overlaid grey scales leaving on H obscure pale

centred dark spots in 1, 2,3and5 Unf the scales on the basal 4 erect, rough

looking.

* alcides, HS. (38-44). Chitral, NR. Asia Minor, Armenia, Buchara,

Karategin. (= ahrimant, Christoph.)

(The end.)

A SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE PERSIAN GULF

Sir ARNOLD’ T: WILSON, ‘K:¢.1.E:, C.S/1.; €.M.G., D.S.0., ETC.

“It is the glory of God to conceal a ee but the honour of Kings is to

search out a matter.’ Prov. XXV-.°2:

As remarked by Lord Curzon, in his classic work on Persia, Great Britain

appears to have been unpardonably slack in promoting scientific enquiries in

Persia generally, and especially in the Persian Gulf and in South Persia; the

vast hinterland. of Oman and of the Arabian Coast still remains .virtually un-

explored: instead of making use of our position and of the unequalled resources

of the topographical and geological survey departments of India to make a

thorough examination of the hinterland of both coasts, we have left this task

for the most part to chance travellers, with the result that great areas are still

almost as unknown as they were to Nearchus.. The marine and _ terrestrial

fauna, the flora, and the geology of this region have never been systematically

studied, as they should have been, by the highly competent experts available in

India. Nor can we altogether congratulate ourselves on the extensive survey

that has been made of the Gulf itself, for it is still no unknown occurrence for

a ship to strike an uncharted rock, and a recent explorer (Captain R. E. Chees-

man) has shown that the Admirality Chart of the Arabian Coast south of

Bahrain island is very inaccurate.* A complete re-survey of the Gulf is, in fact,

overdue.

Yet hundreds of Englishmen, many of them with scientific tastes, live and

work in this region and it is within the power of nearly all of them to

contribute something to the world’s stock of scientific knowledge regarding

this often traversed, but little studied, corridor.

The writer has endeavoured to summarize below the principal directions

in which scientific research in the Persian Gulf has proceeded during the past

fifty years, in the hope that some residents in, and visitors to, this region

may be encouraged thereby to take up one or more of the fascinating byways

of science; no reference has been made to the earlier literature of this region,

in which was embodied the learned speculations, and the excursions into fairyland

of successive generations of writers, whose critical faculties, if they ever

possessed any, were not seldom overwhelmed by the romantic atmosphere of

the East. Whatever is of permanent value in their speculations has, for the

most part, been confirmed by subseauent labourers in the same field, and has

been embodied in their published works. It will be seen that there are many

persons who have contributed numerous original memoirs, all of them of some,

but perhaps none of extraordinary, importance. These men had the capacity

of making a striking discovery, though they had not the luck to do so. Their

work is valuable and remains, but the worker is forgotten.

ARCHAZOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY :

The pioneers in the systematic examination of sites in the Persian Gulf

tegion were Englishmen, of whom the most celebrated were Layard, Rawlinson

and Loftus: between 1836 and 1861, but especially between the years 1845 and

1850, they attacked sites in Assyria, Babylonia and Susiana. They were, how-

ever, very inadequately supported by the British Government, and not at all

by the Government of India, and it was not long before their labours were

supplemented and finally supplanted by the expeditions of Texier, of Flandin

and Coste, of Dieulafoy (1885-6) and De Morgan. ‘The researches undertaken

by these distinguished savanis, especially at Persepolis and Susa (where nothing

had been done since the British operations in 1852), have been given to the

world in a series of splendid and sumiptuously illustrated volumes. In 1895,

a monopoly of antiquarian research in Persia was obtained by France and,

under it, operations at Shush were renewed in 1897 by M. de Morgan. His

1 From Ogair to the Ruins of Salwa, Geog, Jour., 1923, November.

WGlPNITTHTC RESEARCH IN THE PERSTAN*GOLDE 639

successors, Maurice Pézard and Count R. de Mecquenem, have also published

during the last fifteen years memoirs of importance dealing respectively with

the earliest historical remains at Bushire, and with subsequent developments

at Susa, while M. Paul Toscanne of the Louvre has edited a series of

valuable monographs on special points arising from the investigations of his

French confréres. Dr. Herzfeld, a German archzologist, has, quite recently

(1924) re-examined Persepolis, and has brought to light here, and at a newly

discovered site in the Mamasani country, sixty miles west south-west of Shiraz,

several important inscriptions; he has submitted to expert examination, for the

first time, the early burial caves and rock carvings on Kharag Island which

he has demonstrated to have been occupied by a Christian community as early

as the third century a.p. Dr. J. Theodore Bent visited Bahrain in 1889 and

commenced excavations in the hope of elucidating the riddle of the vast

assemblage of burial mounds there, which he ascribed to the Phoenicians: these

had already been reported on by Capt. Durand in 1880: some further excava-

tions were undertaken in 1906-7, at the instance of the Government of India,

by Major (now Lt.-Col.) Prideaux, the Political Agent, but with inconclusive

results.* Further investigations were made in 1924 by Mr. E. MacKay, no

report of which has yet been published.

Dr. Hogarth’s book on Arabia summarizes in convenient form what little

is known of the archzology and anthropology of Arabia, and Professor Myres,

in the opening chapter of the Cambridge Ancient History, has made the most

of the very scanty material available, and restated the position in this respect,’

so far as known to us, in a series of brilliant generalisations. But, if we

except Bushire, Susa and Persepolis, scarcely a beginning has yet been made

in this surely most remunerative field. Oman. is still untouched by the spade,

though extensive ruins with numerous inscriptions are said to exist only five

miles west of Sohar: the ancient towns of Sur, Dhufar and Kalhat, to. men-

tion only three, have never been examined by an archeologist; Gerrha, Qais,

Siraf, and many other ports have yet their secrets to yield, and I do not

doubt that whoever ultimately has the privilege of undertaking this task will

reap a rich harvest.

Botany :?

Our earliest authorities are Pythagoras, Demochitus,’ ‘Theophrastus and

Dioscorides but, excluding these and the incidental references to botanical sub-

jects containing in early printed books, the first serious attempt to collect and

classify botanical specimens from the Gulf region was made by Aucher Eloy

and published in his Relation de Voyages en Orient de 1830 a 1838 (Paris

1840). In the same year Antonio Bertoloni published an account of the plants

obtained by the Chesney Expedition, in Miscellanea Botanica, ii, Novi Comment.

Acad. Sci. Instit. Bonon.

Major H. A. Sawyer was at pains to make as’ complete a collection of plants

and shrubs as possible during his journeys in the Bakhtiari country in 1889-91,

and the notes of the Curator of the Royal Botanical Society on the collection

are printed as an Appendix to his report, which is available for students in

India Office Library: a few years previously O. Stapf had pubiished, in 1886,

in the Botanisches Centralblatt, 1886, xxvii, pp. 211, 243, 275, a paper on

“Vegetationsbilder aus dem Sudlichen und Mittleren Persien.’’

Some valuable botanical notes were made in 1893 by Leo Hirsch (‘‘Reisen

in Sud Arabien, Mahraland und Hadramaut,’’ Leiden, Brill. 1897), and, subse-

quently, relating to the same area, by Dr. J. Theodore Bent, ‘‘Exploration of

the Frankincense Country, S. Arabia,’’ Geog. Jour., 1895, vi, p. 133. See also

J. G. Baker, ‘‘Botany of the Hadramaut Expedition,’ Kew Bulletin, 1894,

p. 328, and 1895, p. 315.

Major (now Lt.-Col.) S. G. Knox, Political Agent at Kuwait, made a

*The Sepulchral Tumuli of Bahrain—See Archeological Report of India,

1908-9.

1 Omitting, however, any reference to tumuli at Bahrain.

? With acknowledgments to Mr. R. D’O Good, Brit. Mus. Nat. Hist.

* Pliny, . Lib. xxv, Chap. vi.. - |

“Report of a Reconnaissance in the Bakhtiari country, South-West Persia,

Simla, 1891,

640 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol, XXX1

careful collection of desert shrubs found in the Zor hills in the hinterland of

Kuwait. These were examined by H. G. Carter of the Botanical Survey of

India, whose report on each specimen, with the Arabic name attached, was

published by the Government of India, Records Botanical Survey of India, vi,

p. 175, 1912. In the same series (Vol. viii, No. 1, 1919) is published ‘Flora

Arabica,’ by that well-known authority Father E. Blatter. The student should

also see Mrs. Bishop’s Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, vol. i, p. 290 et seq.,

and preface, p. viii, 1891. Some further information on this subject is

contained in Philby’s Heart of Arabia, 1922, ii, p. 309, and in an appendix

to Floyer’s Unexplored Baluchistan, 1882; and much of Ainsworth’s Botany of

the Afghan Boundary Commission, 1887 (from Trans. Linnean Soc., Series ii,

vol. iii) applies to Persia.

Mesopotamian flora were specially dealt with by Emiiio Chiovenda, ‘‘Contributo

alla Flora Mesopotamia-Malpighia,’’ xiv, 1900, and Buxton’s Animal Life in

Deserts, 1924, contains some useful information on the distribution and habits

of desert plants.

These reports and contributions represent the sum total of our knowledge

of the systematic botany of this region, and a fruitful field of research awaits

any resident who has the energy to take up this inexpensive and interesting

hobby.

ETHNOLOGY :

Duhousset (Etudes sur les populations de la Perse et pays limitrophes pendant

trois années de séjour en Asie, 1863) and Nicolas de Khanikoff (Memoire sur

l’Ethnographie de la Perse, Paris, 1866) are cur first and, perhaps, our best

authorities, followed by De Morgan and Tomaschek. See also The Cambridge

Ancient History, vol. i.

GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS:

The geographical surveys, executed by the Chesney Expedition and by officers

of the Indian Navy in Mesopotamia and Arabistan in the first half of the

nineteenth century, combined with the marine surveys between 1820-8 of Brucks

and Haines, Constable and Stiffe, and other officers of the Indian Navy along

the littoral, which were checked wherever facilities existed for ascertaining

longitude by telegraph, formed a useful framework on to which subsequent

work was grafted and embodied in successive editions of the standard maps

produced by the Survey of India; much original work, however, was lost by

the carelessness and indifference alike of the Government of India and of His

Majesty’s Government. The valuable work of the Turco-Persian Commission,

in 1850 and the succeeding years, never seems to have been incorporated in

published maps, no copies having been transmitted to the Government of

India by His Majesty’s Government; and no serious attempt seems to have

been made until after the Persian War in 1856 by the military or survey autho-

rities in India to collate the observations of numerous travellers or to encourage

the preparation of reconnaissance reports or the correction of existing maps.

The Geographical Memoir of Capt. Macdonald, afterwards Sir J. Macdonald

Kinneir, British Minister in Persia, published in 1813, and supplemented later

by a further publication,’ for some time enshrined the corpus of available geo-

graphical knowledge of the country; to which important additions were made

by several English or Indian officers, notably Grant, Pottinger, Christie and

Monteith who, like Kinneir, came to Persia with Sir John Malcolm. In 1840,

De Bode filled in some empty spaces in existing maps, though he made no

attempt at systematic exploration. After him came Major (afterwards Sir

Henry) Rawlinson, whose tcpographical researches, when employed as an

officer in the service of Muhammad Shah, were of outstanding merit and

covered very extensive areas in South-West Persia.? Sir H. Layard, a not

inferior name, also most fortunately devoted to South-West Persia, including

* Journey through Asia Minor, Armenia and Koordistan, 1818.

* Notably by his ‘‘Notes on a March from Zohab...to Khuzistan

(Susiana),’’ and thence through the Province of Luristan to Kirmanshah, in

the year 1836. (J.R.G.S., 1836, January.) .

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE PERSIAN GULF 641

Arabistan, Pusht-i-Kuh and the Lower Bakhtiari country, those gifts of insight

and of style that have rendered him famous.

The surveys undertaken by Sir F. Goldsmid in Persia and in connection with

the settlement of the Perso-Baluch frontier between 1870-2 also resulted in a

very considerable addition’ to our knowledge of Persian conditions and of the

geography of South-East Persia and the Persian Gulf. The construction of

a telegraph line from Bushire via Tehran to Khanikin by the British Govern-

ment in agreement with the Persian Government resulted in a number of

detailed surveys between 1860 and 1862, by officials? of the Telegraph Adminis-

tration under the orders of Lt.-Col. Patrick Stewart and Major Bateman Cham-

pain.* In 1863 a telegraph line was constructed from Karachi to Gwadur through

States of Kalat and Las Bela to Gwadur and subsequently to Jask. The

surveys for these lines, and the telegraphic determination of longitudes at

various points covered South and Central Persia with a network of route

surveys punctuated by accurately determined points, and resulted in the publica-

tion in 1873-4 of Capt. O.B.C. St. John’s Map of Persia, 16 m.=1 inch, in

six sheets ‘‘compiled principally from original authorities, by order of His

Majesty’s Secretary of State for. India”.

This was one of the most valuable maps of Persia ever made. Sir O.B.C.

St. John joined Lt.-Col. P. Stewart’s expedition to Persia in 1863, for the

purpose of establishing telegraphic communication from India to the Bosphorus.

His own duties lay in the Persian section, and he was in charge of the last

telegraphic division, which was, at the same time, the most important and

the most difficult. Later, he superintended the construction of the line from

Tehran to Bushire. In 1871 he went to Baluchistan as Boundary Commissioner

of the Perso-Kalat frontier, and completed the survey of that boundary. On

his return to England he was employed on special duty at the India Office,

during 1873 and 1874, in compiling this great map of Persia and Persian

Baluchistan. The map was based on longitudes of the principal Persian

telegraph stations, fixed in co-operation with General Walker of the Indian

trigonometrical survey, Capt. W. H. Pierson, r.z., and: Lieut. Stiffe of the

Indian Navy, by whom time-signals were exchanged between Greenwich and

Karachi on the one hand, and stations in Persia on the other.

Twenty years later, officials in the Persian Gulf were encouraged by Lord

Curzon to undertake a series of investigations along the Persian Gulf littoral.

The late Mr. J. G. Lorimer made extended investigations along the Arabian

littoral: Capt. (now Sir P. Z.) Cox who, in 1901 and 1902, had made important

additions to our knowledge of Oman,* examined the Persian littoral from Dilam

to Qubban in 1905 and, in Oman, travelled by land from Ras al Khaima to

Schar via Baraimi, a route which had been traversed in the opposite direction

and sketched by Capt. Hamerton, in 1840.° In the same year, Capt. (now

Lt.-Col.) S. G. Knox, visited Hafar, a famous landmark in the interior,

distant 160 miles from Kuwait, which, though mentioned by previous European

travellers in Arabia, had not been reached by any of them. In this field he

was brilliantly followed by the late Capt. W. H. I. Shakespear and the late

Lt.-Col. Leachman, and the late Miss Gertrude Bell. Lt.-Col. Burton and Capt.

(now Lt.-Col.) Lorimer made a number of most productive journeys in Arabistan

which were extended in subsequent years to Pusht-i-Kuh by the former, and

to the same region, Luristan and the Bakhtiari country by the latter.

‘See Telegraph and Travel, Goldsmid, 1874, a well written and well

illustrated book which deserves to be much better known.

* An outstanding example is E. A. Floyer of the Indo-European Telegraph

Department whose book Unexplored Baluchistan (1882) is still a useful work

of reference though he travelled in 1876-7.

*-The late Sir Henry Mance, who died at Oxford in April 1926, was the

inventor of the heliograph: as a young man he was employed by the I.E.T.D.

in the Persian Gulf, where the soldiers of Alexander the Great are said to have

signalled by flashing the sun from their shields. It was in developing this idea

that he invented the heliograph.

“See Overland Journey from Maskat to the Persian Gulf, G. J. 1902, xx,

and Some Excursions in Oman, G. J., 1925, Sept.

* See marginal note to ‘‘Map of Maritime Arabia.’? Bombay Selectiors,

Xxiv, 1856.

642 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Volt. XXXI

The latter tract, which, with the possible exception of the Aoraman Range

of Central Kurdistan, is the most lofty and inaccessible part of the great Zagoros

chain, had been very thoroughly explored in 1889 by Major H. A. Sawyer of

the Bengal Staff Corps, assisted by Indian surveyors: his maps and reports,

though amplified in places by subsequent explorers, notably by McSwiney (1891)

in the south, Capt. Lorimer (1903-8), Capt. Ranking (1909-11), and Capt. Noel

(1915-17), are and will long remain classic authorities.

The explorations of Major (now Sir P.) Sykes are too well known to require

detailed reference here: they were supplemented, under his instructions, during

the war, by several valuable detailed surveys, especially in Fars.

Nor must we omit to mention the valuable and varied information on geo-

graphical and scientific topics collected by De Morgan and published in 1895

in his Mission Scientifique en Perse. In this work, attention was for the

first time prominently drawn to the bande pétrolifére stretching south-east from

Kirkuk, in which De Morgan considered might be found the most important

source of wealth throughout the whole region; and the possibility of a pipe

line from Khanikin to the Mediterranean was for the first time mooted and

discussed, as also the proposal for a Baghdad-Tehran railway. Had De Morgan

followed up his views on this matter in South-West Persia, the history of the

oil industry might have been different !

The fruits of the labours of these and of many other travellers, official and

unofficial, were embodied by the Survey of India in a succession of standard

sheets, first on the 8m.=1inch scale (and later in 2 inch sheets, a complete

series of which, covering the whole of Persia now exists, and is constantly,

though all too slowly, under revision. For general purposes, the Survey of

India have published at intervals since 1875 successive editions of St. John’s

map referred to above on the 16m.=1 inch scale, which has now been re-

placed by the corresponding sheets of the International Series on the scale of

1 million and by sheets on the 3 million scale. The 1 million sheets covering

the northern part of the Arabian peninsula embody, in addition, the vast mass

of material gleaned previous to 1910 from native information,’ to which most

important accessions have since been made by the late Lt.-Col. G. E. Leachman,

the late Capt. W. H. I. Shakespear, Mr. H. St. J. Philby, Major R. E. Cheesman

- and others and, since the Armistice, between Baghdad and Jerusalem and

Damascus, by the devoted labours of Major A. E. Holt.

It may fairly be said that in the matter of maps, no part of the world, not

forming part of the British Empire, has been better served by British topo-

graphers, but the gaps in our knowledge of iocal geography are still many,

and serious. Oman is still to a great extent unknown; the immediate hinterland

of the Trucial Oman has never been explored; Musandam has not yet yielded

all its secrets; we still await a survey of the Hasa littoral. On the Persian

side of the Gulf, not only are there still some blank spaces to be filled, notably

in the Kuhgilu Hills and the Mamasani and Boir Ahmadi country, but the

utility of existing maps is diminished in practice by the conditions under which

they have been compiled, and from the absence of a proper system of tri-

angulation, so that, in many cases, they cannct be relied on off the main routes.

Had the money, which has been devoted from time to time to particular surveys,

and to the extended journeys of individual consular and military officials, been

spent on a well thought out survey programme covering a period of, say,

twenty years, we should have, by this time, a complete and accurate survey of

both sides of the Gulf on the 3 inch scale, in the light of which much that has

been written on the subjects of roads and railways in Persia would have to

be reconstructed. The writer states this conclusion with the less hesitation

because, though his own travels have never extended to the Arabian Peninsula

or to Persia east of a line drawn through Bandar Abbas, Shiraz, Isfahan and

Tehran, it has been his good fortune to travel very extensively, both as a

private person and on Government and commercial affairs, in West and South-

West Persia, and in Iraq, between 1907 and the present day. He has himself

surveyed, in South-West Persia, some hundreds of square miles with a plane

table, and has had the opportunity of checking, on the spot, the work of

Indian surveyors, amongst them those distinguished members of the Indian

Survey Department, Khan Bahadur Yusuf Sharif and his friend Khan Bahadur

Shir Jang, c.1.£., an Afghan by origin, who, in 1905, surveyed the vicinity

* Including the work of Huber, Wallin, Palgrave, Doughty, etc.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE PERSIAN GULF 643

of Muscat, the Bahrain Islands, and the country surrounding the Bay of

Kuwait. ‘he writer has traversed, on foot or on mule or horse-back, almost every

main road in South-West Persia and, in the course of many years, has visited

almost every place of importance in Arabistan, lLuristan, Pusht-i-kuh,

Bakhtiaristan and Fars. As Deputy British Commissioner and, subsequently,

British Commissioner tor the delineation of the ‘Turco-Persian Frontier he

visited every town and settlement on both sides of the boundary from Fao to

Ararat, and climbed almost every pass across the Zagros Range, between the

twe countries.

ln various capacities, during and alter the Great War, it fell to him to visit

every town in Iraq, by road and by air, end to discuss with successive

Directors of Surveys, more particularly Lt.-Col. C. H. D. Ryder, alterwards

Surveyor-General ot India, and Lt.-Col. Pirrie of the same service, ways and

means for a complete topographical and cadastral survey from Basra to Mosul.

These discussions demonstrated how much time and labour and consequently

money can be, and generally is, wasted on independent regional surveys, unless

the preliminary work of triangulation has been carefully done, and unless a

caretully thought out plan has been previously made and then adhered to.

The immense amount of fruitless discussion, time and money that has been

lavished at various times in connection with the Perso-Baluch and Turco-Persian

trontiers would also have been saved, and the British, Russian, and neutral

zones of 1907 would, in the light of fuller geographical knowledge, perhaps

have been more intelligently drawn, to che advantage of international peace and

friendly relations.

MaRINE AND RIVER SURVEYS

Charts of a kind for the guidance of vessels in the Gulf already existed in

1785 and these, Lieut. John McCluer, a self-taught surveyor of the East India

Company’s Marine, had devoted himself assiduously to correcting during a

period of three years’ service in the Gulf, the result of his voluntary labours

being a chart of the whole north-eastern side of that sea and of the Shatt-al-

Arab up to Basra, accompanied by a memoir, besides plans of the harbour of

Muscat, Basra, and other ports.’

The south-western or Arabian shores of the Gulf, however, remained for

the most part practically unknown; and in 1810, when giving the commanders

er the British Expedition against the Qawasim detailed instructions for the

visitation of piratical ports,, the only map which the Government of India

could supply was a ‘‘topographical sketch’? by one Saiyid Taqi, showing

roughly the positions of eight or nine piratical places to the south-west ot

Ras al Khaima.

In 1811 a surveying officer was placed on board the East India Company’s

cruiser Benarves in the Persian Guli, but the nature of the duties on which the

vessel was employed made systematic operations by him impossible. Towards

the end of 1815 orders for a regular survey were issued by the Court of Directors

of the East India Company, but danger from pirates made their execution

impracticable.

~ — - —— ———.. ena nee

*McCluer in the course of his progress made drawings of various parts of

the coast to facilitate the navigation and wrote useful directions for the same

purpose. These were used by the hydrographer of the East India Company,

Mr. Alexander Dairymple, who died in 1808. A chart of the Persian Gulf was

compiled by the Admirality in 1820, from the surveys of McCluer and other

officers of the Bombay Marine.

A writer, reviewing, in 1829, the hydrographical work of McCluer, says:

*“When the works of an individual are carefully preserved and consulted as a

standard authority by those who survive him, it is a sufficient proof of their

excellence, ... Those of Lieut. McCluer have stood the test of nearly forty

years; the considerable addition they formed to the stock of hydrographical

information, justly entitled their author to the acknowledgements of the

maritime world; and at this distance of time we readily bestow our tribute to

the memory of a man who has perpetuated his name by his valuable works.

His first essay in the Persian Gulf, which alone proceeded from a desire of

benefiting navigation, was a fair promise of the zeal which he afterwards

displayed in the survey of the coast of Hindostan.”’

644. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX/

In 1817, a memoir on the ports and pearl banks of Bahrain, together with

surveys, was prepared by Lieut. Tanner of the Bombay Marine; but it was

not until 1820, on the conclusion of the third expedition against the Qawasim,

that a proper survey of the south and west waters of the Gulf, beginning at

Ras Musandam, was undertaken by Capt. P. Maughan in the Discovery,

assisted by Lieut. J. M. Guy in the Psyche. Lieut. Guy succeeded to the direction

of this survey in November, 1821, and he had carried his operations as far

as. the promontory of Qatar when, in February, 1823, his place was taken by

Lieut. G. B. Brucks. Lieut. Brucks completed the survey of the Arabian

Coast, which occupied him until 1825; and early in 1826 he began work on the

Persian coast and islands, to which the following ten years were devoted. In

1828 operations were begun in the Gulf of Oman under his command, and were

continued by Lieut. S. B. Haines, who finished the Makran coast to Karachi in

1829: the Oman side had previously been completed down to Muscat. The

first marine survey of the Persian Gulf, partly from the smallness of the vessels

employed, was a most arduous and painful service; and a lamentably large

proportion of the officers employed on it either died or broke down in health

from the effects of climate and hardship.’

In 1835, an expedition under Col. F. R. Chesney left England for Turkish

Arabia to make an experiment—for which the permission of the Porte had been

obtained, and for which the British Parliament had granted £20,000, and

the East India Company £,5,000—in the direction of introducing steam naviga-

tion upon the Euphrates. Two river steamers were launched upon the Upper

Euphrates in the course of 1835-6; but one of them, the Tigris was unfortunate-

ly lost in a storm within a few weeks after her completion: the remaining

vessel, the Euphrates, navigated on the rivers Euphrates, Shatt-al-Arab, and

Tigris, of which surveys were made, during the rest of the year; but in

December the expedition was broken up, and the Euphrates was _trans-

ferred on a valuation from the British Government to the East India Company.

The experiment, in so far as it related to the establishment of rapid and

certain communication between England and India cannot be described as a

success; but Col. Chesney’s surveys of the Euphrates, Tigris and Karun mark

an important step in geographicai progress: his chart of the Shatt-al-Arab,

from Basra to the bar inclusive, is of particular interest, as showing the

changes that have taken place during the iast hundred years in this region.

The land and river surveys initiated by the Chesney Expedition were continued

with great energy during more than twenty years by the officers of the Indian

Navy employed with the British Mesopotamia flotilla, or the stationnaire of the

Baghdad Political Agency; they extended to Anabistan and elsewhere, and to

the confines of Persia with Iraq.

Commander Lynch (1837-43) surveyed the Tigris from Mosul to Gessner

the Euphrates below Masharrah, and connected Niniveh, Baghdad, Ctesiphon

and Babylon by ‘triangulation. Lieut. Campbell (1841-2) surveyed the Tigris

below Baghdad; Commander Felix Jones (1843-54) surveyed Zohab, the old

Nahrwan Canal, the old course of the Tigris above Baghdad, and the Persian

hills from Baghdad to Mosul. He also made a survey of the country from

Musaiyib to Najaf the material of which was lost in the India Office, as also

was that of a survey by Commander Selby (1841-2 and 1856-61) from Babylon to

Samawa; a valuable chart of the Shatt al Arab from Basra to the sea, by

Commander Felix Jones and Lieut. Collingwood, met with a similar fate.

Selby aiso surveyed the Karua River wiih its branches and affluents.

A survey of the south-east coast of Arabia, begun by Capt. Haines in 1833,

was discontinued in 1837 owing to the exigencies of the service; and from 1839

to 1844, in consequence of the war in Afghanistan and want of money for

general purposes, marine surveys by the Indian Navy were almost entirely in

abeyance. In 1839, however, perhaps in connection with the occupation of

Kharag, a report on the harbour of Kuwait was made by an officer of the

Indian Navy. The -urvey of the south-east coast of Arabia was resumed in

1844 and completed in 1848. In 1857, it having been decided to revise the

1 Further, it must not be forgotten that surveying was but a small part of

the work of the Indian Navy and that the operations were carried on only when

other duties of watch and ward, such as the hunting down of pirates and the

suppression of the slave trade, permitted.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE PERSIAN GULF 645

Persian Gulf Survey of 1820-8, in which errors and omissions were known to

exist, Captain C. Constable, assisted by Lieut. A. W. Stiffe, was appointed to

carry out the work. He completed it in 1860, and the result of the labours of

the two officers was a general chart of the Persian Gulf in two sheets, of

which the essential features were reliable, but which Capt. Constable himself

described in 1862 as not being on nearly large enough a scale. Meanwhile a

survey of the harbour of Bahrain was made by Lieut. Whish, 1.N., in 1859.

At the end of 1862, the vessels of the Indian Navy serving in the Persian

Gulf were recalled to India. On April 30th, 1863, the Indian Navy ceased to

exist. It was understood at the time of the change that the duties performed

in the past by the ships of the Indian Navy would devolve in future on those

of the Royal Navy; but some years elapsed before a practical method of working

with the substituted force was devised and, in the interval British political

interests suffered severely in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and elsewhere. For

ten years and more no fresh surveys were undertaken, and many original

drawings and memoirs, the fruit of expensive surveys, were lost. In 1871 the

Government of Bombay, having awakened to the necessity for new surveys,

consulted Col. Pelly, and a general discussion of the subject was initiated, the

upshot of which was that Mr. Girdlestone, formerly a midshipman in the

Indian Navy, was deputed to the Persian Gulf from 1871 to 1874 to make a

survey of Bahrain and Qatar waters: the survey was extended towards the

mainland, not without some opposition on the part of local Turkish authorities

who were, however, over-ruled by the Wali of Baghdad. In 1876, the inlet

ot Khor-al-Hajar on the coast of Oman was surveyed. In 1886, the inlet of

Khor Bani Bu Ali was discovered by a British naval vessel and, in 1888, the

Bahmanshir was partially examined, in connection with the opening of the

Karun River to navigation in the same year.

In 1890, the approaches of the Shatt-al-Arab and Bahmanshir from the sea

were surveyed by British vessels; with the assent of the Persian Government

the Bahmanshir was examined and sketched in the same year and its im-

practicability for ocean steamers demonstrated. By permission of the Shah and

of the Sultan of Oman, British tidal observation stations were established at

Bushire and Muscat in 1892 and 1893 and, in 1894, telegraphic observations were

undertaken at the Bushire and Jask telegraph stations with a view to the

determination of longitude.

In 1901, a fresh survey of the approaches to Bahrain and the Manamah

harbour was made. These isolated surveys were, however, of little practical

value, and it was not until Jord Curzon’s viceroyalty that any active steps

were taken to continue and extend the surveys of the old Indian Navy: thirty

valuable years had been lost. Bushire harbour was re-surveyed in 1903, with

the consent of the Persian Government, though they intimated that, whatever

the result of the investigations, they would neither deepen the harbour them-

selves nor permit it to be deepened by the Government of India. As a matter

of fact, the soundings showed that the deepening of the inner anchorage and

the approach to it from seawards for ships of heavy draft would be of little use

so long as the bar of the Shatt-al-Arab continued to regulate the size of

vessels employed in the Persian Gulf, but that the dredging of a channel for

vessels of moderate size from the inner anchorage to the wharves on Khor

Sultani would be an advantageous and, probably, not a difficult operation. In

1904, Kuwait harbour was re-surveyed, the work not being completed until

1907, and not without violent protests from the Turkish Government. In

1904-5 H.M.S. Redbreast made a detailed examination of WKhor-al-Qalaiya of

Bahrain Island, which, it was hoped, might afford superior harbour facilities to

those of the exposed anchorage off Manamah: the results, however, were

negative.

In 1905-6, the R.I.M.S. Investigator was again employed in the Gulf, and

completed the surveys of the mouth of the Shatt-al-Arab, the approaches there-

to, and the port of Kuwait. In 1906 the Marine Survey of India carried out

surveys of the Khor Abdullah and of the IKhor Zubair from its source.

From this date until 1910, no surveys were undertaken in the Gulf, but, at

the latter end of this year, R.I.M.S. Palinurus was recalled from her

survey work on the west coast of India, and despatched up the Gulf to re-

survey the mouths of the Shatt-al-Arab. Again the Turkish authorities placed

every obstacle in the way of this survey, refusing permission to land a party

at Fao for observations of the rise and fall of the tides and, on several

occasions, cut adrift the moored beacon buoys that were used.

646 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol, XXX1

Then, until the Great War, 1914, the Palinurus was employed continuously

in the Gulf and completed the following surveys :—

1911-12. The approaches to the Shatt-al-Arab, as far as Kubbar Island.

1912-13. The approaches to Bahrain harbour; a plan of Bandar Abbas; and

of Hanjam Sound.

1914. Clarence Straits.

During the Great War, several surveys of various parts of the Shatt-al-Arab

were completed by the survey officers of the Royal Indian Marine.

In 1921-22 the R.I.M.S. Palinurus was again employed in the Persian Gulf,

but mostly in small investigations: no definite surveys were completed.

GEOLOGY

The paucity of the bibliography appended to Dr. Pilgrim’s Memoir of 1905

(quoted below) is a measure of the interest taken in the application to the

Persian Gulf of this branch of science until the beginning of the present

century.

From 1855, when Loftus’ first published his valuable paper, little, if anything,

of value on this subject was published, except by De Morgan, till 1904, when

Lord Curzon sent Dr. G. E. Pilgrim of the Indian Geological Department to

the Gulf. ite made a general geological reconnaissance of both coasts, combined

with a closer examination of localities, where the existence of minerals was

suspected ; some coal seams in the country behind Sur in Oman had previously

been scientifically examined by Doctors von Krafft and Oldham of the same

department.

Since the appearance of Dr. Pilgrim’s report, no further geological research

in this region has been undertaken by the Government of India or by His

Majesty’s Government. Between 1901 and the present day, however, an im-

mense amount of work has been done by the geologists of the Anglo-Persian

Oil Company, Limited, some of the results of which are embodied in Mr.

Richardson’s paper of 1924. A careful enquiry, with negative results, was

also made in 1920 by an expert on behalf of the Persian Mining Syndicate,

Limited, regarding the copper-mines of Kerman. But the geology of the

Arabian side of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman is little, if at all,

better known than fifty years ago, and the hinterland is still virtually a sealed

book.

Geological Bibliography :’ (Only such items as are not referred to in

Dr. Pilgrim’s Bibliography are given.)

‘Notes made (in 1822) in the course of a voyage from Bombay to Bushire.

J. B. Fraser, Trans. Geol. Soc., second ‘series, vol. 1, 1824.

Halurgische. Geologie. Alberti. 1840.

‘On the geological evidence of the advance of the land at the head of the

Persian Gulf. C. T. Beke. Lon. and Ed. Philos. Mag., vol. 7, pp. 40-46,

1835.

On the Alluvia of Babylonia and Chaldea. C. T. Beke. Lon. and Ed.

Philos. Mag., vol. 14, pp. 426-32, 1839.

Note on the Pliocene Deposits of the Shores of the Arabian Sea. H. J.

Carter. Journal, Bombay Branch Royal Asiatic Soc., series iv, 1852.

La structure du sol (with geologicai sections from Bushire to Deh-Bid and

Dilam to Malamir.) Frederic Houssay. Annales de Géographie, 1894.

Geology of the Persian Gulf. Dr. G. E. Pilgrim, Memoirs Geol. Survey of

India, vol. 34, Part 4 (1908). 1905.

Salt Deposits in Persia and their relation io the sea. (Abstract of report

to Imperial Academy of Sciences, .Vienna.) Dr. K. Natterer, G.J., vi.,

p. 472, 1895.

Earthquake at Gwadar. H. J. Walton. Trans, Bombay Geog. ‘Soc., xvii,

Oct., 1864.

Mineralvorkommen der Insel Orntuz. F. Cornu. Tschermak Min. petr.

Mitth, vol. 26, pp. 341-42, 1907.

*W. K. Loftus, appointed to succeed Mr. Angus as Naturalist and Geologist,

left England to join the Turco-Persian Frontier Commission under Lt.-Col.

Williams in January, 1849, on a salary of £200 a year. (Return to House of

Commons, April 10, 1851.)

"With acknowledgments to Mr. N. Campbell Smith, m.c., Brit. Mus. Nat.

Hist.

‘SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE PERSIAN GULF 647

Geology in Central and North-West Persia. A. F. Stahl, Petermann’s

Mitteilungen, 1907.

Persien. Handbuck der regionalen Geologie. A. F. Stahl, 1911.

Die Turkische-Persischen Erdsluarkommen. Dr. Walter Schweer. Hamburg,

1919.

Notes on Geology, Ethnology and Climate of the Persian Gulf. Dr. Gerhard

Schott. Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft, Hamburg, 1918.

Some Notes on the Geology of the Persian Oil Fields. H. G. Busk and

H. T. Mayo, Jour. Inst. Petrol, Technol., 1918.

Geology of the Persian Oil Fields. Anon. Nature, vol. 102, pp. 234-5, 1918.

Oil Fields of Persia. C. M. Hunter. Bulletin 158, American Institute of

Mining, etc., 1920.

Petroleum in Persia and the Near East. E. M. Spieker, Eng. and Mining

Journal, 1920.

The Heart of Arabia, 2 vols. (Appendix). H. St. J. Philby, 1922.

Fishes the Source of Petroleum. J. M. Macfarlane, 1923.

The World Oil Situation. A. C. Bedford. American Quarterly Review of

Foreign Affairs, 1923.

The Geology and Oil Measures of South-West Persia. R. K. Richardson.

Jour. Inst. Petrol, Tech., vol. 10, No. 43.

Cambridge Ancient History, vol. i. Egypt and Babylonia, 1924.

The Delta of the Shatt-al-Arab and Proposals for dredging the Bar. A. ‘J,

Wilson. G. J., Feb. 1925.

In Unknown Arabia, Maj. R. E. Cheesman, o.B.£., 1926.

MEDICAL .

There is a very notable lack of published information on medical subjects

relating to this region. The only recent technical articles on the subject are

bye Dre ir Ws°, Willcox, “K-C:1.8., C.B., C.M.G., in “the i2th edition of ‘the

Encyclopedia Britannica under the heading ‘‘Persian Gulf,’’ and three most

valuable articles by Dr. Neligan, Physician to the British Legation at Tehran,

in the Lancet for March 20, March 27, and April 3, 1926; who has also

written a compendium under the title Hints for Residents and Travellers in

Persia (1914). Epidemics and Sanitary Organisation in this region have,

however, received a great deal of attention. The general history of plague

and cholera is given in the appropriate articles of the Encyclopedia Britannica ;

notices of early epidemics of plague will be found in an official précis The First

Connection of the Hon. E. I. Coy, with Turkish Arabia,. Calcutta, 1874;

and an article, ‘‘Notes on Cholera in Persia,’’ by Surgeon-Major JT. Ffrench

Mullen in the Persian Gulf Administration Report for 1889-90 has a_ wider

scope than its name suggests, and gives a general account of the movements

of cholera, especially in Western Asia, since 1821. The outbreak of cholera in

Oman, in 1899, is discussed in Lt.-Col. A. S. G. Jayakar’s ‘‘Report on the

Recent Epidemic of Cholera in Maskat and Matrah’’—-in the Persian Gulf

Administration Report for 1899-1900.

The general practice of medicine by European doctors in Persia is discussed

by Mrs. Bishop in Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, 1891; by E. Treacher

Collins in In the Kingdom of the Shah, 1896; and by Dr. C. J. Wills in

In the Land of the Lion and the Sun, 1883; and numerous further references

thereto are to be found in current literature, particularly in Mrs. C. Colliver

Rice’s Persian Women and their Ways, 1923. See also: A Chapter from

the History of Cannabis Indica, by E. G. Browne in St. Bart’s Hosp. Jour.,

1897, March and ‘‘The Opium Trade through Persian Spectacles,’? by A. T.

Wilson). As.. Rev., 1925, April. vol. xxi.

The subject of medical missions is treated by the Rev. S. M. Zwemer in

Arabia: The Cradle of Islam, and by P. W. Harrison in The Arab at

Home, 1924.

METEOROLOGY

The literature on this subject is very extensive: early travellers of every

nationality vied with each other in picturesque denunciations of the climate of

the Persian Gulf, and more particularly of Muscat, Bandar Abbas, Hormuz

and Bushire, Arab and Persian writers being no whit less intemperate than

Europeans in their allusions to the subject. Prevailing winds were carefully

studied and accurately described, and the potentialities of various ports as

sources of fresh water were better known in the sixteenth and seventeenth

648 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

centuries than they are to-day. Generations of British Consular and Telegraph

Officials have derived a dismal satisfaction from their self-imposed task of

taking daily thermometer readings and submitting periodical reports on the

subject to a “higher authority’’ more fortunately situated in Whitehall or on

a Himalayan hill-top, and these melancholy statistics have been regularly

tabulated and embodied in annual reports, Looks of travel and the like, and

occur with monotonous regularity in the form of appendices to every official

report dealing with the area. But these dry bones tell us little: the wet-

bulb temperature alone affords any real indication of the probable degree of

discomfort that will be experienced by a European at any particular place and

time, and such records have not, as a rule, been kept so carefully nor, where

available, are they so reliable, as the dry-bulb figures.

Apart from local statistical information, the chief recent sources of informa-

tion are as follows :—

(1) The Persian Gulf Pilof.

(2) The Annual Summaries of the Meteorological Department of the Govern-

ment of India.

(3) An article, ‘‘Climatology of Southern and Western Asia,’? by W. L.

Dallas, of the Meteorological Department of the Government of India,

in the proceedings of the Chicago Congress of August, 1893, Meteoro-

logical Section, pp. 672-686. A lecture on ‘‘Weather and Warfare”’

delivered by the same authority before the United Service Instit. of

India (vide Journal for Oct., 1904).

(4) ‘The Weather of Iraq’’—a comprehensive non-technical memorandum

by Mr. Norman of the same Department, whilst on active service in

Mesopotamia.

(5) **Notes on Climate and other subjects in Eastern Mediterranean and

adjacent countries. I. D. 1117. Prepared on behalf of the Admiralty

and War Office.’’ (Including statistics of Mesopotamia and the Persian

Gulf.)

Mention must also be made of two valuable papers published in German

by Dr. Gerhard Schott :

(1) On the salinity of the Persian Gulf and its adjoining waters. Annalen

der Hydrographie, 1908.

(2) The geography of the Persian Gulf and its neighbourhood. Mitteilungen

der Geographische, Gesellschaft, Hamburg, 1918.

It is sad to reflect that, with all this wealth of information at their disposal,

in addition to a vast mass of official literature on the subject, accumulated

by military and civil officials during the last hundred years, the military

authorities in India, on the outbreak of the World War, declared themselves

(no doubt with perfect truth) to be entirely ignorant of the climatic conditions

at the head of the Gulf, and proceeded to display an ineptitude in the provision

of clothing, medical and hospital equipment, and food which, though it brought

disgrace and dismissal to no individual, involved tens of thousands in untold

miseries, brought death to thousands, and did more than is even yet realized

to damage the good name of the Government of India at home and abroad.

British officials are in no way inferior to Germans in the systematic collection

and transmission of information; our national weakness lies, in the writer’s

judgment, in the reluctance shown at headquarters—whether in Whitehall, or

Simla, or elsewhere—to retain the smail additional staff necessary to collate and

compile the information that reaches the central administrations, and to the

general tendency to trust to hasty improvisations and to ignore or belittle the

value of expert testimony and scientific investigation.

Music

Floyer, in his Unexplored Baluchistan, 1882, Appendix E, and Rivadeneyra,

in his Viaje al interior de Persia, Madrid, 1880, vol. ii, p. 265, make some

brief references to Baluch and Lur harmonies respectively, and give some musical

scores; there are also several reproductions in European notation of Persian

harmonies in Popular Poetry of Persia, translated by Alexander Chodzko, 1842.

References to Persian music and musical instruments, of much interest, are

also to be found in many works, notably those of Chardin, Le Brun, Niebuhr,

Ouseley, Jourdain and Waring. Probably the only detailed work on the

subject of European music in the Persian language is the Dastur-ul-Tar, a

treatise on the banjo and guitar, by Col, Ali Nagi Khan Waziri,

WCLANTIFIC. RESEARCH IN. THE PERSIAN.GULF 649

PHILOLOGY

The dialects of Arabic and Persian spoken on the Persian Gulf littoral differ

considerably from the parent tongues, as spoken to-day on the plateaux of

Arabia and Persia respectively. Each dialect, as is to be expected, owes much

to the other: both have incorporated certain words of foreign origin which

reflect the history of the Gulf and its use as a highway from earliest times ;

but excluding these words, none of which, except a few words borrowed from

the language of the western littoral of India, are peculiar to the Gulf, there

remains, it appears, a residuum of words, mainly relating to ships, and to the

practice of navigation, which are neither Arabic nor Avestic in origin and

which are common to both sides of the Gulf. It is not beyond the bounds of

possibility that these words may prove to he of ‘‘Sumerian’’ origin: in

any case, expert inquiry into this department of science might be of assistance

to archeologists and anthropologists alike. In 1889, Surgeon-Major A. S. G.

Jayakar published some notes on the Omani dialect of Arabic, in the Journal

of the Royal Asiatic Society. Lt.-Col. D. L. R. Lorimer gave us in 1922

(Royal Asiatic Society’s Prize Publication) a scholarly survey of the Kermani

dialect and Bakhtiari dialects: Major Phillott has published an amusing series

of proverbs current at Kirman; and Lt.-Col. and Mrs. Lorimer have laid the

ehildren of England under an abiding obligation by the publication, in 1919,

of a charming volume of Persian Tales, still current among the common people

in South Persia. The works of the late Prof. E. G. Browne are not less indis-

pensable to those who live in South Persia than to those who live in the

North. The Rev. J. Van Ess wrote, for the use of the Army in Mesopotamia

during the war, a careful summary of the Spoken Arabic of Mesopotamia,

supplemented two years later by a more ambitious, but not less useful work

on Written Arabic. Finally, reference must be made to the monograph on

the Baluch language, spoken along the Makran Coast, which is included in

vol. x of the Linguistic Survey of India by Sir G. A. Grierson.

TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM

In this field of research, it has fallen to the United States to lead the way.

One of the main objects, to which the energies of the Department of Research

in Terrestrial Magnetism, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, have

been devoted since 1904, has been a general magnetic survey of the globe.

This survey has now been completed for the major part of the earth, and the

results are being published in a series of voluminous reports under the title

‘Land’? and ‘‘Ocean Magnetic Observations,’’. covering the period from 1905

to 1921. Four volumes had (1924) already been issued and a fifth and final

volume to be entitled ‘‘Ocean and Magnetic Observations, 1915-1921, and Special

Reports,’’ is in course of preparation. With the completion of vol. v it will be

possible to undertake the reduction of the accumulated magnetic data since 1905,

to a common datum for the construction of new world magnetic charts, and to

make a new analysis of the earth’s magnetic field on a basis of more complete

and more accurate data than heretofore available.

The researches of the Department were confined, in the main, to the oceans

and to those countries or regions where magnetic data would not otherwise be

obtainable; and in some regions the magnetic surveys were accomplished in

co-operation with existing organisations or with interested investigators. In

Asia, the observers who were assigned to this continent obtained magnetic data

in every state, excepting Afghanistan, the Himalaya States, and Chosen.

The Persian Gulf region itself—inciuding the territories of Persia, Iraq and

Arabia—which formed but a small section of the field of operations in Asia—

was fortunate in falling under the detailed scrutiny of the observers. Observa-

tion stations were established, between the years 1905 and 1910, at a

great number of places, well distributed over the whole area. On the Persian

side of the Gulf, observations were made at Tehran, Hamadan, Kermanshah,

Shustar, Ahwaz, Mohammerah, Shiraz, Bushire, Lingeh, Jask, besides some

thirty or more other places; in the Euphrates-Tigris area, at Mosul, Baghdad,

and Basra among other places; and in Arabia at Kuwait, Bahrain Island,

Aden and Ma’an. Volume i of the report includes a valuable description of

650 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

each of the stations, and the conditions under which the magnetic observations

Were made, indicating, in most cases, the precise spot at which operations

took place, thus making matters comparatively easy for further investigations

at these places. Volume iv gives detailed information of much value regarding

paren methods used by the observers. ‘The volumes isued are under the following

titles? :—

Researches of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, of the Carnegie

Institution of Washington :-- -

Vol. i, Land Magnetic Observations, 1905-1910.

Vol. ii, Land 1 Magnetic Observations, 1911-1913, and Report on Special

Researches.

Vol. iii, Ocean Magnetic Observations, 1905-1916, and Report on Special

Researches.

Vol. iv. Land Magnetic Observations, 1914-1920.

Vol. v. Ocean Magnetic Observations, 1915-1921 and Speciai Reports.

ZOOLOGY

(a) Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Insects.—

Ainsworth, who accompanied the Chesney Expedition,? already referred to,

furnished Col. Chesney with reports on the natural history of the region

traversed, including mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes, which were in due

course published.

Mr. W. T. Blanford, who accompanied Sir F. Goldsmid’s Mission in South-

East Persia, contributed to the latter’s memoirs, in 1876, a supplementary

volume in which his own extensive researches into the fauna of South-East

Persia were collated with all material then available regarding the fauna of

Persia generally. In 1905, and again in 1911, two British naturalists, the

late Col. Bailward and Mr. Woosnam, travelled in Arabistan and made extensive

collections of birds and small mammals. Sir P. Z. Cox, in the course of a

long and distinguished career in the Persian Gulf, extending over nearly thirty

years, found time to devote some attention to zoology which, after philately,

was his favourite hobby: the pages of the Bombay Natural History Society’s

Journal, and the collections in the South Kensington Museum, bear witness

to the keen scientific interest he took in the subject. It was largely owing

to his foresight that the Bombay Natural History Society published,*® after the

war, a collection of monographs of exceptional value on the fauna of Iraq, its

butterflies, moths, beetles, and innumerable insect pests. ‘These memoirs, whilst

dealing primarily with Iraq, apply in large measure to the Persian Gulf region,

which is inhabited or visited largely by the same species as Iraq. To his

initiative, .the London Zoological Gardens owe a fine specimen of Oryx,*

presented to H.M. The King, by Ibn Saud, and a pair of ostriches from Central

Arabia, the first specimens of this rare struthious bird to reach Europe alive.

+ All volumes quoted aré to be seen at the following libraries in London :—

British Library of Political Science,

Library of the Royal Society.

Library of the Science Museum.

University College Library.

University of London Library.

Institute of Petroleum Technologists.

* Chesney, Expedition to the Euphrates and Tigris, vol. ii. Appendices,

ii-vi, 1850.

3A Survey of the Fauna of Iraq, Dulau & Co., 1922.

4 It is generally supposed that unicorns, which Varthema saw at Mecca

in 1503 and which he described in great detail, were anomalous specimens of

the Oryx: on the other hand, the figure of the unicorn, as depicted in several

places at Persepolis, is referred to by Pliny (Hist. Nat. viii, 21) and in the

Bible; whilst in more recent times, Don Juan Gabriel, a Portuguese colonel,

who lived several years in Abyssinia, claimed that he had actually seen it, and

his account was confirmed by a Portuguese missionary who was then living

in Abyssinia; it is also reported from the Cape of Good Hope in 1792 (see

Varthema’s Travels, Hakluyt Soc., 1863, and Renaudot’s Ancient Accounts g:

India and China, 1733, pp. xxv, 17 and 61),

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE PERSIAN GULF 651

To him also we are indebted for the recent important accessions to our know-

ledge of the birds and mammals of the Persian Gulf and Central Arabia, collect-

ed on his behalf during 1922-24, by his Secretary, Capt. R. E. Cheesman, now

H. M.’s Consul at Addis Ababa. As a result of these researches, our knowledge

of the zoology of the Gulf region is more complete and accurate than in any

other branch of science.

The upshot of these investigations is to show that South Persia and the

Persian Gulf region are inhabited by animals which show, in every group,

far closer affinity to European than to Indian forms: the Perso-Baluch frontier

or the Sind desert east of it thus constitutes a line of demarcation which is

both ethnological and zoological.

Additional Bibliography :*

Mammals,—

Nature at the Desert’s Edge, by Major R. W. G. Hingston, 1925.

A new race of Hare from the Persian Frontier of Mesopotamia. Records

of Ind. Mus., vol. xv, p.. 49.

On some Specimens of Mammals from Oman, South-East Arabia,

by O. Thomas. Collected by Dr. Jayakar. P.Z.S., 1894, p. 448.

Five new Mammais from Arabia and Persia,*? by O. Thomas, Annals

and Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 7, vol. x, Dec. 1902.

On a collection of Mammals from Persia and Armenia presented to the

Brit. Museum, by Col. A. C. Bailward. O. Thomas,. P. Z. S., 1905,

vol. ii, No. xxxv, p. S19.

On Mammals from Northern Persia, presented to the National Museum,

by Col. A. C. Bailward. O. Thomas, Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,

Ser. 7, vol. xx, Sept. 1907.

Birds.—

A list of papers on birds in this region follows Ticehurst’s Birds of Mesopo-

tamia, in Survey of Iraq Fauna. The following are additional papers :—

Notes on the Bird Life of Ahwaz, Persia. F. Ludlow. J.B.N.H.S.,

vol. xxv, p. 303.

On a collection of Birds from the vicinity of Muscat. (Made by Col.

Wiles): Re Bs Sharpe. Tbid., 1866; p. £62;

. S. Whittaker on two species of Passerine Birds (Cummig’s Chat).

Ibid., 1902, p. 58.

Un viaggio in Persia, nel. 1862. F. de Filippi, Milano.

Astola. ‘‘A summer cruise in the Gulf of Oman.’’ Butler, Stray Feathers,

1877,‘ p. 283.

Birds of Jabrin, Jafura and Hasa, and of Bahrain Islands, Persian Gulf.

Ticehurst and Cheesman. J. B.N.H.S., Jan., 1925.

Birds of the Persian Gulf Islands. Ticehurst and Cox, J. B.N.H.S.,

vol. xxx, p. 725.

Birds of Iraq. Ticehurst and Cox, supplementary papers. J. B. N. H.S.,

vol. xxxl, p. 91.

Reptiles.—

Description of a new sand boa from the Persian Gulf (Kuwait). Records

of the Indian Museum, ix, p. 217.

Inseécts.—

Description of two new species of Deptera from Seistan, East Persia.

Records of the Indian Museum, xvi, p. 299.

(t) Fish and Fisheries.—

The best recent general authority on this subject is S. B. Miles, in

Tne Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf, 2 vols., 1919. Other sources

of information are articles in the Bombay Natural History Society’s Journal

as follows :—

Vol. xiv, 1901. On Some Deep Sea Fishes collected by Mr. F. W.

Townsend in the Sea of Oman. G. A. Boulenger. (In the same

volume, is an interesting note regarding Sword Fishes striking a ship

(Muscat). )

1 With acknowledgements to Capt. R. E. Cheesinan.

® This includes the Arabian fox and Witherby’s field mouse.

652 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX

Vol. xxiv (4) and xxv (1); 1916-7. The Game Fishes of the Persian Gulf.

Major W. H. Lane.

For detailed zoological information regarding marine fishes, consult A Biblio-

graphy of Fishes, by Bashford Dean, published by the American Museum of

Natural History; and, in particular, works by Annandale, Boulenger, Day (The

Fishes of Zanzibar, 1866 with illustrations) and Regan.

The war gave birth to a crop of fisherman’s stories of great carp in

Mesopotamia, which saw the light in the Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. Jour., vols.

XXV,: XXVi, Xxvii (1918-20).

For details of sea-snakes in the Persian Gulf, see Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

JOUr. VOl 2 Rxx, 1924) 7p: 717A:

On the general question of Persian Gulf fisheries, the most authoritative source

is still Dr. MclIvor’s report published in the Persian Gulf Political Residency

Administration Report for 1880-1, entitled ‘‘Notes on Sea Fishing in the

Persian Gulf.”’

Further information regarding the fresh water fish of Iraq is contained in

Cuinet’s La Turquie d’Asie, 1894, vol. ii.

Other papers are :—

An enemy of certain Pearl Oysters in the Persian Gulf. Annandale.

Records of the Indian Museum, vol. i, p. 176. (This gives the names

of three varieties of Persian Gulf Pearl Oyster).

Notes on Fish from India and Persia, with descriptions of new species.

J. T. Jenkins.

On a collection of Fishes made by W. T. Blanford in 1872, in Persia and

Baluchistan. Records of the Indian Museum, vol. v, p. 128.

Report on the Aquatic Fauna of the Seistan with subsidiary studies.

(Fish—mollusca—birds, etc.) Records of the Indian Museum, vol. xviii.

Remarks on the Oyster Beds in the Persian Gulf. Lewis Pelly. Trans.

Bomb. Br. Roy. As. Soc. 1868, xviii.

An account of the fishes obtained by Surgeon Major A. S. G. Jayakar at

Muscat, east..coast of Arabia, G. A. Boulenger. Proc. Zool. Soc.,

1887, pp. 653-67. Sehly

Second account of the fishes obtained by Surgeon Major A. S. G. Jayakar

at Muscat, east coast of Arabia. G. A. Boulenger. Proc. Zool. Soc.,

1889, pt. 2, pp. 236-46.

Third account of the fishes obtained by Surgeon Major A. S. G. Jayakar

at Muscat, east coast of Arabia. G. A. Boulenger.- Proc. Zool...Soc.,

1892, pp. 134-36.

Six semaines de dragages sur les bancs perliers du Golfe Persique.

Ch. C. Pérez. Bull. professionnel et technique des péches maritimes.

Perlen und Fischhandel des Persischen Golfes. R. Brenner. Peterm.

Mitteil., 1873, pp. 60-62.

Perlfischerei im Persische Meerbusen. Anon. Vossische Zeitung, 1881,

no. 37.

Of the numerous monographs, referred to below, on the Mollusca of the

Persian Gulf, the greater number were based on specimens obtained by

Mr. F. W. Townsend, who for many years commanded the Indo-European

Telegraph Department’s cable ship ‘‘Patrick Stewart.’’ The complete list’ is

as follows :—

New Species from the Persian Gulf. E. A. Smith. Ann. and Mag.

Nat. Hist., May 1872, pp. 361-355.

Description of 34 species of Marine Mollusca from the Arabian Sea, Persian

Gulf and Gulf of Oman. J. C. Melvill, Mem. and Proc., Manchester,

Lit. and Phil. Soc., vol. 41, pt. 3, pp. 1-25 and 2 plates.

Further Investigations into the Mollusca Fauna of the Arabian Sea,

Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman with descriptions of 40 species. Op. cit.,

vol. 42, pt. 2, pp. 1-40, and 2 plates.

‘For this the writer is indebted to Mr. J. R. le B. Tomlin, m.a., of the

British Museum (Natural History Section).

3 oma

SCLIENTIFIC_-RESEARCH. IN THE PERSIAN CULF.. 653

Notes on the Mollusca of the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf and Gulf of

Oman, mostly dredged by Mr. F. W. Townsend, with descriptions of

27 species. Ann. and Mag. N. H. (7) iv, pp. 81-101, with 2 plates.

Description of Conns (Cylinder) Clytospira 2 p.n. from the Arabian Sea.

Ann. and Mag. N. H. (7) iv. 461-3.

The Mollusca of the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea as

evidenced mainly through the collections of Mr. F. W. Townsend, 1893-

1900, with description of new species. By J. C. Melvill and R. Standen.

Pr. Zool. Soc., 1901, pp. 327-460, with 4 plates.

The genus Scala as represented in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and

North Arabian Sea with description of new species. By Melvill and

Standen. Journ. of Conch., vol. x, pp. 340-51, and one plate.

A Revision of the Columbellidae of the Persian Gulf and North Arabian

Sea with description of C. calliope n. 2 p. Melvill. Journ. of Malacology,

x, 27-31.

Descriptions of 68 new Gastropoda from the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman

and North Arabian Sea, dredged by Mr. F. W. Townsend of the Indo-

European Telegr. Service, 1901-3. Ann. and Mag. N. H. (7) xii, 299-

324, with 4 plates.

Descriptions of 23 species of Gastropoda from the Persian Gulf, Gulf of

Oman and Arabian Sea, dredged by Mr. &*. W. Townsend of the Indo-

European Telegr... service, 1903. By Melvill. Proc. Matlac. Soc., vi,

51-60, with plate.

On Berthais, a proposed new Genus of Marine Gastropoda from the

Gulf of Oman. By Melvill. Proc. Malac. Soc., vi, pp. 61-3.

Descriptions of 28 species of Gastropoda from the Persian Gulf, Gulf of

Oman and Arabian Sea, dredged by Mr. F. W. Townsend of the Indo-

European Telegr. Service, 1900-4. By Melvill. Proc. Malac. Soc., vi,

158-69, with plate.

Conus coromandelicus, Smith, its probable affinities and systematic position

in the Family Conidae. By Melvill. Proc. Malac. Soc., vi, 170-73.

Descriptions of i2 new species and one of Marine Gastropoda from the

Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea collected by Mr. F. W.

Townsend, 1902-4. Journ. of Malac., xi, 79-84, with plate.

Note on Mitra Stephanucha, Mch., with description of a proposed new

variety. By Melvill. Journ. Malac. xi, 86.

Rostellaria delicatula, Nevill, notes on its distribution and limits of

Variation. By Melvill and Standen. Journ. of Conch., vol. xi, 161-3,

with plate.

Descriptions of 31 Gastropoda and one Senphopod from the Persian Gulf

and Gulf of Oman, dredged by Mr. F. W. Townsend, 1902-4. Melvill.

Proc. Malac. Soc., vii, pp. 69-80, with 2 plates.

Capulus lissus, Smith as type of a proposed new sub-genus. By Melvill.

Proc. Malac. Soc., vii, 81-4.

The Mollusca of the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea as

evidenced mainly through the collections of Mr. F. W. Townsend, 1893-

1906, with descriptions of new species. Melvill and Standen. Proc.

Zool. Soc., 1907, 783-848, with 4 plates.

Descriptions of 29 species of Marine Mollusca from the Persian Gulf,

Gulf of Oman and North Arabian Sea, mostly collected by Mr. F. W.

Townsend, of the Indo-Europen Telegr. Service. Melvil!l. Ann. and

Mag. Nat. Hist. (8), vi, pp. 1-17 and 2 plates. ;

A Revision of the Species of Pyramidellidae occurring in the Persian Gulf,

Gulf of Oman and North Arabian Sea, with description of new species.

Melvill. Proc. Malac. Soc., ix, 171-207, with 3 plates.

Descriptions of 33 new species of Gastropoda from the Persian Gulf, Gulf

of Oman, and North Arabian Sea. Melvill. Proc. Malac. Soc., x.,

240-54, with 2 plates.

Revision of the Species of Terebra occurring in the Persian Gulf, Gulf

of Oman and Arabian Sea as evidenced in the Collection formed by Mr.

FEF. W. Townsend, 1893-1914. Melvill and Standen. Journ. of Conch.,

xv, 204-16.

Revision of the Turridae occurring in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman

and North Arabian Sea, as evidenced mostly through the results of

dredgings carried out by Mr. F. W. Townsend, 1893-1914. By Melvill.

Proc. Malac. Soc., xii, 140-201, with 3 plates.

81 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol, XXX)

Descriptions of 34 species of Marine Mollusca from the Persian Gulf,

Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea, collected by Mr. F. W. Townsend.

Ann. and Mag. N. H. (9), i, pp. 137-58, with 2. plates.

Freshwater shells from Mesopotamia. Records of the Indian Museum.

vol. XV pa, 159:

Mention should also be made of an article by J. C. Melvill and R. Standen

on the Mollusca of the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea in the

Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1901, vol. ii, and a further article

on the same subject by Melvill, in vol. xlii of the Transactions of the Manchester

Literary and Philosophical Society, 1897.

General.—

In Unknown Arabia, Maj. R. E. Cheesman, o.B.£., 1926.

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA

(INCLUDING THOSE MET WITH IN THE HILL STATIONS

OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY)

qT. R. BE, ¢..8., 4.7.8. (Retd.)

PaRT XXXVII

(Continued from page 351 of this Volume)

Genus 28.—BaRAcus.

Imago.—This is very like or similar to Taractrocera nicévillei, only larger,

on the upperside; below it is different. See description below.

Antenne.--With the club moderate, gradual, rather long, acuminate and

somewhat suddenly bent, though curved, about half the length of the costa of

forewing.

Palpi.—Porrect, conspicuous as to third joint; second joint somewhat laxly

scaled.

Hind tibie.—Fringed and with two pairs of spurs.

Forewing.—Vein 12 ends on costa before end of cell; 11 curves upwards

and runs close to 12 but does not touch it; cell less than two-thirds the

costa; middle discocellular longer than lower; vein 5 emitted below the middle

of discocellulars; 3 from close to lower end of cell, 2 from about one-third

before end; wings somewhat short, triangular; costa gently arched; apex

subacute; outer margin convex, hinder angle rounded; hinder margin longer

than outer.

Hindwing.—Vein 7 emitted close to upper end of cell; 5 almost obsolete;

discocellulars faint; vein 3 close to lower end of cell; 2 from less than one-

third from end; wing evenly rounded.

Egg, larva, pupa, habits.—See below as they are only known for a single

species, Baracus hampsoni.

The genus Baracus consists of four species in British India, one

in Luzon, Philippine Islands and one in Tibet and W. China.

The Indian ones are septentrionum, W.—M. and de N.; hampsont,

El. and Edw. ; subditus, M. and vittatus (Felder). These are found

respectively in Assam, Sikkim and Burma; in Kanara, S. India;

in S. India and Ceylon; and in Ceylon. It is really very doubtful

whether subditus and hampsoni are distinct species by the marking

and Swinhoe’s descriptions contained in Lepidoptera Indica, vol. x,

pp. 131-133. Also it may perhaps be worth mentioning that both

de Nicéville and E. Y. Watson identified the Kanara species long

ago as Baracus septentrionum. Swinhoe figures all four species

on Plates 787 and 788; hampsoni, is figure 5 male, figure Ja

female and 3b underside; 3c is the larva and pupa.

221. Baracus hampsoni, EF] and Edw.—Male. Upperside dark olive-brown.

Forewing with two pairs of linear, ochreous spots in a line on the disc, two

subapical below costa, the other two discal in interspaces 2 and 3. Hindwing

immaculate. Underside. Forewing blackish-brown, the costal space cchreous

in a broad band from base above cell to termen bounded below at apex by vein 6,

continued decreasingly down a long termen to middle, interspaces sometimes

marked with brown, the veins at others; the subapical spots as on upperside,

the discal often wanting—they are always the smaller; and a series of obscure,

yellow, subterminal spots in interspaces 3 to 7 on the dark-ochreous suffusion.

Hindwing: the ground colour deep-ochreous, including veins, leaving brown,

656 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

terminal spots in interspaces 1b to 6, those in 2 and 6 largest, that in inter-

space 5 the smallest; interspace la brown, sprinkled sparsely yellow, the lower

half of 1b completely yellow, the upper half with one brown spot under the

middle of vein 2 and a series continued straight across interspaces 2, 3, then

obliquely outwards across. 4, 5 to the terminal spot in 6; besides a brown

spot at termen in interspace 7 and another before its middle. Cilia dark-brown

at base, the outer part lighter brown on forewing, ochreous on hindwing,

somewhat soiled at ends of veins.—I*emale similar to the male (Swinhoe says).

Antennz black above, the bend not abruptly at a right angle, below ochreous

with the joint narrowly black; the club black above and below with the tip

brown-red; palpi brown above, whitish beneath and the third joint yellow

beneath, porrect, somewhat prominent; second joint moderately densely scaled.

Head is brown with some ochreous scales; thorax more or less concolorous

with wings; abdomen absolutely concolorous with wings; below very pale

ochreous, the legs with a strong rusty tinge.

From a large series‘ bred in Kanara the female differs from the male in

having an extra small, quadrate spot just touching vein 1, not reaching half-

vay across the interspace 1 situated under the middle of vein 2 as to position

and often joined by a line of yellow scales to the inner, lower corner of the

spot in 2; there -is, also, often an extra subapical dot in interspace 8 and even a‘

few yellow scales in 5 below the outer, lower corner of the spot in 6.. The

underside of the female is also duller-ochreous on both wings, more brown-

washed. The male has a broad ochreous scale-sprinkled area above vein 12

on the upperside of forewing reaching half way to termen, some few ochreous

decumbent hairs at base of inner margin and absolutely no hair-fringe along

that margin. On the upperside of hindwing there is a sparse covering of

longish, brown hairs below the cell from it to anal margin. The female has

the costa very slightly tinged with ferruginous in the same place; and the third

joint of palpus is slightly more prominent than in the male. Expanse 27 mm.

ir. the female, slightly less in male.

Egg.—-It is more or less hemispherical in shape but the cylindrical sides

are somewhat prolonged for a true hemisphere. The surface is shining and

very finely tuberculate all over with minute, isolated tubercles; there are

17 thin, slightly raised meridional ridges starting from the absolute base and

losing themselves towards the top of the egg, the space on the top where

there are none being 0.5mm. in diameter: all this space is minutely cellular

‘and at the-very apex is the depressed, somewhat irregularly-circular micropyle

surface which itself is extremely minutely cellular-reticulated; the surrounding

larger cells are 0.5mm. in diameter; the micropyle-surface is 0.15 mm.. in

diameter; the space between the ridges at base of egg is 0.15 mm. and at

top where they lose themselves it is 0.10mm.; the breadth of a ridge is

just one-third of 0.05mm. and the height is about the same. The colour

of the egg is a pearly white blotched irregularly and largely with blood-red.

The ridges are minutely and irregularly beaded. B: 0.85 mm. H: 0.65 mm.

This egg, or rather four eggs of this type were sent from Karwar to-day,

July 26, 1918; they were laid on grass or rice, on the upper surface, always

close to the edge or towards the point. ;

Larva.—At 9.45 on the morning of July 31, the four larvae emerged from the

eggs: little honey-yellow, cylindrical things with enormous, nearly black, shining,

smooth heads and a black, rather broad collar on segment 2 which occupies the

middle of the segment nearly from spiracle to spiracle and is about half as

broad as the segment is long; the body is provided with the usual erect hairs,

short and fine with no sign of dark tubercles at their base. L: 2mm. and

breadth one-sixth of that; the head about 2x as broad as body. The larva

emerges through the top of the egg, eating round with its jaws up to the

commencement of the ribs: the opening thus made, all the substance of

the ‘lid’ being thus consumed as food, is exactly the diameter of the head

which first emerges through it: 0.50mm. The egg-shell is nibbled a_ bit

as food round the open edge but not always consumed—perhaps never. Then

the larva immediately wanders off, spinning web-steps as it goes.

In the last stage but one the head is shining black, irregularly and strongly

rugose-reticulate, nearly quite round (except for truncation of mouth-opening

and slightly prominent mouth-parts) with no sign of sinus on vertex and a

punctate-depressed, thin line to the apex of the triangular clypeus, the surface

covered with minute, hardly visible semi-appressed grey down, which is,

however, fine and does not cbhscure the shining’ black ; some very slightly longer

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 657

hairs about mouth-parts. The body is now glaucous green, the segment-

margins marked thinly darker green and shining with four completely circling,

parallel lines in front of each and a fifth parallel, partially encircling beyond—

only the dorsal part of this last present; the whole covered with extremely

minute, erect, fine white hairs except the anal segment which has them

‘much longer and dark and each one (on this segment only) arising from a

dark, small, conical tubercle, those round the margin still longer (again only

the margin of the anal segment); the legs and prolegs all short and rather

weak ; the transverse section of body nearly circular except the anal segment

which is flattened, long semi-circular in shape and conspicuous because of its

clothing of tubercles and hairs; segment 2 white in its anterior half but with

no black collar now; the glaucous green colouration of the whole body punctated

with very numerous darker green dots except on ventrum and legs and anal

segment; segment 13 about half the length of segment 12. Spiracles light

yellowish; of segment 12 slightly larger, those of segment 2 much larger ;

all somewhat prominent; the spiracles are very small as a matter of fact

and are all connected by a straight, thin, subspiracular, yellowish tracheal line

showing through the skin. Colour glaucous-green with the dots and margins

and parallel line mentioned above darker green; a dark, dorsal, thin band

greenish-purplish, a subspiracular, thin tracheal line yellowish; the anal segment

yellowish-white set with numerous brown, small tubercles; L: 19mm.; B:

2.5 mm.

When full grown the shape is still rather long and slight, the front segments

somewhat flanged along the dorsoventral margin. The head is very broadly

oval with a very slight, triangular, narrow sinus on vertex, the surface rather

strongly, irregularly cellular-rugose and covered with a clothing of very minute,

accumbent, rather sparsely disposed, fine hairs; the clypeus is longly triangular,

about half the height of the face; the false clypeus outside it much larger,

triangular, nearly three-quarters the height of face; the labrum is very short

but broader slightly than long; the ligula is rather large, with a large, deep,

triangular sinus; both it and labrum red-brown, shining, like the surface of

the face and head generally; the antennal joints the same colour, the second

lighter than the basal one; the eyes are black, the first four in a curve, all

close together, the two lower ones equal in size, larger than the two upper ;

colour of head generally brown-orange, lighter upwards, the clypeus, false

clypeus and a narrow band down from vertex on each side of dorsal line

somewhat lighter. Surface of larva is dull, smooth except for a covering of

extremely minute, erect, light, fine hairs; that of the anal segment similar to

the last stage; the segment margins well marked, the impressed, thin lines

parallel to the hinder margins (immediately in front of them that is) also well

marked; segment 13 about half the length of 12; segment 2 smooth and

white; the legs and prolegs short and stout. Spiracles similar to last stage,

very small, rather narrowly oval, prominent, light yellowish; those of segment

12 nearly twice the size, those of segment 2 much larger and broader oval.

Colour olive-green, the segment-margins showing thinly darker and covered

with darker green small spots all over the body, the whole except segments 2

and 14 with a rose flush or tinge except ventrally; segment 2 white, segment

14 whitish or lightish. L: about 25mm.; B: 5mm. at middle.

Under the lens there are some small, oval, glassy-looking, tubercie-like dots

here and there on each segment which do not seem to coincide with the bases

of the principal subdorsal, dorsolateral, spiracular hairs that larve generally

possess—here these hairs are in no way longer or stronger than any others.

Pupa.—This is in no way out of the ordinary in shape except that it is

somewhat slight; the head is square, rounded in front with a central, dorsal

depression ; the surface crinkled all over; the dorsal constriction at segment 5

slight; lateral outline parallel from the shoulders to end of wings, then the

body gradually decreasing in diameter to the stout, square cremaster which is

truncated at end with a short, sharp point at each corner that diverge slightly

backwards; this cremaster with the perpendicular sides at base hollowed out

and with strong, dorsal extensor ridges on each side with the dorsum between

them concave from front margin to end; the whole of the hinder extremity of

the cremaster is set with a dense fringe of longish, strong, hooked shafts

between the two points. Surface smooth, shining and pitted all over on

abdomen, rather coarsely wrinkled on head and segment 2. Sphiracles of

segment 2 indicated by a very conspicuous, large, dark-brown, ear-shaped,

slightly-raised, somewhat funnel-shaped expansion on edge of thorax; the other

(658 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

spiracles are light-brown, lcngly-oval, each with a small, dark-brown line

above and in front of it. Colour dirty brownish-soiled, subtranslucent white ;

end of cremaster dark-brown, the cremaster itself thin-translucent ; a subdorsal,

small, brown spot on each segment. L: 15.5mm.; B: 3.125 mm.

Habits.—The larva makes a cylindrical cell by joining the edges

of a blade of grass together at the point, either underneath or

above and eats away the part of the leaf above the cell towards the

stalk, leaving nothing but the midrib by which the cell hangs

free; it clothes the inside with silk, thickened into steps along the

sides and excretes a cereous, white powder at the end of the last

stage when about to pupate. It makes cells as required to suit

ifs increasing growth and, often, the old ones are found lying on

the soil below. The pupal cell fits the chrysalis tightly and is

closed at end by a little piece as a lid to prevent the ingress of

enemies. ‘This cell is, as often as not, cut loose and falls to the

ground before the change takes place—it is then often more or less

withered-looking and very inconspicuous amongst the lower dead

blades of the grasses lying about. The pupa is attached inside by

a string round the middie and by the tail; the body-string is jet-

black. The butterflies frequent the hills of the Kanara District

on the Western Ghats where the rainfall is anything from 150 in.

to 400 in. It is very like Taractrocera ceramas in its habits, keep-

ing close to the ground amongst the herbage, generally along the

sides of paths and edges of clearings or openings in the jungle.

t does not go into large openings like fields of paddy or extensive

village sites. It flies somewhat weakly and never for long at a

time; rests with its wings closed over the back either on the

ground or on a grass-stem or leaf, etc., near the ground and is

not fond of too much sun. In the monsoon months it is not an

uncommon insect in Kanara above 1,000 ft. level but is rarely

seen in the dry months. Its habitat is ‘Kanara, S. India’ accord-

ing to Swinhoe and he remarks that it is ‘A good and distinct

species. The types in coll. Elwes came from North Kanara. We

have both sexes from Karwar where Davidson, Bell and Aitken

bred it. The larva and pupa now figured are from Davidson’s

original drawings; Hampson records it from the Nilgiris.’ But,

evidently Swinhoe does not believe the Nilgiri record. The larva

feeds upon the soft grasses of the shady jungles.

Genus 29.—CupPITHA.

Imago.—Rather of the styie of Telicuta in the matter of pattern above; but

a slenderer insect. Underneath the wings are pure sulphur-yellow except for

the whole cell and outer area below vein 2 in a large triangular patch to tornus

which is black on the forewing and the interspace 1b on the hindwing which

is black in a long triangle with its base on the outer margin, coming to a

point at base of wing.

Antenne.—Abkout half as long as the costa of forewing; club moderate with

a pointed, abrupt crook rather longer than its breadth.

Palpi.—Second joint densely scaled; third joint minute, porrect.

Hind tibie.—Very slightly fringed with hair and with two pairs of spurs.

Forewing.—Vein 12 reaches costa before end of cell; cell about two-thirds

length of costa; discocellulars nearly erect, upper minute, lower much shorter

than middle, vein 5 strong from below the middle or junction of middle and

lower; 3 emitted about one-eighth before end of cell, 2 from middle; costa

arched at base, then nearly straight to apex; apex subacute; outer margin

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 688

convex about equal to inner margin. In the male there is a short tuft of hair

attached to the underside close to the origin of vein 1.

_ Hindwing.—Vein 7 a little before upper end of cell; discocellulars very

faint, vein 5 absent; veins 2, 3, 4 equidistant from each other, close together ;

in the male there is a glandular patch convex on the underside at the origin

of vein 2 distorting the lower margin of the cell and altering the relative

positions of veins 2, 3; costa highly arched at the base, then nearly straight to

apex which is rounded though well pronounced; outer margin evenly convex,

hinder angle also pronounced.

Egg, Larva, pupa, habits.—See below as there is cnly a single species in

the genus.

222. Cupitha purreea (M.).—Male. Upperside black-brown with gamboge-

yellow markings. Forewing with the costal space above vein 12, reaching

the middle of costal length and ending pointedly, leaving the costa very

narrowly brown, gamboge-yellow; also a thin line from base running along the

upperside of vein 1 to broaden at middle of interspace 1 into a trapeze-shaped

spot filling the spaces up to vein 2, its inner edge slanting up to strike the vein

well after its junction with cell, its outer edge straight; this spot being the

basal portion of an outwardly oblique band ending narrow about the middle

of vein 5, then turning up at right angles towards costa to fill interspace 5

as far up as 6 with a spot that is rather broader than the end of the band it

arises from; the band consisting of one large, quadrate spot in interspace 2,

its outer edge finishing somewhat further out than the lower trapeze-shaped

one, followed by (the vein separating them even is yellow) a smaller spot filling

the base of interspace 3 ani reaching out a bit beyond the one below it,

finishing with a somewhat oblique-edge spot in 4, the last one of the

straight part of band; besides this there is a quadrate spot in the lower half

of the end of cell joined on to the band by the yellow vein between the bases

of veins 2 and 3 and separated from the outer end of band in interspace 4

by an interval of ground colour as large as itself; this yellow band-area has

also a slightly less well-defined continuation below vein 1 to base of wing

along the inner margin; there is a little long, decumbent, yellow hair covering

under vein 1 towards base of wing; the hair-fringe along inner margin is

very slight. Hindwing with a transverse band of nearly even width straight

across the wing consisting of the basal half of interspace 2 all but the extreme

base, continued across interspaces 3, 4, 5 and in the other direction into

interspace 1b; the cell has a few decumbent, yellow hairs in it and there

is a thick fringe of it in interspace la; the very base of wing is bare of

scales and shining owing to the ‘tympanum’ of the sex-mark. The transverse,

yellow band is very obscurely continued upwards from interspace 4 to costal

border—-but this is only indicated. Underside: pure gamboge-yellow. Forewing

with the whole base of the wing black in the cell to nearly its end, extending

downwards across the base of interspace 2, then obliquely inwards; the disco-

cellular veins diffuse-brown (very faint sometimes) and a large black patch

just before tornal angle in interspace 1, expanding upwards in a triangle to

the middle of interspace 3. Hindwing with interspace la black except, some-

times, it is yellow to nearly half way out from base, the veins la and 1b,

however, always edged black along the yellow. Antennze are black above

except the extreme tip of club which is brown-red; below, the shaft is yellow

touched with black at the joints, the club black with the tip more longly red; the

tip is short and bent back at less than a right angle. Palpi with the small,

conical third joint black, the second black above but the hairs surrounding

the third yellow; below gamboge-yellow. Thorax and head above yellow, below

paler; the legs with tibia and tarsus orange-yellow as well as the coxa of

the hind legs—this is nearly red. Abdomen black above and below, banded

with yellow. The sex-mark is convex below, flattened-convex above, covered

with scales below, bare and grey above and surrounded by a bare, shining

space.—Female like the male, the gamboge-yellow band somewhat narrower.

Expanse 27-30 mm. .

Egg.—The egg is in shape a depressed hemisphere or limpet. The surface

is divided into sections by, first, a large apical annulus from which 14 thin,

absolutely regular, yellow meridions run to base; there are none inside the

ring in the very centre of which is situated the micropyle; the ring is twice

as broad and twice as high as the meridions, but all are composed of the

same yellow, waxy-looking, pitted substance. Colour of egg is deep brown-red,

the meridions and ring yellow. B: 1.mm.; H: 0.8 mm.

660 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Larva.—The shape is somewhat like that of Padraona dara; the body held

somewhat hunched in segments 3-5; the head drawn in, the mouth stretched

forward; the anal end lying flat on the surface as also the ventrum. The

head is more or less heart-shaped, the vertex-sinus very small and shallow,

the face only moderately convex; the surface rough-reticulate, covered by an

efflorescence of waxy little rough balls of white which look like scales to the

eye; the true clypeus small, triangular, with the apex acute, about one-third

the height of face, higher than broad; the false clypeus a broad, outwardly

convex strip outside it, also triangular with the apex acute reaching more than

half-way up face; the labrum a transverse curved (upwards) piece; the ligula

small, ikidney-shaped, both it and the labrum yellowish, shining; the ligula

shortly haired along front margin; antennal basal joints both red-brown in

colour; the mandibles red-brown, toothless; the eyes, four top ones in a

strong curve, the two uppermost closer together than 3, 4; 6th in a straight

line with 3, 4 but further removed from 4 than 4 is from 3, the fifth making

an equilateral triangle with 5, 6 and behind them: all black; colour of head

dark red-brown overlaid with white scales (see above); the hinder margin

black; segment 2 occupied from spiracle to spiracle by a broad, chitinized,

red-brown collar taking up most of the length of the segment, the whole

segment much narrower than head. Surface of body covered with minute,

short, white, erect broad-topped hairs about the same length as the spiracles

except in the spiracular region including the margin of anal flap where they

are longer but similar; segment-margins distinct; legs and prolegs_ short;

anal flap trapeze-shaped, the hinder margin long, at least two-thirds the

front margin, rounded as well as the extreme angles, the central portion of

segment dorsally convex, sloping steeply to front margin leaving the lateral

parts of the segment all round as a sort of flange; segment 13 over one-third

length of 12 with the hinder margin very slightly slanting on each side

backwards so that the segment is longest in the dorsal line; segment 14 equal

in length to 12; all the segments lined transversely in the usual way with

fine lines, all parallel to each other, 6 or 7 from hinder margin forwards on

each segment. Spiracles small, very light-yellow, oval, those of segments 2,

12 double the size. Colour really green, the skin thin and the trachez visible

beneath ;. but seemingly yellow from the fact that each little hair rises from a

diffuse, small, more or less circular spot or blotch more opaque than the general

skin; a dark-green, dorsal line turning to maroon from segment 11 to anal

end, from segment 3 to end; the front and hinder margins of segment 13 also

more or less maroon with a slight suffusion of that colour over the whole of

that segment as well as on the extreme dorsal part of 14. L: 25mm.;

B: 4mm. Nene

Pupa.—Is of normal shape; fore-end square, blunt; hinder end pointed;

fattest: in middle; head and segment 2 forming a quadrate piece; thorax stout,

clearly separated from segment 2, convex, a little broader than segment 2 and

about the same breadth as abdomen at segment 8; the body gradually decreasing

in diameter to anal end; cremaster not longer than broad, blunt-ended,

decreasing in width backwards (to end), thin between the dorsal and ventral

surfaces with two extensor-ridges dorsally, separated by the blunt end of

cremaster and diverging slightly forwards; segment 13 about as long as

cremaster, also as long as segment 12 which is only slightly shorter than 11;

segments 4, 5 co-equal and less than segments 6, 7 in length; the hinder

margin of thorax a quarter-circle curve meeting the wings in a very deep,

broadly rounded angle of 90°, thorax as long as segments 4, 5, 6 together, only

very slightly humped, the line joining the hinder and front margins. (dorsal)

at an angle of 30° to the Jongitudinal axis of pupa, the front margin quite

straight; segment 2 about as long as segment 4 in the dorsal line, the

front margin straight, the dorsal line inclined at an angle of 45° to longitudinal

axis; the vertex of head fairly broad between the antennal bases, in the same

plane as segment 2, with a sub-dorsal lowly convex, circular ‘boss’ near hinder

margin, covered with rather long, erect, thick-topped hairs; the vertex in

a plane at right angles to longitudinal axis with a central, more pronounced

boss than that on the vertex, this boss flattened somewhat dorsally, also

covered with hair of the same length as the other; proboscis reaching free

to end of segment 10, the antennz not reaching ends of wings. Surface

shiny-corrugated irregularly under a strong lens, nearly smooth to the eye;

clothed with erect, light, soft hairs with thickened tops which are about

0.17 mm. in length where they are shortest; there is a tuft of longer hairs—

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 66\

as on the bosses on the head,—subdorsally on segment 2 also, these longer

hairs all being about 0.5mm. in length. Spiracles of segment 2 indicated by

a large, oval, convex, raised, dull orange expansion which is 0.55 mm. X0.25 mm. ;

the other spiracies are small and oblong, 0.175 mm.x0.05 mm., light yellow,

slightly raised. Colour is a light olive-green; often covered over with a cereous,

white powder.

Habits.—-The egg is laid in a cool part of the forest, often in

a nalla-bed or near water; always single and on top of a leaf. The

young larva makes a cell by turning over a small, oblong piece

from the edge onto the top, making a cylinder out of it by

joining the edge to the leaf-surface and it clothes the inside densely

with silk; one end of the cylinder is closed by a small piece turned

up from the free margin of leaf and held perpendicular by silks.

Similar cells are made as required; later on of course larger; at

the last moult the larva eats through the leaf on both sides of the

midrib and perpendicularly to it from the edge and slightly into

the substance of the midrib so that the part of the leaf beyond the

cut hangs down; the edges of this hanging portion are then joined

together, the portion withers and gets quite hard and shrivels—all

but the well-coated inside tube along the midrib in which the larva

lives; the opening is next the green portion of the leaf. Inside this

celi it changes to the pupa. It only feeds at night and is very shy

disliking the light; the elongate celi is often fastened to the under-

side of the leaf up against the green part to protect it the better

from the sun and the rain. Not much is known about the habits

of the imago as it is not a common insect and the flight is extremely

rapid. It has been seen on the crest of the ghat in Kanara sitting

on the top of a leaf once low down, but only for an instant; it

has not often been caught on the wing; only once below the

ghats at sea-level; the larvae, however, are not uncommon above

ghats in the semi-evergreen jungles at about 2,000 ft. on the

leaves of Combretum acne, Roxb. Terminalia belerica, Roxb.

and Terminalia paniculata, Roth., both of the family Combretacece ;

once, also, on Ehretia levis, Roxb. (Boraginacee). The distribu-

tion is mentioned as Sikkim, Assam, S. India, Burma, Andamans,

Java, Nias, Philippines.

Sub-family (8).—Baoriné.

This sub-famuly contains the genera Baoris, Gegenes and Iton.

The last does not concern these papers. They are all butterflies

that are most extraordinarily alike, mostly medium-sized, nearly

all the same brown colour on the upperside with subapical dots and

discal semihyaline-white spots on the forewing. The first genus is

a very large one and it may be divided from Gegenes as under :—

A. Antenna: with the terminal crook minute, never as long as

the width of club. : : ‘ . Gegenes,

Bb. Antennz: with the terminal crook short, as Jong as, or

slightly longer than the width of club ; . Baorts.

Gegenes only contains two species in British India and one in ‘Hainan. The

ones in India are called nostradamas from the N. W. Himalayas, extending

to Central Asia, S. Europe and N. Africa; and karsana from Burma, Western

India, Sind, Baluchistan, Afghanistan. Baoris contains twenty-five species not

occurring in British India with twenty-nine that do—or a total of 54 species.

Yo deal with these as a single genus evidently appeared somewhat difficult, for

at various times they have been divided into sub-genera called Baoris, Parnara

662 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

and Chapra. Swinhoe makes use of these and another, Caltoris. They can be

distinguished as below :—

A. Antennz: with the club short, stout.

(a) Forewing: male with a linear, discal, white stigma Chapra, M.

(b) Forewing: male without such stigma ; . ,Parnara, M,

B. Antenne: with the club comparatively elongate.

(a) Hindwing: male with a tutt of long hairs on the

upper side attached along the upper margin of

cell and directed downwards across the cell Baoris, M.

(b) Hindwing: male without any such tuft . 5 . Cailtoris, Swinh.

Imago.—Always of some shade of dark-brown above and below with the

forewing nearly always marixed with hyaline-white spots, three sub-apical, often

two at the end of cell, and two or three on the disc or even more; the hindwing

very generally immaculate, at the most with (except in Jton where there is a

large, white patch) some small semi-hyaline-white dots. The underside of fore-

wing generally paler than on the upperside; the hindwing often suffused grey

or green or yellow and with some discal dot-spots.

Antenne.—Short, about half the length of the costa of forewing or even shorter ;

club moderate or short and stout with a short, sometimes very short, terminal costa.

Palpi.—Second joint densely scaled; third very small, often concealed.

Hind tibie.—With two pairs of spurs.

Forewing.—Vein 12 reaches costa before end of cell; cell less than two-

thirds the length of costa; upper discocellular minute, distinct, outwardly

oblique (in Iton appearing like a straight continuation of end of cell), the

lower much the shorter; 5 consequently arising close to lower end of cell,

curving gently up to get into position between 4 and 6; vein 3 from -near

lower end of cell, 2 from close to it; costa slightly arched; apex subacute ;

outer margin convex, about as long as the hinder margin; tornal angle blunt.

Hindwing.—Vein 7 from before end of cell; discocellulars outwardly oblique,

faint; 5 absent; 3 from close to end ot cell; 4 also close to 3.

Egg.—In shape it is a high dome standing on a very narrow, shelving base.

Surface only slightly shining and quite smooth even under a high-power lens ;

under the microscope there are indications of some, sometimes very many,

meridional ribs on the basal band but they are extremely obscure. Colour

from very light-green to very pale honey-yellow when first laid; turning a

kind of dull bone-colour later.

Larva.—Nearly always white, subcylindrical in shape, with a broadly-rounded

anal end that lies flat on the surface; flattest just before middle, the neck

rarely as broad as half the breadth of body at middle; the head always very

much broader and higher than neck, more or less semielliptical in shape, either

broad or narrower at apex, hardly bilobed, the surface somewhat shining,

minutely cellular-rugose and covered with minute, appressed hairs that do not

hide the sculpture or the colour. Surface of body dull, covered with extremely

minute, fine, erect, light hairs all over, these rather longer round the free

margin of anal segment; segments well marked though never constricted in

the least at margins, with superficial, impressed lines that are transverse and

5 or 6 in number, on the hitder half of every segment. Spiracles of segments

2, 12 much larger than others. Colour always a semi-translucent looking light

grass-green all over with the cremaster a bit whiter and the wings the same after

a few days; always with a powdering of the cereous-white powder excreted

just before the change to pupa.

Habits.—The eggs are always laid on the underside of a bamboo

or grass leaf or blade; the little larva eats the shell generally

completely for a first meal; then makes a cell by drawing together

the edges of the leaf at tip over the undersides, often very laxly.

When it is full grown it does the same by the whole leaf but even

more laxly still, leaving it more or less quite open, just bent into

a half-cylinder tube in which it lies, coating the bed with carpet

of silk. It finally pupates in such a half-tube made with a couple

of ropes of silk to keep the leaf bent, the inside carpeted, the pad

for attachment of the cremaster not extremely thick with a simple

rope across it to the middle of which the hooks of the cremaster

are fixed; the body of the pupa also has a string round it. The

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 663

growth of the caterpiller is normal in the way of time; the pupal

stage lasts about ten days but may be prolonged for some days.

The butterflies are powerful fliers and some of them at least are

characteristic of the Plains of India though even these are always

to be found in the jungles and hills as well. Only Gegenes is

purely an insect of the dry, arid places, the deserts chiefly.

Taking the divisions Baoris, Caltoris, Parnara and Chapra, the

following are the respective insects that occur in British India

including Burma, Ceylon, etc. :—

*Baoris farrt (M.), from Sikkim, Assam, Bengal, Kanara

(Bombay), Ceyion and Burma and the Andamans.

Baoris unicolor (M.), from Sikkim and Assam.

*Caltoris kumara (M.), from S. India, Ceylon.

*Caltoris seriata (M.), from S. India, Ceylon.

Caltoris aurociliata (El. and Edw.), from Sikkim.

Caltoris plebeia (de N.), from India, Burma.

Caltoris tulsi (de N.), from Sikkim, Assam.

Caltoris austeni (M.), from Sikkim, Assam, Burma, China.

Caltoris onchisa, Swinh., from Assam.

Caltoris cahira (M.), from the Andamans and Nikobars.

Caltoris moolata (M.), from Burma, Perak, Malay and Archi-

pelago, Tonkin.

Caltoris pagana (de N.), from Sikkim, Assam, Burma, Borneo,

Sumatra.

*Caltoris conjuncta (Herrich-Scheffer), from India, Ceylon,

Hongkong, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago.

Caltoris assamensis (W.—M. and de N.), from N. W. Hima-

layas, Sikkim, Assam, Burma, Hongkong, Tonkin.

Caltoris (?) wma (de N.), from the Karen Hills, Burma.

Caltoris eltola (Hewits.), from N.W. Himalayas, Sikkim,

Assam, Chin Hills, China.

Caltoris discreta (El. and Edw.), from Assam, Sikkim, Burma.

Caltoris contigua (Mabille), from India, Burma, Malay Penin-

sula and Archipelago, Hongkong, Tonkin.

*Caltoris colaca (M.), from Sikkim, Assam, S. India, Burma,

Ceylon, Andamans, China, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago.

Caltoris bevani (M.‘, from India and Burma.

*Chapra mathias (F.), from India, Ceylon, Burma, China,

Japan, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago.

Chapra midea (Walker), from Turkey, Egypt, Sind, Kutch,

Western India.

*Chapra subochracea (M.), from India.

Chapra brunnea (Snellen), from Java, Sumatra, Burma, Sik-

kim: S. India.

Chapra sinensis (Mabille), from India, China.

*Parnara canaraica (M.), from Kanara, S. India.

Parnara guttata (Bremer and Grey), from N. W. Himalayas,

Sikkim, Assam, China, Japan, Corea.

*Parnara bada (M.)\, from India, Ceylon, Burma, Formosa,

Hongkong, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago.

Parnara vaika (Pleetz), from S. India.

Parnara flexilis (Swinh.), from Poona.

664 °. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXII

A most difficult lot to deal with and Swinhoe has made a valiant

effort to unravel them in Lepidoptera Indica, pages 294 to 332 with

plates 825 to &34. It will have to stand at that until all the stages

of the insects have been worked out and properly studied. The

species marked with an asterisk (*) are those that will be treated

below. Notes will be made about others that may seem to occur

within the Plains of India. Caltoris seriata is certainly a different

species to kumara although Swinhoe considers them, seemingly,

to be one and the same. Davidson, Bell and Aitken in their papers

in this Journal in 1897 called what is really seriata by the name

of kumara (and even called it philippina) while what is really now

kumara they called plebeia. There is no plebeia in N. Kanara District

in the Bombay Presidency. It is an easily recognized species be-

cause of the presence of ‘a long tuft of greyish hairs on the hinder

margin of the forewing before the middle, curling upwards and out-

wards and lying flat against the wing’ (Lepidoptera Indica, vol. x,

p. 302).

| Genus 30.—Baoris

Subgenus—Baoris

Imago.—Of large size comparatively. Very rapid in flight, frequenting shady

jungles in the hills where there is heavy rainfall.

Antenne.—With the club comparatively elongate, the terminal crook, short,

as long as, or slightly longer than the width of the club.

Palpi, Hind tibie.—As for subfamily.

Forewing.—Immaculate or with semihyaline spots. Venation as for sub-

family. In the male, on the underside, there is large, silvery space in the

middle of the underside stretching from the inner margin to vein 2 and bottom

of cell with a longitudinally-oval patch of furry dark-brown scales in the

middle of it on each side of vein 1, this black patch 2mm. by 1mm. while the

silvery space is 5mm. long by over 4mm. broad.

Hindwing.—Immaculate. Venation as in subfamily. On the upperside, in

the male there is a 5 mm.-long tuft of dark-brown hairs growing down and

outwards from the upper margin of cell and covering the whole of the cell as

also a furry patch of blackish scales within it that practically fills it.

Egg, larva, pupa, habits.—As for the subfamily.

223. Baoris farri (M.).—Male. Upperside dark violet-brown with bronzy tint.

Forewing: seven or eight white, semihyaline spots: two near end of cell,

well-separated, the lower slightly inwards touching the lower margin; three

subapical, the largest half the size of the lower cell-spot, in interspaces 6, 7, 8

in an outwardly-oblique curve, the uppermost a mere dot and in the exact middle

of interspace; also an inwardly-oblique series, the uppermost in interspace 4

at the middle of that interspace near vein 5, a dot; the second, quadrate and

larger than either of the cell-spots, just before the middle of interspace 3 with

the lowest inwards, well out from base of interspace 2, largest, sometimes

trapeze-shaped and sometimes also excavated on the outer edge. Some decumbent,

brown hairs in interspace 1 from base to about end of cell and a slight fringe of

hairs along inner margin. Hindwing immaculate; the sex-tuft blackish-brown

with the base pale; a fringe of longish, brown hairs all along vein 1b nearly

to outer margin, spreading into interspaces 1b and la above and below the

vein. Underside paler than upperside, slightly ochreous, the marking the

same. Forewing with the middle area silvery from and over the inner margin

with the oval, dark, furry space or spot in the middle of the silvery area;

some longish, decumbent, brown hairs from upper margin of cell directed down

over upper half of cell-area. Hindwing immaculate, the base of interspace la

pale.—Female. Like the male but the spots, larger, that in interspace 2 usually

somewhat produced outwards along vein 2. Besides this there is always a

smallish spot about the size of the cell-spot above and touching the middle of

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 665

vein 1 and there may be a tiny dot in interspace 1 just below the larger spot of

interspace 2 and, even, an extra spot above the subapical three in interspace 9.

Cilia very pale-brown with base somewhat darker, whiter near the tornal angle

on the forewing upperside; of the hindwing upperside similar; underneath

brown on forewing, whitish in the hindwing. Antennz black, whitish on the

underside with black specks at each joint; base of club whitish below, the tip

rather longly reddish. Palpi, head and body more or less concolorous with

wings above, the thorax with a grey-greenish tinge on dorsum, the abdomen

with the tip ochreous; below concolorous with wings but pectus greyish, palpi

ochreous at base; legs with the ends of tarsi ferruginous-tinged, the rest brown.

Expanse 45 mm. or less.

In a lot of the specimens bred in North Kanara, Bombay, the males have a

spot also just above the middle of vein 1 on the upperside of the forewing

but, when present, it is always tiny and the underside of the female forewing

shows this spot always blurred though very little diffused on the somewhat

pale background which is never silvery as in the male.

Egg.—From memory, no description having been kept, this was very much

like any of the others of the baorine group; high-dome-shaped; the surface

smooth, rather dull and without sculpture, the colour of a whitish dead bone.

Larva.—The shape is that of Fig. 8 on the uncoloured Plate II at the

commencement of these papers, the larva there depicted being that of Baoris

(Caltoris) conjuncta, Herrich-Scheffer. The body is thickest in the middle,

evenly thinning to both ends, more to the rather thin neck than to the other

end; as a matter of fact it thins very little in lateral outline to the broadly-

rounded, somewhat flattened anal segment; the claspers and prolegs are short,

kept well under the body, the ventrum is flattened: the anal segment is broadly

semi-circular, slightly thickened round the free margin, the anterior moiety

transversely convex with the dorsal slope about 20° to the longitudinal axis

of body and very slightly constricted at the front margin; head much broader

and higher than segment 2, rather longly semi-circular in shape with a slightly

depressed, dorsal line over vertex to apex of clypeus, the face somewhat convex ;

the surface of the head superficially cellular-rugose, covered with short, fine.

whitish hairs that are all erect and hardly as long even as half the breadth of

clvpeus, some about the mouth-opening, especially below, double that length ;

the true clypeus is about half the height of face and rather under one and a

half times as high as broad, the apex acute; the lateral borders thinly black

with a thicker, dorsal, black line in the middle that does not quite reach the

apex from base; the false clypeus outside it reaches two-thirds the height of

the face and has the apex acute, a strip on each side of true clypeus not as

broad as one-quarter the breadth of true clypeus-base, starting from the very

corner of the true clypeus-base and broadening out somewhat convexly-outwards

to middle, then again converging towards dorsal line, this false clypeus also

thinly black-bordered with its dorsal line black too; labrum one-third of

the length of true clypeus by four times as broad as long, somewhat

curved concavely forwards, transparent-glassy with the middle of front margin

brownish; ligula kidney-shaped, about the same length as labrum and_ nearly

as broad but bent strongly in the longitudinal direction, the sinus on the front

shallow, transparent-glassy showing the black ends of mandibles through as

a dark, dorsal line; antennal, basal joint white, third joint orange or reddish ;

mandibles strong, light-rusty with rather hroadlv black ends, the cutting-edges

absolutely entire; the eyes arranged with 1 to 4 in a very slight curve, all of

equal size and spaced a good eye-diameter from each other equally, number 6

in a straight line with 3, 4 and nearly four diameters further down, 5 behind.

three eye-diameters from 4 and rather less than that from number 6, all

slightly prominent, glassy surrounded thinly blackish; colour of head whitish

with a broad, black band separating the face from the cheeks on each side

meeting on vertex, including the eyes and with a branch running from vertex

down the dorsal line of face to the apex of false clypeus, then very thin to

apex of true clypeus and down the same line thicker to base of true clypeus,

sometimes this line in true clypeus somewhat interrupted near apex; both the

false and true clypeus thinly outlined black. Surface of body covered with

minute, erect, soft, white hairs that are longer round the free margin of

anal flap; the usual impressed, fine, transverse lines, six in number, in front

of hinder margin of each segment to about half the length of the segment

forwards; there is a curious, low, circular, concave tubercle under each spiracle

with some longer hairs on it. Spiracles whitish, oval, flush, rather small:

666 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

those of segments 2, 12 twice as large as any of the rest. Colour of body

white with a greenish tinge; spotted or dotted all over with green dots; the

impressed, transverse line region tinged with yellow on each segment; ventrum

whitish with a slight blue-green tinge. L: 44mm.; B: 6mm. just before

the middle.

Pupa.—This is the shape of Figure 3a on Plate I1; it is circular in transverse

section from shoulders to segment 10 and hardly different in diameter between

those points; after segment 10 it narrows quickly to the 3.0 mm.-long, spatulate

cremaster that is 6X as long as segment 13 and nearly 2x as long as 12

(12 is 1.8mm.; 13 is 0.4mm. long); the cremaster is curved downwards and

the whole of the dorsum in deeply channelled out from end to end, the channel

even continued forwards onto 13 leaving to decreasingly broad margins on

the cremaster outside—the cremaster is 2.2mm. broad at base (front margin)

and 0.4mm. just before end, the channel is 0.8mm. broad at middle, the

margin left on each side 0.8 mm. broad at base, about 0.2 mm. just before end ;

the head-point is 2.4mm. wide just before eyes and 0.4mm. at end, being

3.4mm. long; the dorsal slope of thorax and segment 2 is about 30° to the

Icngitudinal axis; segment 2 is a transversely-oblong piece about the same

length as 12, thorax is as long as 4+5-+6 together, 4=5, segment 6=4+5=

7=8=9=10=11; the hinder margin of thorax is a curve between a quarter

circle and a semi-circle meeting the wings in a deep, somewhat broadly-rounded

angle of 90°; the shoulders are quite evenly rounded, not prominent; the

head has the eyes not prominent, the clypeus triangular, the ligula small,

diamond-shaped, the proboscis produced beyond the end of wings to the end

of the cremaster or nearly; the mid legs reach to two-thirds the length of wings,

the forelegs to about half the length of wings. Surface of pupa shining and

minutely, irregularly, superficially wrinkled transversely; besides the surface

except wings is covered with minute erect hairs of 0.05 mm. in length and

spaced rather more than their own length; the head-snout is wrinkled rather

more strongly on the cylindrical distal half than any other part. Spiracles

of segment 2 indicated by a very slight production forwards in a lobe of the

front margin of segment 3, this lobe being dirty-whitish; the other spiracles

are about 0.3mm. long by 0.1 mm. wide and are pointed ovals, flush with the

surface and light-yellowish in colour; beneath each spiracle there is a perfectly

circular, shining space or spot, a couple of spiracle-lengths off ‘and in front

that is 0.1 mm. in diameter. Colour of pupa is a watery grass-green, powdered

more or less with white waxy powder excreted by the larva, with a darker-

green dorsal band; cremaster transparent-glassy. L: 35mm.; B: 6mm.

Habits.-—The little egg-larva has a black head. It lives in a cell

made at the side of a leaf by turning over, at first, a little oblong

piece onto the top and fastening its edge and one end, making a

little sylindrical tube; when grown large it makes a cell by joining

the edges of a leaf more or less firmly coating the inside of it with

silk. Pupation takes place on the underside of a leaf, the larve

sitting along the midrib and drawing the edges together only very

slightly, never joining them, with two threads, one in front, the

other behind; in this hollow pupation takes place quite in the open

to speak and the pupa is attached by the tail and a tight bedy-band ;

the hollow is powdered with white powder that the caterpillar excretes

when about to pupate from glands situated on the sides of segments

4 to 1l—probably from the little tubercle-bodies noticed in the

description of the larva, subsisting over into the pupal state as

little circular, shining, 0.1 mm.-wide spots (noticed above). The

butterfly is found on the Western Ghats in Kanara, in heavy jungle

where bamboos flourish and it has never been seen in open country.

It flies powerfully and high; rests often on bamboo-leaves by paths

in the early morning, sitting with its wings closed over the back

on the top of a leaf; and is then sluggish because probably some-

what numbed from the cold of the night. Larve have been

obtained close to the sea on the hills as well as further inland and

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 663

above the Ghats. The foodplant of the larva is bamboo. The

first were on a large-leafed species calied Ochlandra_ tacboti,

Brandis; but, afterwards, many were obtained also on Bambusa

arundinace, the common large species in Southern India. Swinhoe

gives the habitat as Sikkim, Assam, Bengal, Kanara, Ceylon, Anda-

mans, Burma. He says further that :—‘The types (females) are from

Calcutta. and Cherrapunji; Elwes records it from the Naga Hulls,

Sikkim at 5,000’ and Tavoy; Watson from the Chin Hills and

Tilian Yaw; Manders from the Shan States. The type of pemicii-

lata is from Ceylon, of scopulifera from the Andamans; of sikkima

from Sikkim.’ (Lepidoptera Indica, p. 299--on PI. 825 the butter-

flles are depicted in Figures 1 to ld, the larva and pupa in le).

Sub-genus—Caltoris, Swinh.

224. Baoris (Caltoris) kumara, (M.).—Male. Upperside dark olive-brown.

Forewing with six semihyaline-white spots in a continuous series, commencing

with two (or three) subapical in the usual curve and mere dots, the three

discal ones in interspaces 4, 3, 2 inwardly-oblique, the uppermost a mere

dot, the lowest about 1 mm. square, the outer edge generally sloping outwards ;

and a small, blurred dot or spot, sometimes absent at the middle of vein 1,

just touching it above. A powdering of yellow hair-scales on costa above vein 12

and covering the whole cell; some longish, decumbent, ochreous hairs below the

cell from base of interspace 1 and out in the upper half of it as far as end

of cell; a dense covering of similar hairs in the space between inner margin

and vein 1 to well beyond the middle of margin and a fringe of short hairs

along the inner margin. Hindwing immaculate; a covering of decumbent, dark-

brown, long hairs in upper part of cell and out to outer margin with lighter-

brown, ochreous-tinged hairs on the rest of wing, those along vein la very

dense. Underside somewhat paler, ochreous-tinted. Forewing with the area

from base including the cell, down to inner margin and out to the outer margin

at tornus and inside a line joining tornus to the uppermost of the three discal

spots in interspace 4 blackish with the spot on vein 1 distinct, very much

larger than on upperside but blurred with, sometimes, a pale indication of

another above it. Hindwing uniform, the base of interspace la pale.—Female.

Like the male but paler, the hairs on the uppersides of wings more ochreous ;

often, on forewing, a subhyaline-white dot-spot just under the outer half of

the lowest discal spot, in interspace 1 not quite touching vein 2. On the

underside this little spot is quite large and blurred, diffused and the spot

below it is generally very much larger and longly diffused-pale inwards; on

the hindwing underside there is a white dot always towards the base of inter-

space 2, never, apparently, present in the male. Cilia above and below on

both wings usually very pale-yeliowish, sometimes yellower. Antennz black,

the end of shaft and base of club beneath yellowish; there are some yellow

specks at joints beneath; the tip of the club is very dusky-velvety (instead of,

as in most skippers, reddish). Palpi brown above (not visible), ochreous strongly

mixed with brown hairs on sides and below; third joint brown. Head and

thorax brown mixed with ochreous hairs, often with a bloom; beneath ochreous

mixed with brown, the legs pinkish-brown ochreous. Abdomen brown above

mixed with ochreous and with obscure darker-brown segmental bands; below

ochreous. Expanse 45 1nm. ai the most.

This species was called plebia by Davidson, Bell and Aitken

and, later, philippina, when it was discovered that the former

species is at once distinguishable by the male having, on the under-

side of the forewing, a tuft of hairs on the inner margin lying

against the wing-surface and directed upwards. Their Rumara

(Journ., Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. xi, 1897, p. 58) now turns out

to be seriata, M., the next species described below.

Egg.—Highly dome-shaped. Surface dull, smooth, without sculpture. Colour

that of a pinkish, dead bone.

668 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Larva.—The body is of the same shape exactly as that of Baoris farri;

circular in transverse section, fining to the rather small neck and much more

gradually to the very broadly-rounded (it is semi-circular) anal segment; this

anal segment has the free margin thickened, the thickening about one-quarter

the length of the radius of the semi-circle and the dorsum inside this thickened

margin is slightly convex transversely, sloping from front to extremity, very

slightly pitted and quite bare of hairs while the margin has a fringe of

erect fine, short, white hairs all along it, these hairs being about as long

as the width of the thickened margin but some a little longer than

others—the hairs of the body elsewhere are far shorter than these; prolegs,

claspers and true legs very short, the claspers and prolegs held well under

the body and green like the flattened ventrum; head is a somewhat high semi-

circle, the vertex very widely rounded and hardly bilobed, the face slightly

convex with the dorsal line somewhat widely depressed to apex of clypeus ;

the surface of head is somewhat superficially cellular-rugose and covered with

extremely short, light, fine, erect hairs none of which are even as long as half

the breadth of true clypeus except round the mouth-opening at sides and

underneath where they are comparatively a good deal longer; the colour of

the head is soiled whitish, often flushed with a tinge of brown in very heavily-

marked specimens, with a very broad, black band all round it including the

eyes; from this encircling, black band a dorsal band starts on vertex and

runs down to apex of clypeus, is continued thinly to apex of true clypeus and

again down the middle of that to labrum; often the encircling band is very

broad and the other black markings more pronounced—there is also, in all

specimens, a thin black line outlining both the true and false clypeus—and,

even, a black, short flush upwards from the middle of the sides of clypeus to

the middle of each lobe-face; the true clypeus is triangular, the apex acute, a

little less than half the height of head, white with the sides thinly black,- the

dorsal line more broadly black; the false clypeus similar, reaching 0.3 mm.

further up, the sides very slightly convex outwards, outlined thinly black also;

the labrum is a transversely-oblong piece of 0.5 mm. long (the true clypeus is

1.35 mm. long by 1.2mm. broad) by 1.2mm. broad, the hinder margin abso-

lutely straight, the front margin quite as long and emarginate widely in a

curve; the ligula is squarely kidney-shaped, white like the labrum, 0.5 mm.

long by 0.7 mm. wide with a frontal rounded sinus about one-third the width

(rather less) and 0.15 mm. deep leaving a broadly-rounded lobe on each side;

there is a 0.55 mm. long hair at each anterior lateral corner and another on the

front edge more inwards of the same length on labrum and, on the ligula,

there is a row of six hairs on each side of the sinus to the lateral-anterior

corner, all about equally spaced considering each six as one group, the outer-

most three about 0.5 mm.° long, on the extreme edge, the two next inwards

shorter, removed away from edge somewhat, the innermost shortest and

removed from the dorsal line by a distance rather greater than its own

length (which is about 0.2 mm.); antennal, basal joint colourless as also

the third; mandibles strong, 1.2mm. broad, oval in section, the biting-ends

quite entire, highly shining, lightish yellow-brown with ends very dark; eyes

arranged: 1, 2, 3, 4 in a slight curve, equal in size and equally spaced, rather

less than an eye-diameter apart, 6 in a straight line with 3, 4 but nearly

four eye-diameters from 4 with number 5 behind forming an equilateral tri-

angle with 4 and 6. Surface of body dull, the segments quite plainly expressed,

with 6 impressed lines rparailel to hinder margin attaining, the 6th, to about

the middle of each segment; covered with minute, erect, light hairs about

0.05 mm. in length and spaced about 0.1mm. apart; also a 0.1 mm.-wide,

circular, disc-like tubercle below and slightly behind each spiracle. Spiracles

longly-oval, whitish, nearly fcur times as long as wide; those of segments 2,

12 much larger. Colour, greenish-white with a whiter, broad, subdorsal band

occupying the space between the subdorsal (theoreticai) and the dorsolateral lines

of the body; the ventrum and prolegs greener. L: 40mm.; B: 5mm.; B of

head 3.5mm. by 4mm. high.

Pupa.—This is also exactly the same shape as that of Baoris farri, that

depicted in Figure 3a of Plate II; with the same sort of snout in front between

the eyes, the same type of bent-down, spatulate cremaster with a rounded,

semi-circular end, the radius of the semi-circle being about one-sixth as long

as the width at front margin of segment 14,.the dorsum right back into 18

even deeply hollowed out leaving on each side a margin about half as wide as

the hollow, this channel or hollow long-oval in shape; ventrally, the cremaster

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 669

is flat as far forwards as the clasper-scars and on each side laterally there is a

slight extensor-ridge; segment 13 is about a third of the length of 12 and

the proportions of the segments are exactly the same as in the pupa of

b. farri; the head has the snout about the length of head-vertex and segment 2

together ; the clypeus and ligula as in that species also; the proboscis reaches

to end of cremaster or at least to end of 13; the midlegs reach three-quarters

the length of wings, the forelegs over a half the length of wings; the eyes

have the crescent linear and slightly behind the middle of the eye. Surface

as in B. farri, with a similar hair-covering and similar tiny shining circular

disc below each spiracle. Spiracie of segment 2 also as there, and the other

spiracles also as in that insect. Colour similar also. L: 30mm.; B: 5mm.

Habits.—The habits as to oviposition are those of B. farm; the

caterpillar behaves in exacty the same way, making a cell at first

at the tip of the leaf by joining the edges, coating the inside of it

with silk; renews the cell as required by feeding and growth 11

stature. The pupal ceil is also similarly made, quite open, and

the pupa is fastened by the tail and a body-band. The larva

excretes a white, cereous powder as in B. farri which is always

found more or less plentifully on the pupa and in the cell. The

tail is fixed to a short iength of silk rope fastened down at both

ends on the pad at right angles to the longitudinal axis of body.

The larva is very sluggish at all times but wanders out at night

to feed; it lies inside the cell during the day with the front seg-

ments contracted a good deal, the head flattened back with the

mouth directed forwards. The growth is normal and the duration

of the pupal stage also. ‘There must be a slack time during the

hot weather when the growth must be slower or there must be an

interval tided over in some way when the bamboos lose their leaves.

It is probably passed in the larval state as noted for Tagiades

litigiosa. Ir the monsoon months caterpillars are quite plentiful

10 N. Kanara from sea-level up to the highest hills wherever there

is forest and the rainfall is sufficient. The species is not found

in the plains. The butterfly is a strong flier that has much the

same habits as B. farri and is found in the same places in Kanara.

Swinhoe gives the habitat as S. India and Ceylon and says the

types came from Kanara in 8. India; adding ‘the type of seriata,

a female, from Ceylon (it is undoubtedly a female of kumara) ;

we have both sexes from Karwar and Kandy; it is very nearly

allied to philippina, Herrich-schetter from the Philippines, but is

a larger insect; we have both sexes from the Nuilgiris; Evans

records it from the Palni Hills and de Nicéviile from Calcutta.’

(Lepidoptera Indica, vol. x, p. 301; figures of the male 1, female la,

underside 1b and larva and pupa Ic are contained on Plate 826).

The foodplant of the larva is any species of Bamboo.

Since the days when this was written about seriata many speci-

mens of it and kumara have been bred side by side in Karwar in

N. Kanara and it is very evident that they are two quite different

insects although, except for the colouring of the heads and a slight

difference in its shape and size, the larve are exceedingly alike.

As will be seen by what follows.

225. Baoris (Caltoris) seriata (M.).—Male. Upperside: olive-brown of a

very dark shade when fresh, fading a bit with age with a very faint tinge of

russet that is hardly remarkable except it is compared with a male of

B. kumara. Both wings as in kuamara with the identical same spots both

im size and shape, in number too as there may be a fourth speck in interspace

670 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

9; but, here, the spot 1m interspace 1 just above vein 1 may occasionally be

completely absent and the one above it is never present even on the underside ;

the decumbent hairs and the fringe along inner margin also the same in fore-

wing. Underside as in kumara but very distinctly russet or rusty especially

on the hindwing; on the forewing the single spot in interspace 1 is always

sagittately (like an arrow) emarginate and never as diffused as in that species ;

in the hindwing there may be a white dot in the middle of interspace 2 or

not.—Female. Upperside as in kumara in every way but without the slight

rusty tinge of upperside of male seriata; the spot in interspace 1 just above

vein 1 often arrow-shaped, that is with the outer edge triangularly sharply

excavated. Underside: forewing has the spot in interspace 1 very slightly

only diffused, much better defined than in kumara female, sagittate, the spot

above it under vein 2 always invariably present, short, linear, directed oblique-

ly inwards from the outer-lower corner of the spot of interspace 2 to the

outer, upper corner of the arrow-shaped spot. Hindwing similar to that of

male, a white dot in interspace 2 and sometimes .3 as well. Cilia as in

kumara, perhaps a little paler. Antenne also as in kumara as are the palpi,

head, thorax and abdomen, as well as legs; but the antennz are ochreous

below all along the shaft as well as at the base of the club with small black

tips below at the joints, the ochreous colour too somewhat invades the sides,

especially at the club, leaving only the very back black. Expanse up to 45 mm.

or occasionally even more in the female.

Egg.—Exactly as for Baoris kumara; same size, same colour and everything.

Larva.—The body is cylindrical in shape, fining off a little to the head from

the middle where it is fattest, more quickly in segments 5 to 2; fining off

hardly at all backwards to hinder margin of segment 10, then slowly to

anal segment which has the dorsal line somewhat sloped and is large, shaped

like a semi-circle upon a_shortly-oblong, transverse basal piece; the semi-

circular part is the anal flap and it is transversely evenly convex, becoming

flatter towards the extremity which is hardly at all thickened and applied to

the resting surface, overreaching the claspers by half its length; segment 13

is short, transverse, about one-quarter the length of 12 or 14 which are co-equal

and it is shortened Jaterally in the spiracular region so as to be there nearly

non-existent; claspers and prolegs very short, fleshy, with circular feet—the

larva generally lies with the ventrum pressed flatly against the surface so that

the legs hardly show at all; head is in shape a slightly lengthened semi-circle,

broadest at middle, somewhat narrowed above, the face somewhat convex, the

dorsal line very narrowly, shallowly depressed as far as the apex of clypeus;

the surface of head is rugose with little shallow cells all over superficially but

distinctly, leaving a broad space aiong clypeus curving round to the eyes and

extending a little up on each side of dorsal line quite smooth; the whole surface

is shining and covered all over with a clothing of the minutest, light, erect

hairs imaginable, a few about eyes and the one at the extremity of antenna

much longer, the minutest abcut 0.05 mm. long the one at extremity of antenna

0.6 mm., others about eyes 0.25 mm.; the true clypeus triangular, reaching about

half the height of head, equilateral with the apex acute, the whole the colour

of head with a deep-brown dorsal line down middle and outlined similarly ;

the false clypeus a moderately broad strip outside with its sides somewhat

convexly out-bowed, its apex acute reaching two-thirds height of face; labrum

transverse, its apex acute reaching two-thirds height of face; labrum transverse,

its hinder margin straight, anterior margin very strongly triangular-emarginate,

its length 0.45 mm. and its width 1mm. like the clypeus, the colour greenish ;~

ligula rather squarish, convex, 0.45mm. long by 0.6mm. wide with the

emargination 0.1mm. deep and 0.25mm. wide, rounded, the colour also

greenish; antennal, basal joint greenish, the third orange, mandibles of the

block type, chestnut or dark red-brown, darker at ends, the cutting edges quite

entire; the eyes arranged 2, 3, 6 in a staight line, 4 one eye-diameter from

number 3, number 6 three eye-diameters from 4 with number 5 behind and

about two diameters or more equally from 4 and 6, numbers 1, 2 joined (the

line joining their middles) would meet the line 3, 4, 6 in an angle of 120°,

number 2 being an eye-diameter from 3 and slightly behind line 3, 4, 6,

number 1 rather less than an eye-diameter above 2; the colour of the head is

white with a slight yellow tinge, ligula and labrum and clypeus as well as

dorsal depressed line somewhat greenish, with a broad, blackish band completely

surrounding the whole from and including the eye-curve to vertex and over

it but not encroaching upon the face, the true clypeus outlined narrowly

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 671

blackish with a dorsal line the whole length of this clypeus; the orange of

third joint of antennz slightly invades the bases of gulae. Surface of larva

is dull, each segment with the usual six depressed, thin, transverse lines or

folds taking up half the length from hinder margin forwards; the whole with

some extremely minute, erect hairs, those round the free margin of the anal

flap much stronger, longer, reaching 0.3mm. long, quite a conspicuous fringe.

Spiracles small, oval, flush, opaque white, those of 2 and 12 much larger.

Colour greenish-white, segments 2 to 4 greener, whitest in a broad, subdorsal

band, yellowish about segment-margins when constricted; true legs, prolegs,

ventrum green, the Inst greenest; the body is flanged slightly along the dorso-

ventral margin and there are patches of a cereous excreted powder under it

on the common margins of segments 10 and 11 and segments 11 and 12 before

pupation; the dorsal line between the whiter, broad, subdorsal bands pulsates

slightly. The head is about the same diameter as segment 4. LL: 40mm. ;

B: 5mm. at middle; diameter of head: 3mm. or even 4mm.

Pupa.—This is naked and green in colour like all those of the Notocrypta-

Baoris-Parnara group; it is of exactly the same shape as those: circular in

transverse section, thickest at middle, fining to shoulders very little and equally

little to segment 11; the diameter is about the same at eyes as at shoulders

and before eyes suddenly narrows into the conical base of a long, cylindroconical

frontal process or snout that is porrect between the eyes, quite cylindrical in

its distal third, more or less conical in the middie and quite conical at base ;

this snout is as long nearly as the thorax and very slightly bent down. the

tip bluntly rounded; segment 12 is short and about half 11; segment 13 is

about equal to 12 or, perhans, rather shorter; 14 is a longly semielliptical piece,

the edges raised dorsally leaving the space between depressed like a_ spout,

the whole as long as 12413, the extremity rounded and it is quite thin:

segment 2 is about equal to 12 and has hoth margins straight, the dorsa!

line inclined forwards at about 49° to the longitudinal axis, merging gradu-

ally behind into the surface of the thorax which has its dorsal line in about

the same plane that is continued back as far as segment 6, the highest point

of pupa; the hinder margin of thorax is a semi-circular curve meeting the

wings in an angle of about 50°. Surface quite smooth and even without

constrictions except the very slight ones at the mobile segment-margins of

8/9, 9/10 and 10/11; under a strong lens it is covered with minute, short.

erect, light hairs all over but nowhere at all densely; the proboscis is continued

free beyond wings to the end of the cremaster. Spiracles are oval, flush,

not small, more cpaque-white than the pupa; those of segment 2 are slits

with a slightly-raised, opaque-white, semioval surface of the same diameter as

the length of slit on the front surface of thorax. Colour glaucous, translucent

grass-green all over, a little more coaque on wings and segments 1 to 3; with

a subdorsal, broad, whitish line. The cremaster is slightly down-bent, the sus-

pesonry hooklets are very small, bunched at its very end ventrally. LL: 30 mm.

nearly including the head-point or snout which itself is about 3mm.; the

cremaster is also 3mm. long: B: 5mm. at middle.

Habits.—The egg is, as a rule, laid at the tip of the upperside of

a leaf. The young larva eats the shell and turns over a bit of the

edge onto the top to make the cell. Later on it joins the edges of

a leaf together making a conical ceil which it lines with silk. It

is a Close fit. The larva goes out to feed and renews the cel! as

necessarv as it gets bigger. It pupates on the underside of a

leaf fastening a few silks from edge to edge that, contracting,

make a ‘spout’ in which it fies with its back towards the earth;

fastening itself in by a body-band and a tail-pad, this tail-fastenine

consisting of a strong, short, transverse band attached to the pad,

the hooklets of the cremaster beine atached to its middle.

In Lepidoptera Indica, page 301, Colonel Swinhoe quotes the

following remarks from ‘Davidson, Bell and Aitken,’ which as they

were actually written originally by the present writer in 1897, are

known to apply to this insect (seriata) and not to kRumara, may be

here repeated :——‘Baoris seriata is a very common insect at all times

672 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

and places in the N. Kanara District of the Bombay Presidency.

It basks like the last (Baoris farri), but always on leaves; and is

fond of flowers in the early morning; it is easily captured when

basking as it returns to the same leaf, repeatedly, after being

disturbed; it has a very rapid flight. We have bred many speci-

mens at all seasons. It is not nearly so common close to the sea in

Karwar as it 1s further inland in the big jungles. Colonel Swinhoe

says ‘The types are from Kanara, S. India; the type of seriata,

a female from Ceylon (it is undoubtedly a female of Rumara). .. .’

is quoted already under Baoris kumara. Mr. Ormiston has pub-

lished figures of the genitalia of both seriata and kumara in the

Report of the Proceedings of the Third Entomological Meeting

held at Pusa in February 1919, Plate 172, Figures 41 to 44 (Rumara)

and 45 to 48 (seriata) which show very considerable differences

between the dorsal and ventral aspects of the tegumen in the two

species in Ceylon. They correspond exactly with those of the two

species in Kanara.

The head of seriata larva is 4mm. broad by exactly the same

in height if the prominence of the mandibles is taken in the height,

if they are left out the height is only 3.6 mm: “The true clypeus 4s

1.3 mm. in height by 1.1 mm. in breadth; the false clypeus reaches

further up the face than the true one by 0.3 mm. and the greatest

width of its somewhat outwardly-convex sides is 0.2 mm. ; the labrum

is perfectly straight along the hinder margin, the width measuring

1.1 mm., the lateral length 0.4 mm.; anterior margin of labrum

widely curved-emarginate, its length in the dorsal line 0.25 mm.

and its width exactlv equal to the hinder margin; the length of the

hair in the anterior, lateral corner of labrum is 0.475 mm. The

great majority of the little hairs on the head are 0.05 mm. long

but the longest about mouth-opening is 0.6 mm. and the one at

the end of the third antennal joint is longest of all: 0.65 mm. ;

the third joint of antenna is 0.3 mm. long, rusty in colour with a

0.75 mm. long, double-jointed apendage beside the long hair on

its apex. The eyes of the head are each 0.125 mm. in diameter

and prominent; the topmost eye 0.01 mm. from the second which

is an equal distance from the third; the fourth is 0.15 mm. from

the third, the sixth or lowest is 0.4 mm. from the fourth; the fifth

is 0.4mm. from both fourth ‘and sixth. | If ‘all this is compared

with similar measurements given for kumara it will be seen that

there is very little to be got out of them to indicate that they are

different species. Here in seriata the head is a bit shorter, not so

high but broader. Which is not very much to go on. Absolutely

the only difference between the two larve is that the head of that

of Rumara is very much more heavily marked with black than that

of the other. |

226. Baoris (Caltorls) conjuncta (Merrick-Scheffer).—Male. Upperside ‘dark

olive-brown. Forewing with nine semidiaphanous, yellowish-white spots: two

in the cell towards its end, one above the other, well-separated, touching the

margins of cell; three small subapical spots of equal size in an outwardly-

oblique, well-curved line; the others in an inwardly-oblique, discal series, one

in each interspace, the spot near the base of the first median interspace being

largest, its lower end produced outwards; the spot above it about half its

size and with its outer-lower end also somewhat produced: > the uppermost,

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 673

small spot about the size of the subapical ones; a spot at the middle of vein 1.

Hindwing with two or three small, discal spots and a white spot near the

upper end of the cell. Cilia of forewing cinereous, of hindwing whitish with

cinereous base. Underside paler. Forewing with the spots as on the upperside.

Hindwing with a small, white spot near the upper end of cell and a discal

series of small, white spots. Antenne black, the tip of the club pale-red, the

shaft and club on underside whitish, the shaft spotted with black; palpi, head

and body concolorous with the wings; palpi beneath whitish, legs tinged with

dull red.—Female like the male, the spots on the forewing usually larger and,

consequently, closer together; the largest spot of the discal series usually much

larger. Expanse 40mm. to 47mm.’ (Swinhoe, Lepidoptera Indica, vol. x,

pp. 309-310).

In a fairly large series bred in N. Kanara District of the Bombay

Presidency the males on the upperside forewing have the costa

above vein 12 sprinkled with thin, ochreous-yellow scales, the

lower half of the cell nearly out to the spot in it and below the ceil

in interspace 1 as far as base of vein 2 set with decumbent, yellow

hairs which also occupy the inner margin upwards to vein 1; and

there is a slight fringe of brown hair along the inner margin; also,

occasionally, there is a tiny extra dot above the three subapical

ones as well as a tiny dot underneath the largest discal spot in

interspace { Hindwing with the upper half of cell and outwards

above vein 6 set with purplish-tinged, decumbent hairs; under-

neath cell and including the lower half of it from base to

very nearly the outer margin of wing the surface is set with

ochreous, decumbent hairs very densely at base and all along vein

la; the discal dot-spots are in interspaces 2, 3 and 4; the spot in

the cell is rarely visible. Underside forewing with the spots all as

on upperside with that in interspace | always somewhat blurred

along the outer border and, nearly always, with the little spot above

it even when it is not present on the upperside. Hindwing with

white dot-spots in interspaces 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, that in 5 always

tiny and sometimes wanting. The undersides of the female hind-

wing is often shot with a distinct purplish-blue sheen or tint.

Egg.—Is of the ordinary type of the genus: dome-shaped; the surface

finely frosted-looking, smooth, slightly shining; coleur whitish. It is. broadest

at the surface of attachment. B: 1.5 mm.; H: 1 mm.

Larva.—Is, in shape, exactly the same as those of the genus: head large

compared to segment 2; body about the same breadth from segment 4 to

segment 12, the dorsal line between these points nearly straight, the ventral

surface flattened; the head generally, when the larva is at rest, held with the

mouth well ferward, the top pressed back against segment 2, the front segments

drawn together considerably and, therefore, the dorsal portion of segments 3-5

somewhat prominent; the anal end always flat on the resting surface, the legs

and prolges short; segment 13 considerably less than half segment 12 in length ;

segment 14 less than segments 12 and 13 together, semielliptical in shape,

broadly rounded at extremity, sloping with segment 13 at an angle of less

than 30° to the longitudinal axis. lead curvilinearly equilateral-triangular

with the apex rather narrowly rounded and with a small, triangular sinus in the

dorsal line which is afterwards depressed slightly as far as the apex of the

clypeus; the face somewhat convex; the true clypeus longly triangular, about

half the height of face; the false clypeus an even strip outside it,

nearly two-thirds the height of face, likewise triangular and rather difficult to

trace whereas the true clygeus is indicated by a fine, somewhat dark line,

the surface is finely cellular-rugose and covered with minute, erect, fine, whitish

hairs all over, the main dorsal, dorsolateral and lateral hairs somewhat longer,

also erect, light and fine and some longer hairs about the borders of mouth

and base of gule; the labrum small, arc-shaped, whitish-translucent; the

674. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1I

ligula moderately large, glassy-white, semi-circular with a shallow, rounded

sinus and the lobes bordered with hairs in front; the antennal, basal joint

whitish, the second rusty-red; the mandibles blackish with their bases rusty ;

the eyes four in a curve, the three uppermost rather closer together, the sixth

much further down, the fifth forming an equilateral triangle with 4 and 5,

behind them; colour whitish with a large, black, circular spot on each lobe

towards the upper face and another, similar lower down in front of the eyes,

and a larger, quadrate spot about half way up at hinder margin on each lobe

(which may be absent) and a black triangular mark on vertex of head in dorsal

line. Surface of body dull, covered with minute, light, fine, erect hairs in the

same manner as the face or head; 6 or 7 fine, depressed, transverse lines parallel

to and in front of the hinder margin of each segment, the spiracular region

somewhat corrugated, the margin (free) of anal flap slightly tumid; this free

margin of anal flap set with a rather dense fringe of hairs of co-equal length,

much longer than the hairs on the surface of body generally. Colour light

sap-green suffused whitish, the ground-colour showing through in very numerous,

roundish dots or spots which each bear one of the minute hairs; a longitudinal,

broad, dorsal band of opaque white from segment 2 to anal end with, some-

times, a slightly darker, much narrower, central band; and a thin, white,

spiracular line; ventrum light green. L: 40 ‘mm, when. :stretched;> B:

Oo mim.

Pupa.—The shape is the same as that of the genus: head with prominent

eyes, square in front, parallel-sided, with a long snout pointing straight out

in front; this snout cylindrical in its distal two-thirds and its base filling up

the frons between the eyes, truncated at tip and finely rugose transversely, as

long as the head and 2 together; segment 2 is a short, transverse piece 1.5 mm.

long, the thorax 5.5mm. long both ascending at an angle of 20° or so to the

longitudinal axis of the body; the thorax is only very slightly humped-convex

longitudinally running smoothly into the dorsal line of abdomen, its front

margin straight, the shoulders evenly-rounded and in no way prominent, its

hinder margin a short parabolic curve meeting the wings in a_ broadly-

rounded, deep angle of 90° ; segment 4=5=half 6=1 mm.; segment 7=2 mm. ;

segment 8=2.5 mm.=9=10=11 with segment 12 again just 2mm.; segment

13 very short, hardly a fourth of 12; the cremaster about 3mm., spatulate,

bent down considerably in a curve, the end somewhat narrowly rounded, bearing

the bunch of very short, hooked shafts at its very extremity, its dorsum largely

hollowed out in the form of a wide, deep channel leaving narrow lateral borders

decreasing in width backwards with the proximal half of sides also slightly

hollowed out, the distal half ventraily quite flat; transverse section of body

from shoulders to 12 is circular; head with a rather large, hexagonal clypeus

quite ventral at ‘base. of snout, followed by a diamond-shaped ligula as long

as Clypeus and twice as long as broad; the probescis free beyond’ wings to end

of cremaster and, sometimes, even further; the midlegs reaching three-quarters

of the wing-length, the forelegs half the wing-length, the antenna between

the two; the eyes are not prominent and have the- crescent linear and just

behind the middle. Surface shining and covered with 0.05 mm.-long, erect,

white hairs that are not visible to the naked eye; segments distinct ; abdomen

and thorax transversely minutely, superficially wrinkled, segment 2 more

confusedly, the snout more coarsely. Spiracles of segment 2 are somewhat

convex, oval spaces as long as the adjacent antenna is broad, making a small

lobe to front margin of thorax; the rest are oval; rather pointed at both ends,

yellow like the lobe of spiracle of 2, more than twice as long as broad, about

six spiracle-lengths to a segment length. Colour is a darkish sap-green with

a subdorsal, broad, white longitudinal line the whole length of the body;

laterally a bit whitish. L: 40 mm. over all; B: 7mm.; snout. 4mm. long.

The same little round disc-tubercles noticed in larva and pupa of Buaoris

kumara, etc., are also present here in larva and pupa.

Habits.—The egg, always laid single, is invariably deposited on

the underside of the blade of coarse grass or bamboo. The little

larva makes a cell at the tip of the. blade by drawing the edges

together: a cylindrical cell and eats along the edges further up.

When full-grown this cell is very laxly made and, of course, takes

most of the blade cf grass except when the grass happens to be.

THE COMMON BULTERILIES- OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 675

of a very large species—-these are mostly chosen in preference to

small-bladed species. When about to pupate, the larva gets

onto the underside of a blade, lies fully stretched and draws the

edges slightly together by spinning a few silks across at the ends

and in the middle so as to make a half-tube, spins a pad of silk at one

end on the midrib to which it attaches its anal end and fixes itself

further by a fairly tight body string or band over segment 4 or 5;

there is always a little white, cereous powder round the tail-pad.

The pupa lies thus quite exposed from below. The growth of the

larva is fairly rapid; the duration’ of the pupal stage is normal.

The imago is a very strong, rapid flier, fond of sitting low down

on leaves or even on the ground; likes shady places although it is

found practically everywhere in Burma and Central and South

India, in jungles, hills and plains, in regions of heavy rainfall as

well as fairly light rain from sea-level up to two or three thousand

feet. The flight is often quite straight, sometimes in jerks and

curves and insects are fond of returning to the same resting-place ;

they fly chiefly about 11 o’clock in the day and visit flowers quite

freely. The distribution is given as Kangra, Burma, Central and

South India. Butterflies are very plentiful after the monsoon

months in Kanara (Bombay) District along the borders of roads,

paths and open spaces. A common foodplant is. Saccharum.

227. Baoris (Caltorls) colaca (M.).—Male. Upperside dark olive-brown. ‘Fore-

wing somewhat more produced than is usual in the genus with ochreous-white

spots, all more or less small: three subapical, in an outwardly-oblique curve ;

a discal, nearly straight, inwardly-oblique series of four spots, the first and

uppermost immediately below the lowest subapical and of about the same size

as it, the next a little larger in interspace 3, the third the largest of all in

interspace 2, its lower-outer edge produced, that edge somewhat curved with

the, fourth against the middle of vein 1, touching it above, about the size

of the second. (in. interspace 5); in the type specimen there appear to be no

spots within the cell, but in most examples thers is a minute dot at the upper

end and, in others, there are two well-separated ones, one above the other.

Hindwing without marking. Cilia cinereous, brownish at base. Underside

paler and duller in colour. Forewing with the basal half of its middle blackish,

spots as above. Hindwing somewhat produced at the anal angle, a discal

series of minute, white dots, varying in number in different examples. Antennze

black, the shaft dotted with white on the underside; the basal half of the club

white beneath with extreme iip tinged red; palpi with black and white hairs

above, pure-white beneath with afew black hairs; head and body above

concolorous with wings; beneath, pectus and thorax whitish; abdomen beneath

white with grey bands.’. (Lepidoptera Indica, vol. x, pp. 316, 317).

In a long series of this species bred at different times in

N. Kanara District of the Bombay Presidency where the rainfall

is very heavy, there are the following differences :—U pperside.

Forewing may have the spots in the cell or they may be completely

absent or one of them may be wanting; the discal spot in inter-

space 4 is nearly always slightly larger than the lowest of the sub-

apical dots and is generally the same size as the one in interspace 3

but is quadrate while the latter is produced at the lower end out-

wards like the largest below it; the spot in interspace 1 is some-

times as large as the one of interspace 3, sometimes smaller, or

may even be completely absent. Bindwiae has generally a tiny

dot in interspaces 2 as well as 3. Underside always, except in

very rubbed specimens caught outside, bright greenish-ochreous,

676 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

The central area of forewing from inner margin upwards and in-

wards to base blackish as in Swinhoe’s description with the spot

in interspace | somewhat blurred on outer edge where it is deeply

excavated making the whole like an arrow-head and it is much

yellower than the rest, also there is a whitish diffused shade above

it between it and the spot in interspace 2 which shade may some-

times be a mere dot; and there may even be a tiny extra subapical

dot in interspace 9. Hindwing has the discal series of white dots,

one in each interspace 2, 3, 5 and 6 nearly always present and,

sometimes, even one in the ceil. Besides, on the forewing upper-

side, the base of the wing out to half the cell and much further out

along the inner margin below vein 1 is covered with ochreous scales

(below costa) and decumbent, long, ochreous hairs and there is

only a slight fringe of hair to inner margin. Hindwing the surface

above the cell and over vein 6 is covered with some blackish,

decumbent hairs; the rest of the surface with longish, ochreous

ones thickest, as usual, all along vein la. Antennze ochreous

beneath; palpi below with an ochreous tint; abdomen below with

no vestige of segmental bands; the legs ochreous.

Swinhoe has another species which he calls Caltoris bevani (M.),

immediately following this in his book and he quotes Aitken and

Davidson for the larva and pupa. De Nicéville says ‘Recorded in

the first Kanara paper, p. 370, n. 79 but omitted by Mr. Bell from

the second paper. It is doubtless a wrong identification, the

specimens referred to being B. guttatus, Bremer and Grey, n. 216

ante, though it may occur in Kanara, as Messrs. Elwes and

Edwards record it from Bombay (Il. c., p. 283). I have no speci-

mens of B. bevani from anv part of S. India. In Bombay Mr.

Aitken says he has bred it on grass. It is doubtful if he knew the

species when he wrote.’ He did not, for the writer of these papers

now knows he did not. De Nicéville’s extract is taken from a

paper on the foodplants of the butterflies of the Kanara District

published by him in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,

vol. Ixix, part ii, No. 2, 1900, pp. 187-278.

Larva.—The shafe of the body is the same as that of most of the genus:

circular in transverse section, thickest about the middle, fining down very

little thence until about segment 3 forwards where segment 2 is much smaller,

about the same breadth as the head, segment 3 is somewhat broader, segment

4 again broader, segment 5 about equal to the breadth at middle of body whence

it decreases very gradually indeed backwards to cremastral or anal segment

which is about as broad at its base as half the breadth at middle of body,

is a parabolic curve in shape, somewhat longer than broad at base, convex

transversely, sloping slightly dorsally, the end overreaching the claspers by

about half the length of the segment; the prolegs and true legs all short, green ;

the head large compared to the neck but otherwise small for a skipper, the

second segment without any raised or coloured collar; the head very little

higher than it is broad across the base, triangular in shape, the face convex,

the surface coarsely reticulate-rugose, somewhat shining; the true clypeus very

long and narrow, nearly twice as long as broad at base, parallel-sided until near

its apex, then acute-triangular, the whole half the length of face; the false

clypeus a rather broad strip outside it, not as broad as half the breadth of true

clypeus, forming an arch over the apex of this latter; the labrum rather shortly

transverse, as long as one-third the height of true clypeus in length, colourless ;

the ligula narrower than labrum, nearly as long as broad, curved on the

lateral edges, the front rather shallowly triangularly emarginate and set with

bristles, colourless or slightly soiled round the edges; antennal basal joint colour-~

EGE COMMON BUPLERALIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 677

less, the second joint soiled at tip; the mandibles large, their cutting edges

entire, light-yellow in colour with the ends broadly black along the cutting

edges; the eyes black, numbers 1-4 and 6 in a slight curve, 6 twice as far from

4 as 4 is from 3, the others equi-spaced, number 5 behind and nearest to 6

forming a triangle with 4 and 6; colour of head whitish with the whole of the

cheeks from vertex to base at eyes black or the lower portion sometimes only

suffused blackish leaving the middles of lower cheeks immaculate, a black line

dorsally down middle of face from hinder margin over vertex to apex of

clypeus, then down the false clypeus on each side of the true one, sometimes

less, sometimes more far down, sometimes a suffusion of black in the middle of

face outside these central dorsal markings and, in certain larva, again, the

black may be replaced by brown-orange and, in some cases, black-orange may be

the predominant colour; or the markings may be nearly obsolete. Surface of

body is covered rather densely by a clcthing of short, fine, erect, white,

0.05 mm.-long hairs, a fringe of these hairs 4x as long round the margin ot

the anal segment; the head also provided with these short hairs, becoming

longer about mouth-opening; the segments well marked with the usual 6

or 7 parallel, transverse folds from PUG aes of each forwards. Shiracles

small flush, oval, 0.15 mm. hy 0.1 mm.; those of segments 2 and 12 at least

three times as large; all whitish or light yellowish in colour. Colour light

glaucous-green with a subdorsal, lateral and faint, spiracular, white line the

whole length of body. L: 2omm.; B: 4mm. in the. middle.

Pupa.—The pupa is like that of any other Parnara in shape; the body is

circular in transverse section; the head-piece is absolutely parallel- sided with

the front broad and produced out into a long snout which is in a line with

the longitudinal axis of the body and broadly conical at the base, nearly

cylindrical at the end, the outer half about as long as the dorsal visible portion

of the vertex of head, this snout being a production of the lower vertex, the

frons being beneath it and ventral; segment 2 is a narrow, parallel-sided,

transverse band, its dorsal line in the same plane, at about 30° or less to the

longitudinal axis of the pupa, as the head-vertex and the front slope of the

thorax: it is about as long as the head-vertex without the snout; the thorax

is feebly convex, hardly humped, its highest point or apex being just before

its hinder margin which is a semicircular curve (perhaps nearer a short para-

bola) meeting the wings in a very widely open, largely rounded angle of about

60°; segment 4 is, in its dorsal line, equal to 5 in length, both being only

half segment 6; segment 6 to segment 12 are coequal or very nearly so, in

length; segment 13 is very short, only about one-quarter 12 and quite parallel-

sided (i.e., the front margin parallel to hinder margin) ; segment 14 is half

as long again as 12 and is longly triangular with the extremity broadly rounded

(about “half as broad as the segment at base), the margins thickened into ridges

leaving the central dorsum hollow longitudinally, the whole segment very

flattened and thin, the massed cremastral hooklets occupying a line at extremity

ventrally across; the proboscis is extended free beyond the wings to segment

12 and even further, the antenna reach half way, the midlegs three-.juarters, the

palpi are larger and there is nothing between the margins of legs and proboscis.

Surface not shining, smooth, the segments well-marked, no clothing of any

sort. Spiracles of segment 2 indicated by an opaque, oval, more or less subcuta-

neous, greenish body; the rest very small, oval, flush, whitish or greenish,

difficult to see. Colour bright grass-green with distinct, white, longitudinal,

subdorsal, fine and lateral, slightly broader lines the whole length of the body ;

there is also an indistinct, spiracular thread ; the cremastral segment translucent-

white. L: 20 mm. over all; 18 mm. without snout or cremaster; B: 4mm.

Habits.—The eggs are laid single towards the tip of a blade of

grass; the young larva emerging, makes a cell by drawing together

the edges from the tip backwards with cross-silks; it eats the

edges outside and clothes the inside with silk. As it grows larger

it makes a more and more slovenly cell until, eventually, when full

grown, it lives practically open on the undersides of leaves. It

pupates on the underside of a biade of grass spinning two cross-

threads to draw the edges loosely together and is attached by the

tail and a body-band; the larva emits a cereous excretion from the

678 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATCRAL FIST, SCCIETY, Vor AT

sides of the abdomen on segments 11, 12 and the pupa is some-

times lightly covered with this. The butterfly frequents - grass-

lands, rice-fields, jungles in all sorts of country and flies low down

amongst the herbage; it flies well and strongly, feeds greedily at

low flowers and basks on the uppersides of leaves or on the ground

with its wings half opened, the lower often depressed below the plane

of the upper. It rests with the wings tightly closed over the

back on the ground very often, on twigs, leaves, etc. Swinhoe

gives the habitat as ‘Sikkim, Assam, S. India, Burma, Ceylon,

Andamans, China, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago.’ It is com-

mon in Kanara, Belgaum, Poona and frequents the plains as well

as the hills, the rainfall seeming immaterial. The larva feeds upon

soft grass of all sorts and rice but never on bamboo.

Sub-genus—Chapra.

Imago.—As in the sub-genus Baoris or Caltoris in colour, markings and

general facies; but are insects that fly close to the ground and live amongst

the herbage; rest on the ground generaliy with the wings closed over the back,

fly only for short intervals but quickly, powerfully and are more or less fond

of sunlight and open places.

Antenne.-—With the club short and stout, the terminal crook short, as long

as, or slightly longer than the width of the club.

Palpi.—As for genus.

Forewing.—-With a linear, discal stigma in the male from the basal third

of vein 2 to a little beyond the middle of vein 1 in a straight line, inwardly

oblique. Venation exactly as in genus.

Hindwing.—As for genus.

Egg.—As for genus.

Larva.—As for genus, but with the head more triangular in shape and with,

generally, a stripe of red, brown or black separating the face from cheeks.

Pupa.—Exactly as for the genus.

Habits.—As for genus except that the larvze all feed upon grass instead of,

sometimes, bamboo. Further see under ‘imago’ above.

228. Chapra mathias (F.).—Male. Upperside: dark olive-brown, somewhat

glossy. ‘Forewing with eight semidiaphanous, whitish spots; two small ones

at the end of cell one above the other and well-separated from each other ;

three subapical minute dots of equal size in an outwardly-oblique curve; and

three discal spots in a continuous series with the subapical more or less, the

uppermost discal spot minute like the subapical ones, the next somewhat large,

the third largest of all in interspace 2, their outer sides somewhat produced ;

all these spots vary much in size in different examples, sometimes all are minute

and indistinct; the sex-streak is whitish. Hindwing usually without markings

but there are, rather rarely, two indistinct, pale, discal spots. Underside paler.

Forewing blackish on the basal half between the veins 1 and 2; the spots as

on the upperside. Hindwing with a white dot in the cell near its upper end

and a discal series of four white dots, one in each of the interspaces 2, 3, 4,

5. Antennz black with white dots on the underside of the shaft, the club

white heneath; palpi with grey and white hairs above, white beneath; head

and body concolorous with the wings; beneath the pectus and abdomen are

white and there are some hairs on the thorax; legs pale brownish-ochreous.—

Female. Like the male, the spots ali larger and an extra spot on vein 1 in

continuation of the discal series. Expanse 35 mm. to 40mm.’ (Swinhoe in

Lepidoptera Indica, vol. x, pp. 321, 322).

The upperside forewing in the male has ochreous scales above

vein 12 on the costa and upper half of cell; ochreous hairs at base

of interspace | as far out as the discal stigma and similar decum-

bent, longish, ochreous hairs between vein 1 and- inner margin

nearly out to outer margin with a slight fringe only along the inner

margin. Hindwing has the whole wing including cell and the part

AE COMMON BOLVERTELIEGS OL THE PLAINS ‘OF INDIA 679

below it covered by longish, decumbent, ochreous hairs from base

to three-quarters way out to outer margin, specially dense in inter-

space la; the portion above below costa down to top of cell and

vein 6 with shorter, decumbent, brown hairs more sparsely. Under-

side hindwing may have a dot in interspaces 1b, 2 to 7, one in each

as well as’ in ‘cell; those in 1b, 5 smallest as: a rule and -the first

to be absent, those in 2, 4 largest as a rule.—Female invariably

lighter in colour and with, on the forewing, not only a spot more

than the male on the upper edge of vein [| but also, very frequently

a dot-spot just under the largest discal one in the top of interspace

1 but also a further dot-spot in interspace 5, the furthest out of

any. Antenne with the underside of club only whitish on the basal

half, the tip of it red-brown.

Swinhoe quotes Forsayeth for the larva and pupa as: under :—

Larva.—Found on long, coarse, green meadow grass; head triangular, on a

neck; a brown line on margin of head. Body grass-green with light-yellow

bars across back; a whitish line along either side above origin of legs.

Pupa.—September 3rd: Two larvae have become pupxe; they lie ‘alongside

a blade of grass attached by a band across thorax, and also at tail; head

generally points upwards; body of a transltcent-green colour, quite naked and

unenclosed in any covering of any description. September 13th: both pupz

have become imagoes to-day; they are a species of Hesperida «very common

about here, flying briskly by day and settling on leaves of trees at dusk.

October 9th: another imago to-day, same history as above.

Swinhoe further gives the distribution as India, Ceylon, Burma,

China, Japan, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago; adding that it is

‘A very common species with a very wide range; our figures of

the larva and pupa are from W. Elhot’s original drawings, bred in

Madras.’ These figures are depicted upon plate 831 in Lepidoptera

indica, 3 the male,.3ga.the female, 3b the underside and 3c the larva

and pupa.

229. Baoris (Chapra) subochracea, (M.).—‘'Upperside brown tinted with och-

reous. Forewing with eight semidiaphanous spots disposed as in C. mathias,

but all larger, the two ceil spots placed cbliquely, the lower one shifted a little

inwards whereas in mathias they are erectly placed one above the other; in

mathias they are always small, in this species they are much larger, prominent

and distinct. Hindwing: with three small, discal spots, the upper one. the

largest. Cilia ochreous-brown on the upper half of forewing becoming white

hindwards; on the hindwing with an ochreous-brown base. Underside paler

and more strongly tinted with ochreous. Forewing with the middle space from

the base outwards to cne-third before outer margin blackish; spots as on

upperside with a somewhat diffused, additional, white spot attached to. the

upper end of the spot in interspace 1. Hindwing with a prominent, round,

white spot in the cell near its end; the discal series prominent, the upper spot

large and round. <Antennz black, spotted with white below, the club on the

underside white; palpi above with grey and white hairs, greyish below; head

and body concolorous with wings; on the underside the pectus and abdomen

are greyish-white, the thorax with grey hairs; legs ochreous-brown.—Female

like the male; but, on the upperside oi the forewing, there is an additional

spot in the discal series on vein i and two additional dots, one immediately

below the outer side of the spot in interspace 2, the other below the subapical

dots but a little outside of them; on the underside the two lowest spots are

pure white; the spots on «he hindwing are larger and there is sometimes an

extra dot on the underside; but one or more of them are absent in some

examples. Expanse 37 mm. to 42 mm.’ (Swinhoe in Lepidoptera Indica, vol. x,

p. 322. There are figures also of the butterfly and larva-and pupa on plate 832,

figure 2 male, 2a female, 2b underside, 2c larva and pupa).

680 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

De Nicéville, over twenty years ago, published an article in the

Journal, Asiatic Society of Bengal,. vole imix, Part ll, 1900) s pp:

187-278 which he called ‘The Foodplants of the Butterflies of the

Ikanara District of the Bombay Presidency with a Revision of the

species of Butterflies there occurring, in which he states under

No. 241 Baoris (Chapra) subochracea, Moore, on p. 276 that

‘Mr. Bell thinks that this species and the following’ (which is 242

Baoris (Chapra) mathias) ‘are one and the same, in which I am

inclined to follow him as I have never been able to separate them

satisfactorily. The form with the underside grey, typical of sub-

ochvacea, is never found in Kanara in the rains and is probably a

dry-season form of 8. mathias. Messrs. Elwes and Edwards (l.c.,

p- 275) keep them distinct. They say that the form of the male

genitalia is different in the two species.’ The genetalia pictured

are certainly very different.

Egg.—In shape it is a dome. Surface shining and, under a powerful lens,

obscurely, minutely, hexagonally reticulate and, at the extreme base, there are

distinct indications of the beginnings of very faint, meridional ridges, many of

them; the micropyle on the apex is extremely small and hardly perceptible.

Colour when fresh is very light-green, soon changing to dull bone-coiour.

Be 0375 min. ; bs 0-5 mim,

Larva.—The body is of the shape characteristic of the genus Parnara:

circular in transverse section, thickest about segment 5 and someway back-

wards, thinning rather suddenly in 4, 3, 2 to head and much more gradually

backwards to anal segment, the ventrum somewhat flattened, especially when

the larva is sitting with the front segments somewhat contracted, the head

laid back on segment 2, in which position the legs and prolegs are hardly

visible; segments 2 and 13 are, as usual, very short; the anal segment is

rather long, flattened, overhanging the anal claspers by a good deal, broadly

rounded at end where it is fringed with comparatively long, porrect, fine,

white hairs; the head is triangular in shape, a good deal longer than it is

broad across the base where the mouth-opening is, the vertex narrowly indented

in dorsal line with a small, triangular emargination; colour lightish-green, the

false clypeus as well as true clypeus both outlined thinly brown very often,

a nearly 1 mm.-broad brownish-red band from eyes, just including front eyes,

between face and cheeks to vertex of each lobe, sometimes thinly joined across

vertex well in front of hinder margin, this band flanked thinly by white in

front and more obscurely kehind; the surface coarsely reticulate-rugose and

set with minute, semi-decumbent, fine, white 0.05 mm.-long hairs, these hairs

longer about mouth-opening, the surface slightly shining; the true clypeus

nearly half the length of face, acutely triangular, twice as high as it is broad

at base, the sides very slightly waved or bent inwards about middle; the false

clypeus less than haif its width, a broad outwardly-convex band on each side,

arching over apex and with its own apex also acute; the Jabrum transverse,

rusty-suffused, under one-third the true clypeus in length, hinder margin

straight, front margin slightly curved; the ligula rather shorter than labrum,

kidney-shaped, the sinus very shallow, rounded, the outer rather acute and

fringed with hair, colourless-shining; the antennal, basal joint green, the

second rusty; the mandibles large, the cutting edges entire, their colour yellowish

with the ends broadly red-brown; the eyes black, arranged in a curve as

regards the top four which are equally spaced, an eye-diameter apart, the

6th in a line with 3 and 4, three times as far from 4 as 4 is from. 3,

the 5th behind forming an equilateral triangle with 4 and 6. Surface dull,

covered with minute, white, fine, erect hairs all over of 0.05 imm. in length,

those on the free margin of anal segment 4X as jong and each segment

folded transversely from hinder margin forwards in 6 or 7 parallel,

superficial folds. Spiracles small, oval, flush, very light yellow in colour, those

of segments 12 and 2 larger. Colour is yellow, segment 2 pure green; all

but segment 2 covered densely with dark-green, rounded dots arranged more

or less in transverse rows; the folded parts of anterior segments especially

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 681

yellow-looking ; a dark-green, dorsal line, a lateral, thin and a spiracular, broad,

white line or band; ventrum watery blue-green. L: 30mm.; B: 4mm.

Pupa.—This pupa is identical with that of Baoris colaca in shape with the

proboscis similarly produced free to segment 12 beyond the wings, the antennz

reaching half-way towards ends of wings the midlegs three-quarters the way ;

the head-piece exactly similar, the snout bearing the same proportion to head-

vertex as in that species, the segment 2 the same; the thorax and planes of

dorsal lines of the three segments similar, segment 13 very short, the cremaster

long, similarly shaped, down-curved; segments 4, 5 in dorsal line coequal,

segments 6 and following segments 2x their length; the hinder margin of

thorax, however, meets the wings in an angle of 45°, this angle simiiarly widely

rounded. Surface similar. Spiracles also similar. Colour lighter green with

the same subdorsal and lateral, white, longitudinal lines, here, however, reach-

ing no further forwards than the hinder margin of thorax. L: 25 mm. over all;

over 21 mm. without cremaster or snout; B: 4.5mm. The thorax is, perhaps,

slightly stouter than in the pupa of Parnara colaca.

Habits.—Similar to those of Baoris colaca but the larva starts

in a cell made of the point of the leaf turned right over and back

onto the upper surface of blade, the two edges on each side being

joined together-—the blade is transversely folded back that is in-

stead of longitudinally manufactured into a small tube. Later on

the larva lives on the undersides of the blades, often without any

cell; it pupates on the underside free, the edges of the blade loosely

drawn together with a cross-thread fore and aft, the bottom of this

open cell covered’ with a cereous excretion, the pupa fixed by the

tail and a body-band. The insect is a strong, fast flier, frequenting

grass-lands and jungles all over India; does not fly high; often

lights on the ground and basks there and on leaves with its wings

half open, the hindwing depressed below the upper; at rest it sits

with them joined over the back in some «sheltered position.

Swinhoe gives the habitat as India. He also figures the butterflies,

larva and pupa on Plate 832 of Lepidoptera Indica, figures 2 male,

2a female, 2b undersides, 2c the larva and pupa—-none of them

good representations of nature.

Sub-genus—Parnara.

Imago.—These are marked in nearly exactly the same manner above and

and below except that the actual colour of the undersides is here nearly always

bright-ochreous compared to most other species of the genus Baoris. They all

sit for preference on the ground, bare or otherwise and rarely on leaves; thev

frequent all sorts of country; they are rapid fliers.

Antenne.—Very short, less than half the costa of forewing, even shorter than

it is in Chapra and with the club very stout and the apiculus or crook very

small, never as long as the width of the club.

Palpi, hind tibie.—As for the genus.

Forewing, hindwing.—As for the genus.

Egg.—Also as for the genus.

Larva.—See below under Parnara bada. It has a round head recalling

those of the genus Telicota.

Pupa.—See below also. It is not anything like the other members of the

genus Baoris.

Habits.—Here again the habits of the larva in making the cell

as well as the fact of the pupa being tightly enclosed instead of

more or less naked and open is quite different from others of the

genus Baoris.

230. Baoris (Parnara) bada (M.).—Male. Upperside dark-brown with ‘an

ochreous tint. Forewing with the basal half of the interspaces with dull

ochreous, hair-like setae; with eight semidiaphanous, ochreous-white spots of

682 JOURNAL,- BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol XXXI

moderate size, two in the cell, well within its end, well-separated, one above

the other; the others in a continuous series, commencing with three subapical

spots in interspaces 6, 7, 8 in a straight line, the uppermost one often absent ;

a small similar-sized discal spot immediately below them in interspace 4; a

larger discal spot in interspace 3 with a much larger and somewhat quadrate

spot in interspace 2; all three of these discal spots in an inwardly-oblique line.

Hindwing with all but the outer portion of the wing covered with dull-ochreous

hairs with four spots in a very oblique line on the disc, one in each inter-

spaces 4 and 5 (vein 5 is wanting) and 2, 3 (sometimes also in 6). Cilia of

both wings rather bright ochreous-white with a brown base. Underside paler

with an ochreous-pinkish tint, all the veins of both wings, all but the inner

portion of the forewing and the entire surface of the hindwing covered with

dull ochreous scales; the spots as on the upperside, the spots on the hindwing

somewhat larger than they are on the upperside (with an extra white spot at

extreme-lower end of cell and sometimes one in the very middle of interspace

7 as well); the spots on the hindwing somewhat larger than they are on the

upperside, somewhat quadrate in shape and edged with blackish (more brownish

and not always the case). Antennz black, minutely dotted with white on the

underside, the club smeared with white on the underside and dull-red at the

tip; palpi, head and body concolorous with wings; on the underside the palpi

and pectus with ochreous-white hairs and some similar but duller-coloured

hairs on the thorax and abdomen.—Female paler than the male, on the under-

side usually very much paler; markings similar, all the spots much larger (not

really very much), somewhat suffused; a small additional spot against vein 1

ot the forewing; the discal spots on the hindwing larger, somewhat elongate

and very prominent ; on the underside there is a small spot in the cell near its end.’

The above is Swinhoe’s description of Parnara guttata (Bremer

and Grey); with the exception that what is added in brackets is

taken from a series of bred specimens of Baoris (Parnara) bada,

(M.)j, all from the N. Kanara District. He then next describes

this latter species by comparison with guttata (Lepidoptera Indica,

vol. x, p. 329), differentiating it by saying it is smaller, its upperside

being dark-brown without the ochreous tint while all the Kanara

specimens have got it when not absolutely new (they are, of course,

much darker when freshly bred as are all other butterflies); he says

that the hairs covering the hindwing are as in guttata but grey

in colour and not dull-ochreous as in that species while in the

Kanara butterflies they ave ochreous, at any rate in the rains. He

further says that, in the forewing upperside there are only two sub-

apical spots ‘the uppermost being absent, the two subapical quite

minute, being mere dots; the other three discal spots increasing in

size hindwards, all three quite smali and there are no cell-spots’

Now, in Kanara—and there was never any question as to the

species existing there being typical bada—there are very often

three subapical spots and not absolutely minute either, the discal

spots are of quite a respectable size and not at all ‘quite small’.

He goes on to say that, in the hindwing, bada has three dots on

the disc in an outward curve in interspaces 2, 3 and 4 while the

I.anara series often show them in 2, 3, 4, 5 and even an indication

in 6 on the upperside—on the underside there is one in 7 as well

occasionally and nearly always one in the end of the cell. The

onlv real difference that there is appears to be in the female and

it consists in the absence totally of the spot ‘against the submedial

vein in continuation of the discal series so prominent in guttata’

although, as he says, it is sometimes ‘only very slightly indicated’

by an obscure paleness. In bada in N. Kanara there is aiways a

green glint, somewhat metallic, on the thorax and top of the head.

LHE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 683

It will be noticed that in the description of bada (though not

actually in words, yet in comparison with guttata) Swinhoe leads to

the conclusion that there ts no cell-spot on the underside of the hind-

wing in the male. In Kanara specimens there is often such a cell-

spot, in fact generally, in both sexes, practically always in the

female. He says that guttata on the uiderside has an ‘ochreous

pinkish tint’. The Kanara bada never has a pinkish tint but is

always a bright greenish-ochreous, the green very slight indeed.

Most of the specimens were bred in the rains and are a good deal

brighter underneath than insects caught in the cold weather and

dry season which are duller and lighter—as 1s the case with practi-

cally all butterflies.

Elwes and Fdwards in ‘A Revision of the Oriental Hesperiida’

in the Transactions of the Zoological Society, 1897, vol. xiv, Part

IV, pp. 101-324, consider that Baoris guttata and bada are one

insect. Swinhoe considers they are two species, saying ‘de

Nicéville says that, in his opinion (Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, 1895,

p. 550), it is quite distinct from guttata and we have come to the

same conclusion’; meaning by ‘it’ the form or species bada now

under consideration. He, therefore, as in duty bound, confines

guttata to N. W. Himalayas, Sikkim, Assam, China, Japan and

Korea saying that it does not appear to occur anywhere in Southern

India or Ceylon.

Egg.—This is higher than half the breadth, the shape of a dome based on

a very narrow, 0.02 mm.-wide, transparent, shelving, ring or band for pedastai

or foundation. Surface shining, quite smooth except for some minute pits that

are very superficial and irregularly disposed over the surface, never more

than 0.6 mm. apart from each other and there are very obscure indications of

meridional ribs 0.05 mm. a part ail along the foundation-band but nowhere

else; the micropyle is a small pit at apex. Colour pearly-white when extruded

but becoming duller whitish afterwards. B: from 0.9mm. to 1mm.; B:

O:o.mm. (to, 076, mim:

Larva.—The shape of the body is subcylindrical, the ventrum flattened, some-

what swollen-looking about the spiracles of segment 12, making that segment

appear a slight bit broader than 11; segments 13, 14 becoming suddenly

narrower than 12 at the front margin of 13, with 13 itself extremely short,

14 rounded semicircularly behind with a dorsal slope of about 30° in which 13

participates; the body is thickest about segment 8, being highest there; there

is a distinct neck; the head rounded or long-semicircular in shape with parallel

sides and broadly-rounded vertex, very slightly bilobed, the dorsal line depressed

slightly as far as apex of clypeus; the surface of the head cellular-rugose,

shining somewhat, haired minutely under the lens and it is a greenish yellow-

brown in colour with a black-brown stripe separating the cheek from the face

of variable width and a dorsal band of the same colour from vertex down to

the apex of the clypeus splitting down each side of it and also with another

line of the same colour on each lobe parallel to the dorsal line, starting from

the middle of each side of true clypeus to run up to somewhere about the

level. of: the false’ clypeus (middle of face); there is a. thinnish, black

collar reaching from spiracles to spiracle just behind the middle of segment 2

and the segment is more or less chitinized dorsally; the hinder margin of the

head itself is always dark blackish-brown. Surface of the body covered with

minute tubercles, each bearing an equally minute, erect hair longest round

the anal margin and also longer along the dorsoventral line of body although

there not as long as on segment 14 margin; all segments well expressed.

Spivacles slightly-raised and somewhat conspicuous, oval and light-brown in

colour, those of segments 2, 12 larger than the rest. Colour of body greyish-

green slightly yellowish on the segment-margins. L: 833 mm.; B: 5 to 6mm,

684 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Pupa.—This is of the shabe of the pupz of Telicota and quite unlike the

other Baoris species; the head is square in front, the eyes not prominent ;

segment 2 is short, it and head being parallel-sided, slightly transversely convex,

sloping slightly up to thorax; the thorax is stout, very little humped, very little

wider than segment 2; there is very iittle dorsal constriction at 5; shoulders

evenly rounded ; the body is circular in transverse section from shoulders to seg-

ment 11, decreasing very little in width; after 11 it narrows rapidly to end, cone-

wise, the cremaster pointed-triangular, forming the apex or end; the proboscis

outreaches the ends of wings but is only produced free as far as the middle of

segment 10. Surface of body is covered all over with a white, cereous, excreted

powder and therefore is difficult to see but is no doubt covered with short, erect

hairs. Spiracles of segment 2* * *; the rest oval, brown, inconspicuous.

Colour of pupa a watery, very light yellowish-green for head, thorax and

wings; a dirty whitish-yellow for abdomen. L: 20mm.; B: 4.75mm.; H:

4.75 mm.

Habits.—The egg is laid on the underside of leaves or blades of

rice or grasses. The larva makes a cell out of blades of grass

joined together with silks, making a firm, tight house from which

it comes forth to feed. When about to pupate it makes this house

very srong and lines the whole of the inside plentifully with silken

Carpet, excreting also much white powder. Both the ends are

closed so that no moisture can get in. The caterpillars are gene-

rally to be found in numbers in the monsoon months in the rice-

fields where the imago is also always plentiful. This butterfly

rests much on the surface of the ground and frequents paths, read-

sides and open spaces everywhere in the jungle and right out in the

plains, in hilly country whether dry or subject to the heaviest rain-

fall. It inhabits, according to Col. Swinhoe, India, Ceylon, Burma,

Formosa, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago and Hongkong. He

says ‘The types are from Ceylon, it is a common species, recorded

from many parts of Southern India, Ceylon and Burma; it does not

appear’ to occur anywhere very far north; we have it from Belgaum

in S. India, we took it at Bombay and have it from Rangoon and

many other localities; Watson records it from the Chin Hills;

Davidson, Bell and Aitken from Karwar where they bred it; Elwes

from Perak, Java, Borneo; Butler from Formosa; J. J. Walker

from Hongkong; de Nicéville from Calcutta, Cachar and Sumatra ;

de Nicéville says that, in his opinion, it is quite distinct from

P. guttata and we have come to the same conclusion; all Ploetz’s

types came from Java.’

The conclusion that is to be drawn from all the above is that

there is but one somewhat variable species of this Baoris. Swin-

hoe apparently considers there are four: guttata, bada, vaitka and

fiexilis. B. vaika is a synonym of de Nicéville’s philotas which is

nearly certain to be an underbred bada. Flexilis (Swinh.), is surely

not a tenable species.

The next species Baoris (Caltoris) canaraica (M.), put under the

sub-genus Parnara (Swinhoe treats these sub-genera as full fami-

lies) by Swinhoe, is, by antenne and habits, actually a Caltoris as

characterized by himself. He probably had specimens without

antenne and made the mistake that way. From specimens both

bred and captured in Kanara the insect is certainly a Caltoris.

231. Baoris (Caltoris) canaraica (M.).—Male. Upperside ‘dark olive-brown.

Forewing with ochreous-grey setae on the basal half of the costal space and

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 685

some ochreous-grey hairs at the base of the wing Lelow the cell; eight moderate-

sized, semidiaphanous spots: two in the cell towards the end, well-separated,

placed obliquely one above the other; the others in a continuous series, three

uppermost subapical in an outwardly-oblique curve, three discal in an inwardly-

oblique line, increasing in size hindwards, in interspaces 4, 3, 2, the last some-

what outwardly produced. Hindwing without markings, ali but the outer

margin covered with cchreous-grey hairs. Cilia brown, the tips becoming

whitish towards the hinder margin of forewing and throughout the hindwing.

Underside slightly paler than the upperside. Forewing with the hinder-marginal

space before vein 2 paler caused by minute, greyish-white scales; the spots as

above with an additional, indistinct, whitish spot on vein 1 in continuation of

the discal series. Hindwing with the costa narrowly, the abdominal fold and

a broad discal band of minute, whitish scales. Antennze black with white

spots on the underside of the shaft, the club smeared with white, the tip

tinted with red; palpi, head and body concolorous with the wings, with ochreous-

grey hairs; on the underside the palpi, pectus and abdomen with ochreous-

white and blackish hairs and some similar hairs on thorax; legs brown above,

ochreous-grey ‘beneath.—Female like the male but on the upperside there is an

additional white spot to the discal series of the forewing, situated on vein 1

about the size of the spot in interspace 3; and on the underside of the hindwing

there are three minute, white, discal dots in interspaces 2, 3, 6. Expanse

35 mm. to 42 mm.’

The above is written by Swinhoe in Lepidoptera Indica, vol. x,

pp. 326, 327. Since it was published, the butterfly has been reared

and quite a respectable series has been got together in its habitat

given as ‘Kanara, South India’ by Swinhoe. It apparently has

never been obtained anywhere else.

Larva.—This is of exactly the same type and shape as that of Baoris kumara

or any of the others, the anal segment broadly rounded, overreaching the short

anal claspers; the prolegs ani true legs also short, especially the former and

green of a light colour like the ventrum; the head semielliptical in shape with

the vertex somewhat narrowly rounded compared to the other Calioris species

(Kumara seriata), the surface moderately shining and rather roughly cellular-

rugose, covered with tiny, erect hairs with the main hairs about double the

length, some about the mouth-opening at most four times the length of the

shortest which would be about one-quarter the basal width of the clypeus, the

antennal hair rather longer still; the colour very pale-yellow with a dark-brown

band containing the uppermost four eyes and a brownish smudge in the middle

of the clypeus, against its base and running up half way followed by a dorsal

line to its apex that is still more obscure; this true clypeus long-triangular in

shape, the apex acute, the colour of the head, reaching about half the length

of head (the head is about 3.5 mtn. broad by the same in height), that is to

say 1.4mm. long by 1mm. wide (in the estimated height of the head the

prominent mandibles are included and they add some 0.4 mm.); the false clypeus

is a narrow strip outside the true one of slightly over 0.1 mm. in breadth

arching somewhat widely over the apex of the true clypeus and reaching rather

more than 0.2 mm. further up, this apex acute; the labrum is a transverse piece

as broad as the clypeus (1 mm.) and about 0.2 mm. long; the ligula a circular,

quite transparent piece about as long as twice the length of labrum by slightly

more than that in breadth with a small sinus; antennal basai joint the same

colour as the ventrum more or less with the second joint light-rusty ; mandibles

large, 0.6 mm. wide, light-rusty with broadly dark rusty-brown, regular ends,

the cutting-edges quite entire; the eyes 0.1mm. in diameter, numbers 1, 2

hardly half an eye-diameter apart, 2 just over 0.15 mm. from 3 which is also

the distance between 3 and 4, number 6=0.35 mm. from 4, and 5 behind 4, 6

removed from number 6 a distance of 0.2 mm. and about the same from 4,

all arranged with 1 to 4 in a slight curve, number 6 in a straight line with

3, 4 with 5 making the apex of a triangle behind 4, 6. Surface of body dull,

smooth to the eye but covered with minute, erect, light hairs 0.05 mm. long

and with somewhat thickened tips, those round the free margin of segment 14

are 0.15 mm. long; the segments are all distinct and have the usual impressed

six lines parallel to the hinder margin, the last somewhere near the middle of

685 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

the segment. Sphiracles oval, flush, yellowish, those of 12 and 2 larger. Colour

bluish-white like that of Baoris kumara or farri. L: 44mm.; B: about

6 mm.

Pupa.-—Exactly the same shape as that of Baoris kumara, with the identical-

same cremaster and snout to the head but shorter than in that species; the

relative lengths of the segments are the same too and 13 is about one-third

of 12, segment 14 (cremaster) being somewhat longer than 12 with the same

dorsally hollowed-out cremaster; the head has the clypeus similarly triangular

or hexagonal, the ligula similarly diamond-shaped but rather large; the forelegs

reach about half the length of wings, the midlegs three-quarters, the antennz

ending between the two, the proboscis, however, is not so long as in kumara

and ends at the hinder margin of segment 10. Surface of body with the same

minute 0.05 mm. long, erect hairs; the abdominal surface being slightly trans-

verse-wrinkled also, the segments quite distinctly marked. Spiraclzs of segment

2 similar pale-yellowish ovals about as long as the adjacent antenna, is broad,

flat; the rest are about one-eighth of a segment-length long by rather less than

half that broad and are flush, rather pointed-oval, light yellowish-white in

colour.. Colour as in kumara.. L.: 30mm.; B: 5mm,

Habits.—More or less the same as for the others, farri, kumara

and seriata as to oviposition, places chosen for such and habits of

making the larval cell. Imagines were obtained in the N. Kanara

District of the Bombay Presidency in the year 1895 some forty

miles inland from the coast in the heavy jungles of the Western

Ghats by the writer and the larva was discovered shortly after-

wards in the same locality. The species was first captured in the

same District by a Revenue Officer of the name of Ward who

lived there sometime in the middle of last century and had not

been heard of again afterwards until 1895. It is not realiy a very

rare insect, having been seen fairly frequently in places frequented

by kumara and seriata. Quite recently specimens have been bred

at Karwar itself on the actual coast from larva obtained only a few

miles inland; but the localities they came from are very wet in the

monsoon. The larva feeds on Bamboos generally, of any species.

No specimens of this species have ever been obtained anywhere

but in Kanara.

(To be continued.)

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THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN

CrAuD By TICEHURST, MyAs, M.R.C:S., M.B.0.U., FLR.G:S.

PART I

(With 2 Plates and a Map)

PROLOGUE

Whilst I was stationed at Karachi and working in my spare time at the

‘ Birds of Sind’ I naturally had to take into consideration, for a proper under-

standing of the avifauna of that province, the avifauna of Baluchistan. I

found what had been recorded for that Agency was very scattered in the

literature and mostly dealt with the Quetta District. During my time in

Karachi, Mr. Kinnear asked me to work out for our Society a very interesting

and valuable collection made by Mr. J. E.B. Hotson during his political

travels in Mekran and Kalat. This I was very glad to do and at Mr. Kinnear’s

suggestion I have as well brought up to date everything which has been

recorded about the avifauna of British Baluchistan and embodied it in this

paper. My own personal experience of Baluchistan is but small and consists

of a visit to Ziarat in September and October 1919, two short visits to Quetta

and three visits to the Habb Valley or the Sind—Las Belas Frontier and therefore

this paper is very largely a compilation, for which I make no excuse as, sincc

no complete ornithological survey has ever been made of the Agency asa

whole, the bringing together in one paper of all known facts will be of great

value and help to would-be workers in the future.

INTRODUCTION

British Baluchistan is not of course a zoogeographical entity and few politi-

cal areas can contain within their boundaries such diverse kinds of country—

flat desert plain, thickly wooded mountains, cultivated valleys, bare hills—while

the mangrove swamps, rocky headiands, miles of sand-dunes and naked

clay hills add to the diversity of the coast line. The whole area has one thing

in common—its general dryness and paucity of fresh water. The few perennial

streams in the north and in Mekran are small in size and number except

after the annual rain, when, for a few days, those in the south may become

raging torrents such as the Habb, Hingol, Dasht, Nihing and Mashkel.

Jheels too are few—Kushdil Khan and Saranan in the Quetta District, Zangi

Nanar in Nushki, Sibi Jheel near Sibi, Sirunda in Las Belas make up about

the sum total, while others, such as the Hamun-i-Mashkel, are temporary and

get very salt and finally dry.

Plains :

Four large plains are included in our area; (1) the Chagai, the huge plain

(2,000-3,000 ft.) which lies west of Nushki to the Mirjawa Range on the Seistan

boundary and between the Chagai Hills on the north and the Ras Koh to the

south, some 200 by 80 miles.

(2) the Mashkel Basin, 1,700-2,300 ft. lying on the south side of the Ras Koh

and extending from Kharan in the east to the Hamun-i Mashkel in the west ;

ornithologically unknown and I believe is largely salt desert.

(3) Sibi Plain between the Kalat highlands, the Bugti country and the

N. Sind frontier; very flat and waterless except at flood times and mostly

very bare.

(4) Las Belas plain in the south, wedged in between hills on each side and

the sea on the south.

6838 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORAL AisT. SOCIETY “Volo oe

Mountains

The whole of the north east with Kalat is mountainous with valleys (4,000-

5,000 ft.); many of the hills run up to 9,000-10,000 ft. while some—Khaliphat,

Takatu and Zarghun in the Quetta District and Takht-i-Suleiman in the Fort

Sandeman District top 11,0C0 ft. The higher hills, 8-10,000 ft., are clothed

with briars, junipers, scrub, etc., while in the Ziarat District the juniper develops

into genuine forest. The highest tops again are bare while at 7,000 ft. and

below there is little tree growth, except where planted and watered, and much

of it is very bare hillsides. Great changes have altered Quetta ; in 1879 it was

but a small village with few trees where now hundreds of gardens, orchards,

plentations and roadside trees are spread over miles of what was bare land.

In the N.W. there is the isolated Chaga Range lying between the great

Barechi Plain in Afghanistan and the Nuskhi Plain, south of this there is the

isolated Ras Koh rising to over 9,000 ft. and dividing the latter from the

Mashkel basin. Both these ranges are unexplored. From Kalat many ranges

of hills run south almost parallel and then turn S.W. and finally west (Central

Mekran Ranges), all being much broken up by passes and valleys while between

the ranges lie plains and water courses with a certain amount of scrub jungle,

tamarisk jungle and small cultivation with date palms. These ranges are

about 5,000 ft., but.become less high in the extreme south and west (2,000-

3,000 ft.). The ranges of the Panjgur District and northward drain into the

Mashkel basin, the rest of the Mekran waters drain towards the sea via the

Nihing and Hingol rivers.

Climate :

In the north it is hot but tolerable about 5,000 ft., in summer. Very cold in

midwinter with hard frosts and at the higher elevations snow. The whole of the

Mekran is excessively hot in summer ; in winter the Central Mekran warm by

day and cold at nights, no snow ; on the coast the night temperatures do not

fall so low.

COMMENTS ON THE AVIFAUNA

The avifauna may be said to be almost entirely Palearctic, with Indian

extensions from Sind to the Sibi and Las Belas plains and to a certain extent up

the valleys and along the coast, but the general absence of purely Indian forms

is noteworthy. ‘The only other Indian species are extensions of the Himalayan

fauna into the mountains of the north-east. Of stragglers some are Indian,

others Palearctic.

That there is no clear-cut boundary between the Indian and Palearctic

faunas, I have already pointed out (Ibis, 1922, p. 532), the two faunas tailing

off into each other over a considerable area from Sind to East Persia. The first

barrier which limits the extension of Indian birds westward is the Desert of

Thar and Parkar but quite a number of species have spread across or skirted it

and so reached the Indus Valley and its canal systems in Sind. Here many drop

out and the Khirthar Range and the desert country west of the Indus forms a

barrier which they do not cross; a list of such species is given in the Ibis, 1922,

p. 533, of which I need only quote a few exainples such as Acridotheres gingint-

anus, Laticilla burnest, Prinia flaviventris, Anas pectilorhyncha, Inocotus

papillosus, etc. Others again by skirting south of the Khirthar have no hills

but only almost waterless desert to cross ere Karachi is reached 110 miles

distant. Here a certain number of Indian forms are found which I have been

unable to trace further west, that is I could not find them in the Habb Valley

nor has any one met with them in the Mekran. Such are:

I. Cisticola cursitans. Pericrocotus peregrinus.

Turdotdes terricolor. Rhiphidura aureola.

Orthotomus sutorius. Temenuchus pagodarum

Ploceus phillipinus. (Cnopopelia tranquebarica.

Ploceus manyar.

Quite a number of species however reach the Habb Valley (1) and penetrate

into Las Balas (2).

II. (2) Corvus shlendens zugmayeri. (2

(2) Dendrocitta rufa pallida. 2

(2) Argya caudata caudata. (1

(1) Prinita inornata. (2

(1) Franklinia buchanant, ie

) Pyrrhulauda grisea siccata.

) Thamnobia fulicata cambayensis.

) Hirundo smitht filtfera.

) Psittacula torquata.

) Threskiornis melanocephalus.

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 689

(2) Lanius schach erythronotus. (2) Ardeola gray.

(2) Lanius excubttor lahtora. (2) Dendrocygna javanica

(1) Zephrodornis pondicerianus

pallidus. (2) Cursorius coromandelicus.

Acridotheres tristis. (2) Hsacus vecurvirostrts.

(1) Mtrafra erythroptera sindiana.(1) Sypheotides indica’

Calandrella craytal adams. (1) Coturnix coromandelicus.

Galerida cristata chendoola. (1) Charadrius dubius jerdont

Dicrurus macrocercus.

The four unnumbered extend to a certain extent outside Las Belas. Other

Indian species again find no obstacle to limit their distribution in the Mekran

and are found right through to Persia. Such are :—

Ill. Pycnonotus leucotis leucotis. Merops ortentalts beludschicus.

Lantus vittatus. Caprimulgus mahratiensis.

Saxicola caprata bicolor. Dryobates scindianus,

Gymnorhis xanthocollis

transfuga. Coracias benghalensts,

Uroloncha malabarica. Athene brama indica.

Cinnyris astatica brevirostris. Butastur teesa.

Streptopelia cambayensis. Lobtvanellus indicus aignert.

Passer domesticus indicus. Francolinus pondicerianus.

These two lists, which are composed from facts so far as we know them, do

not of course pretend to finality and no doubt when our knowledge of birds in

the Mekran is further increased, additions will be made to list II and some from

list II will be added to list III.

In list III it will be noticed that all these birds are species which can exist

without forest, jungle, cultivation, swamps, etc., and are in fact birds which can

exist in desert scrub jungle such as is found throughout the Mekran.

Turning now to the north there are a number of ‘ Indian plains’ species

which occur in the Sibi Plain ; but it would serve no useful purpose to list

them as the list could not be anything like complete since this plain has been

very poorly worked ornithologically, moreover there is little or nothing to

limit the extension of many species from Sind to the Sibi District. A certain

number may however be said to have extended up out of the plain into the hills

and to have a status more defined than a straggler and are resident or summer

visitors.

Pycnonotus leucotis leucotis. Cinnyrts astatica brevirotris.

Saxtcola caprata bicolor. Merops ortentalis beludschicus.

Saxicola macrohyncha. Dryobates scindianus.

Uroloncha malabarica. Milvus govinda.

Lantus schach erythronotus. Athene brama indica.

Lantus vittatus. Lobivanellus indicus.

Anthus rufulus, * Streptopelia cambayensis.

Hirundo filifera. Francolinus pondicertanus.

Dicrurus macrvocercus Francolinus francolinus.

Others not included in this list are at present best classed as stragglers.

It strikes one immediately how very similar is this list to the list of those

species which are found throughout the Mekran ; in fact only three species

Saxicola macrorhyncha, Anthus rufulus and Milvus govinda do not occur in

one or the other of the foregoing lists and it is quite possible that they have

been overlooked there, the two last being resident at Karachi. I think the

reason of the extension of these birds into the valleys of North Baluchistan is

the same as it is in the Mekran; they find inthe dry valleys at moderate

elevations with their sparse scrub jungle, a habitat very similar to that which

they are accustomed to in the plains.

Altogether I consider that 55 species may be said to be extensions of the

Indian plains fauna ; in the north there are 39 such extensions ; of these about

eight are resident and ten summer visitors to the valleys up to about 5,000 feet,

the rest only to the Sibi Plain ; and all cf these except ten occur in the Mekran.

In the south 25 have extended into Las Belas and in a few cases beyond,

while 16 more have extended their distribution right through to Persia; of all

these 24 are also found inthe north. Rare stragglers are omitted.

But beyond the ‘ Plains extensions’ and stragglers we have in the north-

east a further element which may be called an ‘ Himalayan extension’ and

as such I class 13 species while others, which certainly occur in the Himalayas

rep

690 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

and may well have come thence, are spread over a far wider area than is implied

under this heading and are omitted. Some of these are confined as breeding

species practically to the juniper forest area of Ziarat and northwards, while

others extend to the juniper scrub of the higher hills further west while two or

three reach the Kalat highlands and one, the Swya, reaches East Mekran and

Kirthar. In an excellent paper (Ibis, 1909) Whitehead and Magrath gave an

account of the birds of Kohat and Kurram Valley and therein they enumerate

all the Himalayan extensions which I now list for Baluchistan except one, Paris

rutonuchalis, but in addition they were able to list no less than 40 odd Hima-

layan birds which have not been found within our limits. If one had an equally

good paper on South Waziristan no doubt a good many, though fewer, Hima-

layan birds would find a place therein, and so we come to North-East Baluchi-

stan with 13, Kalat highland with two or three and East Mekran with one.

The following I class ‘ Himalayan extensions ’:—

Lanthocinela lineata. Etmberiza stewarti.

Parus rutonuchalts. Phylloscopus indicus.

At githaliscus leucogenys. Suya crinigera.

i githaliscus concinna. Mytophoneus temminckt.

Sitta kashmiriensis. Picis sguamatus.

Certhia himalayana,. Accipter melanoschistos.

Carpodacus grandis.

Racks PECULIAR TO BALUCHISTAN

Only one J/anthocincla lineata ziaratensis is so far as we know entirely

peculiar ; two other birds have been described from British Baluchistan, viz.,

Corvus splendens zugmayert, and Lobtvanellus indicus aignert, of these the

latter extends to Persia, etc., on the one hand and to Sind on the other, and the

former to Sind. The Sunbird, Little Green Bee-eater and Yellow-throated

Sparrow were described from over the Persian boundary, the Swya from the

Sind boundary. i

STATISTICS

381 species are listed with 34 other additional races. Of these 51 may be said

to be resident in the north and 59 resident in the south, and showing the diver-

sity between these too areas only 14 are entirely resident in north and south.

Again in the north 52 are summer visitors which in the south are passage

migrants or winter visitors, whereas in Mekran there are only three summer

visitors (Glareola pratincola, Saxicola caprata and Merops persicus) while two

more are doubtfully classed as such and an additional two are occasional ‘ rain’

visitors. Many of these summer visitors to the north, are augmented. by passage

migrants going further north still to Afghanistan, Turkestan, etc., are passage

migrants in the south from overseas which come and go by what I have called

the Arabian route (Ibis, 1922, p. 531) from and to their winter quarters in Africa.

Among such for instance are Agrobates familiaris, Sylvia cinerea, Hippolais

anguida, Muscicapa striata, Monticola saxatilis,. Lanius phonicuroides,

Coracias garrula, Merops apiaster and persicus, Glareola pratincola, Milvus

migrans, etc. and it is just the fringe of this movement which is to be seen

in autumn in Lower Sind. ;

One can hardly put into statistics the winter visitors and passage migrants as

in many cases a species which in the north is a passage migrant is also to a

small extent a winter visitor and as soon as the highlands of Kalat are passed

it becomes more and more a winter visitor pure and simple as one proceeds

south or to a lower elevation. Suffice it to say that over 150 species fall into

this category.

49 species I class as stragglers in so much as their claim to inclusion in the

avifauna rests on but few and sporadic records, though I think it is probable

that quite a few will be found, when the avifauna has been more thoroughly

worked, to have an annual status. Of these 23 in the north are from the

Palearctic area and 12 from the Indian region and in the Mekran 9 are from

the Palearctic area and 2 from the Indian region while 3 more Falco concolor,

Phenicopterus minor and Puffinus tenutrostris do not come under either of

these headings while some others are doubtful and omitted.

In conclusion it is obvious there is much more yet to be learnt concerning the

distribution and status alone of Baluchi birds; the country has been but

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 691

scratched. The Quetta District and Kalat have naturally been best worked, the

Mekran coast and Central Mekran a bad second, and the Sibi Plain fairly

touched ; the Mashkel Basin, Nushki Plain and its hills not at all, and the same

may be said of the Marri and Bugti country, while large areas in the north-

east between Ziarat and Fort Sandeman and the Afghan Frontier have not

been worked.

My best thanks are due to Mr. N. B. Kinnear for much help at all times both

in India and at the British Museum ; to Lt.-Col. R. Meinertzhagen D.s.o., for

additional notes to his excellent paper on the Quetta District, to the late

Mr. W. D. Cumming for giving me all his notes on the Mekran and Quetta

Districts, to Mr. J. E. B. Hotson, I1.C.S., for placing at my disposal al] his

diaries and collections, and to Lieut. E. E. J. L Searight, mM.c., for his MSS.

notes from Fort Sandeman and Loralai Districts.

[Measurements are in millimeters; wing lengths are maximal, i.e. not on

the curve, bill lengths are maxima! from frontal bone. The order followed is

that of the ‘ Hand-list of the Birds of India.’ |

Corvus corax laurencei Hume. ‘The Raven.

The exact status of the two Ravens is not known, which fact only shows that

there is much yet to be learnt about even our commoner birds in Baluchistan.

Marshall states that corax is very coriimon at all seasons and breeds in the

mountains round Quetta (which statement Meinertzhagen confirms) whence

he obtained a nest with six eggs on March 24. St. John says it is commoner

in winter at Quetta than is ruficollis and that many nest in the Khojak ;

Swinhoe recorded it as common at Kandahar and obtained specimens in

February and early April. St. John, myself and others all agree that this is

the Raven which swarms in the Quetta Valley in the winter and roosts like

flocks of Rooks in the trees about the town. In August too I saw Ravens there

which appeared to be of this form, and found it again common along the

Ziarat Road in September. It occurs in the Sibi Plains in winter and Ball

found it abundant in the Suleimans in July.

As regards the south of Baluchistan, our knowledge is less complete ; Hume

states that he saw it at Gwadar in the Mekranin February; W. D. Cumming

thinks he saw it near Ormarra in January, while at Charbar he says a larger

Raven arrives in October and spends the winter. Although Hotson noted

‘Ravens and Crows’ in many places in Central and Coastal Mekran, all his

specimens were of ruficollis as were Zugmayer’s. Records borne out by

specimens are therefore lacking from any part of this area. One cannot

however assume, as Dr. Laubmann has, that this Raven is a mountain form as

it is quite resident and breeds abundantly in the plains of the Punjab.

Corvus corax ruficollis Less. The Brown-necked Raven.

Delmé Radcliffe says that the Brown-necked Raven is common in the Quetta

Valley in winter but that there are none there in summer. Swinhoe remarked

that it was common everywhere between Quetta and Kandahar; there is a

specimen from Chaman in the Karachi Museum. St. John considered it

commoner in summer in Kalat thanin winter. Meinertzhagen notes it as an

uncommon winter visitor tothe Quetta Valley. The status of this bird in North

Baluchistan clearly wants further elucidation.

There can be no doubt, however, that this is ‘re Raven of Central and

Coastal Mekran, as all who have collected there testify. It is resident and

Hotson found it breeding on March 13 in a holeina cliff. It is the common

scavenger round camps and is familiar and fearless.

The status of the two Ravens in Baluchistan should be easily cleared up ;

the questions are:—Does ruficollis breed in N. Baluchistan or is it only a

scarce winter visitor ; does Jaurencez occur in the Mekran at all, if so, does

it breed ; and whatarethe Ravens of S. Kalat and Jhalawan ?

As already pointed out (Ibis, 1922, p. 535) I cannot recognize zmfumatus as a

good race; the Brown-necked Raven varies much in size, 5 Mekran females

measure W. 360-372, B. 61-69.

Corvus corone orientalis Eversm.

One of a pair was obtained by Meinertzhagen, as he informs me, at Quetta

on December 3, 1913. ¢ wing, 357 mm, .

692 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Corvus frugilegus L. ‘The Rook.

The Rook is a winter visitor in flocks and in variable numbers each year to

the Quetta Valley and districts north to Kandahar arriving about mid-Novem-

ber (earliest 6th) and leaving in March. Swinhoe records them as late as

April 21 at Kandahar. I am unable to recugnize the race ¢schusit.

Corvus cornix sharpei has as yet not been detected within our actual limits

but it occurs at Kandahar.

Corvus monedula scemmeringii Fisher (—collaris auct). The Kashmir Jackdaw.

Among the Rooks which visit the Quetta-Kandahar Districts are to be seen

occasional Jackdaws ; they appear to come and depart with their larger rela-

tives. I have examined two birds of the yearin the Quetta Museum which

showed no trace of the whitish neck collar, but this is not unusual I think in

immature birds of the race.

Corvus splendens zugmayeri Laubm. ‘The Sind House-Crow.

Orn. Monatsber, 1913, p. 93, Las Belas.

The Sind House Crow is common and resident at Sibi, but does not appear

to have penetrated into the hills.

In S. Baluchistan it extends from Sind only into the Las Belas Plain; I

found it common and resident in the Lower Habb Valley and Zugmayer found

it throughout the villages of Las Belas. It is absent from Ormarra and the

sheer hills west of the Las Belas Plain appears to form a barrier to it ; Hotson

however, believes that he saw it at Ornach and Korak in the Hingol Valley,

N. W. of this barrier ; this wants confirming.

The type came from Las Belas and this race is paler on the pale parts of the

plumage than the typical race from Bengal, it is not, however, smaller as

Dr. Laubmann thought ; W. 255-290, in the typical race 256-294 mm.; a

large series of both measured.

It occurs at Muscat in Arabia where it must have been introduced.

Pica pica bactriana Bp. The Kashmir Magpie.

*Dazd” (=thief.), ‘Shakuk’* (Brahui),

The Magpie’s distribution in Baluchistan is practically that of the forest.

From Kalat northwards and eastwards it occurs very commonly in the more

wooded hills such as round Kalat, Mastung, Pishin, Ziarat, Khojak and the

hills round Quetta ; in the valleys itis naturally scarcer and in the Quetta

Valley only occasionally seen, though a few pairs still manage to breed there,

but at one time seemed to be at least in winter commoner. Southwards from

Kalat Town, it extends to Harboi, Surab to Kalguli on the Panjgur road, and

Chuttok, west of Khozdar on the Las Belas Road.

It breeds in junipers, pistachios, etc., and Marshall records fresh eggs on

May 15, Meinertzhagen as early as April10, Barnes gives March and April as

the laying months, and no doubt, the time differs according to elevation.

Where common, it becomes tame and fearless round houses and evening

flights to favourite roosts are to be seen at sunset.

Dendroocitta rufa patlida (Blyth.) The Tree-pie.

‘ Khata Khan’.

The Tree-Pie extends only into Las Belas where it would appear to be not

very common except perhaps in the Pabb Hills whence Mr. Ludlow has eggs

taken on April 30 and where too Mr. Wilson has seen it, It very likely may

occur in suitable spots at the foot of the Khirthar Range in the Sibi Plain.

Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax (L). The Red-billed Chough.

The Chough is naturally a bird of the highest hl!ls, where it breeds. In

winter some at any rate descend to the valleys of N. Baluchistan, such as the

Quetta valley, earliest September 27, and Kandahar Plain, where they often

associate with Ravens. It probably breeds in all the highest hills round Quetta

as it certainly does at Ziarat and Kach (8,000—10,000 ft.). Meinertzhagen re-

cords anest on Takata on May 10. I saw a large flock at Ziarat in September

following the plough like Rooks do.

Baluchi and Himalayan Choughs run large asarule, but I am not quite

sure that the race A7malayanus is distinct enough to be recognized,

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 693

Pyrrhocorax gracutus (L.)(—alpinus auct). The Yellow billed or Alpine Chough.

The status of the Alpine Chough is byno means certain. Natives told

Marshall that two kinds of Chough occur and he thought he saw this species

at 10,000 ft. in May. Mr. J. N. Cumming says that he has seen it at the tops

of Zarghun and Takatu also in May. Meinertzhagen however, failed to find it

either there or on Khaliphat or Murdan. Murray states that on his expedition

to the Afghan frontier in 1880 ezgh? specimens were obtained in March and May,

between Quetta and Kandahar by Hutchins and Babington Peile. No speci-

mens appear to exist from Baluchistan and there are no recent records, thongh

there is no reason why this bird should not occur.

Parus major intermedius (Zar.) The Afghan Grey-Tit

This, the palest of the Indian Grey Tits, is resident and breeds in all the

higher wooded mountains such as Harboi, the Khojak, Zarghun, Takatu and

the Ziarat District, etc. It breeds early on the Khojak where Barnes found in-

cubated eggs on April 10 ; Meinertzhagen records nests on May 3 five feet up in

a juniper stump and another in amulberry onthe 25th. In winter it moves

down, partially at all events, into the lower valleys and is at that time common

in the gardens of the Quetta Valley, etc., but so far has not been noted in the

Sibi Plain. Early in October I found it pretty cominon still in the Ziarat

juniper forest consorting with other Tits and Creepers and noted it was feeding

on caterpillars and orange berries of a bush so common there. :

Besides being paler this race runs a trifle larger than the other Indian races,

2 dad. W., 73-78; T. 63-72.

In the list of the ‘ Birds of the Indian Empire’ Baluchistan is included in the

range of Parus palustris korejewi. 1 know of no record of any Marsh Tit in

our area.

Parus rufonuchalis rufonuchalis Blyth. ‘The Simla Black Tit.

In the juniper forests of the Ziarat District I found this to be the next

commonest Tit to 4g. leucogenys, sometimes in pairs, sometimes joined up in

bands with other Tits, etc., roving through the forest. Although it is known

to breed there, there are no records of its nesting habits. It appears to be

practically resident seldom descending to the lower valleys. I found it to

subsist in October on small seeds, beetles and the seeds of the orange berries

referred to above and it has regular hammering places on boughs of trees

whither it takes the berries to extract the seeds. It appears to be confined

in Baluchistan to the juniper forest area proped in the N. E. corner. Birds

from Ziarat are not separable from typical rufonuchalis. P. melanolophus is

recorded by Radcliffe as common at Ziarat in summer: specimens which he

obtained are in the British Museum and are undoubtedly examples of rufonu-

chalis and he admits zz Jift that he must have confused the two species.

A-githaliscus concinna iredalei S. Baker. The Red-headed Tit.

Marshall records that he saw a pair at Ziarat in May ; Meinertzhagen saw a

large party at the same place on July 20. Apparently resident in very small

numbers in the Ziarat juniper forest area, I did not meet with it there in

September.

Aegithaliscus leucogenys (Moore.) ‘The White-cheeked Tit.

Within our area this long-tailed Tit isonly found in the forest area between

Ziarat and Fort Sandeman. It is apparently quite resident ; Radcliffe obtain-

ed it there in June and Col. Venning in Fort Sandeman District in February.

In September and October I found it numerically the most abundant of all the

Tits in the juniper forest at Ziarat (8,500 ft.) roving about in parties of 8-12,

sometimes associated with other Tits and Creepers but it was a bird exclusi-

vely of junipers which it assiduously searches for caterpillars and insects

moving in a band from tree to tree much as others of the genus do. It

apparently can withstand the cold of winter at this elevation as it has not been

observed in the lower valleys.

The type comes from ‘ The Woods of Balu Chughur’ which is on the Kunar

River, N.E. of Jellalabad whence I have'seen no specimens ; but Baluchi birds

seem to be greyer and paler, not so greenish-olive on the upper parts, and

have paler crowns than Gilgit examples but without topo types one cannot

differentiate any races. ¢ W., 57, 253-54. Iris pale straw. Legs and feet

pinkish brown, .

694 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol XXXII

lanthocincla lineata ziaratensis, Ticehurst. ‘The Streaked Laughing Thrush.

Bull B.O.C. xli, p. 55, 1920—Ziarat, North Baluchistan.

This Streaked Laughing Thrush is found only in N.E. Baluchistan where

at 8,000 feet it is locally fairly common. It is a: characteristic bird of bushy

nullahs, gardens, etc., rather than the pure forest. Marshall records it from

the hills above Harnai, it is common round Ziarat and Col. Venning obtained

it at Torkhan in the Fort Sandeman District. In its habits I did not notice

any difference to those of the Himalayan bird. In the Bull, B.O.C., xii, p. 55.

I-separated the Baluchistan bird as a distinct race; it is paler greyer with

paler, yellower markings on the breast than even the Gilgit race. W., 80-85. .

Argya earlii (Blyth.) The Striated Babbler.

According to Mr. J. N. Cumming the Striated Babbler occurs at Sibi and

breeds there in February. This may well be so and the Sibi Plain is the only

part of Baluchistan it is likely to occur in.

Argya caudata caudata (Dumont). The Common Babbler.

This is the race of Common Babbler which is found resident in the Sibi plain

(but not recorded in the Bolan Pass) and in Las Belas. I have this race from

the Lower Habb Valley and by the courtesy of Dr. Laubmann I have been

able to examine Zugmayer’s specimens obtained in the Mekran. ‘Though

these were recorded as huttoni all are undoubtedly of the typical race they

come from Las Belas, Balaro, west of Hingol River and from the Basul River ;

all these birds are in a poor state of preservation but they are too small

(W., 79-83) for huttont and too yellowish on the upper parts—west of the

Basul River this race probably grades into Auttfonz, one that Blanford obtained

at Gutader appeared to be intermediate, but specimens from Bahu Kelat,

Charbar and Jask appear to be Auttonz.

Argya caudata huttoni (Blyth). The Afghan Babbler.

‘Pinkulag’ (Baluchi), ‘Susu’ (Persian).

Murray records that he obtained three at Quetta and two at Gulistan in

about 1880; if this is sc, the status of the Babbler must have altered of recent

years, as I know of no later record of it in the Quetta Valley though

Betham got specimens in the district. St. John recorded that it was common

‘everywhere’, but he was referring to Kandahar and Kalat. Ball records

what is probably this race from the Suleimans but a specimen from Fort

Sandeman in which district it is fairly common and resident on the scrub-

covered hills is nearer eclifes, which appears to be a large, dark, heavily

streaked race from Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Campbelipur (south to Kohat ?).

Hfuttoni occurs in South Kalat and thence its distribution may be traced south

to Jhelawan and the Khirthar and west through Central Mekran to Persian

Baluchistan. Replaced by caudata in the Sibi Plain, Las Belas and Coastal

Makran to Basul R. Eleven specimens examined. W., 85-88°5'; B., 21°5-24°5,

Hypocolius ampelinus, Bp. The Grey Hypocolius.

A rare straggler ; one was obtained by Duke at Nal in S. Kalat on April

26, 1877; at Jast in Persian Makran, W. D. Cumming saw two on May 1,

1909 and on December 16, 1920, a tired bird came into his compound to

drink at Charbar.

Pycnonotus leucotis leucotls (Gould.) ‘Bulbul’. The White-eared Bulbul.

In North Baluchistan the White-eared Bulbul is not common above 5,000

feet ; below this it is pretty common and resident in groves, gardens and scrub

jungle north to Kandahar. In the Quetta valley it is said to be a migrant and

not very abundant, arriving in April and leaving in November, it is however

recorded in all months except January and February. It is no doubt, to a

large extent an elevational migrant and in the Sibi plain it is very common and

resident ; it breeds at Kandahar in March and must be found too in Nushki

District.

Below 5,090 ft. too throughout S. Kalat, Central and Coastal Makran, it is

abundant from the Habb Valley to Persian Baluchistan. In Coastal Makran

this bird nests in beams and rafters of buildings as well as in trees.

All birds examined from all over Baluchistan are, save one, of the typical

race; this one bird from Mand on the Persian-Baluchi boundary, has the

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 695

yellow eyelids and darker under parts of mesopotamie ; birds from S.W.

Persia are of this latter race. Birds from Persian Baluchistan (Zarudny coll.),

are however, typical dewcotis so Dr. Hartert informs me ; where the boundary

between the two races lies is yet to be determined.

Pycnonotus teucotis humii (Oates). Hume’s Bulbul.

There is in the Quetta Museum a locally obtained specimen of this Bulbul

which Mr. Kinnear has identified. I ani not at all clear about the status of

this race.—Other North Baluchi Bulbuls I have seen appear to me to. be

indistinguishable from the typical race.

Sitta kashmiriensis Brooks. Brooks’s Nuthatch.

The only record is from Shingar in the Zhob Valley where Col. Venning

obtained specimens on July 7and June 8 now in the British Museum. Probably

this Nuthatch is resident in small numbers in the extreme north-east. I

searched the Ziarat forests in vain for this bird nor has any one else met with

it there,

Sitta neumayer tephronota Sharpe. The Eastern Rock Nuthatch. |

The Rock Nuthatch is common enough and resident in rocky valleys of the

mountainous parts especially where there are streams. From Fort Sandeman

District in the N.E. it is distributed throughout N. Baluchistan as far as

Kalat Town at any rate, and probably further south where hills are high enough

though there are no records. In winter it descends to lower elevations. It

breeds early; on the Khojak, Barnes records nests in March and April and

Bethan at Quetta has found incubated eggs on April 2; the fourdation of one

nest he examined measured 30 by 18 inches ; a robbed nest may be repaired

and utilized even twice. The number of eggs varies from 5 to8, Murray

records it nesting in trunks of trees as well as on rocks in the Khojak !

Dicrurus macrocercus macrocercus Vieill. The Black Drongo.

‘Kolaho’ or ‘ Gohaloe’ (Brahui).

Where found the Drongo is apparently resident or only a local migrant. In

N. Baluchistan its distribution needs further working out. Barnes obtained

a bird on May 27 at Chaman ‘in breeding state’ and remarks that it is very

uncommon. St. John says itis not uncommon at Quetta and on the plateau,

but does not reach Kandahar. However I do not know of any recent records

of it in this district, to which it must be I think astraggler. Lieut. Searight lias

recently observed a few on passage at Fort Sandeman about the middle of May.

It is certainly common enough in the Sibi Plains and penetrates the hills as far,

for instance, as Harnai.

In S. Baluchistan it is resident and the distribution so far as is known is as

follows :—Starting from the Sind frontier it is common enough in the Habb

Valley and throughout the plains of Las Belas; to the north it reaches

Khozdar (4,000 ft.) in Jhalawan, to the west it is common in the valley of the

Mashkai (3,200 ft.) and reaches as far at all events as the Rodkan District. At

Ormarra on the ccast Cumming only met with it once. (October 21, 1901).

West of long., 64° E. I have no knowledge of it save that Zarudny lists it

from Persian Mekran. Hotson however did not meet with it there.

Certhia himalayana limes Meinertz. The Himalayan Tree-Creeper.

The Tree-Creeper is another bird which so far as we know occurs chiefly in

the juniper area of N. E. corner. It is resident but moves down to the lower

valleys or even perhaps to the plains in winter, at which season it occurs in the

Quetta Valley. It is common in the juniper forests at Ziarat (8,000-9,000 ft.) and

from there is found out to the N. E. frontier at Fort Sandeman, possibly

it may breed in the Khojak too as Murray records it from Gulistan in August.

In the autum one or more may be met with with every roving ‘band of Tits.

Meinertzhagen (Ibis, 1920, p. 148) records the Ziarat bird as the typical race but’

later in'the Bull. B. O. C., xiii, p. 140-1 he gives reasons for separating it asa

new race intermediate between /enizura (Turkestan) and Azmalayana. I at

first thought that the Ziarat birds were indistinguishable from Turkestan birds

but a re-examination with further Turkestan specimens has led me to agree

that the Baluchi bird is intermediate in colour between the two and just

separable. The bills of Turkestan birds are rather longer than in the other

696 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1I

two forms but in /zmes only occasional birds exceed hzmalayana in bill length

B., 18-25. (49 specimens in all examined.)

Tichodroma muraria (L.). The Wall Creeper.

‘The Wall Creeper is not uncommon in N. Baluchistan in winter; the records

date from the end of October to the end of March. One obtained on March 31,

is in breeding dress but there are no suggestions that it breeds within our area.

It frequents the sides of ravines both in the hills and valleys and occurs as low

down as 1,000 ft. in Bolan Pass near Sibi. St. John remarks that he often saw

it frequenting mud walls. Unrecorded elsewhere.

The Wren (7voglodytes t. neglectus) is recorded in the Fauna (ed. ii) from

the border hills of Baluchistan. I know of no record within our area, the nearest

being from Safed Koh in Afghanistan.

Regulus regulus tristis (Pleske.) The Gold-Crest.

In the Hauna (ed. ii) a bird shot at Quetta in January is recorded as being

nearer this race. I have been unable to trace the specimen, nor has it been

recorded before.

Agrobates galactodes familiaris (Menet). The Grey-backed Warbler.

‘Sertch Durnat’, Baluchi.

‘lhe Grey-backed Warbler is not common in N. Baluchistan and rather local ;

it is no doubt mostly a passage migrant and though Meinertzhagen records one

at Quetta as early as February 1, the majority appear to arrive and pass

through about the last week in April according to Swinhoe, who obtained it

then at Melkarez and Chaman. St. John considered it tolerably common in

suitable places and obtained specimeus in June at Zehur Kalat which must have

been breeding and at Nal Kalat in the first week of May. It passes through the

Quetta Valley aga'n in August and September (earliest July 30), in small

numbers. W. D. Cumming saw several pairs at Sarananon June 26, in

tamarisks bordering the dried margins of the lake and at least one pair were

feeding young in the vicinity.

In S. Baluchistan it is doubtless mostly a passage migrant; it has been

noted in the valley of the Mashkai, Kohva District, on September 6, and at

Ormarra on April 17 and October 11. Some however may overwinter as

Hotson records several on December 1, at Nasirabad in the Nihing Valley. On

the Perso-Baluch frontier it must breed as Hotson found it near Mand on

May 28, and near Hong on July 1, at Charbar on the Perso-Makran coast

W. D. Cumming only notes it as a passage migrant from April 14 to May 5.

Acrocephalcus stentoreus brunnescens (Jerd.) The Clamorous Reed Warbler.

This Reed-Warbler in Baluchistan is both a summer visitor and a passage

migrant. It is most noticeable on passage at the end of August and in

September and it is apparently absent until April. However at Kushdil Khan

and other suitable reed beds, as in the Lora River, a few pairs breed ; thus

St. John obtained it near Quetta on July 14, and at Kandahar on June 1, whilst

Meinertzhagen found two nests with three and four eggs cn June 1, near Quetta

and a nest of young at Kushdil.

In the rest of Baluchistan the status is uncertain ; at Sibi it certainly occurs

in winter and may of course breed there too. There is no reason why it should

not breed in the mangrove swamps on the Makran coast as W.D. Cumming found

it breeding not uncommonly iu such places at Jask in Persian Makran from

early April to early May and found nests with two and three eggs. Duke

obtained it at Nalin S. Kalaton May 10, but it might have been there on

passage only. The rest of the records are scattered ones in winter when this

bird is not necessarily found by water as Hotson obtained one out of a flock of

Hutton’s Babblers in scrub jungle.

Acrocephalus arundinaceus zarudnyi, Hart. The Great Reed Warbler.

Laubmann records that Zugmayer obtained one at Kalat on-October 4, 1911.

There is no cther record for Baluchistan.

Acrocephalus dumetorum, Blyth. Blyth’s Reed Warbler.

Blyth’s Reed Warbler is probably not uncommon on passage but has been in

the past so confused with other species or has been cverlooked that its status

Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

HILLS FROM THE QUETTA PLAIN WITH ORCHARDS.

HOME OF Phodospiza obsoleta, Kippolats rama, ETC.

Bess

LOW BARE HILLS, SIND—LAS BELAS FRONTIER.

HOME OF Ammomanes a. phenicurotdes.

"1JAD2I]S DELAIGULY “SN{IISNYG

‘OLA ‘ASOU GTIM , HHS-HUS , ANV VJVIOLAS DZ1AIgUyY AO ANOH

HIIM GHLLOd LISH#uod UAdINALC HHL NI , IONVL, V UMILNOUA IHON IVA ‘GNIS ‘FONVY UVHIYIH

‘90G “18IL] ‘3@NV Aequiog “uamor

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALOCHISTAN 697

cannot be made out. In the Quetta District Meinertzhagen obtained it on

March 4, and there are two specimens in the Quetta Museum both obtained on

August 31 (and both labelled Aizppolais pallida) and another obtained on

August 24 (labelled—fallzda and then Ac. agricola!). Murray’s records of

Acrocephalus streperus from Nushki and Quetta very likely belong to this

species.

St. John records that Duke got it at Nal Kalat on May 10; Hotson obtained

it at Harbud, E. of Panjgur on April 28, and at Korak in the Hingol Valley on

September 13.

Acrocephalus agricola agricola (Jerd.) Paddy-field Warbler.

Only recorded in N. Baluchistan on passage. Meinertzhagen says it passes

through the Quetta Valley from the third week in August to the beginning of

November and he obtained it at Chaman on April 16. Murray recorded it

from Mach on March 16, and from Quetta and Kandahar. There is a specimen

in the British Museum also obtained at Chaman on April 16, 1880. Though

there are no records, this Warbler is certain to winterin the Sibi Jheels and

perhaps elsewhere in Baluchistan. The only specimens I have seen from

Baluchistan belong to the typical race.

Lusciniola melanopogon mimica, Madaraz. ‘The Moustached Sedge-Warbler.

Swinhoe obtained this Warbler at Kandahar on April 20, but Meinertzhagen

is the only one who has met with it actually in Baluchistan and records that it

is not uncommon in the few suitable localities, passing through in March and

again in August and September. A few however stop to breed and he found

three pairs and their nests—two at Beleli on the Lora on June 1 and 2, both

with three eggs and one pair at Kuchlak on May 14, with four eggs. ‘The nests

were deep cup-shaped structures of dead reed-stalks situated in dense tangled

sedge growing in a foot of water.

Franklinia buchanani (Blyth.) The Rufous-fronted Wren-Warbler.

Though unlikely to occur in the hilly country, this Wren-Warbler,

I ascertained, is resident in Habb Valley and may well be so in Las Belas and

Sibi Plains. Further there are no records.

Laticilla burnesi (Blyth.) The Long-tailed Grass-Warbler.

This Grass-Warbler is quite likely to occur on the edge of the Sibi plain and

is recorded from Pir Chowki at the entrance to the Bolan Pass by Murray.

Hippolais rama (Sykes.) Syke’s Tree-Warbler.

To N. Baluchistan Syke’s Tree-Warbler is a common but local summer

visitor ; it arrives early in April and many have departed by the end of Augtst.

Odd birds must winter in sheltered spots as there is one in the Quetta Museum

obtained on January 21. It is a bird of the valleys and lower plains parti-

cularly frequenting hedges, gardens and tamarisk. Betham records many

nests at Quetta on May 14, mostly with 4 eggs, sometimes 5; the nests very

often in rose bushes, consist of twigs, grass, roots and fibres lined with wool and

hair and sometimes feathers. Meinertzhagen found several nests at Khushdil

on June 19, situated in tamarisks, from two to three feet up. Also recorded as

breeding Quetta (Marshall), Chaman (Barnes) Kandahar (Swinhoe).

There is little information concerning this bird in S. Baluchistan where it

should be not uncommon in winter or on passage. Duke obtained several at

Nal Kalat in the end of April; W. D. Cumming informs me that it occurs in

small numbers on the Makran coast in spring and autumn. Blanford met with

it in Persian Baluchistan in March and April.

Hippolais pallida has been recorded by Meinertzhagen, Murray and Nicoll

Cumming as occurring and breeding in N. Baluchistan the former mentioning

specimens in the Quetta Museum. I have examined all the A/7pfpolazs in this

Museum and none is A. pallida, three so labelled are in fact Acrocephalus

dumetorum. Nor are there any specimens of H. pallida in the British Museum

nor in Meinertzhagen’s collection. I have examined all Blanford’s Persian

specimens in the British Museum and there are no pallida from any locality.

east of Bampur in Persian Baluchistan. It is retained in the Fauna of British

India (2nd ed.), ii, p. 433 on very slender evidence.

698 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST..SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Hippolais langiuda (H. and E.) Upcher’s Tree-Warbler.

This Warbler is a local summer visitor in quite small numbers to the hills

of N. Baluchistan. Swinhoe obtained one at Chaman on April 28, 1881,

and Meinertzhagen records that he found two pairs breeding on the east slope of

Takatu on May 31, and on Spereragha on June 11 near Quetta at 7,500-8,000 ft. ;

the nests were in small bushes 12 to 18 inches from the ground and in each

‘case held 3eggs. It arrives early in April.

It must be a passage migrant through S. Baluchistan but the only record is

from Nundera in Jhalawan where Hotson obtained it on September 8;

Blanford obtained it at Magas on the Persian side on March 28 and he called

it far from rare in wooded ravines in Persian Baluchistan.

Hippolais scita (Evers) =caligata auct. The Booted Tree-Warbler,

Distribution not clear and very few records. St. John says it is not

uncommon in suitable places in Kalat and there are specimens of Duke’s in the

British Museum obtainted at Nal Kalat in the last week of April and one from

Kandahar on May 12. Meinertzhagen obtained it at Quetta on Apri! 3, and

October 2and 4. Scarce passage migrant.

Sylvia communis icterops (Ménétr.) The Common White-throat.

Murray records the Common White-throat from Quetta on May 11, Nushki

and from Chaman on April 13. Meinertzhagen noticed a family party near

Ziarat on July 24, at 7,500 ft. and in the following year on Takatu at 7,000 ft.

found a nest in a thorn bush containing 2 egys and secured the parent for

identification. I saw a few at Ziarat from September 25 to October 3 by which

date all had departed. It is evidently a scarce and a local summer visitor. On

the Makran coast it is a spring and autumn passage migrant but not con:mon,

Sylvia hortensis crassirostris, Cretz. The Orphean Warbler.

“Gaz Burruk’, Brahui.

This fine songster is much more of a hill bird than Appolais rama.

Meinertzhagen found it arriving in the hills round Quetta late in April and most

depart by the end of August. It breeds commonly between 7,000 and 10,000 ft.

He found several nests on Takatu between May 31, and June 10, containing 4 to

5 eggs; the nests made of coarse grass with fine grass lining were usually in

briar or almond bushes 3 ft. from the ground. Betham found it breeding

commonly at 7,000 ft. and records voung hatched by May 13, and fresh eggs as

late as June 21; he describes the nests as made of bents and twigs and lined

with hair. It evidently breeds at Fort Sandeman. Barnes recorded it as

common at Chaman, Radcliffe and St. John knew of it breeding near Ziarat.

I saw astraggler at Khawash near Ziarat as late as September 28. There are

no records in S. Baluchistan where it surely must occur in winter.

Sylvia nana nana. (H.and E.) ‘The Desert Warbler.

The Desert Warbler is rare or else overlooked in N. Baluchistan ; Watson

obtained ‘it at Sanzal and according to Murray Hutchings got it at Nushki.

Murray implies that he obtained it in the Bolan Pass and it is quite likely to

occur there and is sure to be found in the foothills bordering the Sibi Plain at

least in winter.

In Central and Coastal Makran it is sparsely distributed in suitable places and

so far as I know is a winter visitor as it is in Sind; the latest date for it is

April 1. However Stuart Baker (Fauna B. /., vol. ii, p. 449) states that this

Warbler breeds in the hills of Baluchistan adjoining to Sind, the evidence being

some eggs sent to him second hand said to have been taken there at the end of

April. I think we must await more conclusive evidence before we accept this

species as resident.

Sylvia althea (Hume ) Hume’s White-throat.

Hume’s White-throat is a summer visitor to the Juniper forests of N. E. Balu-

chistan. Marshall recorded that this species is common in the Ziarat forests in

May where Meinertzhagen also found it in family parties from June to the end

of August. There is a fledgling in the Quetta Museum as well as an adult. It

must breed too in the Fort Sandeman district as Col. Venning obtained one

there on June 7 ; this specimen is in the British Museum and is labelled affznis.

Jt very likely breeds on Harboiin Kalat where Hotson obtained an adult in moult

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 699

on August 16. Most had evidently gone from Ziarat by the end of September

when I thought I saw one or two. Except for one obtained at Quetta by

Meinertzhagen on April 1, there are no records of this bird on passage and it

is unrecorded in the rest of Baluchistan.

Sylvia curruca affinis. Blyth. The Lesser Whitethroat.

The status of this Lesser Whitethroat wants working out as older records

are not always reliable. Barnes records it as common at Chaman; St. John

obtained it at Kandahar on July 8, and this and one from Quetta on May 13,

are in the British Museum, where there is also one from Fort Sandeman on

April 5. In the Quetta Museum there is a local bird obtained on April 23,

but one labelled as this race from Ziarat on August 14 I consider to be althea.

On the other hand, Betham has recorded that a few remain near Quetta to

breed and that he obtained a nest with four eggs on May 13, and found a nest with

four young on May 31. The nests were in iow thorn bushes. In answer to my

enguiry Gen. Betham tells me that he thinks he shot a bird and that it was

identified at the Bombay Museum ; he adds that the nests were in low hills near

Ouvetta. I found this species common at Sibi on October 8, where doubtless it

winters. In Kalat Duke recorded it as common at Nal at the end of April and

there is a specimen thence in the British Museum. There is little information in

the Makran ; Cuinming tells me he met with it at Ormarrain spring and autumn

on several occasions and saw many on August 29. Blanford met with it commons

ly on the Dasht River, Bahu Kalat and elsewhere near the Persian boundary in

winter. (wo specimens obtained by Hotson on the Persian side near Charbar

and Pahrah are very pale and match with birds from Zaidam, Alashan, and

others obtained by Prevalsky in Turkestan and are halimodenart.

Sylvia curruca minula (Hume.) The Small Whitethroat.

his race appears to pass through N. Baluchistan on spring and autumn

passage during March and April and in October to the third week in

November. Meinertzhagen records that he obtained two in the Ziarat juniper

forests on July 21 and 24, and saw several others. Unfortunately these

specimens were left at the Quetta Museum where, when | went through the

collection, I could only find one of them: and this, though labelled mznula, was

certainly althea. For the present the suggestion that this race breeds there

must I think be put as doubtful. In the Sibi Plain it occurs in winter.

In the Makran this is a common winter visitor up to mid-April affecting

bushes and kandi trees by water courses.

Phylloscopus collybita tristis, Blyth. The Siberian Chiffchaff.

In N. Baluchistan the Siberian Chiffchaff is chiefly a bird of passage arriving

in the last days of September and passing through again at the end of February

and beginning of March; during these times it is common. A few however

certainly withstand the winter in the Quetta Valley as I saw one there on

December 12, (when the ground was frozen hard) and there is a specimen in

the Ouetta Museum obtained in January. It is common at Sibi and no doubt

winters there ; Swinhoe obtained it in winter too at Kandahar.

In S. Baluchistan it is a winter visitor in fair numbers remaining there till

early April while St. John obtained one at Na} Kalat on April 26. W. D.

Cumming noted it at Ormarra on spring and autumn passage chiefly haunting

the Parkinsonia aculiata.

Phylloscopus collybita collybita (Vieill.) The European Chiftchaff.

Meinertzhagen obtained a bird at Quetta on July 28 which we are unable to

separate from the typical race ; it is much greener above than ¢vistzs and_ has

some yellow on the breast. It is already fully moulted into winter dress and itis

probably a waif which had failed to breed.

Phylloscopus indicus, Blyth. The Olivaceous Willow-Warbler.

The only records of this Willow-Warbler are from the Ziarat juniper forests

where it is a fairly common summer visitor from 8,000 ft. up; it probably does

not occur outside the forest area, Radcliffe and Meinertzhagen ascertained that

it certainly breeds there preferring secluded ravines by water. All had departed

when I was at Ziarat on September 25. On passage Meinertzhagen obtained it at

Quetta on September :29, and it is recorded from Nushki in May. Radcliffe

700 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX

says it is a restless little bird and frequently utters its call-note—‘ chick chick

chick.’ ‘This is another of those species which appear to skip over vast areas of

the Indian plains when on passage without halting.

As Ihave already pointed out, Sy/vza indica of Jerdon used for this bird cannot

be as it is preoccupied by Sylvia indica of Vieillot. Fortunately however

Blyth described it independently as Phylloscopus indicus (J.A.S.B., 1845, p.593).

Phylloscopus nitidus nitidus Blyth. The Green Willow-Warbler.

Only recorded as a passage migrant and only in the north. 1 saw it in small

nuinbers in the Ziarat forests from September 27 onwards and Meinertzhagen

noted it at Quetta in small parties up to November 8. It probably does not

winter anywhere in our area. It has been obtained at Kandahar, April 18, and

October 30. JI think it probable that Murray’s record of Ph. humeit from

Gulistan really refers to mnztzdus. These Willow-Warblers were not well

understood when he wrote and no one else has met with Aumei since: one

thought to be this in Quetta Museum is wz¢7dus.

Phylloscopus neglectus neglectus Hume. ‘The Plain Willow-Warbler.

A cominon summer visitor breeding in the juniper forest area of Ziarat. After

the breeding season it scatters out into the lower valleys before departure and

enters the Quetta Valley by mid-August ; however I found it still the coinmonest

small bird in the juniper forest on October 7. Odd ones overwinter in sheltered

places as Meinertzhagen obtained one at Quetta on February 8. Murray

records it from Pir Chowki in the Bolan and from Sagee beyond Quetta in

May ; if correct, they were doubtless on passage. It may breed in Kalat as

Hotson obtained two on Harboi early in August in moult.

InS Baluchistan it is a winter visitor in stnall numbers.

Scotocerca inquietus striatus (Brooks.) The Streaked Scrub-Warbler.

This Scrub-Warbler is not uncommon though locally distributed throughout

the length and breadth of Baluchistan affecting more particularly low scrub

bushes on hill sides. In summer it is found up to 9,000 ft. and I have seen it

at this height in October and it is probably quite resident. It occurs, but less

commonly perhaps, in the plains at moderate elevations but not so low as the

Sibi Plain; thus Barnes found it not uncomrmon at Chaman (4,500 ft.) where it

breeds in March. Meinertzhagen in the hills round Quetta found several nests

from May 20 to June 7, containing 4 to 6 eggs, the nests being well concealed in

thorn bushes and just off the gound. I found family parties cf this bird

working their way along a dry river-bed feeding in lavender bushes, etc., at

Ziarat. Williams records a cuckoo’s egg in a nest of this species.

Throughout Kalat, and the hills of Central and Southern Makran this

Warbler is common and it occurs at all events in winter as low down as 600 ft.

Suya crinigera striatula (Hume.) The Long-tailed Hill-Warbler.

The Long-tailed Hill-Warbler though very local is found throughout the

hilly districts of Baluchistan from the Suleimans and Fort Sandeman District in

the N.E. to hills of the Hingol Valley (Kolwa District) and to those bordering

Sind nearly to the coast—whence came the type. West of the Hingol I can

find no records of this bird. It is doubtless resident where it occurs. All the

Baluchi birds belong to this pale race.

Cettia cetti ceottoides, Hume. Cetti’s Warbier.

Murray records Cetti’s Warbler from the Quetta and Sibi Districts ; it should

occur though no one has met withit since. Swinhoe obtained it at Kandahar on

January 31.

Prinia gracilis lepida (Blyth.) The Streaked Wren-Warbler.

'Pitak’? (Brahui.)

The Streaked Wren-Warbler I found common at Sibi in cultivation, and

Murray records it at the entrance to the Bolan Pass. Further up it occurs as a

straggler but whether breeds is not clear; a specimen in the Quetta Museum

was obtained at Sharigh on December 17, Meinertzhayen obtained it at Quetta

on August 2 whence Murray records it on March 27 and at Kili Abdullah on May

6; he regarded it as common but it does not seem: to be so now. In Kalat it is

ynrecorded nor did Swinhoe meet with it at Kandahar. Throughout the

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 701

Makran from the Habb Valley to the Persian boundary and beyond it is fairly

common in suitable scrub, tamarisk, etc. Hotson met with it in the Kolwa

District and it doubtless occurs in other valleys of the Central Makran where it is

recorded at 3,500 ft.

Priuia inornata inornata (Sykes.) The Indian Wren-Warbler.

This is cone of the Indian plains birds which just reach into Baluchistan.

Ball records it in the Suleimans (? Fort Munro District) breeding in July and

his specimens were identified by Brooks. I have seen it in the Habb Valley and

it is very likely to occur in the Sibi Plain.

Lanius excubitor.

There is a lot yet to be done in working out the distribution of the Great

Grey Shrikes in Baluchistan and there has been much confusion in the past ;

many of the older records appeared under /ahtora and are certainly incorrect.

I can only give the status and distribution of each as they appear to be from

specimens I have examined.

Lanius excubitor pallidirostris Cassin. [The Allied Grey Shrike.

Records which are borne out by specimens, testify that this is the breeding race

of Grey Shrike in N. Baluchistan to which itis a summer visitor. It arrives

according to Meinertzhagen, early in March and leaves early in November

(latest 23). It breeds locally throughout the Chaman, Quetta, Ziarat and

Fort Sandeman Districts and probably is the /a#fora recorded by Ball from the

Suleiman Range; itis not a bird of the highest hills preferring the foothills

and valleys, 5,000-7,000 ft. It must move down in September as I only saw one on

the Kach-Khawash Road on September 25, which is a favorite breeding ground.

It probably breeds in the highlands of Kalat as a juvenile obtained on Harboi

appears to be of this race. Meinertzhagen found a nest with 4 young at

Spereragha on June 1l,

In 8. Kalat this bird has been obtained on April 26 probably on passage.

To the Sibi Plain it is a winter visitor or a straggler.

Throughout the Makran it must occur at least on passage but certain records

are very few ; some at all events winter there. Blanford obtained it on the Dasht

River on January 25, and at Bahu Kalaton February 3. Zugmayer obtained

two shrikes presumably breeding birds in coastal Makran at Gurandani on May

19, and Suntsar, June 11, and at the same time and in the same district—

between Pasniand Gwadar. Dr. Laubmarn kindly sent these for my examina-

tion. The adults, which are very bad skins, certainly seem to me to be

pallidtrosiris ; they have grey on the lesser coverts, some pink tinge cn the

breast and no frontal black line; the juveniles in moult also show some pink

on the breast. ‘

W. D. Cumming tells me he has watched one of these Shrikes feeding on a

fallen peach—a curious diet.

Lanius excubitor aucheri, Bp. Bonaparte’s Grey Shrike.

From specimens available this race appears to be ascarce migrant in N.

Baluchistan, a few overwintering there. Meinertzhagen obtained it on

September 27 and October 2, and I have one from Sheik Mandah on January

29. One in the Quetta Museum obtained at Hirok on June 28, is recorded as

being of this race ; I failed to find the specimen there. In Central and Coastal

Makran it is a fairly common winter visitor from the valley of the Hingol

westward, arriving early in September.

Lanius excubitor laiitora, (Sykes.) The Indian Grey Shrike.

Many of the records of Blanford, Duke, Murray, etc., of this race in

Baluchistan are not to be trusted. It is the breeding bird of the Habb Valley

and Las Belas Plain. Zeugmayer obtained specimens in Las Belas and these I

have examined and | think that they are no doubt /ahtora, the big heavy bill,

wide black frontal band, little or no grey on the lesser coverts and white

breasts and flanks distinguish them. It very likely extends as far west as

Ormarra where some Grey Shrike is resident. Duke obtained two birds at

Nal in S. Kalat on May 6 and 9, which presumably are breeding birds and

which I assign to this race, they both have heavy bills, wide frontal black

band, and very long tails (123 and 125 mm. as against 104-117 in pallidirostris)

702 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

and they have no more grey on the lesser coverts than many Indian Jahtora

have. How far further west and north, if any, this Shrike extends is not

known.

In the north it is resident in the Sibi Plain and I thought I saw it up as far

as Harnai; how far up the Bolan it extends is not known. Of old records—

Barnes’s birds from Chaman, St. John’s from Kandahar, Blanford’s from

Mekran, Marshall’s from Quetta—all recorded as lahtora (those specimens

which I have examined), do not belong to this race.

Lanius excubitor przewalskii (Bogdan.) Bogdanow’s Grey Shrike.

Meinertzhagen has kindly shown me a male of this magnificent and very

distinct Shrike which he obtained at Quetta on November 2, 1913. This not

unexpected winter visitor is the breeding race in Turkestan and is a paler grey

above, has more white in the plumage and is larger than our other Grey

Shrikes.

Lanius vitttatus, Valenc. ‘The Bay-Backed Shrike.

‘ Nargiani’, Baluchi; ‘ Gunah’, Brahui.

To the valleys and plains of N. Baluchistan the Bay-backed Shrike is a

summer visitor in fair numbers arriving at the end of March and early April

and leaves in mid-Atgust, It even ascends some of the higher hills. To the

north-east it is found in Fort Sandeman District and in the Suleiman Range, and

to the north reaches Kandahar. Nests with eggs may be found early in May.

South of Kalat it is commoner and throughout Central and Coastal Mekran it

is resident as it isin Las Belas and in the Sibi Plain. Its limit westward is

about 59° 20’ E. (100 miles west of Bampur in E. Persia). W.D. Cumming

informed me that he had a tame bird at Ormarra which he taught to hawk

dragonflies !

Baluchi birds are not separable from Indian ones.

Lanius schach erythronotus (Vig.) The Rufous-backed Shrike.

The Rufous-backed Shrike is a summer visitor to the higher plains and

valleys of N. Baluchistan under 6,000 ft. arriving early in April and leaving at

the end of August, adults going first according to Meinertzhagen. It.is the

commonest Shrike of this area and extends at least as far west as Nushki. It

breeds at the end of April and full clutches, 4-5, may be found early in May.

At Sibi it is probably resident and at Kandahar some at all events winter.

In the Makran there are few records ; it is resident in the Habb Valley and

probably extends to the Las Belas Plain. W.D. Cumming only noted it at

Ormarra in spring and autumn, west of which I have no records. ©

Lanius minor, Gm. The Lesser Grey Shrike.

Mr. Nicoll Cumming says that he obtained this Shrike on Takatu near Quetta

in May, however I failed to find his specimen in the Quetta Museum. Murray

records that he obtained it at Chaman on April 16, 1880. There is a specimen

in the British Museum obtained by Swinhoe at Kandahar on Apri! 14, 1881

and one from Jask in Persian Mekran.

W. D. Cumming tells me he saw a Red-backed Shrike (ZL. collurio) at Sheik

Mandah on May 1, 1923. There may be some mistake though there is no

reason why it should not occur on passage.

Lanius senator niloticus, Bp. ‘The Eastern Woodchat Shrike.

Stuart Baker identified a bird sent him from Quetta asa Woodchat ; (Fauna

B.I., ed. ii, vol. ii, p. 300) but there are no details of when and where it was

obtained or by whom. No other records in Baluchistan or India.

Lanius cristatus phoenicuroides Severtz. The Rufous Shrike.

‘Ganj’, Brahui.

There has been great confusion in the past by older authors over the Red-

tailed Shrikes. It is certain now however that this Shrike is a summer visitor

to N. Baluchistan arriving early in March and leaving at the end of August.

It nests in the higher hills and valleys between 6,000-9,000 ft. that is from just

below tree limits upwards. It breeds on all the higher hills round Quetta as

Murdan, Takatu, Khaliphat and at Ziarat ; Meinertzhagen found nests in low

thorn bushes and noted both greenish and pinkish types of egg; 5 is the usual

number.

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 703

Throughout Central and Coastal Makran it is a passage migrant and fairly

common passing through, as in Sind, in August and September for its winter

quarters further south; it possibly breeds in the Panjgur District, Central

Makran.

Lanius isabellinus, H. and E. ‘The Pale Brown Shrike.

There are old records of Marshall and Radcliffe of the supposed breeding of

this Shrike in the hills of N. Baluchistan but as none is borne out by any

specimen it may be taken that the records really refer to phenicuroides. It is

a fairly common passage migrant commoner in spring than in autumn and here

and there a few overwinter. I found it very common at Sibi in October ;

Swinhoe records it as common at Kandahar in winter and there are several

specimens in the British Museum thence.

As regards Central and Coastal Mekran nothing can be said. Blanford remark-

ed on its absence, Hotson did not obtain it, Cumming says it is a passage migrant

in September and March at Ormartra. It should occur but there are no speci-

mens from the Mekran. Laubmann says a young bird obtained by Zeugmayer

at Panjguron July 28, may be this or phe@nicuroides ; it is much more likely

to be the latter.

Tephrodornis pondicerianus pallidus, Ticehurst. The Wood Shrike.

Only known from the Habb Valley whence I have seen a specimen, it might

extend to Las Belas. The only other likely locality is the fringe of the Sibi

Plain.

Pericrocotus brevirostris brevirostris (Vig.) The Short-billed Minivet.

There is in the Quetta Museum a specimen obtained at Sibi on December

ith; it must be a straggler in winter, as it isin Sind, and no doubt would be

only found in the plains.

Pericrocotus perigrinus. The Smal! Minivet.

According to Murray, Bingham obtained a male and two females at Quetta

on August 23, 1881. This Minivet may quite well occur in the Sibi plains and

wander up to Quetta occasionally but no one else has met with it. It may

well occur too in Las Belas.

Oriolus oriolus oriolus (L.) The Indian Oriole.

A bird W. D. Cumming obtained at Charbar on October 24, is in the Quetta

Museum and some noted in a cyclone at Ormarra on May 5, probably also

belonged to the typical race on passage.

Oriolus oriolus kundoo, Sykes. The Indian Oriole.

This Oriole is a summer visitor to the Quetta Valley and here and there

onwards to Kandahar. It is not very common and suitable places are few.

It arrives early in April nesting in the gardens and orchards during the last

half of May. Unrecorded elsewhere, but Lieut. Searight has noted a few at

Fort Sandeman from the last week of April till mid-June.

Pastor roseus (L.) The Rosy Pastor.

Northern Baluchistan is the high road of the Pastors’ migrations to and

from India: large flocks have been noted almost daily at many places in the

Quetta Valley, Chamian, Kalat, Kandahar, etc., halting on their westward

migration in spring from mid- -April to mid- May, and again on return passage

which begins at the end of the first week in July. The same movements in

smaller numbers are witnessed in the Central and Coastal Mekran districts.

This east-west migration of the pastor in spring and the reverse in autumn is

one of the most remarkable migrations of any species in the Indian Fauna and

Ihave already (Ibis, 1922, p. 616) traced the movements of this bird from the

plains of India through Baluchistan and Persia to its breeding grounds in

Asia Minor. The only other species whose movements are at all comparable

is the Black-headed Bunting.

Though no doubt many take the route down the Bolan Pass to the

plains others strike through the hills further to the north-east as it occurs on

passage in the Fort Sandeman District and Ball has noted daily movements

704 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

throughout July from Suleimans to the plains at Dera Ghazi Khan. Further

north Whitehead and Magrath noted the same huge bi-annual migrations at

Bannu and Kohat in N.W.F.P. and remarked that a few might be seen

throughout the summer. Meinertzhagen noted a pair at 9,000 ft. at Ziariat on

June 7, and the question arises: Do any breed in N. Baluchistan and in the

N.W.F.P.?; it is possible though no one has as yet found a nest, but I think

it more than likely that there may becolonies in Central Afghanistan which is

terra incognita, The fact that birds may be obtained in May with organs

much enlarged or in July with incubation patches does not prove nesting in

the vicinity with this bird as the same phenomena can be seen in Lower Sind.

The Pastor is one of the very few birds whose organs enlarge practically to

breeding size ere they migrate and as it returns to winter quarters before

moulting, birds with incubation patches may be obtained hundreds of miles

from the breeding grounds. The Pastor does not winter in N. Baluchistan and

only odd ones even appear to do so on the Makran coast, It may winter in

the Sibi Plain and Las Belas.

Sturnus vulgaris poltaratzskii, Finsch.

Sturnus vulgaris nobilior, Hume.

Sturnus vulgaris dresseri, But.

Sturnus vulgaris porphyronotus, Sharpe.

To N. Baluchistan the Starling is a winter visitor in small numbers in

suitable spots and is commoner perhaps at lower elevations as at Kandahar

and Sibi. As regards what races occur I can only judge by specimens I have

seen, as some of the older records are not be relied on. ‘Thus humii and

purpurascens have been recorded but I have seen no specimens of either in

any of the museums. Judging then by specimens, poltaratzskii is the com-

monest and then nobzlior ; of dresseri, if it be a good race and not a variant

of porphyronotus, 1 have seen specimens as well of typical porphyronotus.

Meinertzhagen has shown me two starlings which he obtained at Quetta on

March 13 and 18, 1913, which certainly are not distinguishable from caucasicus !

But not every example of zodzlior is distinguishable from caucasicus ; in the

former the crown and upper throat is purple, in the latter green, but I have

seen Kandahar breeding birds quite indistinguishable in these respects from

Caucasian examples and also odd Caucasian birds with distinct purple sheens

instead of green on these parts.

A few starlings are found here and there on the Makran coast in winter from

the end of August till April and they no doubt occur too in Central Makran.

From the Makran coast I have seen both poltaratzskit and nobtlior.

Acridotheres irtstis tristis (L.) The Common Mynah.

In N. Baluchistan the mynah is common and resident in the Sibi plain but

does not appear to be habitually found in the valleys ; I did not notice it in

the Bolan nor at Harnai; Radcliffe however has met with small flocks in the

Ouetta Valley in July and August and Marshall noted odd ones chiefly in

March and April. ‘These appear to be merely wanderers.

In the south its distribution is curious ; it is common enough on the Sind

boundary in the Habb Valley and is resident, as it is too in the Las Belas Plain

whence it was recorded by Masson as long ago as 1844 and confirmed by others

in recent years. North of this lonly have one record—Hotson found it at

Ornach in the Dhor Valley which place it may have reached by ascending the

Larali River from Las Belas. Along the coast Cumming never once saw it at

Ormarra but Blanford noted it in ‘ villages of any size’ near Gwadar but not

inland. St. John who was with him says he only met with it at Pishin. Hotson

however found it at Mand, the Perso-Baluch frontier post, and at Nasirabad and

Tump in the Nihing Valley not far distant from Mand. It is possible it has

been introduced at Gwadar and has spread inland to the Nihing Valley or it

may have extended along the coast. Zarudny lists it as resident in South

Persian Baluchistan. A specimen of Acridotheres ginginianus in the British

Museum labelled ‘ Kandahar’ must be an escape or wrongly labelled. I know

of no record of this Mynah in Baluchistan andit is not likely to occur except

perhaps just over the N. Sind Frontier.

Muscicapa striata neumanni Poche. ‘The Spotted Flycatcher.

The Spotted Flyeatcher is an over-seas summer visitor to N. Baluchistan

breeding in the forest area from 7,500 ft. up ; at lower elevations it is a passage

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 705

migrant arriving at the end of April and early May, and passing again in

September till mid-October. It breeds commonly round Ziarat and full clutches

(4-5 eggs) may be found at the end of May. I noticed a few still in their

breeding haunts to the end of September but most had gone.

To Central and Coastal Makran it is a common passage migrant,

W. D. Cumming noted it on passage on the coast on April 26 and May 5,

and again on September 10, but it has been met with up till mid-October.

There are no winter records.

In the Fauna of British India, ed. ii, vol. ii, p. 205. Baluchistan is included

in the breeding distribution of Hemichelidon sibtrica gulmergi. 1 know however

of no record at all of this Sooty Flycatcher in Baluchistan.

Siphia parva parva (Bechst.) The Red-breasted Flycatcher.

The Red-breasted Flycatcher is a common passage migrant in

N. Baltchistan arriving early in March to early May and returning about the

third week in September (earliest 13) to the end of October ; Meinertzhagen has

obtained it at Quetta as late as December 3. During the height of autumn

passage it is very common in suitable places ; thus I found it very numerous at

the end of September at Ziarat and on October 8 at Sibi it was swarming.

W. D. Cumming informs me that he saw several at Ziarat on May 27, but

it has not been proved that it breeds there.

It is rather remarkable that I have norecords of this bird in Central and

South Baluchistan, it has possibly been overlooked as Blanford met with it

not uncommonly on March 22, at Dizak in Persian Makran. The migrants

in N. Baluchistan come no doubt iargely from the plains of India. This

Flycatcher does not appear to winter in Baluchistan except possibly in the

Sibi District.

Laubmann records a bird from Pishin as S. p. albicilla though he says he

is unable to determine the race; but doubtless this bird is of the typical race

as are all Baluchi birds I have seen.

Murray records 5S. ~. hyperythra as common at the end of March and early

April and mentions specimens from Quetta and Chaman,. No one has since met

with this race and I think Murray must have mistaken males of the typical

race for the Kashmir bird.

Tchitrea paradisi turkestanica Zar. ‘The Paradise Flycatcher.

The Paradise Flycatcher appears to be a summer visitor to N. Baluchistan

in very sparse numbers, though St. John regarded it as not uncommon in the

Kinwaja Amran and other wooded hills, it reaches Kandahar. It occasionally

occurs in the Quetta Valley in springand in 1913 and 1914 Meinertzhagen

thought that some tried to nest in the gardens there. The earliest date

I have note of itis April 17 (Kandahar) and latest September 23 (Pishin).

However, Lieut. Searight informs me quite a number arrive at Fort Sandeman

in the first week of May and they breed there and in the:Kuchmina Valley.

There are no records in Central and S. Baluchistan. I have already

pointed out (Ibis, 1922, p. 626) that this race is recognizable by its paler

upper parts in the chestnut dress from the Indian peninsular bird and

it winters in the plains.

Saxicola caprata bicolor (Sykes). ‘Che Pied Bush-Chat.

The weight of evidence is that the Pied Bush-Chat is a summer visitor through-

out N. Baluchistan arriving at the beginning of March and nesting freely in the

valleys and plains at about 5,000 ft., but also in smaller numbers up to

10,000 ft. Marshalland W. D. Cumming say that it leaves in October and

the latest date is November 11. St. John therefore must have, I think, either

made a slip or else the birds’ status has altered when he recorded it as common

especially in winter ‘a few remaining to breed at Quetta and Kandahar.’

It is certainly now one of the commonest birds in the Quetta Valley in

summer. It nests at the end of Apri] and early May.

To the east of Baluchistan it appears also to be a summer visitor;

W. D. Cumming thought it was so in the Coastal Makran and I have no winter

records thence ; Hotson noted it only from April onwards and then only here

and there in Central Makran. On the coast it breeds earlier than in the north :

Cumming noted one excavating a hole in the side of a nullah and building

on March 9, and found a nest with young on April 12. So it may possibly

706 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXT.

be a resident as it is in Sind. It extends as far west as Bam in E. Persia

and is said to occur as a straggler at the head of the Persian Gulf (Zarudny).

Birds from Baluchistan and Sind are indistinguishable from those from

Turkestan (vossorum) on the one. hand and from those from the Deecan

(dzcolor) on the other, the types of both of which I have examined ; I therefore

regard (vossorum) as a synonym.

Saxicoia torquata indica (Blyth.) (= maura F. B 1., ed. i.) The Indian Stone-

Chat.

The Indian Stone-Chat is a common summer visitor to the higher valleys

of N. Baluchistan breeding there about the end of May at and above 7,000

ft. I found most had left their breeding quarters in the Ziarat Valley and

Khawash by September 24, and most depart for the winter altogether, though

a few may be found here and there in lower valleys and plains, as at

Quetta and Kandahar, while to the Sibi plain it is probably a winter visitor.

Extreme passage dates are March 1 and November 11.

To Central and Coastal Makran it is a winter visitor arriving as early as

August 23, but it does not appear to be very plentiful. All Baluchi and

Kandahar specimens examined are zzdica.

Saxicola macrorhyncha (Stol.) Stoliczska’s Chat.

Murray records this very local desert-loving Stone-Chat from the Bolan

{Bibi Nani) and Chaman and mentions also specimens from Dubrai and

Kandahar. No one has since met with it and I should feel inclined to regard

these records as a mistake but that Swinhoe himself records it from Dubrai,

April 24, and Kandahar April 19, 1881 and his specimens are in the British

Museum. As elsewhere where it is found (Punjab, Sind,'Rajputana), it must

be very local and resident.

(Enanthe monacha (Temm.) ‘The Hooded Chat.

Of all the Wheatears this is the most local and the most. addicted to dreary

desert hills and plains. All the records come from the Makran coast and date

back to the days of Hume and Blanford. It must occur here and there

along the Makran and Blanford says a favourite resort is the sand hills of the

coast. Bahu Kalat 1s the furthest north, there is any record of it for certain.

It is presumably resident but all the records refer to winter November 27 to

February 15, at which period only were these observers in the Makran. In the

north there are three records all probably erroneous— Barnes says he saw it at

Chaman, Marshall thinks he saw it at 10,000 ft. in May and Murray says it was

‘extremely common’ in the Bolan and at Dinah Karez in March and April.

It might occur near the Bolan as it occurs in the Sind Kirthar.

(Enanthe alboniger (Hume). Hume’s Chat.

‘Monu’ Bal. (for all pied-chats).

Hume’s Chat is fairly common in the hills of the Makran coast, it is found

in the hills round Mand and Hong on the Perso-Baluch frontier and probably

throughout the Central Makran range to the Kirthar and the Kalat Hills. In

the north it is found here and there but its distribution is not clear. Venning

has obtained it at Fort Sandeman and at Lakabund (5,700 ft.) breeding.

St. John records it from S. Afghanistan and Kalat and says he found young

in May. At Kandahar Swinhce recorded it as a winter visitant (probably

elevational) leaving the district by mid-February. In the Quetta Museum

there is a pair (labeiled pzcata) which were obtained at Mach in the Bolan Pass

on November 16, 1911. Murray records it from Charnan District in April, Mach

in March and Kirta, also in the Bolan, in May. Wherever it occurs I believe

it to be resident or only elevational in migration.

(Enanthe opistholeuca (Strickl.) Strickland’s Chat.

Strickland’s Chat, judging from the few records, is a scarce passage

migrant or winter visitor in the ncrth though possibly it breeds in the extreme

north east. Barnes says il occurs very sparingly at Chaman ; St. John obtain-

ed two at Kandahar in February and March. Meinertzhagen saw a pair at

Quetta on February 24, and obtained one there on October 21. ‘There is one

in the Quetta Museum shot at Baleli on March 18 while Isecured one at Quetta

on August 19. Venning got one at Shinghar (8,100 ft.) in the Zhob Valley on

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALOCCAISTAN 707

June 21, which presumably must have been breeding. Murray recorded

several from the Bolan Pass in March and the Khojak on April 17.

(Enanthe picata (Blyth.) The Pied Chat.

The Pied Chat is one of the most universally distributed of the summer

visitors to the hills and valleys of N. Baluchistan and is the most numerically

abundant of its tribe. It arrives early in March (corresponding to the time it

leaves Sind) and breeds at from 5,800 to 11,000 ft. Eggs are recorded as early

as April 12, and young out by the 29th, though most do not have eggs—5 to 6,—

before the end of April and these have been found up to the end of June so

that it may be double brooded. Holes under stones or in rocks, holes in walls

orin steep river banks are usual nesting sites, while holes under eaves of

houses, wood stacks and even, according to Murray, in holes in pistachio

trees are sometimes used. I think a number have departed by mid-August as

on two days at that time I enumerated all I saw about thirty males and ten

females-- all advults—-and in Sind the first are back again in July ; most have

departed by early September but an odd one may occasionally be found during

the winter (Kandahar, Quetta, Mach. )

How far south in Baluchistan this bird breeds I do not know, it certainly breeds

from Fort Sandenian District in the N. E. across to Harboi in Kalat ; south of

this there is no certain record of its breeding. To the whole of Central and

Coastal Makran it is however a common winter visitor and the latest date for it

is March 20. It is a winter visitor too to the Sibi Plain. Hotson remarks on the

scarcity of females a fact which I too noted in Sind.

(Enanthe capistrata (Gould.) Gould’s Chat.

I have elsewhere (Ibis 1922, pp. 151-5), gone very fully in to the arguments

for recognizing this bird as aseparate species and not as a dimorphism of

picata ; besides differences in plumage and average size it has a very different

distribution. In the north whereas fzccfa is acommon summer visitor capis-

trata is but a rare non-breeding vagrant. Marshall records one at Sibi in

February one was obtained at Chaman in March 1901, Meinertzhagen got one

at Quetta on August 21 and W. D. Cumming another on March 19.

The only records inthe south are two obtained by Blanford in the Habb

Valley on February 18, 1877. It is equally rare in Sind.

(Enanthe leucomela (Pall.) The Siberian Chot.

St. John records this wheatear as common on spring and autumn passage, at

Pishin at the end of September and at Kandahar from March 2 onwards,

whence there are three specimens in the British Museum ; there is also one from

Quetta obtained by Blanford. I obtained one at Ziarat 8,500 ft. on some old

plough land on October 5. It appears to be one of the rarest of its tribe and I

therefore do not credit Murray’s statement that he found it ‘ extremely common ’

in the Bolan Pass below Mach.

I have no record of it in S. Baluchistan but it must occur on passage; a

curious record is of one in the Indian Ocean 6° 21’N 66° 39. E due south of the

Makran and about half-way between Ceylon and the Somali coast !

(Enanthe finschii barnesi (Oates.) Barnes’s Chat.

This fine Wheatear is a winter. visitor in fair numbers to the valleys and

higher plains of N. Baluchistan ; though it is recorded as early as September

9, neat Quetta and September 12 at Kandahar it mainly arrives at the end of

the first week of October. Meinertzhagen and Cumming have both noted a

preponderance of males, in the few Ihave seen the proportion of sexes was

about equal. Itis a bird of the bare plains and the base of stony hillsides.

Murray was probably mistaken in saying that this bird was more or less

common in the Bolan Pass in May.

Though I have no record of it in Central or Coastal Makran it may occur in

the former district as Hotson obtained it beyond the Frontier in Persian Balu-

chistan in October. J have elsewhere given as I think sound reasons for retain-

ing an eastern form of this bird (Ibis, 1927) the greater size, the colouration and

aa of the blackish throat in the female distinguish it from the Egyptian

ird, |

70 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX/

(Enanthe cenanthe The Common Wheatear.

The Wheatear is a straggler on passage in the north ; Meinertzhagen obtained

a male on March 17, at Quetta and a femaleon October 18. The latter is in the

Quetta Museum but when I examined it I had no material at hand for compari-

son ; many female Wheatears, but not all, east of the Mediterranean are paler

than any typical European birds and these for the time I call rostrata of

Hemprich and Erhenburg. (See addendato Sirds of /raqg, p. 103 of this

volume).

CEnanthe isabellina (Crtz.) The Isbelline Wheatear.

‘Gidik’, Brahui (all wheatears).

In the north the Isabelline Wheatear has a mixed status; it is a common

winter visitor and passage migrant while a certain number are either summer

visitors or are resident, some nesting in some years more than in others. The

passage movements take place about mid-March and again at the end of August

to late in October. Possibly some are resident as Barnes records young at the

end of March but April appears to be the main month foreggs. As elsewhere

it isa local bird. The nests—pads of cotton, wool and feathers—are/|situated in

holes in the ground, resembling rat holes, and are two feet or more from the

entrance, according to Betham. Itis almost certainly double brooded as Betham

found a clutch of five eggs on June 2, ina nest which on May 7, had held young.

The usual number of eggs is 5 to 6.

Whether it breeds in Central Makran is not clear, it is fairly common there

throughout the winter and Hotson obtained it at Panjgur on April 1, but Zeug-

mayer who was there in June did not meet with it. In Coastal Makran it is

found from October to March, as in Sind.

{Enanthe deserti atrogularis (Blyth.) The Desert Wheatear.

Throughout most of Baluchistan the Desert Wheatear is in suitable places a

conimon winter visitor and probably is the comimonest of its.tribe. Inthe north

many leave for the coldest months and so is there mainly a passage migrant,

most passing through in October and againin March tothe end of April.

Whether it breeds or not in N. Baluchistan is a matter which wants clearing up ;

no one of recent years has found it nesting. Marshall records a nest of young

at Quetta on May 24 and Duke obtained two specimens (in Brit. Mus.) in S.

Kalat at Surab and Gahdegan on May 20, 1877. Marshall’s nest was situated

in the side of a bare bank of mud and concealed under the roots of a dead

shrub, as it contained three young nearly fledged he ought not to have made any

mistake over the identification. Isaw two or three in the Quetta Valley on

August 18, which is early for passage inigrants to be ee “The latest date

Meinertzhagen has seen it is April 29.

To the Sibi plain and the whole of the Mekran it is a common winter visitor

latest date March 29.

(Enanthe deserti oreophila (Oberh.) ‘The Tibetan Desert Wheatear.

As I have pointed out (Ibis, 1922, pp. 155-8) this race of Desert Wheatear is

the breeding bird of Ladak and Tibet and winters amongst other places in

Baluchistan but notin the plains of India. Its numbers in Baluchistan are

swamped by those of atrogularis but it occurs doubtless throughout Central and

Coastal Makran at least on the west side (Pasni February, Gwader December,

as well as in Persian Mekran and Persian Baluchistan) and in N. Baluchistan

at least on passage (Kandahar September 14 Quetta August 26, February 28,

March 3, Gatai April 26).

(Enanthe xanthoprymma chrysopygia (De Fil.) The Red-tailed Wheatear.

The Redtailed Wheatear is a winter visitor in small numbers and the

records are scattered over various places from the north right down to the

Makran coast. It probably occurs in small numbers throughout the country.

I have always found it to bea bird of bare and desolate spots with a distinct

liking for the foot of rocky hillsides. Meinertzhagen has seen it as early as

August 18, at Quetta, but most come later. It may be found almost at

any elevation, it has been obtained on Khaliphat, 11,000 ft., in November and

I have seen at as low down at Nari Bank, 600 ft. in September.

I can hardly credit that Murray obtained six birds, as he records, at Mach

on May 19; it seems avery late date. I know of no record of this bird nesting

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 709

in our area though Baluchistan is given inits breeding range in the new edition

of the Fauna,

It is noteworthy that ali the Wheatears of British India occur in Baluchistan.

Chaimarrhornis leucocephala (Vig.) The White-capped Redstart.

Meinertzhagen obtained this Redstart on March 2, and saw another at

Baleli on April 14, in each case the bird was on rocks by running water.

There are two in the Quetta Museum obtained at Manji on November 19, 1915

and at Baleli on November 7. I think it is rather remarkable that this bird

whose nearest known breeding quarters are in the Safed Koh should wander

in winter to parts where running streams are so comparatively few.

Baluchistan seems to be included in the distribution of the Plumbeous

Redstart (Ahyacornis fuliginosa) in the new edition of the Fauna; I know of

no record of this bird in Baluchistan.

Phoenicurus erythronotus (Evers.) Eversmann’s Redstart.

Eversmann’s Redstart is a common winter visitor from October to March

from Fort Sandeman to Kalat and from Kandahar to the Quetta Valley.

Elsewhere there are no records. Murray records it from Dozan on May 17;

he records also Ph. hodgsoni from Gulistan in May! No one else has ever met

with this Redstart west of Nepal and therefore I think we must disregard both

of these records.

Pheenicurus ochrurus phenicuroides (Moore.) ‘The Western Indian Redstart.

To the afforested area of N. Baluchistan from Kalat to Fort Sandeman

this Redstart is a summer visitor breeding at from 7,000 to 11,000 ft. and is

one of the commonest birds in the forest. It nests from the middle of May on

wards and clutches of 3 to 5 eggs are recorded ; the nests are made of grasses,

juniper bark and feathers. On October 7, I found it still the commonest bird

in the juniper forest; in winter it seeks the lower valleys and plains such as

Quetta, Kandahar, Sibi and no doubt many migrate to the Indian plains.

To Central and Coastal Mekran it is a winter visitor and is common need

in sheltered rasines, etc.

Cyanosylvia suecica patlidogularis (Zar.) ‘The Indian Red-spotted Blue Throat.

This Bluethroat isacommon passage migrant in Baluchistan passing

through in September and October, earliest September 22, and again in March

and April, earliest March 4; on October 3, several arrived in the juniper forest

at Ziarat 9,000 ft. but immediately passed on. It winters in the Sibi nlain and

odd ones do so in sheltered nooks in the valleys as there is one from Quetta in

December in that Museum.

To Central and Coastal Makran it is a winter visitor wherever ccver is

sufficient.

All specimens I have seen except one are referable to this pale-throated

form.

Cyanosyivia suecica suecica (L.) ‘Che European Red-spotted Bluethroat.

One which Meinertzhagen obtained, a male in full dress, on March 26, at

Quetta neither he nor I can separate from the typical race ; the blue is much

darker than in pallidogularts. .

Murray records that Barnes obtained e2 pair cf the White-throated Robin

(Cossypha gutturalis) at Chaman on July 2, 1880 and that Watson obtained

one at Quetta in June. No one has met with this bird since and Barnes who

published his second paper on Chaman birds in Stray Feathers in September

1881 does not allude to it. I think there must be some mistake on Murray’s

part ; he says he never met with this species himself.

Luscinia megarhyncha golzii (Cab.) The Eastern Nightingale.

A Nightingale was obtained in Quetta on October 1913 and another in the

Quetta Museum was shot locally on April 30, 1909. Meinertzhagen obtained one

there in February. Nightingales are rather frequently kept as cage birds and

it is possible all these were escapes,

410 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Thamnobia fulicata cambayensis (Lath.) The Brown-backed Indian Robin.

The Indian Robin is one of the Indian plain species which penetrates into

Baluchistan where the plains abut. It is found in the Sibi Plain and Murray

records it in the Bolan Pass at Pir Chowki and near Mach, but I can hardly

believe that it occurs as he says at Sagee on the Quetta—Chaman Route. In

the Suleiman Hills it occurs according to Ball who found it at ‘ tolerable

elevations ’ west of Dera Ghazi Khan. It may well occur too in the low hills of

the Bugtiand Marri country between Kashmor and Sibi. This district has

never been worked.

It enters Baluchistan again in the Habb Valley where it is common and

resident and it extends throughout the Las Belas Plain, the high hills to the

west of which appear to form an effectual barrier since I have no records

further west.

Turdus merula intermedia (Richm.) ‘The Blackbird.

It is somewhat surprising that there are no very good records of the

Blackbird in N. Baluchistan. Murray said that this species was common

between Quetta and Kandahar and in the Bolan Pass, in March. It certainly

occurs in winter at Kandahar where Swinhoe records it as common and

so it may occur at times within British Territory but I can hardly believe it is

found in the Bolan. Nicoll Cumming says that a Blackbird occurs at Ziarat

and on Urak in summer but I think there must be some mistake, no. one

else has found it there. I have examined two winter birds from Kandahar in

the British Museum and they both belong to the form zztfermedia and not

maxima as has been recorded.

Turdus atrogularls (Temm.) ‘The Black-throated Thrush.

The Black-throated Thrush is a winter visitor to the whole of Baluchistan.

In N. E. Baluchistan it arrives about September 25, and there I found it in

small flocks in the juniper forest at 9,500 ft. becoming increasingly common

till it swarmed at the end of the first week in October. Nearly all were adult

males. As the weather begins to get colder and food supply diminishes it

comes down to the lower valleys and plains arriving there early in November

and leaving again early in April; it is more abundant in some years than

in others.

In Central and Coastal Makran too the numbers vary each year (as in Lower

Sind) according to the weather further north, since being dependent on open

weather for its food supply it must needs migrate if frosts or snow are pro-

longed. It reaches the actual coastline in some years when northern conditions

are bad. It is, outside the forest area, a bird of gardens, groves and

cultivation.

St. John records that his collector obtained Tickell’s Thrush (7urdus

unicolor) at Quetta in 1882 and that it was identified by Blanford. St. John’s

birds went to the British Museum but there is no specimen of his there of this

species so there may be some mistake although the specimen was originally

catalogued there as wnzcolor.

Turdus viscivorus bonapartei (Cab.) ‘The Missel Thrush.

The Missel Thrush is local and resident in N. Baluchistan only. It breeds

fairly commonly in the juniper forest area at Ziarat, on Takatu, Zarghun, ail

above 8,500 ft., and probably on Urak, and Harboiin Kalat. Meinertzhagen

records a nest with 3 eggs on April4 and Marshalla nest with 4 eggs on May

1, both situated in junipers. In winter this Thrush moves down to lower valleys

and occasionally to the Quetta Plain but not to Kandahar or Sibi Plains.

Baluchi birds are very pale on the upper parts and my fresh moulted speci-

tens are paler than most Himalayan birds but I have seen odd ones from Persia

and elsewhere as pale and there are several other races described which I have

not seen. Missel Thrushes vary much in colour of their upper parts. My speci-

mens measure W., ¢ 162°5 92 15¥°5 and Meinertzhagen’s ¢ 172 2 163.

Monticola solitaria pandoo (Sykes). The Hastern Blue Rock-Thrush.

This race of Blue Rock-Thrush isa summer visitor to the higher hills of

N. Baluchistan where it breeds from 7000-10,000 from Kalat to Fort Sandeman.

It arrives in March and eggs are recorded in Apriland upto May 23—3 to 4in

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN pple

number. It appears in the Quetta Valley by the last days in July and all move

away during the next month ; I found al! had left Ziarat district by the third

week in September.

Monticola solitaria longirostris (Blyth.) (==trauscaspicus auct.) Blyth’s Blue

Rock-Thrush.

This is probably the form which inhabits Baluchistan in winter: at al! events

winter birds which I have examined are too pale and too large for pandoo and

have wings, ¢ 120 to 125 mm. in length. It is not uncommon scattered here and

there throughout N. Baluchistan.

Probably no Blue Rock-Thrush breeds in Central and Coastal Makran but it

occurs sparingly in winter though I have seen no specimens.

Monticola saxatilis (L.) The Rock-Thrush.

The Rock-Thrush too is a summer visitor to N. Baluchistan and probably

also a through migrant. Meinertzhagen found a nest on May 10 0n Takatu

10,000 ft. and no doubt it breeds here and there on the higher hills such as

Zarghun, Urak, Ziarat District whence specimens have been obtained in the

breeding season, while St. John obtained it in the Amadun Valley in June. Some

pass through the lower valleys in April and early May and on return passage

in September ; it is at times very common in the Quetta Valley and hills near

Chaman. At Ziarat I saw the last ones on September 25 when I met witha

flock moving through the forest from tree-top to tree-top. In the Quetta Valley

it occurs up to the end of October. Odd ones are said to winter but the evi-

dence is not satisfactory.

In Central Makran I only know of it as a passage migrant. Hotson met with it

several times in the valley of the Hinjol River in the middle cf September.

Baluchi birds are quite the same as European ones.

Myiophoneus horsfieldi temminckii (Vig.) The Himalayan Whistling Thrush.

The Whistling Thrush is practically resident and is only found in N. E. Balu-

chistan in hills of over 7,000 ft. Here wherever streams are perennial every

secluded gorge has its pair ; hence it is very local and withal rather shy, so that

it does not come much under notice unless its song is heard. Some at all events

move down in winter as it has been found atthat season at Kandahar in gar-

dens and occasionally in the Cantonment at Quetta.

Pruneila atrogularis (Brand.) The Black-throated Accentor.

This accentor visits the lower valleys of N. Baluchistan in winter in quite

small numbers and all the records are from Quetta to Fort Sandeman. It does

not arrive in Quetta till the end of November and the latest dateis March 2.

Radcliffe believes he saw itat Ziarat in the summer and there isa specimen

thence in the Quetta Museum obtained on September 26 ; Isaw none there at

the end of September. Its breeding in Baluchistan remains to be proved.

Prunella strophiatus jerdoni (Brooks.) Jerdon’s Accentor.

Watson records this aceentor, and not the Black-throated, from Chaman and

Saranan in January to March. No oneelse has met with it so perhaps there is

some mistake. ]t however must breed as near our area as the Marwatin Valley

in S. Waziristan whence there isa specimen in the Bombay Museum obtained

on June 26, 1913. The Fauna (ed. ii, vol. ii, p. 197) includes Baluchistan in

the breeding range of this bird but I know of no evidence of this.

Prunella fulvescens ocularis (Radde.) The Brown Accentor.

One obtained by Watson at Chaman in 1900 is in the Bombay Museum. This

specimen the Museum authorities kindly sent to England for me to see and on

comparing it I find it belongs, not to the typical race which occurs in Gilgit,

Ladak, etc., but, as might be expected, to the form which occurs in N. Persia.

This is the only recordin British Territory and is new to the Indian list.

(Zo be continued).

NOTES ON INDIAN BUTTEREFLIES

COLONEL W. H. EVANS, D.S:0:,)8.Z.S., F-H.S,

(Continued from page 973, of Vol. XXIX)

43. The following additions and corrections are needed to the papers

appearing in the Journal on the ‘ Identification of Indian Butterflies’ :—

A. 1. 4.a. Add locality ‘ Orissa’.

A. 2. <9: B:9..Add locality “Andamans.

A. 2. 10: Y. . Add locality “Andamans*.

A. 2. 12. (13). Middle of line for 9 read .

A. 2. 14. Add locality ‘S. Shan States 7.

A. 2. 16°(15).... or red” weddes white’

Ay 2. 18. °6.°: Add locality *-Chin-Hills?: ‘The butterfly has been obtained on

Mount Victoria.

A. 3. 2.8. for ‘ hypochra’ read ‘ hypochroa ’.

A. 4. 2. for ‘ menon’ read ‘ memnon’.

A. 4 e Alter ‘ leococelis ’ to ‘ leucocelis ’.

A. 4. 9. Y. Alter ‘ ployctor’ to‘ polyctor’.

A. 4. 10 6. “Add locality“ Onicsa.”.

A. 4. 17. Alter locality ‘ Karens’ fo‘S. Burma’.

A. 4, “2170. Add locality “Orissa?.

A. 4.. 5. °8.. “Alter locality * Karens “7o “S..Burma.

A. 5. 5. Alter nymotypical name from ‘ anticrates’ to ‘ aristeus ’.

A. 6. 7. Alter ‘Shan States ’ fo ‘ Assam ’.

As 8s 1:86. 227sext “tor Dawnas =

A. 8 2.a@. Alter ‘ payant’ to‘ payent’.

A. 8: 2. 8. .Alter * Karens’ Zo “Dawnas-.

A. 9. B. Alter ‘ Karens’ fo ‘ Ataran’.

A. 13. 1. Alter ‘ dtscobolus, Alph’ to ‘ discobolus insignis, SOYA dd

B. 3. In keys to genera and species alter ‘Synchloe’ to ‘ Euchloe’.

Synchloe is a synonym of Pzeris, the generic type being callidice.

B. 8. In keys to genera and species alter ‘ Anaphaeis’ to ‘ Belenois’, which

is the older name.

B. 1. Alter ‘ xzpfhia’ wherever it occurs to ‘#ima’, which is the older

name.

B. 3. 3. Add locality ‘ Baluchistan ’. I have not ascertained whether it is

true daphalis or the race ausonia that occurs in Baluchistan.

B. 4. 7. Jnsert at end :—

‘y. & dark veining very pronounced. @Q nearly black.

napi melaina, Verity. Chumbi Valley. NR.’

B. 4. 10.8. Alter ‘ canidia canidia, Sparr’ to ‘canidia indica, nov.’ As

pointed out by Mr. Watkins canidia is referable to the larger Chinese race.

Also alfer ‘N. Burma’ fo Dawnas’.

B:5. 1.a@. Alter“ 17” to *Warx%.

B. 5. 2.8. Alter ‘ Ersch’ to Bdv’.

B. 5. 3. Delete ‘ /arraldei’ which according to Watkins is not conspecific

with harriele.

B. 4. 95.9. Alfer* Assam”? 7o'©S: Shansstates..

B. 6. 4 (5a). Alter to 4b (6a) and delete ‘ Black with

which insert :—

‘4(5). Unf no well defined sub-apical pale spots.

a. Upf whole of outer half white and on unh there are broad white

streaks.

sanaca sanaca, M. (70-85). The Pale Jezabel. Kulu to Kumaon, 4.2.

8. Much darker and smaller.

sanaca perspicua, Fruh. Sikkim to Dawnas. VR.

5(4). Unf with well defined small white spots. Above black with white

spots; variable.’

spots,’ after

NOTES ON INDIAN BRUTTERFLIES 713

Under B. 6. 5.6. Alter ‘ derspicua, Fruh’ to ‘burmana, nov’ and alter

‘ Shan States’ fo ‘ Ataran’. Increase all subsequent numbers in the key by 1.

I am indebted to Mr. Watkins for confirming an old suspicion of mine that

sanaca and belladonna were separate species and also for pointing out that

perspicua, which I have not seen is asanaca form allied to the Chinese

subnubila.

B. 6. 7. Add locality ‘ Nepal’.

B. 6. 8. a. Jusert locality ‘ Vizagapatam ’.

B. 6 8.6. Alter ‘ Sikkim’ Zo ‘ Simla’.

B. 10. 1. Alter ‘ Karens’ fo‘ S. Shan States’.

B. 10. 2. 8. Alter ‘ alage’ fo ‘lalage’.

B. 10. 6.a. I changed the name venusta to norma in B.N.H.S., xxix, 971,

but my name should sink to principalis, Fruh.

B. 13. 1. Jnsert as the trivial name ‘ The Plain Sulphur ’.

B. 15. 2and3. There is a growing consensus of opinion (Messrs. Riley,

Watkins, Ormiston and Talbot) that venata is merely a seasonal form of éaeta.

Breeding experiments are required to establish the opinion.

ais. 47 Alter‘ 77 to: “WWall’.

B. 15. 5 (4.6). adler to 5a (4.7) and insert after it :—

‘5 (6). Unf, apical area not entirely brown.’

After ‘ hecabe nicobartensts’ insert :—

‘6 (5). Unf apical area entirely dark brown.

lacteola sarinoides, Fruh. (40-50). The Scarce Grass Yeilow.

Sikkim toS. Burma. VR.’

Alter 4 (5.6) to 4 (5a. 7) ; 6 (5.4) fo 7 (5a. 4); 4b (7) to 4b (8) ; 7 (4b) Zo 8

(4b). The new species is the result of investigations by Riley and Watkins.

B. 15. 7. a. Alter ‘ votundalis, M7.’ to ‘ ormtstont, Watkins.’

B. 15. 7. 8. Alter ‘ andersont’ to ‘ sodalts’, which name is prior.

Bicloe *7/. 7. Alter‘ Szvz2 7 to “177.

B. 16. 1b (3a). Alder to 4a and znsert after it :— -

‘1 (2a). Upf no spot end cell. ¢ pale sulphur yellow with uniform

broad black border. Q paler with yellow marginal spots.

marcopolo, GG. (42). Marcopclo’s Clouded Yellow. Thui Nallah,

Gilgit. VR.

2a (1). Upf always dark spot end cell.’

Alter la (7a) fo la (8a) and subsequent numbers in genus to be tnerenced by

1. marcopolo was obtained by Gen. Tytler’s collectors.

B. 16.4. Delete ‘ zastes’ ; thrastbulus has nothing to do with nastes, but

may be conspecific with some C. Asian Colias.

B. 16.10. Altera and B fo B and y¥y and zusert :

‘a. as B but smaller and not so brilliant. Q uph not so dark.

ecogene shandura, nov. Chitral NR.’

and delete the locality ‘ Chitral ’ undez B.

B. 16. Add at end of genus:

‘Note. phicomone phila, Fruh., was described in error from Kashmir.’

B. 17. 1. Delete the race marianne nola, which is only the extreme dry season

form of marianne and may occur anywhere,

B. 17. 2. Alter ‘ Azvenassa, Wall’ to ‘ satadra, M’ ; ‘ rhexta, F’ to ‘pirenassa

Wall’ ; ‘ moulmeinensis, M’ to ‘ meipona, GrS’.

B. 17. 2.7. Alter‘ Karens’ Zo ‘ Dawnas’.

B. 20. l.a. Alter ‘ aviatar’ to ‘ avatar’.

B. 20. 2and3. I believe that ceyfanica willturn out to be conspecific with

yvaleria, but further evidence is necessary. ‘They fly together in South India,

and probably interbreed.

C.2. la(8a). Lusert ' usually * ailer Vv. 5.

C. 2. 5.6. Alter ‘ Guer’ to ‘ Gray’.

C. 2. 14. Alter ‘ alcippus, Cr.’ to ‘ alcippoides, M’.

C3 li: Alter * Tavoy’ 7o* Ataran’.

C. 3. 14. Jnsert locality ‘ Manipur to S. Burma’.

D.-2.: 8. Alter‘ Tavoy ’ fo ‘ Dawnas’.

D. 3. 6. Alter ‘Sikkim’ fo ‘ Garhwal’. :

D. 3. 9and 10. I am not sure that I was correct in naming these ‘ species‘:

they may turn out to be dry season forms of vazvarta and szdonts,

D. 3. 20 (21). after 21a (20) should be altered to 21 (22).

D. 3. 22.8. Insert‘ to Dawnas’ after ‘ Hills’.

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SQCIETY, Vol. XXX1I

—

29. insert after locality ‘—S. Shan States’.

33. B. Lmusert ‘—Ruby Mines’ after ‘ Nagas’.

37. B. Insert after locality ‘—Dawnas’.

38. Znsert ‘Ruby Mines ’.

41. a. Alter first Q to ¢.

46. Alter ‘ Karens’ to ‘ Dawnas’,

48. Alter ‘ Dusky’ to ‘ Scarce’.

. Alter * Karens” fo.‘ Dawnas’:

52. Alter ‘N. Burma’ fo ‘ Dawnas’,

20 (2) a alley Ne atOy va

2. dusert the locality ‘ Kurram ’.

1. /nsert the locality ‘ Lahoul ’.

2. Insert the locality ‘ Kurram ’.

8. B. Znusert the locality ‘ Khyber ’.

4(S5a). Delete up to 5a(4) ; alter 5(6) to 4(5) and 6(5) to 5(4); add at

of genus:

‘Note. semele diffusa, Butler, was described in error from India.’

9. l.a. Alter ‘zgua’ to‘ digna’.

2.Y¥. Insert the locality ‘ Baltistan, Ladak ’.

1. la(5) Alter to 1a(4).

l. 2.0. Znsert the locality ‘ Kurram ’.

D.13. 6). Alter‘ 47°-to * Buz”,

D. 13. 7. Mr. Watkins (A.M.N.H., 1925, page 233) has found that Moore’s

types of amnada in the B.M. came from Bhutan and do not correspond with

the familiar N.W. Himalayan insect which passes under the name of annada.

He has also discovered that the name suvoza must fall to polyphemus, which

name was misapplied by Leech and Seitz to a large Chinese form, which

Watkins has christened oderthuert. Whether true annada, true polyphemus,

orixa, Mr. Watkins’ caeca for the familar annada and his watsoni are

conspecific, I cannot say ; for the present I leave them as races of annada and

make the following corrections: alfer B and ¥ toy and 6; after description

to Y insert

‘Unh white irrorations more striated.’

and after description to 6 zusert -

‘ Tornal ocelli obsolete. No male brand.’

Add the following new races :

** 8. Unh tornal ocelli pupilled. Very like last.

annada annada, M. Nepal, Bhutan. VR.

7. Unh white irrorations reaching apex; dark bands sharply defined and

traces of sub-basal fascia. Very like last.

annada watsont, Watkins. (52-56). Chin Hills. R.’

Under @ for ‘annada annada, M’ read ‘ annada caeca, Watkins’ and add

after description ‘ Tornal ocelli unpupilled ’.

13. 9. /usert the locality ‘ Sikkim.’

14.. 15. Alter * War’ to 17.’

14. 17. Jnusert the iocality ‘Manipur to S. Burma.’

14. 19. Alter ‘ Karens’ ¢o ‘ Dawnas.’

17. 1. Znsert the locality ‘ Karens to S. Burma.’

zZ5. 1, Alter* 7° to Butler.’

8. B. Alter ‘ Karens’ to ‘ Dawnas.’

25. 9. Insert the locality ‘ Dawnas.’

250, A269. Alter? Foun tog

. In key to genera and to species alter ‘ Stictopthalma’ to ‘ Svzcup-

ASS SS SSSorSossess

SON NNR RWW WH WH www

—

MMS Moeereosers

3. Lnsert the locality ‘ Chin Hills.’

8. Jnsert at end of description :

‘ Uph tawny colour surrounds the sagittate spots.

louisa fruhstorfert, Rob. N.Shan States. R.

Y. As last, but tawny colour clear of the sagittate spcts.

E. 5. 1. Alter * Wd? to * Db.

6. Alter * Karen’ Hills"vo5S.2Burmae

a a. Insert the locality ‘ Bassein.’

Alter ‘ Wd’ to ‘ Dé.’

iQ. 1, Alter‘ Pruh? to Stich.’

NOTES ON INDIAN BUTTERFLIES 715

F. 24. In key to gener and to species alter ‘ Lzmnztis’ to ‘ Limenztis.’

EF. t- ). 2zsevt alter the description ;

‘a. Paler and uph pale margin very broad,’

and add the following race :

‘6. Darker. Uph pale margin narrow.

durntordt durnfordi, Dist. Tavoy to S. Burma. VR.’

Under a Alter ‘S. Burma’ fo ‘ Dawnas.’

F. 1. 2.6. Alter 6 to 9 and zusert the locality ‘ Andamans.’

F. I. 6. /usert the locality ‘ Karens to S. Burnia.’

F. 2. 5. Alter ‘ zalysus, Fd’ to ‘ jalysus ephebus, Fruh and also alter ‘Begum’

to ‘ Nawab.’

F, 6. Lusert the locality ‘ Mergui.’

F, 7.Y. Alter ‘ Roth’ to ‘ fruh.’

F. Z. 7.6. Alter ‘Karens’ to * Dawnas.’

F. 7. Alter 1a(6a) ¢o 1a(7a) ; 1b(3a) fo 1b(4a) and zusert :

*1(2a). Above tawny with black apical markings upf. Below as sordida.

coopert, Tytler. (60-70). Cooper’s Emperor, N. Shan States, R.

2a(1). Above dark brown or greenish brown.

Alter 1(2) and 2(1) zo 2(3) and 3(2); alter 3a(1b) y 4a(1b); increase all

remaining numbers in the genus by 1.

F..7. 5. G. Alter “Shan States’ fo “ Dawnas,’

F. 7. 8.7. Alter ‘ God’ to ‘ Wd’ and insert the locality ‘ Orissa.’

F. 1]. 1b. Alter ‘Assam’ fo ‘S. Shan States.’

F. 11. 2. Alter ‘ sena’ to ‘nicévillet.’ Mr. Watkins informs me that mena

from Hong Kong is quite a different species and he also thinks that sermynz,

Druce, which I have treated as a synonym is aiso a distinct species. The

Euripus section of the Nyymphalide are very lable to freaking and I believe

that nicévillet (caught once at Chamba) and jermynt (2. specimens caught

together near Mussoorie) will prove to be freaks of persimtlis zelia.

18. 9. a. /usert the locality * Sikkim.’

18. 22. Alter ‘Fd’ to ‘ Tytler.’

18,202 6. Alter “G75” to * 77” and ‘ Karens”. to “Dawnas.’

18. 29. a. Alter ‘/7’ to ‘ Do and Wd.’

24.- 2. Alter ‘N. Burma’ ¢o ‘ Dawnas.’

24. 4. Alter ‘ J’ to ‘ Db and Hew.’

5. Alter ‘N. Burma’ fo ‘Shan States.’

26. 6. Alter ‘kresna, MT’ to ‘ moorer, Fruh.’

25. 10. Alter ‘ kresna’ to ‘ karwara.’

26. 7a(5b). Alter ‘unh’ Zo ‘unf’ in the second line.

26. 14. a. Alter ‘ Assam fo N. Burma’ ¢/o ‘ Sikkim to S. Shan States.’

26. 15. B. Adier ‘ Karens’ fo ‘ Dawnas.’

. 26. 21. Znsert the locality ‘S. Shan States.’ One specimen was obtained

by Capt. Druminond.

F. 26. 25. Alter ‘Shan States’ ¢o ‘ Dawnas.’

F. 30. 2. In last line of description alter ‘ DSF’ fo ‘ WSF.’

F. 31. Jsert locality the ‘ Andamans,’

F. 33. 7. Alter ‘ andamanica, M.’ to ‘ andamana, Fruh.’

F. 35. 1b. Alter ‘ oezone, Cr.’ to ‘magna, nov.’ Mr. Watkins informs me

that oenone is referable to an African form.

Re dose o. Hiter Jo/n tor J,”

F. 38. 1. Alzer ‘ Kumaon ’ Zo ‘ Kulu.’

Brod. le owAlter™ Jon ito * 7.”

F. 39.. 2.a@. Alter‘ WZ’ to‘ Koll.’

F, 39.. Alter 10b (13a) #o 10b (14a); 10c +{12) zo °10c (13); 10 (11) zo 10

(lla) ; 11 (10) Zo lla (10); @ do 11 (12); ‘ gemmata mackinnont’ to eugenta

mackinnoni’: B to 12 (11) ; 12 (10c) Ze 13 (10c) 13a (10b) fo 14a (10b) ; 13 (14)

and 14 (13) fo 14 (15) and 15 (14).

F. 40. 2b (4) alter to 2b (5); 2 (3) ¢o 3 (4) inserting before it:

‘2 (3a). Below the bands, etc., are nearly obsolete. Above a somewhat

fiery red with reduced markings.

saxatillis ferghana, Stg. (45). The Fiery Fritillary. Gilgit, Hunza. R.

3a (2). Unh and above strongly marked.’

Alter 3 (2) to 4 (3) and 4 (2b) fo 5 (2b). This butterfly was found by Gen,

Tytler’s collectors in the Gilgit area and by the Visser expedition in Hunza.

F. 45. 6.-Alter ‘ God’ to ‘ Guer.’

DIDNT

716 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

0. 2. a. Alter ‘ Karens’ to ‘N. Shan States.’

2. -Alter ‘#iv6° to Fao:

3. 2. ¥. Jusert the locality ‘ Dawnas.’

3. 4. Alter ‘ Karens’ fo ‘ Dawnas.’

3. 5. B. Alter ‘ Karens’ fo ‘ Dawnas.’

6. Alter ‘ do0ulleri’ to ‘ boullett.’

Carry cut following alterations in the Genera key. Alter 37b (94) to

37b (95) ; 37c¢ (44a) fo 37c (45a) ; 40b (43) ¢o 40b (43a) ; 43 (40b) to 43a (40b) ;

43a (43b) to 43 (44) ; 43b (43a) ¢o 44 (43) ; 44a (37c) fo 45a (37c) ; 44 (45a) Zo

45 (46a) ; 45a (44) fo 46a (45) 45b (8la) ¢o 46b (83a); then increase by 1 all

numbers up to 56a (50b) ; 56b (58a) Zo 57(b) (60a) ; 56 (57) ¢o 57(c) (59) and

delete.

‘ H 2 nearly equal tails at vs. l and 2’ ; insert

‘ 57 (58). H lobe ill developed tail at v2 half as long as tail at vl.

Apharitis, Riley. The Silverlines.

58 (57). H lobe prominent ; tailsat vs 1 and 2 nearly equal.’

Alter 57 (56) fo 59 (57c) ; 58a (S6b) Zo 60a (67b) ; then increase by 2 all num-

bers up to 64c (69e) ; alter 64d (66a) to 68a (67); delete 64 (65) and run on ;

insert after ‘ Charana’.

‘67a (66). ¢ with secondary sexual characters’.

Alter 65 (64) #o 67 (68a) and addatthe end ofthe description ¢ witha

black area of modified scales about end cell upf.’

Then increase all numbers by 2 up to 80 (79) ; alfer 8la (45b) fo 83a (46b) ;

then increase all numbers by 2 up to 89a (85c) ; alter 90 (91a) fo 91 (92a) ; Dla

(90) ¢o 92a (G1) ; 91 (92) zo 92 (93) ; 92 (91) zo 93 °(92) ; 93 (85b) Zo 94 (87b); 94

(37b) fo 95 (37b). Alter genera numbers in the Species keys and footnotes as

altered in the Genera key.

H. 2. 6 Jmnsert locality ‘ Dawnas

H. 6. 7. Alter‘ rah” to ‘777,

H. 17. .2, Alley * N. Burma?’ zo“ S. Shan States:

HH. 20. 16 Alter ’-777772, "to: Ad «

H. 20.. 11b (18a). alter to -1b (19a) 3 11 “(i2a) zo: V1. (13a) saanGdib) Zou

(12) ; 11b (11a) Zo 12 (11) ; increase all remaining numbers in genus by }.

20.

ZAQaS

16. Jusert locality ‘ Ceylon *.

20. 179... ealler <7 ator Dee

22. 2.68. Insert locality ‘ Kurram

22. 4. Alter *.2/? to.* Zyaneny

23. i.Alter* Dok? to* Ob”.

25. Alter ‘S. Shan States ’ fo ‘ Dawnas ’.

Alter Rambo 10)" 2 7..

30. 18. Commence new line from ‘ #2’ after ‘ dhutez

31... 7 a(la). Alder Supt’ zo ‘unt’.

31. 8. Insert locality ‘ Andamanas ’.

31. 10. Alter ‘lugine’ to ‘cuntlda’. This alteration is made in accord-

ance with Mr. Toxopeus’ recommendation.

H. 34. Alter in both places fusca to cymbia ; Mr. Toxopeus informs me that

fusca is a quite distinct species.

H. 35 6. Alter in both places.‘ casyapa’ to ‘ caspius’.

H. 36. 2 (3a) alter to 2b (4a) ; a fo 2 (3); B zo 3 (2) and delete ‘ efzcles’

before ‘ Lohimensis’, which Mr. Riley diagnoses as a distinct species.

H. 36. 3a (2) alter to 4a (2b); 3 (4a) fo 4 (5a); substitute for the line

‘ famu, etc.,’ as follows:

‘a. Upf dark border broad. 2 seasonal forms.

oda bakeri Riley. (30-35). The Blue Saphire. Chitral to Kangra.

NR.

8B. Upf dark border comparatively narrow.

oda oda, Hew. Kangrato Kumaon. NR.’

Increase all remaining numbers in genus by 1. Mr. Riley has discovered that

the type of fam corresponds to the insect that passes under the name of

viridipunctata.

H. 36. 6. Delete the second race and substitute:

‘ (btrmana, Fruh., vias described in error and really = marica from

| Thibet).’

This change is due to Mr. Riley.

H. 36. 7. Alter wirid7punctata, DeN, in all 3 places to tamu, Kold.

;

SE ee

Ly)

NOTES ON INDIAN BUTTERFLIES 7A

H. 42. 4 (3) alter to,4a (3) and after ‘green’ inthe first line zwsert ‘4 (5)’

commencing anew line. After ‘ataxus zulla,’ etc., insert what now follows

10 (11), in order to put Zeta in its correct place, now that Capt. Drummond has

discovered the Qin the S. Shan States, which locality should be inserted.

alter “5: (la, Ga, lay to 6 (la,.7a, 12a) 6a (a, 5, 12a) fo 7a Gla,6, 12a) ;

increase numbers up to 9a (5b) by 1; e@lzer 9 (10a) fo 10 (11); deleting 10 (11)

et seg up to 11 (10) and running on from ‘ border’ to ‘Below’; alter l2a

(a5.95; 02) to 12a. (ta, 6,74):

H. 45. 1. Alter * Araedrus’ to ‘ aesopus’ on the ground of priority. I have

considerable doubt as to whether agsopus is not synonymous with ¢hefzs and

that savonts is a race thereof.

H. 45. 5(6). In the first line add ‘ or white’ after ‘ orange’; at end of the

description following a add ‘ Q with white discal areas’ and at end of descrip-

tion following 6B add ‘Q with orange discal areas.’ Orange females of this

group do not, I believe, occur north of the Karens.

iH. 90.. da (/2a) alter to la (73a).* Vb (16a)-zo 1b (17a); 15 (13.14) zo ida

C134) last op). 70 lo (16) 5 lobe (loa\vo 16: (15); J6a (1b) Zo 17a, (ib) §

increase by 1 all remaining numbers in the genus except that 72a (la) becomes

Hoa Alay

50. &. Insert ‘ aedias’ before ‘ ofalina.’

H. 50. 55. Alter ‘ Fd.’ to ‘ Stig.’

iH. 50; 68; Alter °N. Burma’ to “IN, Shan States.’

H. 50. 70a (67b). In third line of description afer 75 to 69.

H. 50. 72.a. Alter ‘ 7’ to ‘ Hew.’

. 50. 76. B. Alter ‘apidanus, Cr’ to‘ kartaphilus, Fruh.’

. 50. 80. B. Jnservt‘ and S’ afler ‘N.’

. of. Apharitis now takes the place of H. 56. Spindaszs ; delete (Plate 29),

and in the second and third lines ‘Above—orange’ ; alter la (2a) fola

(3) ; la (1b) Zo 1 (2); 1b (la) to 2 (1); Aypargyros to hypargyrus ; 2a (1a) to 3

(la) ; and at the end of the description zzserf, running on, what now follows

after 4 (5. 6a), deleting these numbers, so as to get /lacinus into its right

place. After /zlacinus, etc., znsert,

‘H. 58... Spzndaszs. The Silverlines (Plate 29).

Below as Apharitis. Above dark brown; males usually blue or blue

shot. Unf apical markings as in /zlacinus.’

PACH ZO MAN Oat dic) 2d (say tole. daly 2 (3)-20 1 (2). 3. (2) to-2 (1) 24a

(2d) zo 3a (1c); 4b (9) ¢o 3b (7) ; 4 (5.6a) has been removed to Apharitis ; 5

(4.6a) zo 3 (4a) ; 6a (4.5) fo 4a (3); then decrease by 2 numbers up to 8 (7) ;

alier 9 (4b) Zo 7 (3b) ; 10a (2c) fo 8a (1b) ; then decrease by 2 numbers up. to

13 (10b) ; alter 14 (2b) to 12 (1a).

H. 58. 7. Alter ‘ Karens’ fo ‘ Dawnas.’

H. 59. Alter ‘ Hew’ to‘ Hub.’

H. 61. 2. Alter ‘ Shan States’ fo ‘ Dawnas’.

H. 61.3. a. Alter ‘lucida argentea, Aur.’ to ‘blanka sudica, nov.’; and

under 6 alter ‘lucida minturna, Friuh.’ to ‘ blanka argentea, Aur.’ Mr.

Toxopeus has pointed out that dlanka De, is the oldest name for this species

and that argentea applies to the N. Indian form.

. 61. 4.8. Aller ‘ Rangoon’ ¢o ‘ Dawnas’.

61. 5.8. Alter ‘ Karens’ fo‘ Dawnas’.

61. 7. Alter‘ N. Burma’ fo‘ Dawnas ’.

6Z. Alter ‘DeN.’ tc‘ M’.

Insert ‘to S. Burma’ after ‘ Assam ’.

65. 6. Alter ‘ veeta’ to ‘eta’.

65. 6. Alter ‘ Karens’ to ‘Dawnas’.

79. Insert ‘ Dawnas to’ before’ S. Burma’.

. 80. Insert ‘ marciana’ before ‘miniata’, which I am convinced are

conspecific and [ hope shortly te define the Burmese races.

H. 85. 3.6. Alter‘ Fruh’ to‘ MM’.

H. 89. Add after description of genus :

‘3 brand uph always to base 6.’

Then zzsert

‘la (4). Unf discal band continuous.

lb (3). Unh no spot base 7.’

After 1 (2) zusert.

‘Unf discal band straight, prominent. ‘Tuft dark brown.’

Sn EE SE SE or oe or oo

78 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Delete the second ‘zsocrates’ and add after ‘India’ ‘to N.-Shan States,’

For 6 substitute.

‘2 (1). Unf discal band absent or faint.’

delete ‘zsocrates’ , add ‘ (40-44) after * Tytler’ and add after ‘ Manipur’

‘to N. Shan States. The Rosy Guava Blue. R.’

For 2 ()) 2 “substitute.

‘3 (1b). Unh nearly always a spot base 7. Unf discal band elbowed ;

rarely a spot in the cell’.

Delete in lines 3 and 4 of the description ‘ discal band—to base 7.’ Under 8

delete ‘ Unf very rarely spot in ceil’.

For ¥ substitute.

‘4 (la). Unf discal band broken, lower part shifted in. Unh spot base 7

and usually spot in cell. Below paler, markings dark and prominent.’

Delete ‘ perse’ and zzsert before ‘ Andamans.’

‘ (48-52). The Scarce Guava Blue.’

Omit the ‘N’ before ‘Burma’ under 3. B. perse perse. I am convinced

upon evidence produced by Mr. Cooper that vosacea and smilis are good

species.

H. 90. la. (7a) alter to la (8a) ; 4b (6b) Zo 4b (7); 4 (5.Ga) to 4 (5.6); 6a

(4.5) to 6 (4.5); 6b (4b) to 7 (4b); 7a (la) ¢o 8a (1a) and increase by 1 all

remaining numbers in the genus.

H. 90. 19. Jzsert after the description :

a. % upf red area very wide, much wider than the basal and apical dark

areas and not crossed by dark veins.

micans extensa nov. (32-34). The Red Himalayan Flash. Chitral. C.

8. ¢ upf red area narrower than the basal and apical dark areas and often

crossed by dark veins.

Under B alder ‘ Chitral’ fo ‘ Kashmir ’.

H. 90. 15. Alter ‘ Mussoorie’ Zo ‘ Murree’.

H. 91. 1. Jusert ‘Bernardmyo’ after ‘ Manipur ’.

I. Genera key. 22 (20d) insert at end ‘ (=utheus, Ob).’ 34 (35) insert

‘and Battus’ after ‘ Scelothrix.’ 95 (Q91b) delete ‘?’ and after ‘=’ insert

‘ Tanyptera, Mab and ?’

J. ft. 11. Insert ‘ and fyrius’ after ‘ yanuna.’

I. 15. After ‘queda, Pl’ insert ‘ mzbana, Fruh ’

I. 20. 7and 11. Delete ‘ Clasp’ at the end of the descriptions. I had furni-

shed drawings of the clasps of these and other species, but the printers have

been unable to reproduce them. ;

I. 24. 2. Atend after ‘Mab’ zusert : ‘ tenebrosa, J and T, Hainan.’

I. 25. -4. -duserv? at end VRe

I. 25. 5. Znsert at end ‘ Sikkim to Assam. VR.’

[. 32. 2. Before ‘ felzas, Fruh,’ insert ‘ danae, Pl’.

I. 71. 1. After ‘ prabha,’ insert ‘ vasuba, savara’.

L474. 3° YnAller® Java’ user’ Borneo.’.

Correction fo Plates.

Ll... Alter Az. 1670 2. 2, 17.

II.-V. No change.

Wi. (Alter Avi22i7o Ao. Ms

Vil. Alfey B. 6. 4: Sand'6 20 5.6.5. 6 and.

VIII. Alter in title 8 and 9 7o 9 and 11.

1X. .Alter’ Bs 15. 620. 15.4 5 1216.25 70-166: se lG 6 ob loa

X. No change.

XI. Alter D. 3. 46, 49, 50 and 51 Zo D. 3. 47, 50, 51 and 52.

AI... Aller DW 3. 16, 20,22, 23,27, 3035, 38, 30, 40,044, and’45770 Dino. alne

21, 23, 24, 28, 32, 36, 39, 40, 41, 45 and 46

XIII. Alter D. 8.6 /o D. 8. 5. and in title alzer 10 fo 11 and zusert before it

‘9. Karanasa; 10. Paroenets ;’.

XIV. No change.

XV. :diltfer'D. 25, 10.and 11 fo D: 25.41 and 12,

XVI-XVII. No change.

AVI. «Alter F. 7,4 and 770 EF. 745.and 6. 2Add il arrer Foal,

AIX... -Adizer F..18. 15, 17 and 18 7o F138. 14 16 and)17.

XX sAlier Vy 18..19, 21, 22,°24,:27, 28, 30 and Slivoe13.018 320, a2 2 oe co,

29 and 30.

AX, No chatice;

NOTES ON INDIAN BUTTERFLIES 719

RON Alver EF. 26; 2o.and 32.70 &. 26; 28'and: 32.

XXIII. No change.

XXIV: Alter Fo 39-12 and 13:70 F: 39., 13: and 14. ; also .F. 402°2;.3 and7 zo

F, 40. 3, 4 and 5.

XXV. No change.

OV Ie Al er a 1 00) Gas, Gt SE. 36.0970) Ti 36. 0.3.) EA? 720 He 422.8:

in title alter ‘ Jlerda’ to ‘ Heliophorus ’.

XXXVI Alteyv- A. 203-14, IS-and -19 7o He 202 15,,.19 and 20> FH. 44. 5: Zo

He 45. >= 45.1 fo-H. 46.1 47. 7048. 1 > -43).. 3 and.2 70 49. 1 and 2° 94, 1

to 95.1; also in title aiter 44, 45-48 and 94 fo 45. 46-49 and 95.

XXVIII. Alter 49 fo 72 and advance all other numbers from 16 onwards by

1; also in title alter 49 to 50.

XXIX. First line increase all first or generic numbers by 1. Second line

QUEL, S02 ALO O0el. -OG.15, 200000 57.2) 20 OU les SSek 10 OU SOIL oO. O12

and increase remaining first or generic numbers by 2.

Third and fourth lines increase all first or generic numbers by 2.

Fifth line alfer 87.2 to 89.3 and increase all other first or generic numbers

by 2. ;

sixth line al/er 88 zo 90 in first four figures ; 83.12 fo 90.13; 90, 91, 92 and 93

fo 91, 92, 93 and 94.

In title alZer 50-52 fo 51-53; 53-55 to 54-56; 56-57 fo 57-59; 58-63 ¢o 60-65 ;

64-70 ¢o 66-72 ; 71-78 to 73-80 ; 79-80 to 81-82; 81 Zo 83; 82-84 fo 84-86 ; 86-95

fo 87-94.

XXX-XXXII. No change.

Most of the changes in Burmese localities are due to Mr. G. E. R- Cooper.

The following are new names :—

(z) B. and 10. ‘iudica.2 B. 6°4 ‘dburmana,’ EB. 16.10. ‘ shandura.’

P.3o.l. waren,’ Hi. 61.3. “svdica,’ TH. 90.19. “ extensa,’ described by me.

(6) F. 7.1. ‘coopert’ described by Gen. Tytler in this number.

(¢) H. 36.3. ‘ dakerz’ to be described by Mr. Riley.

AN BLEPHANT SHOOT ON THE BARAGUR HILLS

(COIMBATORE DISTRICT)

RANDOLPH C. MORRIS

(With a Plate)

Three solitary tuskers having been proscribed on the Baragurs,

the morning of February 28, 1926, found three of us, Major

R. E. Wright, 1.m.s., Mr. P. Saunders, (both of Madras), and

myself at Hassanur (North Coimbatore) full of enthusiasm to go

after the proscribed rogues. A delay occurred at Hassanur as the

top two leaves of my Ford front springs had, we found, snapped,

and new leaves had to be substituted which J luckily had with me

(the roads round this part of the District being so vile I find it

pays to carry nearly all the spare parts of a Ford with me!). We

left Hassanur at 2 p.m. and travelled along sixty miles of a

perfectly terrible ‘road’ the last fifteen miies being across fields

and along a cart track through the jungle, arriving eventually at the

forest bungalow we had decided should be our first stop at 7 p.m.

Here we were delighted to find our good servants (who had been

sent on in advance) had prepared everything for our arrival, and we

were not sorry to tumble into our cots after drinks and an early

dinner. We were up before dawn, and having arranged for our

kit to be brought along on pack bulls, we left after a meal at

daylight for the second stage of our journey. Nine miles of track

(even worse than the day before) took us to the foot of the’

northern end of the Baragurs; leaving the car here in the bamboo

jungle we ascended six miles of steep paved road-way that led from

the foot of the hills to Madeswaran Malliai on which stands a famous

and very sacred temple, pilgrimages to which, from the surrounding

country-side, take place monthly. We had our trackers with us

and we were more than pleased to arrive at a shady naila about a mile

from the temple itself, where we threw ourselves down for a well-

earned rest. ‘The ciimb had been a most exhausting one, the path

being steep, the sun-blazing hot, and the paving stones hard. The

shikaris went off to mark down the first elephant. We had arranged

that Wright should take the first elephant we came across,

Saunders the second and I the third. The bamboos were all in

seed, and hundreds of jungle-fow! were feeding on the bamboo rice,

and after a rest we amused ourselves stalking them. At about

5 p.m. the trackers returned with the news that they had marked

down one of the three rogues, not half a mile from where we then

were. We were not long in getting to the place where the men had

seen the tusker and we found him with his back turned to us

standing among some clumps of bamboos bordering a patch of

open ground. We crept up to within about twenty yards of him:

and he then got our wind (the wind was all over the place) and his

trunk slowly came round, followed by his ponderous body until he

AN ELEPHANT SHOOT ON THE BARAGUR HILLS 721

faced us. That he spotted us was quite certain as he curled his

trunk up and looked as if he meant business. Wright fired,

supported by our rifles, which however were not necessary as

Wright’s shot aimed at the bump above the trunk, found its mark

and the tusker collapsed stone dead. The tusks were very curved

and massive, the left tusk being more than a foot shorter than the

right. The elephant was a very old one and had not one single

hair on the end of its tail. The right tusk measured 6 ft. 3 in.

(weight 64 Ibs.) and the left tusk 5 ft. (weight 54 Ibs.). In quite a

short time crowds of the inhabitants of Madeswaran Mallai (a village

adjoining the temple) came to view the fallen elephant and rejoiced

at its downfall, as for five or six years they had had a thin time of it

with three rogues roaming through the jungle surrounding their

village. Another elephant was reported to be in the vicinity but

the light was too bad to make any move other than to the bungalow

at Madeswaran Mallai. Needless to state we were very elated at

our success that evening: everything had gone well so far and

‘according to plan’. We left early next morning for the spot

where we were told the second elephant was last seen, but there

was no sign of him, he had evidently been scared off by the

shooting. At about 10 a.m. however news came in that the

elephant was at a place known as Kokkubarai, some six or seven

miles away: and that the third tusker (a fellow with crossed tusks)

was also there. This was great news and we travelled as fast as

we could up hill and down dale over a rough and stony path and

reached the shola which one of the elephants was said to be in, at

noon. Sure enough, as we walked quietly along the path bordering

the shola, Saunders taking the lead, the tusker came out on the

path in front of us, and started to trek along the path, tail on. He

soon left the path, and went off at a fair pace along the hillside, and

we were hard put to it to keep him in sight. Eventually he slowed

down somewhat, and we managed to get above him hoping for a

side shot. This we found difficult for some time: and then came

our chance. The elephant turned about and started to retrace his

steps and then paused: Saunders got in an excellent ear-shot,

supported by Wright, and the tusker rolled over dead with a

tremendous crash. His tusks were a perfect pair, and each

measured (and weighed) the same (iength, 5 ft. 4 in.; weight, 35 Ibs.).

By this time we were fairly tired, and wished we could bag the

‘third tusker without another long trek. Little did we realize then

that our wishes were to be fulfilled. We were now about twelve

miles from our camp and it was a broiling hot day. The third

cross-tusked rogue was said to be a fiend, by far the worst of the

three, and this was proved to be true. A man who had been sent

to keep in touch with the tusker from a safe distance came back

with the news that the tusker was standing in a small shola

about two miles off. This was not so bad: we felt we could

do another two miles anyhow! The elephant had gone

along a path that skirted the hillside, and along this path

we followed, my tracker Bomma in front carrying my rifle,

I next, a local Lingayat third carrying Saunders’ rifle, Saunders

fourth, another tracker carrying Wrights rifle came fifth, and

rs)

722, JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Wright brought up the rear. We hadn’t advanced more than a mile,

and were just passing through a patch of infernally thick under-

growth, when Bomma, who had climbed a log that had fallen

across the path, suddenly turned round, thrust the rifle into my

hands with the word ‘the elephant is coming,’ and retired to the

rear. I had visions of the rogue charging along the path and

bursting in upon us while we were in the thick stuff, and realized

our only chance was to get out of the patch by getting up above the

path. To do this it was necessary to retreat a few yards, in my

haste I forgot Saunders was close behind me, and turning round I

knocked him off his feet! I told him to get up and above the path

as fast as he could, and: hastening a few steps further, found myself

clear of the thick patch and face to face with Wright who being last

hadn’t been able to take 1n the situation and couldn’t understand why

everybody was scattering. He had however seized hold of his rifle.

‘Up above the path, quick’ I whispered: and we both scrambled

up through longish grass, keeping our eyes on the path expecting

every second, to see the tusker appear. I saw Saunders had

managed to get slightly higher than we were, and that he was

endeavouring to climb up the side of a rock the top of which was

flat and level with the hillside. It didn’t occur to me then that

Saunders had no rifle, and that only our two trackers were with us.

The next moment a shrill trumpet rang in my ears, and looking up I

saw the cross-tusked rogue bearing down upon us. As I looked he

paused for a second, and | realized that I had to shoot quickly and shoot

to kill. The elephant was within five yards of me and still closer to

Saunders who however flung himself backwards into a crevice of

the rock. I flung up my rifle, took quick aim at the bump above

the trunk and fired and I heard Wright fire immediately after. The

tusker pitched forward, the tips of its tusks about six feet from me,

we both fired once more to make sure that he wouldn’t rise again:

but we need not have done so as the elephant was quite dead:

both our bullets had entered its brain. It is hardly necessary for

me to say that from first to last the whole affair took a mere

fraction ot the time it has taken me to write this. When we had

sufficiently composed ourselves to take things in, we realized that

Saunders was rifleless and that his rifle bearer was not on the spot.

He was discovered some way off with Saunders’ rifle still on his

shoulder. He had bolted back with it directly he heard Bomma tell

me the elephant was coming. I yelled to him to bring the rifle and .

never did I see a man more visibly ashamed of himself than he was

when he rejoined us. The rifle was taken roughly from him by

one of our trusty trackers and he was told to clear out in no uncer-

tain terms. Saunders’ feelings can be well imagined when he

found himself without a rifle and the elephant literally almost on top

of him: the elephant for a second had actually placed one of its feet

on the rock Saunders was busily climbing! We mounted the rock

and Bomma pointed out the spot ahead of us where he had first seen

the elephant. It was stationary and facing us when he caught sight

of it, he said, and had started moving rapidly towards us,

presumably on seeing Bomma. ‘The spot indicated by Bomma, and

verified by the other tracker was on an examination of the tracks,

journ., Bombay

Nat. Hist. Soc.

MR. R. C. MORRIS’S TUSKER

R. 7’ 44” — weight, 63 lbs.

L. 7’ 73” — a 68 lbs.

THE TROPHIES

AN ELEPHANT SHOOT ON THE BARAGUR AILLS 723

quite fifty yards from where it was shot, so that the elephant had

covered this stretch in very quick time. The local fellow who had

brought us news of the whereabouts of this tusker was very

emphatic in his statements that he had last seen the tusker a mile

further on. The Shoigas declared that our shooting had ‘drawn’

this rogue, and that it had retracedits steps. It was quite evident

that the rogue had been getting our wind as we approached him (this

was impossible to avoid as it was blowing in all directions), had

paused, and then moved forward rapidly on seeing Bomma: but why

not along the path we were then on? It is my firm belief that the

elephant, seeing Bomma disappear, had divined our intentions (or

rather his intentions) and raced along the hill-side above the path

to cut him off, and suddenly coming ona group of us made the pause

fatal to him. That his pause was only momentary and he would

have been among us the next moment is absolutely certain for we

were altogether too close to him. The aftermath was all the more

pleasurable in that the affair had been so full of incident and

thrilling. The tusks were a splendid pair, the right one 7 ft. 74 in.

(weighing 68 lbs.) and the left 7 ft. 44 in. (weighing 63 lbs.), There

had certainly been a humorous side to the affair, our intense desire

to escape from what we considered a death-trap having led us right

under the feet of the elephant as it were. We were by now very

weary and hot, and felt we could not face the trek back to our camp.

We therefore walked back about four miles to a cool evergreen

shola and decided to sleep the night there. We sent a man

for our servants and kit; we still had our pack bulls in camp and

rested till they turned up at about 10 p.m. It was very pleasant

dining and sleeping on our cots that night on the open hillside just

above the shola. We decided to end up our shoot by motoring

southwards through the Baragurs to a place named Tattakerai where

another rogue elephant had been proscribed, our intention being to

have a go at this one also. We accordingly, next morning, sent off

our-kit’and servants by a short-cut down to a forest bungalow at

Geriki-Kandi, on the Kollegal-Bhavani road, and tramped down with

eur shikaris to our car. After mending a leak in the hose-pipe we

started off and were once again motoring along dreadful tracks and

bye-ways where no car had ever before been seen.or heard of. A

five-mile short-cut which we took across fields from one village to

another in order to avoid an alternative route of fifteen miles was .a

positive nightmare: how the Ford Car stood it beats me and my

respect for a Ford was increased a thousandfold on the completion

of this journey. -The track was good and bad in parts, and where it

was bad. it was generally ’orrid, the car having either .to climb :a

series. of outcrops. of rock or dive into wash-outs and miniature

gullies. The tyres were a mass of prickly-pear thorns and we were

véty soon mending puncture after puncture. On arriving at Geriki-

Kandi where we intended to sleep the night we spent. a hot. and

beastly hour or more mending inner tubes. Wedecided to push on

to Tattakerai to make enquiries about the rogue.and to return to

Geriki-Kandi after doing this. We climbed seven miles of a steep

and poisonous ghat and were glad to reach Tattakerai, which is

situated on the summit of the Baragurs (4,000 ft.) and was com-

724 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

paratively cool, the heat at Geriki-Kandi being unbearable. The

Forest Ranger had informed us that the rogue had not been heard

of for three months, but on making further enquiries at a village

named Oosimallai, a mile along the road from Tattakerai, we learned

that the rogue visited the fields there nightly. This was cheering,

and we left our trackers there, and motored back down the ghat to

Geriki-Kandi. On our arrivai we found our servants and kit had

arrived, and we were very soon in our cots outside the bungaiow. We

left at5 a.m. next morning, giving instructions for our kit to follow

us, and arrived at Tattakerai at 6 a.m., and at Oosimallai a little

later. Here we left the car and struck off into the jungle with our

trackers and two local Sholagas. We did not have to go far before we

come on fresh tracks of the elephant and a little iater we heard him

breaking bamboos. ‘Two of our shikaris were sent to locate him:

they unfortunately ‘jumped’ a herd of bison which crashed into the

jungle disturbing the elephant, and causing him to move off into

some very thick stuff. On inspection we found that we would gain

nothing by following him up into this cover, as it was far too dense.

We then climbed a rock on the hillside overlooking the cover in

the hopes of being able to locate the elephant. One of our trackers

penetrated the cover below us for a short distance in order to climb

a tree to get a better view, but with no better success. Soon after

his return the elephant moved up to where this man had been, and

evidently smelt him as he trumpeted shrilly and kicked the ground

repeatedly. This showed that the elephant was inclined to be

vicious, and we decided to throw in stones in the hopes of drawing

him out. Our plan very nearly succeeded, as on hearing the first

stone fall the rogue trumpeted again and charged to the spot where

the stone fell. This went on for some time, our stones being hurled

nearer and nearer to the edge of the cover. We got the elephant to

within about ten yards of the edge of the cover, but nearer than this

he would not come: he finally retired some way in, and would not

move to stones and taps on trees, etc., so we decided to leave him

in peace till the afternoon, in the hopes of his coming out to feed in

more open jungle. In the meantime we discovered a way into the

outskirts of the cover from down below, and took up our position

in a favourable place and waited for him to come out: but this he

would not do, and as the light was getting very bad, we decided to

try to move him by the use of stones again. Stones were therefore

hurled into the cover from above and only resulted in the elephant

leaving the cover and that jungle in the opposite direction, with a

scream. He evidently decided that the jungle was bewitched! We

returned to the bungalow at Tattakerai and decided to have one

more try for the rogue before closing our shoot. We left next

morning for the same spot, hoping to find that the elephant had

returned, and we sent two of our trackers in another direction. They

soon marked down the rogue and if one of them had brought us

word of this we would in all probability have added a fourth

elephant to our bag, as they found him in very open jungle. They

however stupidly sent a local Lingayat to fetch us, and the man for

reasons known only to himself (probably after some heavy thinking)

took us down into a deep and hot valley saying the elephant was

AN ELEPHANT SHOOT ON THE BARAGUR HILLS fees

making down the valley, instead of guiding us back to where our

men were keeping in touch with the rogue. We walked up the

valley for five or six miles, and when we reached the head of the

valley and saw no signs of the elephant having been there at all we

were considerably peeved. Even from here it took us quite another

half hour to reach our trackers. This delay of nearly three hours lost

us the tusker, as by the time we were on its tracks it had gone into

thick cover. We cautiously followed it up, this being our last

chance as we had to leave the next day. We finally caught a

glimpse of the elephant’s head half-turned towards us, giving only

an eye-shot. This was taken, but either the elephant moved or the

aim was not quite correct, the shot failed to bring him down and the

elephant crashed off. We never saw him again although we

followed him up for a considerable distance. We had to leave next

morning, but we left one of our trackers, a good man, who, with a

local, was to try and mark the elephant down as I heped to return

later to finish him off. We left at 7 a.m. motoring through the Baragur

hills, through Baragur and Tamarakerai, and down the narrow ghat

to the plains on the east, and back up to Hassanur, and so ended a

most enjoyable and successful shoot: lasting a week and crammed

with all the pleasures and thrills of the chase one could desire. We

left the extraction of the tusks and the amputation and cleaning-out

of the forefeet of the elephants to my two skinners who had experi-

ence of this before, and they did their job very well. The tracker

left at Tattakerai to follow up the tusker returned several] days later

with the information that he could find no trace of the tusker, its

tracks having got mixed up with those of a herd: and that he

believed the elephant was going strong and none the worse for the

knock it had received.

A NEW ICHNEUMON FLY OF THE GENUS APANTELES FROM

THE DEATH’S HEAD MOTE ACHARONTIA SLY

C, F. W. MUFSEBECK

Of the Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture.

WITH A NOTE ON ITS LIFE HISTORY

C. McCann

(With a plate)

Apanteles acheronti@, new species

Female.—Length, 2°2mm. Head, strongly transverse; temples, narrow ;

eyes, rather long and narrow ; top of eyes, far below summit of vertex ; malar

space, slightly longer than the basal width of mandibles; face, weakly

punctate; ocellocular line, three times as long as the diameter of an ocellus

and decidedly longer than the postocellular line; antennz, very nearly as long

as the body, slender, all but the four or five apical segments of flagellum being

distinctly more than twice as long as broad; mesoscutum punctate, very

weakly so posteriorly ; scutellum, moderately large, entirely impunctate and

highly polished ; propodeum, sculptureless, polished, without a median carina ;

mesopleura, smooth and polished, with a broad shallow impression posteriorly ;

posterior coxze, smooth and shining ; inner spur of hind tibia, not longer,than

half the hind metatarsus; forewings with the stigma, moderate; radius

tending very slightly toward base of wing and not forming an angle with the

intercubitus, but usually joining the latter in an almost even curve ; abdomen,

as long as the thorax, rather robust, broad ; chitinized plate of first tergite

broadening gradually from base to the apical third, from which point it

narrows strongly to the apex, being slightly narrower at extreme apex than at

base ; this plate mostly polished, except on the apical third, where it is weakly

punctate and opaque; the second tergite resembles that of many species of

Microplitis ; it is strongly transverse, polished and provided with two short,

sharply impressed, posteriorly divergent grooves which set off a small triangular

median area; the suturiform articulation is not straight, but tends a little

posteriorly from the posterior ends of the oblique grooves to the lateral margins

of the tergite and is very weak behind the median triangular area; third and

following tergites polished; hypopygium not attaining apex of abdomen ;

ovipositor very short, scarcely projecting beyond apex of last dorsal segment.

Black ; scapeand pedicel, yellowish-brown beneath ; remainder of antenne,

brownish-black ; all coxee, black ; basal segment of all trochanters nore or less

dusky ; rest of legs, yellow; tegule and wing-bases, black; wings, hyaline ;

stigma, brown ; veins, mostly very pale ; abdomen, black.

Male.—Essentially as in the female.

Cocoons.—Gregarious, surrounded by much loose white silk, giving the

entire group the appearance of a large irregular cottony mass.

Type.—Cat No. 28989, U.S.N.M.

Tvpe-locality.—Panchgani, W. Ghats, India.

Host.—Acherontia styx.

Described from 52 females and 1 male reared from a single host larva by

C. McCann in October and November, 1925,

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A NEW ICHNEUMON FLY OF THE GENUS APANTELES 723

LIFE HISTORY

Hlost.—The common host of this fly is the larva of Acherontia styx which

feeds on Lantana camera and Duranta ellist.

Emergence.—The eggs are probably laid at the end of September. The

larvee develop inside the host and emerge in October and the early part of

November.

Locality.—Panchgani, Satara District, 4,300 feet.

Dissection.—The caterpillar on dissection revealed that the entire muscular

system had been devoured leaving sufficient tissue in the feet for the caterpillar

to hold on ; this in my opinion is the last part of the animal which is attacked.

The nervous, respiratory and digestive systems were intact. A few larvee were

found still embedded in the muscle tissues of the feet.

The larvae emerge from the body of the caterpillar at various points, either

from the dorsal or ventral surface. In the former case the host is enveloped

in silken thread from head to tail—in the latter the host lies above the cocoon

which is held in position by a few strands of thread which are wound round

its body. The cocoon is always situated near the head region of the

caterpillar.

The body hanging, suspended head downwards, is the usual position of the

caterpillar just before the larva leave the body. Very occasionally the host is

able to free itself and move away leaving two or three cocoons behind it.

Usually the caterpillar continues alive for 4 or 5 days after the emergence of the

larvee. At first it reacts to any stiniulant all over the body, but gradually

loses sensitiveness from the tail downwards and begins to shrivel till it dries

up altogether, the drying process commencing at the tail and gradually

working up to the head. During the drying process the caterpillar continually

‘leaks’ from the mouth, i.e., what moistureis in the body exudes from the

mouth. The caterpillar hangs quite motionless and when touched by

something moves in a lateral plane towards the spot of irritation. The

movements are sudden and laboured. It issoon exhausted and returns to the

pendant position. After the caterpillar is completely dry it breaks up and

falls away leaving only the cocoon attached to the branch.

Cocoon.—The Ichneumon pupates in a common silken cocoon wherein

each pupa is again enclosed in a separate silken case. There are 700 to 900

pup in each cocoon A notable point is that all the heads of the pupe face

the central point of the cocoon.

The imago will emerge together four to five days after pupation,

Larve.—The larve seem to cqgme out at night. Some larve which were

partially through the skin were forcibly extracted by me and exiibited a

globule of some viscid matter which seems to be the substance with which the

silk is formed, whether it is an excretion of the larve itself or matter from

within the body of the host I am unable to say.

NOTES ON SMALL GAME SHOOTING IN THE

KHASI HILLS

EDWARD McCULLOcH

(Continued trom p. 445 of vol. xxx.)

THE Woop SNIPE (Gallinago nemoricola)

A few of these birds are generally shot each season but they

do not appear to visit these hills in anything like large numbers.

They appear to come later than the common Snipe as I don’t

remember to have seen them earlier than November. They

apparently arrive about the same time as the wood-cock.

The Wood Snipe is a shy and solitary bird and is not to be found

near human habitations nor in paddy fields. They frequent small

marshy valleys, situated at the foot of small hills, or the small

valleys that are to be found lying between two small hills. In such

places they are generally to be found in clumps of tall ferns or

small bushes and reeds growing on the borders. They then lie

very close and seidom rise till almost trodden upon. When flushed

however, they are very easy to shoot as their flight is heavy and

owl-like. Even when fired at and missed they seldom fly far

generally dropping well within 100 yards of where they were first

put up.

A few of these birds are generally to be found in the early part

of the season in the small marshes lying amongst the tumbled hills

to the north of Dumpep (16 miles from Shillong). A few are also

to be met with in favourable seasons in some of the small pieces of

wet land at the foot of the Shillong Hill. Near Mairang or

Pyndemumiong (30 miles from Shillong) they are to be seen in fair

numbers in some years, and generally speaking this part of the

locality appears to be the best for them. There are a large number

of marshy plots and abandoned paddy fields overgrown with jungle

near Mairang, and many of them would be found to hold one of

these birds. They are of solitary habits, and two of them are

seldom put up from the same piece of cover. Even when there are

several birds in the Bre AT oronet leKeyeist they are to be found each in its

own patch of cover.

In December 1924 I devoted several days to searching for these

birds but the largest bag made by me numbered only 4 birds in

a day, and during five days I only shot 9 birds. In the middle

of the month I made the bag of four birds on the road to Mairang

and saw two more. One was slightly hit and could not be flushed

again froin amongst the tall ferns in which it had alighted. The other

was not fired at as it rose far from where I was, one of the beaters

having nearly trodden upon it while it was in a small hollow full of

}

SMALTENGAME, SIOOTING IN THE KAAST HILLS FE)

tall dry grass. It appeared to settle again in some bushes and

reeds about 20 yards from where it rose but, do what we could, we

failed to put up this bird also.

The other birds were shot, 3 of them in 2 days ir tte small

marshes near Dumpep mentioned above, and the remaining two at

the foot of the Shillong Hill in one day. Both were put up close to

each other from the banks of a small stream which had marshy

banks.

This species appears to be of more nocturnal habits than the

Woodcock or the other Snipes, and when disturbed on a bright day

with the sun shining, they appear to see with difficulty and will

generally drop into the darkest hollow they can find. I have never

seen one of these birds, settle on hill tops and other bare open

places as Snipe sometimes do, and their flight is weak and without

any of the twistings so beloved by the Snipe and which the Wood-

cock also sometimes indulge in. They are very good for the table

and by some are considered to be the best of the Snipe tribe. ‘This

species appears to leave these hills earlier than other Snipes, as they

are seldom seen later than March.

THE SOLITARY SNIPE (Gallinago solitaria)

A few Solitary Snipes may be met with in these hills in the

season. They are however very scarce and I have never seen more

than half a dozen of them in one year.

They fiequent open marshy land and paddy fieids, after the

paddy has been cut, especially those in which there are a fair length

of stubble, and are not partial to fields covered with long grass or

other dense growths.

As the number of these birds visiting the Khasi Hills is very

small (even in the most favourable seasons) it is not possible to

make anything like a bag of this species alone though a few

Solitary Snipes may be picked: up along with other Snipes in the

course of a season’s shooting. The most likely ground for this

species within easy reach of the Shillong Station is the stretch of

marshy bits lying at the foot of the Shillong Hill on the right side

of the Chateau. Road and close to the motor shed erected by the

Government. Here generally a bird or two may be found if there

are any in the locality.

Some are also to be met with near Pyndemumiong or Mairang

and I have also shot a bird or two in favourable seasons in the

marshes lying to the north of Mawphlang.

In December 1922, I shot a couple of these birds in an extensive

patch of marshy land covered with short grass situated some three

miles to the north-east of the village of Langkyrdem (some 30

miles from Shillong) and was told by an intelligent beater that

a few of these Snipes were regular visitors to the neighbourhood.

As Langkyrdem is an unaccessible place, the road from Shillong

being only suitable for pedestrians after passing Laitlyngkot

(a stretch of some 15 or 14 miles) I have little doubt about the

correctness of the man’s statement regarding the presence of some

birds of this species in the neighbourhood every year as they are

not likely to be disturbed by any one,

730° JOOCRNAL, BOWUBAY NATURAL FIST SOCIETY, Vor. ood

As this part of the district was unvisited by European sportsmen

owing to its inaccessibility, I had great hopes of making a record

bag of Snipes of all kinds as well as Woodcock when I visited the

locality as mentioned above, especially as there were some very

likely grounds in the neighbourhood. The shooting was however

comparatively poor, the Snipes were not at all numerous and few

Woodcocks were to be met with.

The Solitary Snipe appear to arrive in the Khasi Hills in October

or the last part of September and seem to leave earlier than other

Snipes as they are rarely to be met with after February.

THE PAINTED SNIPE (Rostratula benghalensis beng halensis)

A rare visitor to these hills, a few occasionally straggling to the

northern part of the Khasis in some seasons.

A few of these birds might be met with in the northern and

warmer parts of these hills in favourable years, but they are rare

enough for sportsmen who have had considerable experience of

these parts failing to come across one of them during the whole of

their career.

During some 20 years of shooting in these hills, I have record of

only two authentic occurrences of these birds. The first, a female,

was shot in the middle of October 1913 near Barapani on the

Shillong-Gauhati Road, some eight or nine miles north of Shillong.

This bird had apparently only very recently arrived as it was very

thin and had been feeding when put up though it was then past

midday of a warm bright day.

I might have met others of this species during the interval

between, but am not sure and my next case is of the year 1922. In

November 1922, I came across no less than three of these Snipes

near Nayabangla or Umsning, some 18 miles to the north of

Shillong, in the course of a three days’ shooting trip.

Two were shot the same day and both were found to be males.

The third which was put up on the last day of the shoot escaped as

it could not be flushed again from where it had settled, the ground

being very bad with deep muddy pools dotted here and there.

All three of them were put up from a fairly large morass covered

with long grass and having a patch of open though muddy water in

the middle. This selt same ground was visited by me on other

occasions prior to and after the shoot mentioned above, but on no

other occasion did | come across anv of this species.

They appear to be more nocturnal in their habits than any other

of the Snipe tribe and lie very close, only rising when almost

trodden upon and soon dropping within a short distance of where

they were put up.

THE BLACK-BREASTED KALI (Gennaeus horstieldt horstteldz)

A fair sprinkling of these pirds abound in suitable localities

right through these hills. They are to be met with right on the

borders of the plains as well as on the highest elevations, provided

that the conditions of cover and food are suitable to them.

There are a tair number of these Pheasants in the Government

Reserved Forests in the immediate vicinity of Shillong itself, and

SMALL GAME SHOOTING IN THE KHASI HILLS 731

shooting in these Forests is open to permit holders on a yearly

payment of Rs. 10. The permits are granted by the - Deputy

Commissioner, Khasi and Jaintia Hills, who is also in charge of the

Government Forest Department of the district.

Two of the Reserved Forests, however, viz. (1) The Riat Khwan

Reserve extending from near Mawlai (a northern suburb of

Shillong) to Borpani or Khwan, nine miles from Shillong on the

Shillong-Gauhati Road and (2) the Riat Labon Reserve about a

couple of miles to the east of Shillong, are game sanctuaries and

no shooting of any kind is ailowed in them.

In these Reserved Forests a bag of a couple of braces might be

made of a morning, provided the sportsman has a good dog or two

with him, and is lucky enough to strike ravines holding a couple or

more Kalij in each of them. ‘This is however very greatly a

question of chance as the birds are neither numerous nor tame. The

largest number I ever obtained in one day in this locality was five,

but this was ared letter day. Generally speaking, I used to be

quite content if 1 got a brace ina day’s shooting and considered

myself in luck if I got anything above this figure.

Dogs, and good ones at that, are absolutely necessary in order to

do anything with these pheasants. Without these it would be

very little use going after the birds at all and the sportsman would

almost be in the position of aman going fishing without hooks.

With human beaters they will keep running ahead and soon get so

far ahead, and into such broken ground, that it would be next to

impossible for any human being to press them so closely as to make

them rise. Even when in fairly open spaces, their powers of

running make it practically impossible to flush them with human

beaters. In such cases the sportsman’s only chance would be to

take a snap shot at one, as it flashes past under some patch of

cover.

With dogs however, the case becomes quite different, the birds

readily rise as soon as they are pressed by the dogs, and where they

have not previously been disturbed fly into the nearest tree and

become so engrossed with the dogs just below them that they

hardly take any notice of the human beings. Under such conditions

the sportsman will find no difficulty in getting quite close to the

tree where they have settled and either potting them there and then

or if more sportingly irclined turning them out of their refuge and

taking them on the wing.

This Kalij loves deep ravines covered with dense bushes and

other undergrowths and preferably having a small stream at the

bottom. Though they visit the higher slopes and the neighbouring

hill-tops in the mornings and sometimes in the evenings as weil in

quest of food, they do not stay long in such open places and retire

as quickly as possible io the shelter of their beloved ravines.

The best time for shooting them is from January to March. At

this time many of the ravines would be found to hold a brace or

even more (especially when the sun is well up) and with a couple of

good dogs, fair sport may be enjoyed.

A fair number of these pheasants also inhabit the precipitous

cliffs on both sides of the Umiam River (a few miles to the west o-

732. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Shillong), but owing to the extremely bad and broken ground on

which they are found and the dense bushes and other thickets with

which these cliffs are covered, it is impossible to make anything

like a bag, though a bird or two may often be picked up when the

sportsman is after Barking Deer or Thar.

Some of these pheasants are to be met with early in the morning's

and jate in the evenings along the Shillong-Gauhati Road from

about Umran (22 miles from Shillong) right up to Khanapara, seven

miles from Gauhati, where the forests terminate. They come out

to tie road in the mornings and evenings in order to pick up grains,

etc., from cattle droppings, and cart sidings for bullock carts are

favourite places. Though no big bags can be made, owing to the

difficulty of getting at the birds once they get off the road into the

thick jungles on both sides, a brace or two may be picked up if the

sportsman go for them early enough, i.e. befcre the lorries and other

motor cars have driven them off into the jungle, and again in the

evening just a little before darkness setsin. The best bit of the road

for this shooting is between Barnihat (47 miles from Shillong) and

Khanapara. Here when in luck not only a brace or so. of this

species but a red jungle fowl or two and also a tew pigeons may

be picked up of.a morning. The road between Nongpoh (33 miles

from Shillong) and Umling (about 41 miles from Shillong) is also

another good stretch as it is very lonely and unfrequented.

There are afew of these pheasants in the Lyngdoh Forest at

Mawphlang, and the Forests near Mairang or Pyndemumiong also

hold a sprinkling of them, but owing to their being constantly

harassed by the natives they are anything but numerous.

This pheasant is not hard to kill and as they are generally shot at

close ranges, owing to the nature of the coverts they affect and their

habit of only rising when closely pressed, number four shot will be

found most suitable for them. In places where the birds have

become very wild however, number two might be used with

advantage. A 12-bore gun is best for this sport and small bores

are not so satisfactory.

This is quite a fair bird for the table, though the old cocks

require hanging up for a day or So.

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES

Lt.-Cou. F..C. FRASER, I.M.S., F.E.S.

Part XXV

With 1 Plate and 5 Text-figures

(Continued trom page 426 of Vol. XXX)

Genus—MACROGOMPHUS, Selys.

BD @ FR)

ZR TES

) ee

Fig. 1. Wings of Macrogomphus seductus, sp. nov., male.

Macrogomphus (Sely), (Afeferogomphus pars), Bull. Acad. Belg., xxi (2),

p. 27 (1854) ; id. Mon. Gomph., pp. 87, 428 (1857); id. Bull. Acad. Belg.,

Vill, Dero (loo) 5 1d. ibid. (2)4 sdvi,> p.418 (1878)5> Will Proc, US.

Nat. Hist. Mus., xxiii, pp. 273 and 287 (1907) ; Laid. Rec. Ind. Mus.,

Dieoy sa oeeys

Arboreal Gomphines of large size, coloured glossy black with brightly

contrasted yellow markings. Wings hyaline, reticulation close, base of

hindwing of male deeply excavate, tornus prominent; arc opposite, or a

little distad of the 2nd antenodal nervure; 2 rows of postanal cells in

forewing 4 and 5 in the hind, where the lst postanal cell is entire and extends

basad only a little beyond the centre of base of subtrigone; a basal in-

complete antenodal nervure present in all wings; the Ist and the 5th or

6th the primary antenodals; 4 and 5 traversing nervures between J/2-277 and

Mv in forewing, 4 in the hind; all trigones, hypertrigones and subtrigones

entire ; 3 rows of cells between Mz and Mia at level of outer end of ptero-

stigma ; pterostigma small, barely equal to one-fourth the distance from node

to outer end of pterostigma, braced ; Czzz pectinate in forewing ; Cuz and Cuzz

in hindwing parallel as far as termen ; 2 rows of discoidal cells in forewing

nearly to level of node; 2 cubital nervures in forewing as arule, only 1 in the

hind ; sectors of are parallel at origin, then divergent; costal and basal

sides of trigone in forewing sub-equal and both shorter than distal side:

134° JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY Volm eed

costal side of trigone of hindwing considerably longer than the basal and

considerably shorter than the distal ; anal triangle 3-celled

Head nioderately large, wide transversely ; frons strongly angulate ; occiput

simple as a rule. Thorax robust; legs short, armed with 2 rows of minute

closely-set pines; armature of mid and anterior femora scarcely differing,

that of female similar, but spines more widely-spaced and fewer. Abdomen

tumid at base, segments 3 and 6 thin and cylindrical. 7 and 8 moderately

dilated, the 8th at least double the width of 6, segment 9 narrow and tapering,

nearly iwice the length of 8, 10 very short and small. Aval appendages of male

longer than segment 10, the superiors with a long. fine, inner branch

spiinging from: about its middle. The inferior deeply cleft, its long branches

as widely divaricate as the superiors and more or less sinuous. Genitalia

prominent, lamina strongly arched, rather depressed ; anterior hamules short

and spatulate ; posteriors robust, flattened, projecting markedly, furnished with

an outer apical or subapical spine; lobe scrotal-shaped, bluntly bifid.

Vulvar scale variable, small, tapering and bifid at apex, or cleft as far as base

into two small triangular processes.

Larva highly specialized, especially as regards the terminal abcominal

segments (which are reflected in the imago). Head small and triangular, face

pointed ; abdomen very long and cylindrical, the end segments greatly

elongated and produced into a siphon-like structure. This curious tubular

organ projects from the mud or sand whilst the rest of the body is submerged,

and thus enables the insect to carry on rectal breathing without exposing its

body. As one would surmise, the end segments are relatively longer in the

earlier instars than in the adult stage.

Distribution. Jacrogomphus annulatus is confined to Western India in the

drier zones of the Deccan, whilst 4/. wynaadicus takes its place in the wetter

montane areas. JMJacrogomphus montanus, robustus, and seductus (a new

species described below) are from North India and Thibet. None so far have

been reported from Burma and Ceylon, but W/. parallelogramma (Burm.),

albardae Selys decemlineatus Selys, guadraius Selys, thoracicus M’Lach.,

and abnormis Selys are found in Java, Sumatra, Tonkin, Borneo and the

Malay Peninsula.

The habits of annulatus and wynaadicus have been studied by the present

author. The imago emerges in a horizontal plane whilst the larva rests on

rocks and stones in midstream. In spite of this, the long abdomen and wings

reach full development unimpared. As soon as the wings are sufficiently

dried, the imago sets off directly inland until it reaches higher ground, where

it comes to rest high up in trees. It may thus be found a mile or more away

from its parent stream, in the Deccan, where trees are few and far between. In

the heavily wooded country of the Western Ghats, the insect at once rises to

the tops of the tallest forest giants and may there be picked out with the aid of

field-glasses, at heights of 100 ft. or more.

Pairing takes place in such retreats, the males never being seen in the

neighbourhood of water, except at emergence.

As pointed out by Williamson, species of the genus fall into two well-

defined groups, characterized by the close reticulation and greater curving

of the main nervures at their distal ends, in the one group, and by the simpler

reticulation and straighter nervures in the other, to which latter group, all

Indian species belong. ;

Genotype— Wacrugomphus annulatus, Selys.

Macrogomphus annulatus (Selys) (Heterogomphus annulatus) Bull. Acad.

Belg., xxi, (2) p. 28 (1854) ; id. (Wacrogomphus annulatus), Mon.

Gomph., pp. 92,405, (1857) ; id. Bull. Acad. Belg. (2) xxviii, p.170 (1869) ;

id. ibid. (2) xlvi, p. 414 (1878); Will. l:c., pp. 289, 290 (1912); Leid.

l. c., p. 376 (1922) ; Fras. Rec. Ind. Musi, vol. xxvi, pp. 470, 471 (1924).

Male. Abdomen 45mm. Hindwing 35 mm. eer.

Head black marked with citron yellow as follows :—The lateral lobes of

labium, bases of mandibles, two very large transversely oval spots on labrum,

large spot on each side of the postclypeus against the eye connected narrowly

along the lower border of postclypeus, the upper surface of frons except at its

extreme base and asmall median point of black projecting into the yellow.

Lastly an obscure spot on the vertex. Occiput straight, slightly raised, its

border fringed with black hairs, z

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES 735

Prothorax black marked with a small spot of yellow on either side and a

narrow :nterior collar.

Thorax black marked with citron yellow as follows :—2 thick wedge-shaped

antehumeral dorsal stripes, tapering to a point above, broadly confluent with a

Fig. 2.—Macrogomphus annulatus.

i. Anal appendages of Macrogomphus annulatus, Selys, seen from tLe

side. ii. The same dorsal view. iii. Thesame of Macrogomhphus seductus,

sp. nov. iv. The ‘same seen in profile. v. Genitalia of Macrogomphus

annulatus, Selys. vi. The same of Macrogomphus seductus, sp.nov vii. The

same Acrogomphus fraseri, Laid. viii. The same of Perissogomphus stevensi,

Laid. ix. Anal appendages of Acrogomphus fraseri, Laid. x. The same of

Perissogomphus stevensi, Laid. xi. The same of Anormogomphus kiritschenkot,

Bart., dorso-lateral view, xii. The same of Anormogomphus heteropterus,

Selys,

736° JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOGIETXG Vor Deoew

narrow, interrupted mesothoracic collar below, the inner border of these stripes

parallel, the outer divergent below. The middle of ante-alar sinus narrowly

yellow, the sides very broadly so and marked by a broad medial oblique black

stripe which is bifid below to enclose a spot of yellow.

Legs black, coxee and trochanters with a large yellow spot.

Wings hyaline, with a pale yellow ray in the cubital space. Nodal index

9-16/16-11 |

10-11/11-10’

Abdomen black marked with citron yellow as follows :—segment 1 with the

sides and dorsum broadly, 2 with a lanceolate dorsal bilobed stripe, the oreillets

broadly and a latero-basal stripe, segments 3 to 6 with broad basal complete

rings equal to nearly one-fourth the length of segments, 7 with its basal half

yellow on dorsum, rather more than this laterally, 8 and 9 with a baso-lateral

triangular spot.

Anal appendages. Superiors yellow, the inner border, branch and extreme

apex rusty brown, broad at base, cylindrical and tapering toa fine point in the

apical third, prior to which the inner branch is given off. The latter fine,

directed obliquely in and back, the apical third bent abruptly inward and

slightly flattened. Inferior appendage black, broadly split into two branches

which are so wide apart at the base as to appear as two separate appendages,

very sinuous, curling first in, then out and again in at the apex. Of the same

length as superiors, narrow and rather irregular.

Genitalia. Lamina forming a gothic arch, prominent, coated with straight

hairs ; anterior hamules moderately long, sinuous, pointed at apex as seen in

profile, spatulate as seen trom below ; posterior hamules very robust, broad,

sloping back and projecting markedly. The extreme apex ending ina fine

curled spine directed forward and in. (Text-figure 2, v.). Lobe scrotal-shaped,

black, corrugated, deeply bifid into two conical nipple-like processes.

Feniale. Abdomen 49mm. Hindwing 38 mm.

Differs in but few respects from the male, as follows :—The yellow markings

more extensive, the stripe on frons broader, the spot on vertex is large and

conspicuous, lying just in front of occiput. The thorax nearly always bears an

upper humeral spot (rarely present in the male), and there are nearly atways

two spots on the lateral black band. The pterostigma is slightly longer, the

nodal index higher as = — _ ; the occiput bears a bifid or trifid tubercle on

its hinder border, occasionally separated as 2 or 3 robust spines ; segment 9 is

longer than in the male, whereas 10 is shorter. Vulvar scale glossy black, short,

broad at base, tapering to a blunt point, bifid at apex but the two branches

closely apposed.

Distribution. The Deccan bordering. on the Western Ghats. The type

(British Museum) probably came from Poona or Satara where I found the

species quite common during September and October. It breeds in the Moolah

River and from thence extends inland for long distances, nearly every acacia

tree harbouring one or two specimens. Paratypes in the Morton, Laidlaw and

my own collections.

2 cubital nervures in all wings ; pterosigma dark brownish black.

Macrogomphus wynaadicus, Fras., l.c. pp. 471, 472 (1924).

Female. Abdomen 53mm. Hindwing 45 mm.

Closely related to annulatus, of which it may be a subspecies modified by the

influence of a jungly habitat anda humid climate. It is a larger species and

differs in a large number of minor details from annulatus, as follows :—

The yellow spots on labrum are almost obsolete ; the face entirely black

save for a small spot at each end of the postclypeus; the occiput is a little

emarginate and without any vestige of the spines found in annulatus, a dark

brown line bordering its front replaces the conspicuous yellow spot seen in that

insect. Prothorax entirely black. Thorax very similar but without any

humeral marking, the lateral black line, on the contrary, is marked with a

medial yellow interrupted line.

Wings, in the type, rather darkly and evenly enfumed, but this may be mere

evidence of old age; reticulation closer than in annulatus, the pterostigma

vers 6-7 cells instead ofonly 4, aud the nodaldndex is higher ==—5 ==

covers 6-7 cells instead of only 4, an e nodal index is hig 1321614213 °

cubital nervures in all wings. Abdomen differing more markedly by having

Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

Dorso-lateral view of Macrogomphus annulatus, Selys, male

The same of Macrogomphus seductus, sp. nov., male.

The same of Macrogomphus montanus, Selys, male.

The same of Pertssogomphus stevenst, Laid, male.

The same of Acrogomphus frasert, Laid., male.

The same of Leptogomphus gestro1, Selys, male.

The same of Leptogomphus inclitus, Selys, male.

Sie

(Figures 1, 2, 4,5 and 6 drawn from specimens in the Fraser collection,

figure 3 from a specimen in the Indian Museum collection, whilst figure 7 has

been constructed from the Selysian description.)

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INDIAN DRAGONFLIES 737

paired spots instead of complete rings. Segment 2 has the dorsal stripe broadly

broken at its centre, 3 with a large baso-lateral dorsal spot widely separated

from its fellow by the black dorsal carina, 4 to 6 similar but the spots smaller,

7 has the yellow basal half split by a black dorsal carina as far as its base

Segment 10 is longer and narrower than in annulatus.

Vulvar scale shorter, with convex hinder border, not bifid.

Distribution. Nilgiri Wynaad, Coorg and Western Ghats from North Kanara

to Malabar, A rare insect although the larve and exuvia may be found

abundantly in any stream throughout the area. I have only once seen the

male, this particular specimen being perched on a tree overhanging the

Mercara Sidapur Ghat Road. I wounded it with a charge of dust-shot but it

managed to plane down into a thorny thicket, where although I could see it

plainly, I was quite unable to reach it. I have seen vast numbers of exuvia on

rocks in the Kibribetta stream, North Coorg, but never an imago was to be

seen in the neighbourhood. Type in my own collection.

Macrogomphus robustus (Selys),( Hetervogomphus robustus), Bull. Acad. Kelg.,

xxi, (2), p. 27, (1854); Id.-Mon. Gomph., pp. 88; 89 (1857) ; Id. Buil,

Acad. Belg., xlvi (2 ), p. 414 (1878) ; Will. ‘le. ae 289 (UZ ee aces ay

Dp. 9/5; 375 (1922).

Male. Abdomen (missing but by analogy with other species,—) about 45

mm. Hindwing 42 mm.

Head black, frons depressed, not notched, forming a very obtuse angle in

front, marked with an orange stripe in front of ocelli; a blackish spot at side

of mandibles ; ocelli and lower lip partly brown ; an obscure brown spot on

clypeus ; occiput not scale-like but with a large raised bifid tubercle at its

middle, hairy in front and behind.

Prothorax biack with a basal ring and a lateral spot yellow.

Thorax black, with 6 orange stripes, the two in front cuneiform, separated

from each other, broader towards the mesothoracic notch which they do not

quite reach and their apex not quite reaching the alar sinus; the two lateral,

slightly oval, situated under each wing. A yellow spot at middle of antealar

sinus and a large dorsal band of same on interalar space.

Legs entirely black. Abdomen missing.

Wings moderately broad, tinted with yellow ochre, especially towards the

base ; reticulation black ; pterostigma brown, a little yellowish, moderately

broad, 4 to 5 mm. long, over 6 cells, between black nervures, its end terminat-

ing in a paler line ; anal border very excavate ; membrane black, very slender

but extending as far as anal angle; 19 antenodal nervures in forewings, 14 in

the hind, 13 postnodal nervures in all wings. Female unknown.

Distribution. Thibet. A single, incomplete male in the Selysian collection.

The species is distinguished by the labium entirely black ; by the bifid tubercle

on the occiput and lastly by its high nodal index. ‘The latter character has

induced me to separate it from seductus, a new species described below, to

which also belongs the two males and single female in the Indian Museum

placed by Laidlaw and Selys as robustus. The shape of the occiput also

serves to separate it from seductus in which latter it is simple. ‘The nodal

13- oe 13 12-15)14-10 .

index in rodustus is 130 x15 10-10|11-10

compared to in seductus,

Macrogomphus seductus, sp. nov.

Male. Abdomen 50mm. Hindwing 40 mm.

Head, labium black; labrum glossy black with two transversely elongate

basal greenish yellow spots; anteclypeus black, postclypeus black, but its

lower border and a large spot on either side against the eyes greenish yellow ;

frons black in front, broadly yellow above, where its base only is finely black ;

vertex and occiput black, the latter simple, neither spined nor tuberculated,

fringed with long black hairs behind.

Prothorax black marked with a narrow anterior yellow collar.

Thorax black marked with citron yellow as follows :--Antehumeral stripes

tapering to a fine point above at the alar sinus, very broadly confluent below

with a slightly interrupted mesothoracic collar.

No humeral marking. Laterally the sides broadly yellow and marked bya

broad medial oblique black band, which is itself marked by an upper small

spot and a lower large spot,

7388. JOURNAL, BOMBAV-NATORAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol! XXX

Legs entirely black but trochanters and coxee marked with yellow.

Wings palely saffronated, more deeply so at bases, especially in the cubital

space Pterostigma black (dark brown by transmitted light), over 5 to 6 cells,

12-15)14-10 |

10-10'11-10 ’

Abdomen black marked with citron yellow as follows :—Segment 1 with its

apical half, the basal black encroaching on this subdorsally, where is a well-

marked ridge resembling a second rudimentary oreillet bearing a fringe of

long hairs, segment 2 almost entirely yellow, a broad basal ring, the oreillets

except for a fine blackish brown bordering, and its sides broadiy. The black

on this segment is restricted to a broad subdorsal band ending basad abruptly

at the jugal suture. Segments 3 to 6 with broad basal rings slightly notched

by the black dorsal carina and covering nearly one-third of segment 3, one-

fourth of 4 and rather less of 5 and 6, segment 7 with the basal half yellow,

whilst 8 has an irregular baso-lateral stripe, segments 9 and 10 unmarked.

Anal appendages rather longer than segment 10. Superiors pale yellow, the

apices carneous, as also the inner branch, which arises at middle of appendage

is much shorter ard stouter than in aznulatus (only about half the length), and

does not extend to apex of appendage. At the base of appendage is a long

fine ventral spine. Inferior appendage glossy black, widely cleft, broad at

base as viewed from below, tapering to a point. Branches sinuously curved as

seen in profile, but not to the extent found in annulatus, divaricate, the

extreme apices turned up rather abruptly.

Genitalia. Lamina narrow, more prominent than in annulatus, deeply and

roundly arched; anterior hamules spatulate, narrow at base, broadening

apicad, convergent ; posterior hamules very robust, flattened, bluntly pointed

at the apex where there is a pencil of long fine hairs. Subapicad is a small

recurved spine; lobe similar to amnulatus.

Female. Abdomen 56mm. Hindwing 44 mm.

Very similar to the male. Occiput slightly concave, simple. Prothorax

black with three tiny obscure spots on the posterior lobe in addition to the

anterior collar. Thorax and legs not differing from the male. Wings enfumed

12-19/18-12 ©

11-12/13-11”

nervures in all wings; the Ist and 6ththe primary antenodals; pterostigma

black, over 5 to 6 cells. Abdomen similar to the male but the subdorsal black

fascia on segment 2 confluent over dorsum, and the dorsal carina on segments

4 to 7, especially 6 and 7 black, the basal rings being split into basal paired

spots.

Sha appendages creamy yellow, very short, conical.

Vulvar scale very short, glossy black, bifid as far as its base into two small

but broad triangular processes. :

Distribution. Hasimara, Duars, Bengal. A single pair in my own collec-

tion (the male the type), taken by Mr. H. V. O’Donel. Two males and a

female in the Indian Museum, the former two doubtfully referred to vobustus

by Laidlaw, the latter labelled vobustus by De Selys himself. It is to be noted

that Selys never described the female of vobwstus however, and mentions it as

unknown. The differences between rvodbustus and seductus have already been

pointed out under the description of the former. From montanus it is easily

distinguished by the total absence of a humeral stripe, etc. The Indian

Museum specimens come from Sibsagar, Assam.

braced ; nodal index membrane brown; anal triangle 3-celled.

saffronation only evident at the bases; nodal index 2 cubital

Macrogomphus montanus, Selys, Bull. Acad. Belg. (2), xxviii, p. 171 (1869) ;

Will. 1.6.5 "p.. 289 (1912 = aid. A sc-2ep..577 (1 9ec)n

Male. Abdomen 50mm. Hindwing 38 to 40 mm.

Head black marked with yellow as follows:—Two rather large oval basal

spots on labrum ; labium yellowish ; the lower border of postclypeus, a stripe

on the upper border of frons. Occiput brown, its border raised into a small

conical tubercle at the middle.

Prothorax black, unmarked.

Thorax black marked with antehumeral stripes similar to those of seductus,

but rather longer and wider (roughly these marks may be compared to the

outline of a tintack with its head below). In addition there is a narrow

humeral stripe gradually tapering away to a fine point below. The sides of

thorax broadly yellow the two lateral sutures being finely mapped out in black,

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES 739

Wings hyaline, palely enfumed, reticulation close, brown ; pterostigma dark

: 12-18)20-11

brown, over 5 to 6 cells; nodal index 10-121"

Legs dark blackish brown.

Abdomen black marked with yellow as follows :—Segment 1 almost entirely

yellow, 2 with a basal ring confluent with a dorsal stripe and a broad spot on

the oreillets, 3 to 6 with basal rings as in annulatus but longer and occupy-

ing about one-third of the segments. On segments 3 and 4 these rings

prolonged along the dorsum shortly, segment 7 with the basal half yellow

and also prolonged along the dorsum, segment 9 with a small baso-lateral

spot.

Anal appendages very similar to those of annulatus, thick at base,

divaricate, tapering to a point in the apical half. ‘The inner branch springs

from the middle of appendage, slopes downwards and inwards, is black in

colour, its apex bevelled to a point and extending a little beyond apices of

superior appendages. Inferior appendage black, nearly as long as superiors,

widely and deeply forked, branches more divaricate than superiors.

Female. Abdomen 47 mm. Hindwing 40 mm.

Very similar to the male, differs by the yellow markings rather more

extensive. Wings tinted with yellow at base and along costal margin ;

pterostigma pale brown ; nodal index slightly higher.

- Occiput yellow, its border bicrenulate and with a tubercle situated behind,

similar to, but larger than that of male. (This tubercle is not visible from

the front. )

Segment 2 has the dorsal stripe broader and bilobate, the rings on the

other segments distinctly broader. Anal appendages yellow, conical, very tiny

and inconspicuous. Vulvar scale similar to seductus.

Legs dark reddisk brown, tibiz on the outer side, and also the hind femora,

reddish brown.

Distribution. Sylhet. Type in Selysian collection. A pair in the Indian

Museum determined by Selys, but without data as to locality.

This species is at once distinguished from all other Indian forms by the

presence of a humeral stripe and the sides of thorax marked with two fine

black lines instead of the thick medial black stripe.

Genus—ACROGOMPHUS, Laidlaw

\ Aen

aun

SSaniscesers

(SO vt XS

Oceana

Fig. 3. Wings of Acrogomphus frasert, Laid., male.

Acrogomphus Laid., Proc. Zool. Soc., Part 2, pp. 439, 440 (1925).

' A genus of moderately large arboreal Gomphines coloured black with

brightly contrasted but restricted yellow markings. Wings hyaline or tinted

440 JOURNAL,-BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

at the base with yellow ; reticulation close; base of hindwing of male oblique

but rather deeply excavate, tornus prominent; arc lies between Ist and 2nd,

or between 2nd and 3rd antenodal nervures ; sectors of arc parallel at, and

for a short distance after origin, then divergent; 1 or 2 rows of postanal

cells in forewing, 3 to 4 in the hind, the lst postanal ceil in latter entire or

divided, and extending inward to well proximad of the inner end of base of

subtrigone, forming a distinct anal loop in the genotype ; no basal incomplete

antenodal nervures; the Ist and the 5th or 6th the primary antenodal

nervures ; 3 to 5 cross nervures between 2-277 and AM/tv in forewing, 2 to 3

in the hind; all trigones, subtrigones and hypertrigones entire ; 1 to 2 rows

of cells between Mz and Ma at level of distal end of pterostigma, which is

equal to about one-fourth the length of distance from node to outer end of

pterostigma, braced; Cuzz markedly pectinate in forewing; Cuz and Cuz

parallel in hindwing as far as termen ; 2 rows of discoidal cells in forewing

to beyond level of node in the male, to well short of node in the female; 1

cubital nervure in forewings, 1 or 2 in the hind; trigones with distal side

longer than costal and costal longer than basal in forewings, trigone in hind-

wing more elongate than in fore ; anal triangle 4-celled. ;

Head large, face deep, frons forming a slightly obtuse angle with face ;

occiput simple. Thorax robust; legs rather short, hind femora extending

only to base of segment 1. All femora with a field of robust, short, closely-set

spines on the flexor surface, lengthening distad and less numerous on the

middle and anterior femora. |

Abdomen tumid at base, thin and cylindrical from segment 3 to middle of 7,

then widening again to the end, segments 8 and 9 with distinct lateral leaf-like

prolongations.

Genitalia variable in the species. Lamina narrow, arched, prominent ;

anterior hamules moderately long narrow processes with a recurved hook at

apex ; posterior hamtles more robust, broad at base, tapering to a fine

point, sloping back; lobe of penis moderately large and prominent,

scoop-shaped.

Anal appendage variable in the species, superiors simple, long, curved and

tapering ; inferior deeply cleft, branches slightly divaricate. Vulvar scale

short, deeply incised.

Distribution. India and Malaysia.

Geno-type. A. fraseri, Laid.

Acrogomphus fraseri, Laid. 1.c., 11°441-443 (1925).

Male. Abdomen 44mm. Hindwing 38 mm.

Head: labium variegated with shades of brown; labrum black with a

semilunar spot, greenish yellow, on either side of middle line; bases of.

mandibles, anteclypeus, the upper part of frons anda slight overlapping of its

crest yellow. Base of frons above, vertex and occiput black, the latter simple,

emarginate and with a minute notch at its centre.

rothorax black, unmarked.

Thorax black marked with bright citron yllow as follows:—A narrow

interrupted mesothoracic collar, a pair of wedge-shaped antehumeral stripes

not extending as far up as the alar sinus, and falling well short of the

mesothoracic collar below, squared above, pointed and divergent below.

Laterally a broad stripe on the mesoepimeron, the posterior three-fourths

of the, metepimeron, and a small spot of yellow above and between

them.

Legs black, the inner surfaces of anterior femora bright yellow, a small spot

of the same colour at the middle of the outer side of mid femora and a larger

spot on the hinder femora.

Wings palely saffronated throughout, this deepening gradually to a golden

11-18)18-11 11—16|16-12

12-12)12-11 12-12]12-12’

yellow near the bases. Nodal index variable

9-15,16-8

10-11)11-9 ’

wings; anal loop well-developed, formed of 2 cells and extending proximad

nearly to level of cubital nervure ; discoidal field in forewing of 2 rows of cells

to beyond level of node ; membrane black.

pterostigma black, braced, over 5 cells; 1 cubital nervure in all

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES 741.

Abdomen black marked with bright citron yellow as follows :—-Segment I

with a triangular dorsal spot, its base resting on apical border of segment,

laterally a large spot, segment 2 with a linear middorsal stripe slightly

expanded basad, and two spots on each side, one of which includes the large

oreillet, the other apical, segments 3 to 6 each with a pair of subdorsal basal

spots decreasing in size from 3to6, segment 3 has also asmall middorsal

subbasal spot. Segment 7 with the basal half yellow, the yellow invaded by

the black dorsal carina behind and in front, and separated narrowly from the

base of segment by a narrow basal black ring. Segment 8 with a subbasal

spot on each side, and 9 with a similar but much smaller (occasionally absent

in some specimens).

Anal appendages black. Superiors dark reddish brown, almost black, broad

at base, tapering to a fine point, curved down at apices and regularly curved

inwards towards each other as seen from above so as to enclose a fusiform space

very similar to what is found in Onychogomphus circularis, Selys. Inferior

cleft into two branches almost as far as its base. Viewed laterally this appendage

slopes sharply down in its basal third, then recurves sharply upwards asa

rounded right angle. Branches of even width except the extreme apex

which thins rather abruptly. From below the branches are divaricate, broad

at base, tapering rapidly to a blunt point, which turns out slightly at the

apex.

Genitalia. Lamina small, prominent, arched as a large segment of a small

circle; anterior hamules thin, moderately long, directed back, and in the

apices ending in a smail needle-like point which turns abruptly outwards ;

posterior hamules somewhat similar in shape but larger and more robust,

sinuous, ending in a point which is directed back and in ; lobe scoop-shaped,

prominent, black.

Female. Abdomen 43mm. Hindwing 40 mm.

Very similar to the male, the wings broader, rather less saffronated than in

the male, the abdomen broader, stouter, cylindrical throughout.

Markings a little broader, the two spots on the sides of segment 2 confluent

to form a complete lateral stripe ; the carinal spot on 3 larger ; the lateral spots

on 8 and Gabsent ; the labium pale brown ; occiput similar to male but there is

a large conical spine at each end, situated well back of the inner corner of

eyes. Spines on femora fewer, more widely spaced and more robust. Nodal

index :—

12-2118-12 13-1819-14 12-21/20-12 |

14~15)15-13’ 14-14)14-14’. 13-15!15-14 ’

to 2. in hind.

Vulvar scale extends less than half the length of segment 9, bifid almost to

base, its two branches divaricate, separated by a broad rounded notch, the

branches broadly and bluntly triangular.

Distribution. Coorg, at altitudes of 3,000 ft. Type in the Laidlaw collection,

paratypes in the Morton and my own coliections. Only 3 pairs of this rare and

beautiful insect are known but possibly its rareness is due to its habit of roost-

ing at great heights, often as muchas a hundred feet or more above the

ground. 1 have watched females ovipositing in the Sampaji stream, generally

in tunnels formed by cane brakes arching and covering over the stream. They

drop their eggs in clean water where the current is swift and the bottom sandy

or gravely. At such spots they hover about one inch above the surface of the

stream, glide forward for a few feet, reverse rapidly in their own length and

return. This manceuvre is repeated again and again, a hovering pause taking

place before each turn to give time fora fresh batchof eggs to be extruded.

With each glide, the insect dips and strokes the eggs off on the water’s surface.

Females are occasionally seen crossing open glades, flying low and trailing

the abdomen as if it were fractured. With the aid of field-glasses males could

be seen at times perched on prominent dead twigs on the tops of trees, or

soaring at great heights in company with Orogomphus campioni and Zygonyx

tris. In appearance, this species greatly resembles Onychogomphus circu-

lavis Selys, the anal appendages especially being a close copy of those of

that insect. Dr. Laidlaw conjectures that civcularis may be foundto belong

to genus Acrogomphus. ‘The type has been damaged, but recently another

specimen has come into my hands, and I am now able to confirm it as an

Onychogomphus.

1 cubital nervure in forewing, 1

742 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

(senus—PERISSOGOMPHUS, Laidlaw.

e808 ganeaer

— a GBSy

awasfaale: ASS

d -s

ee;

oe 4

Fig. 4. Wings of Perissogomphus stevensi, Laid., ¢.

Perissogomphus, Laid., Rec. Ind. Mus., vol. xxiv, pp. 383, 384 (1922) ; Fras,

ibid., p. 418 (1922).

A monotypic genus, the only known species of which is of moderately large

and robust build, coloured black marked with grass-green. Wings hyaline,

reticulation very close and redundant ; base of hindwing in the male oblique

but moderately deeply excavate and tornus well angulated. Are between the

2nd and 3rd antenodal nervures ; sectors of arc approximated immediately after

origin, then slightly divergent ; the lst and 6th or 7th the primary antenodal

nervures ; 2to 3 cubital nervuresin forewings, 2inthe hind; 4cellsin anal

triangle ; 2 rows of postanal cells in forewing, 5 in the hind where the lst cell

is divided into 2 or 3 cells soas to form a distinct anal loop asin Ophiogom-

bhus, which extends basad to well proximad of the inner end of base of

subtrigone ; no basal incomplete antenodal nervure ; Cuz in forewing markedly

pectinate ; Cuz and Cuzz in hindwing divergent towards termen, 5 cells between

their ends ; 2 rows of discoidal cells in forewing to a little beyond level of node;

1 to 2 rows of cells between 77 and Mia at level of outer end of pterostigma ;

pterostigma small, less than one-fourth the length of distance between node

and distal end of pterostigma, swollen, braced, over 4to 5 cells; 4 nervures

between J7/7-272 and A7iv in forewing, 2 inthe hind; MWzzz and A/zv distinctly

sinuous ; trigones entire or traversed (One mae has the trigone of left forewing

and both in the hindwings traversed, another has only thoseof the hind tra-

versed, whilst others have all entire ; two females have the trigones of forewings

only traversed, another has the trigoneof left forewing and both in the hind,

whilst five others have those of hindwings alone traversed) ; subtrigones and

hyper-trigones entire ; trigone of forewing with its sides subequilateral, the

outer side a little angulate ; trigone of hindwing longer, with distal side longer

than costal and costal longer than basal. (When trigones are traversed, the

traversing nervure runs from basal to distal side.)

Head moderately large, frons rounded, face oblique ; occiput simple, hinde

border straight, fringed with long black hairs, asmall tubercle on its dorsum |

which bears a tiny longitudinal sulcus. Similar in the female but the tubercle |

smaller, rounded and without the sulcus. Thorax robust. Legs moderately

long and robust, extending to apical border of segment 1; hind femora with

2rows of short robust closely-set spines ending distad ina field of smaller

spines. Mid and anterior femora very similiar but without the field of spines

and those forming the two rows smaller and less numerous. In the female,

the spines more robust, longer and less numerous.

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES 743

Abdomen tumid at base, thin and cylindrical from seginent 3 to7, where the

segments gradually dilate as far as 10. Segments 8 and 9, and apical half of

7 with distinct lateral narrow foliations.

Anal appendages closely similar to those of genus Gomphus, both superiors

and the branches of inferior divaricate.

Genitalia prominent ; lamina narrowly and deeply arched, projecting pro-

minently ; anterior hamules long narrow hooks ending in along fine back-

wardly curved spine; posterior hamules thick at base, robust, ending in a

sharply curved, forwardly directed spine; lobe pitcher-shaped with its rim

strongly emarginate.

Vulvar scale very short, very broad, its free border presenting two widely

divaricate minute triangular processes.

Distribution. Assam, Bengal and Sikhiny.

Genotype.—Perissogomphus stevensi, Laid.

Perissogomphus stevensi, Laid. 1. c. pp. 384, 386 (1922) ; Fras., 76zd., p. 418

(1922):

Male. Abdomen 36-38 mm. Hindwing 33-34 mm.

Head: labium olivaceous; labrum olivaceous brown, its anterior border

narrowly black, the outer corners and a pair of small median spots near the

middle of anterior border yellow ; anteclypeus and adjacent portion of postcly-

peus olivaceous ; postclypeus dark olivaceous brown with an obscure large

area against the eyes yellow. Frons deeply and widely notched at its centre, a

beautiful grass-green above and in. front, its extreme base above narrowly

black ; vertex and occiput black.

Prothorax black, the posterior lobe, a spot almost confluent with it, anda

narrow anterior collar greenish yellow.

Thorax black on dorsum, grass-green laterally. The dorsum with a broad

erass-green, M-shaped marking formed by the confluence of broad antehumeral

stripes, which extend from the alar sinus, with a complete mesothoracic collar

below. The middle limb of the M is formed by the middorsal carina which is

green in its lower two-thirds, and confluent with the mesothoracic collar be-

low. Laterally the vestiges of an upper dark brown, narrow stripe, and the

hinder suture finely mapped out in the same colour.

Legs black, inner surfaces of anterior femora and distal half of same area on

the mid femora greenish-yellow, Wings hyaline, a faint tinge of yellow at the

extreme base in cubital area. Pterostigma blackish brown between thick

12-16]17-14 13-18/17-11

14-13}12-13’ 13-12|12-13°

Abdomen black marked at the base with grass-green, on other segments

with citron yellow, as follows :—segments 1 to 7 with a middorsal stripe,

broad on segment 1, trilobed on segments 2 and 3, broad at base on 4 to 6, on

which segments it is confluent at the base with a narrow complete ring, and

thereafter tapers away to a fine point, segment 7 similar but much broader at

base, tapering less abruptly, and confluent at the base with a broad ventro-

lateral stripe which runs the full length of segment. The sides of segments 1

and 2 broadly grass-green, a triangular baso-lateral spot on segment 3 yellow,

the sides of segments 8 to 10 broadly yellow-ochre, as also the apical half of

dorsum of 10, where are seen two small round subdorsal subapical black spots.

Anal appendages yellow. Superiors as long as segment 10, alittle divari-

cate, conical, tapering, acuminate, the apex slightly upturned and bearing

beneath 4 or 5 small blackish brown spines. Inferior appendage about two-

thirds the length of superiors, curling slightly up, deeply cleft into two short

conical bluntly pointed divaricate branches, Genitalia. (See under genus.)

Female. Abdomen 3841mm. Hindwing 35-37°5 mm.

Entirely similar to the male, the face however more yellowish, the labium

paler and the markings on abdomen more extensive, the whole of segment 10

13-18/17-14

being yellow. Nodal index :— 16213| 12-14’ wings much more broadly tinted

with yellow at base, as farout as the end of cubital space and along costa as

far as the node. In one female, the whole wines are deeply and evenly

enfumed brown, probably due to old age. The anal loop as highly developed

as in the male.

Hind femora, as well as the other pairs, broadly yellow internally, and a fine

diffuse stripe of the same colour on the outer surface,

black nervures ; nodal index :—

744. JOURNAL, BOMBAY-NATORAL GIST.-SOCIETY, Wool. eed

Anal appendages very short, conical, pointed, yellow. Vulvar scale (see

under genus).

Distribution. The insect is taken during May and June. I have received

specimens from Mr. H. Stevens taken at Gopaldhara, Assam, and others from

Mr. C. M. Inglis taken near Pashoke, Darjeeling District.

The generic name implies ‘ redundancy ’, and is well suited to this insect in

which the venation is extraordinarily close considering the size of the insect,

and by comparison with other Gomphines. Its venation is a curious blending

of archaic with modern characters, a circumstance which makes it extremely

difficult to determine relationships with other genera, it is however evident that

broad gaps separate it from ail other Indian genera.

Genus—ANORMOGOMPHUS, Selys

exes

Bore

: se

ry) bites

aha: a

Fig. 5. a Wings of Anormogomphus kirttschenkoi Bart., male.

6. Wings of Anormogomphus heteropterus, Selys, male.

Anormogomphus, Selys, Bull. Acd. Belg. xxi, (2), p. 60 (1854) ; Mon. Gomp.,

p. 102 (1857) ; Will. 1. c., p. 298 (1912), Laid. 1. ¢., p. 396 (W922i)6

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES 745

A genus of small Gomphines (equal in size to that of JZicrogomphus) charac-

terized by their uniform pale colouring, without markings.

Wings hyaline, reticulation very open and simple, éase of hindwing rounded

in both sexes, tornus absent; arc between the Ist and 2nd, or opposite the 2nd

antenodal nervure; sectors of arc parallel at, and for a short distance after

origin, then divergent ; a single row of cells in the postanal area of forewing,

three in the hind, the Ist postanal cell in hindwing entire and extending

proximad only as far as middie of base of subtrigone; no basal incomplete

antenodal nervure ; the Ist and the 4th the primary antenodal nervures, two

cross nervures between J/7-222 and Miv in forewing, only one in the hind; all

trigones, subtrigones and hypertrigones entire ; trigone of forewing with costal

and proximal sides equal, the distal rather longer; trigone of hindwing with

costal side longer than proximal, and distal longer than costal; distal and

costal sides of trigone of hindwing occasionally failing to meet, the gap being

bridged by A/zv to form a primitive four-sided trigone; only asingle row of

cells between J/z and J/za at level of distal end of pterostigma ; pterostigraa

large and swollen, equal to a little more than one-fourth the length of distance

between node and distal end of pterostigma, strongly braced ; Cuzi markedly

pectinate in forewing ; Cuz and Cuzz parallei in hindwing as far as termen ;

two rows of discoidal cells in forewing as far as level of node; one cubital

nervure in all wings ; aval triangle single-celled.

Head moderately large, frons angular, occiput flat and simple,

Thorax robust ; legs rather long, extending well on to segment one; hind

femora with a field of black, short, robust closely-set spines, the distal one

rather longer than the rest, mid and anterior femora with smaller, more closely-

set spines.

Abdomen slightly tumid at base, terminal segments slightly dilated in the

male, of even width and cylindrical throughout in the female.

Genitalia prominent, lamina depressed, minutely notched ; anterior hamules

small and fine; posterior hamules long, projecting almost perpendicularly,

tapering to a point, the apex with a tiny hook ; lobe funnel-shaped, large and

tumid. Vulvar scale very small, two small widely-divaricate, triangular scales.

Anal appendages very short. Superiors conical, pointed, widely separated,

with a robust basal spine on the outer side; inferior deeply cleft into two

widely divaricate branches each of which ends in a small black pin-head cap.

Distribution. Only two species are known, one of which is restricted to

desert areas in Iraq, Persia and Sind, and the other to Bihar, Bengal and the

Punjab. <A. kiritschenkoi, Bart., the desert species, appears to be the more

primitive, its reticulation being very open and simple, whilst heleropterus,

Selys, has the venation much more close andstatic. The genitalia and anal

appendages show that the two insects are intimately related.

Genotype—Anormogomphus heteropterus, Selys.

Anormogomphus heteropterus, Selys, Bull. Acad. Belg., xxi, (2), p. 61 (1854) ;

Mon. Gomph-.; p. 103'(1857) ; ‘Will. l.c., p. 293 (1912) ; Laid. l.c., p. 396

(1922).

Male. Abdomen 25mm. Hindwing 22 mm.

Head pale whitish yellow, the eyes and ocelli brown and _ contrasting

strikingly with the pale ground colour ; an obscure brown line at base of frons

above, and another in front of occiput. The latter simple, depressed, its

border angulated at an obtuse angle.

Prothorax sandy yellow with obscure brownish transverse lines.

Thorax darker yellow with a grass-green tinge laterally. The dorsum with

obscure vestiges of brownish lines, a median lining each side of middorsal

carina convex inwards, an antehumeral stripe, more distinct, running obliquely

from above down and out and lastly a humeral stripe, only visible at its

middle part.

Wings pale, reticulation open, black, costa bright yellow ; pterostigma pale

yellow between black nervures, short, and stout, over 1 and 2 cells, braced ;

nodal index ay 1079 2 rows of discoidal cells, to beyond level of node.

6-7| 7-6’

Legs sandy yellow with black spines.

Abdomen pale sandy yellow marked with dark brown as follows :—A spot on

each side of segment 1, a baso-lateral and an apico-lateral on segment 2, the

746 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATOGRAL THST. SOCTEHIY Wo. Xaod

latter spot transversely elongate, the jugal sutures and articulations of segments

3 and 6, these segments also having a small blackish brown spot on each side

of tne apical border ; segment 7 has a pale yellow basal ring, 8 and 9 a dorsal

stripe on the carina of the same colour. The sides of these two latter

segments, and of 10 darker yellow. The apical border of segment 10 rounded

and not turned down between the anal appendages as in £iritschenkot. Anal

appendages yellow. Superiors a little shorter than segment 10, tapering toa

fine point, widely separated, their inner borders parallel, the outer dilated

at the base and prolonged downward as.a very robust short tooth. Inferior

appendage bifid, with widely separated branches, divaricate, their outer border

thickened, tapering slightly towards the apex which ends in a curious oval

black pin-head like structure.

Genitalia. Lamina depressed, shallowly notched; anterior hamules small,

conical, tapering ; posterior hamules more robust, projecting perpendicularly

to long axis of abdomen, of even thickness to apex where they are abruptly

conical and end in a short fine inwardly curved black spine ; lobe large, tumid,

deeply bifid at lip, scoop-shaped.

Female. Abdomen 27mm. Hindwing 25 mm.

Very similar to, but larger than the male. Closely resembles in many

respects the female of &zritschenkoi, but the reticulation of the wings is much

more redundant, as in the male.

Head (missing in the only known specimen of the sex).

Prothorax similar to the male. Thorax yellow laterally, grass-green on

dorum with some obscure dark brown stripes, viz.—the upper part of the

middorsal carina, a well-defined antehumeral stripe running from the alar

sinus above, very obliquely down and out and becoming lost in its lower third.

A short obscure line on the upper part of the humeral suture and a broken line

on the second lateral suture.

Legs greenish-yellow with black spines, numbering about 15-20 on the hinder

femora.

: ia ee . 5-9|10-6 As : :

Wings hyaline, similar to the male, nodal index 67/727 Cuii pectinate in

forewing ; two rows of discoidal cells to well beyond level of node.

Abdomen yellow with a greenish tinge, marked obscurely as follows :—

Segments 2 and 7 with a subapical, subdorsal oblique linear spot on each side

convergent apicad ; segments 8 and 10 ferruginous with the subdorsum and

subapical borders clouded with black, segment 10 with the base similarly

clouded on the dorsum.

Anal appendages ferruginous, very small, conical, separated by a similarly

coloured conical structure. Vulvar scale very minute, two tiny triangular

processes on either side of hinder border of segment 8.

Distribution. Type, a maJe in the Selysian collection, from India, without

further data as to locality, collected by Stevens. There is a male from Lahore

in the Indian Museum collection and a third male in my own collection from

Bihar, the latter very teneral and without any evidence of markings. The only

female known is one in my own collection, without head and anterior two pairs

of legs. Its colour is well preserved, especially of thorax. This specimen

comes from Baghwonie, Bengal and I believe was taken by Mr. C.M. Inglis,

June 27, 1922. The insect appears to be much rarer than £zritschenkot, or it may

be overlooked on account of its weak flight and colourless body and wings.

The above description has been taken from the Bengal specimen.

Anormogomphus kiritschenkoi, Bartenef. .

Morton (Odonata from Mesopotamia), Ent. Month. Mag. (3), vol. v,

pp. .143-151,. 183-196. (1919):; Id:; Ann. Mac. (Nat.. Hist.9(9) vol. iv,

pp. 296, 297 (1920).

Male. Abdomen 29-31 mm. Hindwing 24-25 mm.

Very similar to the last species but rather more colourless, and the reticulation

of wings more simple and open.

Head. Lips, face and vertex palest greeny white or creamy, the ocelli and

eyes dark brown and strongly contrasted against the pale ground colour.

Occiput pale, its hinder border obtusely angled prothorax palest yellow, rather

darker on the dorsum. The posterior lobe and a transverse ridge in front of it

brighter greenish-yellow. Thorax pale green, yellowish in some specimens but

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES 747

very variable and almost grass-green in others, unmarked. The dorsum a

darker olivaceous.

Legs yellow, all femora with a longitudinal brown line on the outer sides,

dark and well-defined distad, paler and diffuse proximad, and much darker

and better defined on anterior than hinder femora. Spines shorter but more

numerous and more closely-set than in Aeteropterus.

Abdomen sandy yellow with subapical, subdorsal spots on segments 2 to 4

exactly similar to heteropterus. Segments 7 to 10 unmarked.

Anal appendages yellow, the superiors with a pale greeny tint, the inferior

ferruginous. Superiors very broad at base, conical, ending in a sharp point,

outer borders oblique and ending in a very robust basal brownish spine, widely

separated by a prolongation of segment 10, which dips down between them and

ends in two small conical tubercles, each with a dark brown spine at its

summit. Inferior deeply bifid, with widely divaricate branches which are

bluntly pointed and end in a small black apex.

Genitalia very similar to that of Aeferopterus. Lamina very depressed, its

surface with a narrow deep fissure dividing it up into two convex areas ;

anterior hamules conical and short in profile, sloping back and down, parallel,

flattened as seen from below ; posterior hamules much more robust, conical,

ending in a tiny forwardly directed spine, cream coloured, projecting very

slightly back, and almost perpendicularly so, to long axis of abdomen ; lobe

dark olivaceous, scrotal-shaped, narrowly but deeply notched at apex.

Wings hyaline, costa and mest of the nervures pale straw coloured ; pteros-

tigma pale with a pinkish tinge, between black nervures, over three cells,

braced; nodal index et a ne ; discoidal field in forewing with two

rows of cells nearly to level of node.

Female. Abdomen 29-31 mm. Hindwing 26-27 mm.

OVO)

Similar in all respects to the male ; nodalindex a =

cells in forewing to level of node; pterostigma slightly longer. Vulvar scale

as for genus.

Distribution. Iraq, Persia along the shores of the Gulf, the Mekran coast

and Sind. I took this species in !arge numbers at Zobeir, Mesopotamia, in

April 1915, when in camp during the War. Its numbers were so great as to

afford an exclusive diet for a large family of lizards I was keeping at the time.

Its fight is weak and not sustained. It may be found near its breeding places

settled gregariously on low bushes, or in grass. At Zobeir, the inhabitants dig

holes in the sand for their water supplies, fresh pits being dug as one becomes

fouled. It is in these pits that kzrztschenkot breeds.

Baghdad is the most northern locality from which I have received specimens,

it occurs later there, towards the end of August. It is probably not uncommon

along the banks of the lower Indus.

; two rows of discoidal

(Zo be continued)

LUMINESCENCE IN PLANTS AND ANIMALS

K. BLATTER, S.Jsy POsDs,-F-L.S.:

[ Read at the Meeting of the Bombay Natural History Society

held on June 24, 1926.)

WHAT IS LUMINESCENCE ?

Various kinds of luminescence have been distinguished in course

of time. There is first of all crystalloluminescence. This is a

phosphorescent light which can be observed when some substance

crystallizes from solution or after: fusion. A good example is

arsenious acid when crystallizing from solution in hydrochloric

acid. Triboluminescence is a second kind. It can be obtained by

mecnanical means, either by friction, percussion, or cleavage. If

we break sugar in the dark, or if we rub two crystals of quartz

together, a flash of light can be observed. A third kind is electro-

luminescence, and this is due, as the name implies, to electrical

causes. If we pass an electric discharge through certain gases,

the gases themselves become phosphorescent for a short time. As

a fourth kind we may mention Thermoluminescence. There are

some bodies which do not show any light in a dark room at ordinary

temperatures, but they begin to do so as soon as they are heated

to a temperature below a visible red heat. In a variety of fluor-

spar, called chlorophane, the heat of the hand is sufficient to

produce luminescence. We come to the fifth kind of luminescence,

viz. photoluminescence. It comprises two phenomena: phosphor-

escence and fluorescence. Phosphorescence consists in the emission

of a pale, more or less ill-defined light, not obviously due to

combustion. The meaning of the term phosphorescence has not

always been the same. At present it is, for practical reasons,

restricted to the case of bodies which, after exposure to light,

become self-luminous. By this we can distinguish phosphorescence

from fluorescence. In fluorescent bodies light is only emitted

whilst they are under the influence of a certain illumination, and

the light ceases as soon as the source of illumination is removed.

It is evident that none of the five kinds of luminescence just

mentioned can be adduced to explain the luminescence in animals

and plants. Thatit isnot crystalloluminescence or triboluminescence

er even electroluminescence, does not require any | proof.

Thermoluminescence is excluded by the fact that luminous

organisms or organs do not show any measurable increase in

temperature. We might think of phosphorescence, as the pale

glow in certain organisms resembles the light emanating from

phosphorus, and opinions were not wanting which attributed light-

phenomena in living organisms to the presence of phosphorus.

LUMINESCENCE IN PLANTS AND ANIMALS 749

But it is well known that phosphorus and its luminous compounds

are deadly poison to every living tissue. We cannot therefore

assign the luminescence of life to the oxidation of phosphorus.

It is only chemoluminescence which gives us a satisfactory

explanation of luminescence in organisms. We know that a number

of elements enter reactions which produce light. At the same

time we are not in a position to put down universal characteristics

either regarding the bodies which enter such reactions, nor

regarding the reactions themselves.

WHAT WE DO NOT CALL LUMINESCENCE

' Before I proceed I wish to exclude from the present paper

certain phenomena which sometimes go under the name of lumines-

cence, I mean the shining of the background of the eyes of certain

animals, especially of cats, and the flashes of a certain moss

Schistostega osmundacea. In both cases we have no self-luminescence,

but the incident light is so strongly reflected in certain directions as

to produce the impression of self-luminescence. In animals the

light is reflected by a layer of tissue which contains microcrystals

or strongly refractive fiorils. A similar mechanism produces light

in some sea-weeds of the genera Phylocladia, Polysiphonia,

Wrangelia and Cystostra, in which the light is reflected by micros-

copic plates of a certain shape. Contrivances of a similar character

cause the glittering of the leaves of Hookeria splendens, and the

golden gloss of the sea-weed Chromatophyton rosanotfiz.

A curious luminosity can be observed in the twilight or during

night in many red or blue flowers, e.g., Papaver orientale,

Helianthemum oenothera, Lilium bulbtterum, Calendula officinalis,

Tagetes patula. We do not know the exact nature of this phenome-

non; so much, however, seems to be certain that it is not a case of

chemoluminescence. We need not decide in this place whether it

is due to electricity or to a physiological-opticai process.

DISTRIBUTION OF LUMINESCENCE

The power of producing light seems to be found in the most

diverse types of organization of animals and plants. Only amongst

multicellular green plants and warm-blooded animals we meet

large groups which do not contain any luminous forms.

Many bacteria of putrefaction are known to be phosphorescent.

If we sometimes find that dead fish or moliuscs or flesh emit light,

we have to ascribe it to the presence of bacteria. When put under

the microscope the individual bacteria appear as shining points of

light.

Luminescence is a common occurrence in decaying wood and

leaves. Here it is due to the mycelium of a fungus, Agaricus

melleus and other species of Agaricus, also of species of the genera

Collybia, Pleurotus, Panus, etc.

In biological literature we come across a number of references to

luminous animals which are not really self-luminous, but which

have been infected by luminous fungi and bacteria. Observations

‘on luminous mosquitoes and mole-crickets find here an explanation.

In America we meet the so-called lantern-flies, belonging to the

750 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX

FHlomoptera. ‘The luminous organ consists of a huge projection of

the front of the head, but even here the light seems to be due to

the presence of fungi or bacteria.

The Protozoa and Protophyta have many luminous representa-

tives. It is interesting to note that only those forms are luminous

which live in a medium rich in salt and that so far no forms have

shown luminosity in fresh water. In sea water they cause the

beautiful phenomena of phosphorescence. ‘The most common

luminous species are Voctiluca miliarts (Flagellata), Peridinium

divergens (Alge), and species of Pyrocystis. The first two are

found near land, and the latter in mid-ocean. A number of bacteria

cause a kind of surface-luminosity of the sea. The light seems to

be continuous without exhibiting visible points of light.

We come to the higher animals. Here the luminescence begins

to be confined to special parts of the body which may develop into

highly specialized luminous organs. Many Celenterata make a

beginning of such localization. Some MWeduse may be luminous

all over, but the light is more pronounced along the radial canals,

in the ovaries, or in other parts of the body. In Pennatulide each

polyp is adorned with eight luminous bands on the outer surface

of the alimentary cavity. Some of the finest displays of marine

luminosity we owe to Pyrosoma, amember of the Zunzcata. The

light emanates on stimulation from two small patches of cells

which are located at the base of each inhalent tube.

Of the Crustaceans many pelagic Cofefoda are luminous. The

light appears to be produced by a fluid which is secreted by certain

glands of the skin. A similar luminous secretion is produced by

the Ostracod /Pyrocypris and the Mysid Guathophausta. In the

Euphauside we observe elaborate luminous organs situated on the

thoracic appendages and the abdomen. Many families of the

Decapoda have luminous representatives and some deep-sea prawns

discharge a luminous secretion at the bases of their antenne.

Other luminous inhabitants of the sea are luminous sponges,

luminous corais (Alcyonarie), luminous sea-urchins (Dzadema seto-

sum), luminous starfishes (A7zszxga), luminous species of Amphiura,

Ophiacantha, Ophiopsila, a luminous rock-boring Mollusc (Pholas)

which Pliny already knew to be iuminescent, luminous worms

(Chetopterus, Nereis) and a great number of Cephalopods which are

for the most part denizens of the deep sea.

Amongst the legions of insects very few produce light. There

is the primitive NMeamura muscorum, and of the higher orders the

glow-worm (Lampyris splendidula) and his near relative Luczola

ttalica, and the tropical fireflies (Pyvophorus). In India we have

numerous species of glow-worms, usually, but erroneously, called

fireflies. The true fireflies which belong to the family Alateride

are not found in India. In our glow-worms the posterior segments

of the body cover the luminous organ. In many species the males

alone have wing's, whilst the female has no wings and resembies

a grub. Both, the grub-like female and its larva are luminous.

In various families of beetles, chiefly outside of India, luminosity

has been noted (Cavabide, Pausside, Staphylinide, Tenebrionide,

Elatertda, Cerambycide, Buprestide, etc.). Even larvee of Lepr-

LUMINESCENCE IN PLANTS AND ANIMALS 751

doptera and Diptera have been seen to emit light, but it is more

likely that the light is due to the activity of bacteria or fungi than

to auto-photogenic processes. Some Centipedes, e.g. Geophilus

electricus and G. phosphorus, conciude the series of luminous

Arthropoda on land. ‘They are said to leave a luminous trail when

allowed to crawl over the skin.

Many deep-sea ‘Teleostome fishes (Slomzatide, Scopelide,

Halosaurid@, Anomalopide) are provided with characteristic

luminous structures, called photophores, whilst many species of

Selachit show numerous simple luminous organs which vary a good

deal as to number, distribution and complexity in different fish.

‘THe PrRocESS OF LUMINESCENCE

If we want to get an insight into the material process of

luminescence in animals and plants, we have to consult the

investigations on the production of light during chemical processes.

Amongst the organic compounds which produce light on under-

going transformations some are products of organisms, or at least

bodies nearly related to products of the living substance, e.g.

aldehydes, monovalent saturated primary alcohols, certain fatty

acids, aromatic oils. As to the particular kind of reaction during

which luminescence can be observed, we are told by chemists, that

they are chiefly those in which oxygen or halogens are reacting on

the compounds mentioned above. For the luminescence of

organisms only the first possibility seems to be realized: the light of

organisms depends strictly on the presence of oxygen. It is always

a question of oxidation of bodies which we call ‘ photogens’,

according to their power of entering luminous reactions. It must

be remembered, however, that the word photogen does not signify

a chemically uniform body.

What is the activity of the luminous organism? it consists in

the production of the photogen. The photogen may, by auto-

oxidation, unite with oxygen so rapidly as to cause luminescence,

or the organism may, in addition, produce special bodies which

accelerate the process of the luminous reaction. We could call

such bodies oxidases, aS we have before us a process of catalytical

acceleration of oxidation. In this case we would have to consider

organic luminescence as a process of fermentation.

Observations on the boring mollusc, Pholas dactylus, seem to speak

in favour of this hypothesis. The luminous slime of that mollusc

is said to contain two bodies: the luciferin which wouid represent

the photogen, and the luciferase which would be the oxidase.

Neither body is luminous by itself, but they become so after union.

Most reactions of fermentation, and especially oxidation, take

place intracellularly in the living substance and, consequently, the

process of luminescence is very often brought about within the

cells. We can observe intracellular luminosity in luminous bacteria

and fungi, in luminous protista and insects, fishes and many

Crustaceans.

In other cases luminescence is extracellular. There are animals

whose secretions begin to become luminous after their separation

from the animal body. It is possible to obtain considerable

752 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

quantities of luminous slime from the boring mollusc mentioned

before, and that slime continues to shine even after having passed

through porcelain filters. Similar conditions have been detected in

certain marine Crustaceans (Copepoda of the families Centropagide

and Onxcetd@). Under the microscope we can observe how the

dermal glands expell little masses of secretions which begin to

shine only when they come in contact with the sea water.

These facts are of great theoretical importance. They show that

it is possible to separate the processes of luminescence from the

vital processes of organisms. The living substance furnishes the

bodies that can become luminous and, at the same time, the

condition of luminous reactions (apparently an oxidase).

THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE LIGHT OF ORGANISMS

The spectra of the light of various organisms have been observed

and they were found to be continuous, but not reaching either end

of the spectrum of the sun. The light of organisms, therefore, if

sufficiently intense, could be seen. in the different parts of the

spectrum as orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. But in most

cases the total intensity of the light-is so small that our eyes can

perceive differences of light only, but not of colour. In the

spectrum of the strongly luminous Bacillus Luctter Molisch was able

to distinguish real colours, viz. green, blue and violet.

The data we find in biological literature and notes of travellers

are not always reliable. Many observers seem to forget that

observations of this kind must be made after one has spent at least

thirty minutes in the dark. Aberrations from the pure white tint are

noted chiefly in the direction towards yeliow, yellowish-green, green

or blue, but the colours rarely reach considerable saturation. Thus,

the light of the male glow-worm is yellowish-green, a colony of

Bacterium phosphoreum, bluish-green or even smaragd-green, of

Pyrosoma gtiganteum, ultramarine blue. There is an isolated

reference to the effect that after irritation the light of Pyrosoma

atlanticum becomes red.

We must carefully distinguish between the light produced by the

luminous reaction and that of the luminous organ. As the latter

are very often provided with reflectors and lenses it is not difficult

to understand how colours quite different from the colour of the

luminous reaction may arise. We know a deep sea Cephalopod

(Thaumatolampas) of which the luminous eye-organs are ultramarine

biue, the five ventral ones sky-blue, and the two anal ones ruby-red.

But we are not aliowed to draw the conclusion that three different

processes of luminescence, each with its own characteristic colour,

are going on.

Of the intensity of organic light we know very little. It has

been calculated that the light of a luminous colony of V7br7o

Rumpel, covering an area of 2,000 square meters, would equal that

of one Hefner’s candle. It is not impossible that in many cises

good results might be obtained by photographic methods. As to

the efficiency of the light emitted by many fireflies, Bainbrigge

Fletcher remarks that it is ‘remarkably high, being estimated at

practically 100 per cent of the energy used, there being almost no

LUMINESCENCE IN PLANTS AND ANIMALS 753

heat-rays or actinic rays, whilst the light-value of the electric are is

only about ten per cent of the energy used and that of the sun

only about thirty-five per cent.’

THE FUNCTION OF LUMINESCENCE

There seems to be no case where the presence of luminescence

forms an integral part of organized life. Luminous bacteria can

lead a normal life and develop in the usual way without producing

light. As to luminous secretions there is no reason why we should

ascribe to them a function different from that of similar secretions,

which however do not emit light.

Our conjectures seem to be on somewhat firmer ground when we

consider not the internal life of luminous organisms, but their

ecological and social relations. We know Cephalopods with about

1,000 luminous organs, and they are mostly inhabitants of the

deep sea. Can those organs not serve as recognition marks? It

is not unlikely that fishes use their luminous organs as lanterns in

the dark abysses of the sea. In the females of the glow-worms and

fireflies the luminosity is probably a sexual lure. In the maies its

function is not known. It is not impossible that the intermittent

flash of a flying glow-worm is a means of defence by puzzling an

enemy as to its whereabouts. Bainbrigge Fletcher thinks that there

is also some evidence that Lampyrid beetles are distasteful to

nocturnal insectivorous birds and bats. In this case the light

would be a ‘ warning ’ signal.

Let us not forget that all this is mere conjecture, and we must

not flatter ourselves at having explained the functions of those

mysterious and beautiful phenomena cf luminescence. What we

require is experimental material, and when we have obtained it we

have to sift and interpret the facts, not from the point of human

experience, but taking into consideration all we know of animal

psychology.

THE MASON WASP (LUMENES CONICA).

7 i

Masor R. W. G. HINGSTON, M.S.

PART if

ARCHITECTURAL PROBLEMS

(Continued from page 247 of this Volume)

I continue the investigation of this mason wasp. There are

certain points relating to architecture which deserve an additional

HOte:

Rapidity of Construction

Consider, for example, the mason’s industry. See how quickly

her edifice is built.

I find a nest of two cells. The mason is about to commence the

third. She arrives at 1.52 p.m. to lay the first pellet in place. It

takes her a minute to effect this. Not till 2.34 p.m. does she

bring a second load, an unaccountably long absence in the usual

mechanical routine. After this, however, there is no more delay.

Every two minutes she brings a fresh globule and spendsa similar

time in moulding it on the cell. In all fifteen pellets are brought.

Fourteen go to the masonry: the fifteenth is required for the rim.

By 3.18 p.m. the edifice is complete. Such is the measure of her

industry. ‘The work is commenced at 1.52 p.m.: it is finished at

3.18 p.m. Eighty-six minutes are required to raise this inimitable

work.

But we are not giving due credit to the mason. I have said that

after laying the first pellet she made a delay of thirty-five minutes

before resuming work. ‘This is ari abnormal occurrence. Let us

neglect it. The result is that it takes her just under an hour to

construct one cell.

The hunt for caterpillars now begins. In the instance under

observation she is very successful. After twenty-six minutes she is

back with a victim. One more minute is spent in packing it. In

forty-two minutes she brings a second; in five more minutes a

third; in thirty-two minutes a fourth. Allin succession are stuffed

in; the chamber is packed tight. It is 5.3 p.m.

But her work is not over yet. The gate of the prison must be

closed. In four minutes she is back with a pellet which is pushed

into the door. It happens in this case that one is insufficient. So

in another minute she brings a second; the door is hermetically

sealed. It is 5.8 p.m.

The cell is built, the egg layed, the caterpillars have been hunted

down and stored, the door is firmly closed. All is complete. It

has occupied the Awmenes three hours and sixteen minutes. The

sun is now low in the sky. Nevertheless the architect refuses rest.

In eight minutes she is back again. Here and there are some

THE MASON WASP (EUMENES CONICA) 755

depressions on her masonry, mere superficial unimportant irregu-

larities, yet blemishes which appear not suited to her taste. ‘Tull

nightfall she attends to their improvement. Bits of clay must be

smeared on uneven places until the whole is smooth.

Here is a full record of the mason’s industry.

ARCHITECTURE OF A CELI. OF Humenes conica

Architecture begins

(as Art; 152 p.m. (6) Arr. (2.47 p.m. (HD le Cree Ms Ray oyoaa

Dep eos / 4, Dep, 2.007155 Depreany'r 3,

(2) Arr. 2.84 ..,, (AAGE Zeal: © 5% (2) Arte B10".

Dep, 2.30) -,;, Dep wes 45 DED rele) an

(iS) het ie tear ane Y Aes (5) cAlien 22200) 5 (3) PATE. CSet8 wats

Dene 2-30)... Depiz2:57- 5; Dep: 315° ;,

COs Art. 2.410". (9) Arr.) 2.49 _,; (14) Arr. 3:16 ¢,,

Dep. 2.42 .,, Depredsl. v,, Dep, sal74.5;5

fo) Arr, 2.44... (10) Arr. 3:2 ~, (VS) Arta sols,

Dep. 2.46. .;, Dep. 3.47" 45 Cell completed and egg

laid.

Storage begins

(1) Arr. 3.44 p.m. with caterpillar. (3) Arr. 4.31 p.m. with caterpillar.

(2) 4, 4.26 ,, » (4) 25, sods a,

Storage complete.

Sealing of Aperture begins

(1) Arr. 5.7 p.m. Inserts first plug. (2) Arr. 5.8 p.m. Inserts second plug.

Final touches to Cover begin

QuvaArr.. 9.16 7.11: (2) Art. -3:30 p.m:

(3) Occasional visits till 6.15 p.m.

Geometrical Measurements

I come to another point. How does the architect measure her

building ? By what means does she manufacture ovals and

cupolas ? Has she any geometrical sense? Clearly she cannot

work haphazard; there must be some principle underlying her

actions. Only by some geometrical instinct could she raise a

geometrical cell.

I believe that she has geometrical appreciation. Here are the

reasons. I will show that she is able to measure distances, that

her masonry is based on arhythmical principle, that she clearly

appreciates the nature of a circle, that she can estimate height.

First with respect to the use of her antennze. ‘The human

architect employs a measuring-rule and plumb-line. The antennze

are the wasp’s corresponding instruments. It is they which ensure

the shape of the cell. Observe her at the preliminary inspection.

Her antennz all the time test the site, now separating, now coming

together, surely surveying, perhaps measuring the ground. The

same is evident during construction. Everything is touched by

these sensitive threads. Their points sweep across the floor,

occasionally stretching from side to side until they reach the

opposite wall. They search out irregularities, faults in architecture,

follow each detail in the application of the pellet; clearly they are

important organs which secure geometrical exactitude in the work.

756 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Now for their ensployment as measuring instruments. Watch

the placing of the individual pellets. Each pellet is, so to speak, a

brick in the architecture, firmly built into the wall. Observe her

behaviour with respect to the first brick, the foundation-stone of the

cell. Often it is just a plain ridge of mud, but at times I see an

instructive modification. ‘The mason divides her first brick. She

cuts it into two more or less equal parts, placing the halves at

different points. Having done this, not casually but with much

care, she goes offfor a second load. Now, why has the mason acted

thus ? Why should the first brick have this special attention ? What

is the particular advantage gained? The explanation is not difficult.

By dividing her first peliet she delimits the ground, places landmarks

to define the area apportioned to that cell. Here, therefore, is a

geometrical operation. The first brick is cut into parts. One part

is fixed at opposite extremities of the area which will support the

cell. But how does she estimate the distance between the parts?

Clearly by means of her instruments of measurement, by the

divergence of her antennz to the widest possible degree. For

the threads open, diverge sufficiently for the tip of each to be applied

to a part. The antenne are geometrical organs. The mason

employs them as a pair of dividers with which to measure the

distance between her bricks and delimit the earliest foundations of

her cell.

So much for the first brick. Now for the rhythm in her work.

Facing us is a chamber undergoing construction. It will be

convenient for our purpose to divide it into parts. It will have an

upper margin, a lower margin, aright andaleft. The first brick

has been laid in place, one half on the right, the other half on the

left of the site. The second brick arrives. It is placed on the left.

The third brick goes to the right, the fourth to the left, the fifth to

the right, and thus a system of alternation in position is introduced

into the architecture of the wail. The upper and lower margins are

as yet untouched. All the work has been on the right and left.

But now she starts on the upper margin. The sixth brick is

introduced there ; then the seventh to the left and the eighth to the

right. Then she turns to the lower margin. Again we observe the

alternate sequence, first a brick to the left than the next to the

right of the wall. And so on throughout the whole work. Of

course the pellets are spread out and overlap. Some may be

small, others large, nevertheless the rhythm is distinct. As her

cell grows narrower, the bricks make longer segments. The

twelfth, in the instance under observation, is applied to the whole of

the left half of the wall; the thirteenth is inserted into the whole of

the right half; the fourteenth is kneaded right round the circle; the

fifteenth is moulded into the rim.

An alternating system, a kind of pendulum behaviour; is not

this a geometrical act ?

Ido not suggest that the routine is unchangeable, that the

sequence just described is identical in every cell. Instinct is not so

inexorable. The routine will vary, but only in detail. The wasp has

not the bricks of a human mason, all cut to uniform size and shape.

Her pellets necessarily vary ; so will the architecture of her walls.

a a

THE MASON WASP (EHUMENES CONICA) 757

But the principle, the alternating behaviour, does not change.

Rhythm is an essential feature in her work.

Another point before we leave the bricks. The wasp shows

engineering skill. A builder, when raising a brick wall, works on a

definite plan. He does not place his bricks just anyhow. Each

brick is fixed so that its centre rests on the junction of two bricks

beneath. This results in an overlapping, a necessary feature in a

rigid wall. The insect-mason is equally efficient. She has adopted

the builder’s plan. Her pellets are not piled just one above the

other; on the contrary they overlap and are dovetailed together.

She has introduced the same fundamental principle into the

architecture of her cell.

Now for another geometrical act. I have said that the wasp

can appreciate a circle What is the proof of this ?

Remember the shape of the cell aperture. It is a circle,

remarkably perfect. It might have been made by a drill. How

does the architect effect this? Again we find that the antenne

are responsible. Watch her when engaged at moulding the rim.

Her antenne are thrust into the gate. They gently separate until

they touch the edge on opposite sides. Then the wasp rotates a

little, her antenne go with her, and, having separated a second

time, measure another diameter of the hole. She continues to

rotate, the antennze to measure. At the same time she moulds

the viscid edge in accordance with the information which the

antennz supply.

An experiment will prove the point. A cell is almost built.

The gate is in position. The wasp at her next visit will mould

around itarim. While she is absent I alter its shape, converting

the circle into an ellipse. The mason, on her return, appreciates

the alteration. An elliptical aperture wili not suit her purpose; it

must be of a circular shape. Her antenne teil her that it is out

of order. In one diameter they separate widely, in another

diameter the divergence is less. Consequently the mason is

dissatisfied. What does she do? She has brought with her the

usual pellet, the one intended for the rim. Now she employs it

in a different manner. She divides it, introduces one piece into one

end of the ellipse, the other piece into the opposite end. Then a

repetition of measurements follows, also a tcuching-up all round

the edge, with the result that the ellipse disappears and the circular

shape is restored.

Thus is the mason a geometrician. Her antenne are sensitive

callipers. By their use she can measure distances and shape a

circle from an ellipse.

One more geometrical point. The Azmenes must have some

special means by which to estimate height. How does she deter-

mine the point when her dome is sufficiently raised ? |

As before the manner is geometrical. Again the antennz

are employed. We have already watched her building and

observed how she thrust her antennz into the interior and swept

them across the floor. When the wall is still low the antennz

touch the floor the moment they are pushed into the cell. Also

they bend while being swept across. As the wall rises higher the

798: JOURNAL; BOMBAY NATURAL TISTHSOGETY Vol, eee

antennze bend less owing to the increase in distance between the

top of the wali and the floor. When the wali has reached full

height only the extreme antennary tips are able to touch the floor.

‘he mason then knows that the height is correct. Her antennze

have become a pair of plumb-lines with which she sounds the

depth of her cell. Surely a simple and instructive mechanism. It

implies of course that the length of her antennez must equal the

cell depth. Such is the case. They both measure three-eighths

of ‘an inch.

Thus it is clear that geometrical principles underlie the archi-

tecture of this ovai cell. What wonderful implements are these

antenne, mapping foundations, measuring diameters, shaping

circies, estimating heights.

Architectural Foresight

Can a wasp, when commencing to build, foresee her finished

work? Or can she take thought for but a single cell? It is an

interesting psychological point.

Eumenes dimitdiatipennits will enlighten us on this particular.

Her nest is like that of the cone-shaped mason, the chambers being

similar in size and shape. But &. dimzdiatipennis arranges them

differently. She prefers to place them in a long line, the cone-

shaped mason in an irregular heap.

One morning, while searching an empty house, I came on an

example of this mason’s work. ‘Two of the cells had been com-

pleted; the wasp was about to commence the third. But here

is the point of particular interest. In addition to the two completed

chambers the wasp had mapped out the scheme of architecture for

all the subsequent cells. She had built ridges of mud, fixing them

to the wall in such situations that each would form part of a cell.

They were elongated flakes, vertical on one side, shelving on the

other, in fact a series of foundation-stones arranged ina long line.

‘Their purpose was obvious. They were the mason’s landmarks on

which the whole architecture was based. Each ridge was the

foundation-stone of a constituent cell. The wasp at the very

commencement of her labour had prearranged for the whole work.

This would seem to imply some mentality. Her instinct is not

limited to a singie chamber. She can see in advance the plan of

architecture, can calculate the respective position of compartments,

can form an idea of the finished work.

Egeg-laying Lnstinct

I come now to the egg-laying instinct. There is one point on

which the wasp is very particular. She will fix her egg in one

place only, at the very top of the inside of the celi. From this she

never makes the slightest deviation. The importance is one of

security. The egg, when fixed to the extreme summit, is safe

from the squirming of the caterpillars beneath.

An opportunity offers for an experiment, a psychological test. I

cut away the top of a cell before the egg is layed. The breach

is alarge one. It has involved the exact portion of the roof to

THE MASON WASP (EUMENES CONICA) 759

which the mason will attach her egg. Let us watch her behaviour

when the time comes for her to lay.

In goes her abdomen after the usual manner, then up towards

the roof. I can see all her movements through the artificial hole.

She feels for the surface against which to lay. This surface is

gone, so out comes her abdomen. She becomes agitated, inspects

the breach. There is something very amiss. Again her abdomen

enters and she makes a second attempt to lay. Another failure:

her annoyance becomes more acute. She goes back to the breach,

looks into it, then returns to the gate. By this time she is wildly

impatient, cleariy being forced into immediate action by the

bursting pressure of the egg within her womb.

But instinct prevents her seeking relief. There is plenty of

space within her chamber. She might fix her egg anywhere, to

the sides, to the floor. But she will not do this. To the roof

only will she trust her egg. What can she do when the roof

is gone? Back again she goes to make still another effort, for

the force of reproduction can no longer be restrained. In the

open breach she begins to lay. It 1s not amere effortless emission.

She has to exert a repeated strain in order to eject this product of

her womb. There is a convulsive impulse, strain follows upon

strain, until the egg is expelled. But what of its attachment ?

None is made. The egg is layed in the air and tumbles down to

the bottom of the cell. Instinct, or rather the inflexibility of

instinct, has brought complete failure to the wasp. Under new

conditions, outside her experience, she will not deviate a fraction

of an inch in order to anchor her egg.

Development

Our last point concerns development.

The egg is pale yellow, an elongated oval, in length one-eighth

of an inch. Suspended from the roof by a slender filament, it

dangles into the cell.

During the first few days it expands slightly, lengthening to a

curved ellipse. There is a definite change at the end of the second

day. A Jarva pushes its head through the capsule in order to

reach the provisions below. The first caterpillar is attacked.

With this the larva’s colour changes, the pigment from the food

making it dark green. It still remains attached to the suspensory

thread.

The rich juice of living caterpillars results in rapid growth. By

the fourth day itis a vigorous larva, with body rings clearly defined

and internal organs visible through the skin. Moreover it has

broken from the suspensory thread and moves about in the midst of

its food. What insatiable voracity develops! Its jaws are incessant-

ly chewing at the caterpillars. So gorged are its entrails with

yellow juice that we can see them swelling and pulsating through

the skin. Although scarcely half an inch in length, it has devoured

most of the supplies.

/ By the seventh day it is full grown, a fat fleshy grub, swollen in

the centre, tapering at the ends, about four-fifths of an inch Jong.

760 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXi

The skin has lost its delicate transparency, the green colour has

disappeared. It is now uniform yellow and opaque. All desire for

food has gone. Activity also has declined. This forbodes the

pupal state, the long motionless sleep. All provisions are

consumed. Only its ejections and some indigestible material

remain imprisoned with it in the cell.

On this day occurs an important event. The larva fashions a

cocoon. The vestment is of silk, thin, translucent, of firm texture,

somewhat rigid in substance, tightly spread and closely applied to

the wall. Secure within this protective sac the larva falls into a

trance. It lies motionless, slightly bent, resting loosely in the

silken garment awaiting the subsequent change.

By the tenth day there are further developments. A bright

yellow colour has come over the larva. Body rings have deepened

into clefts. A constriction now encircles it that looks like a broad

waist.

Specially important is the eleventh day. A transformation occurs

with such remarkable suddenness that we are astonished at the

wondrous change. The structureless segmented maggot vanishes.

A perfectly formed, though helpless, wasp replaces it within the

silken sheath. This commences the pupal stage. Larval life has

ended. Before us is a delicate model of what is obviously a young

wasp.

Still the state of trance envelops it. None of its organs show a

sign of motion, yet all essential parts are visible, most of them

elaborately formed. Its head is flexed, the eyes are distinct

on either side, the antenne are neatly turned in beneath, even

the fine appendages about the mouth are now clearly defined.

Its abdomen is bent, its stunted wings are against its sides, its

legs are curled in towards the middle line. The attitude is

one of bodily flexion. Trunk and organs are neatly folded so

as to occupy the smallest space. ‘Thus it passes through the pupal

sleep.

Next day we observe a faint change in colour. Hitherto a vivid

yellow, now a trace of dark pigment appears. The eyes have

changed into brown spots. Some black develops in the wing

stumps. Pigmentation increases as the days advance. The eyes

pass through varying hues of brown until in five days they are

absolutely black.

~The pigment deepens. Another day brings out a thick black line

across the head, a dark transverse stripe near the base of the

abdomen, a trident of three diverging lines along the middle of the

back. The wasp is losing the brilliancy of youth and developing

its adult dress.

In another day it is tawny red. A black line has appeared upon

the pedicle. The yellow which decorates the adult head is now

quite distinct. Moreover the wasp shows some sign of sensibility.

It is feeling the first thrill of vigour. The hour of awakening is at

hand.

By the twenty-first day the change of colour seems complete.

All the attributes of the perfect wasp are present except that the

wings are still mere stumps. The sleep continues, but less intense,

THE MASON WASP (EUMENES CONICA) 761

The slumberer, lying curled, now responds to a touch. It bends

itself, extends its legs, obviously about to awake.

The event takes piace on the twenty-second day. Sensibility

increases. New strength develops. The sheaths, which up till

now had clothed the wings, are cast completely off. Those fragile

organs are withdrawn, then spread out to dry. The metamorphosis

is over. Development is complete. Foraday the wasp remains in

its prison. Its limbs and integument are still tender: its trans-

parent wings are not yet prepared to meet the vicissitudes of flight.

After a day these joints and membranes harden. ‘Then its jaws

attack the masonry. It eats throughthe mortar that blocks the gate

and emerges into the open air.

(To be continued)

DRAGONFLIES

A REVISION OF THE GENUS ZYGONYX SELYS

MAjoR UBC. (ERASER) 1.M.S., cHis,

ah a Text Figure)

The genus Zygonyx was created by De Selys in the year 1866, but being too

fully occupied at the time with his other work, Synopsis des ’ Agrionines, he

passed on the characters to his friend and collaborator Dr. Hagen. (Cazseries

Odonatologigues, No. 4.)

Dr. Hagen in the following year published a definition of the genus for the

first time (Hagen, Zool. Bot. Wien,, 17, p. 62, 1867). Selys had mentioned the

names of two species to Hagen but apparently without descriptions, as the

latter merely quotes their names—zda and zrzs, in his paper. Thus the genus at

tne date of Hagen’s paper was without genotype, as bothzda and iris were

nomen nudum.

In the following year Brauer republished the Hagenian description, giving

iris as genotype, but again without descriptions (/6zd., 18, pp. 370, 742 (1868].)

Up to the year 1871, Zygonyx was mistaken for a Cord uline genus, firstly be-

cause of the similarity of the claws to Wacromia and secondly on account of

their Corduline, metallic colouring. Selys corrected this errorin his Synopsis

des Cordulines (p. 81, Sep., 1871), by pointing out that the hindwings were

rounded at the base in both sexes, that the tibia were without keels, and the

venation was of a Libelluline type.

Considerable doubt exists as to whether zda or zrvzs is the correct genotype.

Brauer in 1868 had mentioned zvzs as such, but as has already been pointed

out, the name wasa nomen nudum. Selys in 1868-1869 (Aun. Soc. Ent.

Belg. xii, p. 96) gave ida astype, noting at the same time that Brauer had

chosen zvzs. In the year 1891, Selys published the descriptions of both species

for the first time (Cawseries Odonatologigues, No.4) mentioning no genotype,

but giving preference of description to 277s, so that it would appear that he had

finally accepted Brauer’s ruling. Kirby (Cat. Odon, p. 184/1890]) gave urs

as type, and I think that we may accept it as such. "Ida and iris however be-

long to two different groups, so that, if in the future, they should be placed in

different genera, this matter of the correct genotype will assume more impor-

tance.

In the last revision of the genus, Dr. Ris lists only three species, suppressing

ceylanica Kirby, aenea, Kirby and insignis, Kirby as allsynonyms of zvis. To

these three species, I have to add a fourth—davina, a beautiful species from

Sikkim, and as will be seen in the sequel, with much more material at my

command, I have tosplit up zvzs_ into a number of well-defined geographical

races, or as I prefer to treat them, subspecies.

My species Z. zszs from Coorg, S. India, turns out to be a Pseudomacromtia.

Dr. Ris with his usual acumen notes that my description tallies closely with

that of P. forrida, and after having re-examined 7szs, I have to confess that very

little separates the two species. Pseudomacromia up to now has been considered

apurely African genus, but /ervida has been taken in Palestine apart from its

African distribution. Dr. Ris states that the separation of Zygonyx and Pseu-

domacronia is an artificialone and dictated by geographical reasons. With the

discovery of zstsin a Zygonyx locality these reasons now break down and

Pseudomacromia becomes imerged in Zygonyx, the latter automatically be-

coming one of the largest genera in the subfamily Lzbelluline. It is to be

noted that 7s2s and z77s compare more closely with each other than they do

with zda, a fact which links the two genera more closely.

Species of the genus not only resemble the Corduliine in their facies but

also in habits, which are remarkably like those of Wacromia. They are sub-

montane in distribution and are usually to be found patrolling a short beat on

mountain streams. /szs agrees with zrzs in this habit, but unlike the latter,

frequently indulges in long spells of hovering flight over the brinks of rapids.

Both species, after emerging, are gregarious, and soaring to great heights, may

a REVISION OF. THE.GENUS ZYGONYVX SELYS. - 763

be seen in vast numbers, both sexes mingling without indulging in sexual

intercourse, and often in company with Wacromia and Azuma.

They deposit their eggs in the deeper pools occurring in the course of their

parent streams, and not even the terrific scouring of the monsoon waters

dislodges the larvz, from their original birth-places. I have seen exuvia

clinging to rocks beneath high waterfalls, where a week before, it seemed

inconceivable that any living organism could survive the rush and weight of

water. This is explained by the shape of the larve, the ventral surface being

very flat and broad, the dorsum sharply keeled and stream-lined, and rising

steeply like the ridge of atent. Apparently by applying the flattened ventrum

to rocks, and possibly contracting the ventral plates, they exert a vacuum,

limpet-like suction, which holds them firmly anchored.

They mate over streams, males patrolling ceaselessly, each to its own short

beat, awaiting the advent of females. Linking up tandem-fashion, they then

set off up-stream, looking and prying into every likely spot wherein to deposit

the eggs. This found, the male releases the female, which then proceeds to

deposit its ova in bunches on the surface of the stream. Meanwhile the male

stands guard over its mate, furiously attacking and driving off any intruders

irrespective of size or species.

SYSTEMATIC

Zygonyx iris, Selys.

The Selysian type comes from Panibas, Bengal, a locality which I have been

unable to trace on any of the maps which I have consulted. Selys received it

from Mr. Atkinson, and it is to be noted that all other specimens of Odonata

sent by that collector, came from Shillong and Cherrapunji, Assam. Lately

Mr. Marton of Edinburgh has received some specimens of zvzs from Shillong,

so that it may well be that a mistake was made in the case of the locality of

the type.

Dr. Ris discussing this species (Cat. Coll. Selys, Libellulines, xiv, pp. 815-823

[1912]) comes to the conclusion that on the evidence afforded by the venation

of the wings, and the structure of anal appendages, leg armature and genitalia,

he is unable to split it up into forms of any greater rank than varieties. I

think however that if a variety of a species is found to be restricted to a parti-

cular locality, occurring in great numbers, and to be the sole representative of

the species in that district, it may justly claim specific or subspecific rank. It

is on this evidence that I venture to split up zvzs into seven subspecies. The

form from Borneo is insufficiently described to form any opinion on, but will

probably be found to form an eighth subspecies (Laid, Sar. Mus. Journ., ix.

—A Note on Some Bornean Odonata, with Description of a new species.)

The three subspecies from Ceylon, South India and Tonkin respectively, are

all conspicuous from their large size. The Ceylon, Upper Burma and Tonkin

forms are distinguished by the total absence of the conspicuous sexual distinc-

tion mark on the dorsum of segment 7. I have been able to examine a large

number of specimens of the Ceylon form cey/anica, Kirby, which is the sole

representative of zvzs in Ceylon. All agree in their great size, extreme melanism,

and unmarked abdomen. I have seen and collected great numbers, probably

running into hundreds, of the form salabarica from South India, which is again

the sole representative of zvzs in that district, and find that the markingsin al},

never vary in shape or extent and that in all, there is a conspicrous abdominai

marking on segment 7. Here then we have an insular and a continental form

separated by a narrow strip of sea, each with its own well-marked characters.

never varying and never intermingling. Turning our attention to the north of

India, we find an exact parallel in the case of zrzs from Bengal, and isa and

mildredae from Upper Burma, where the former has conspicnous abdominal

markings, the two latter with unmarked abdomen. All three forms are smaller

than the two southern. I need not labour the point further.

Zygony iris iris, Selys.

Male. Abdomen, 36mm. Hindwing 43 mm.

Head. Labium bright citron yellow, the midiobe black, as also the borders

of the lateral narrowly ; labrum blackish brown, anteclypeus yellowish brown,

postclypeus yellow, frons and vesicle bronzed or metallic blue ; occiput yellow,

Prothorax, brown. é

764 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX7T

Thorax dark metallic green marked with bright citron yellow as follows :—

The middorsal carina narrowly, a moderately broad itumeral stripe, a very

broad midlateral stripe and the hinder half or more of the metepimeron.

Wings hyaline but enfumed throughout, especially at the apices, which are

9-175|165-9 .

12-11/12-11 ’

traversed, occasionally twice, inner costal angle of that of forewing about a

right angle; subtrigones in forewings 3-celled, 1 or 2 cubital nervures in fore-

wings ; only a single row of cells between As and fspl.

Abdomen black marked with yellow as follows :—Segment 1 very broadly on

the sides, this area bearing a medial cuneiform spot of black, segment 2 with

the middorsal carina rather broadly yellow, and the sides, on the lower part of

which is a largish irregular spot of black, segment 3 similar to 2, but no lateral

black spot, the yellow here tapering away apicad, segments 4 to 7 with the

iniddorsal carina finely yellow, broadening on 7 to form an elongate spot which

is narrow at the extreme base, broadens rapidly and then tapers to a fine point

as far as the apica! border of segment ; segment 8 with a minute spot situated

laterally and near the base, remainder of abdomen unmarked.

Anal appendages black, inferior triangular, considerably shorter than the

superiors, curled slightly up at the apex ; superiors cylindrical, a little dilated

subapically and then tapering to a fine point, a large robust ventral spine

situated close to apex, no ventral spines at base.

Genitalia marked broadly with black and yellow stripes. Lamina projecting

prominently and perpendicularly to the long axis of abdomen, tapering to a

blunt point ; hamules with short stout curled black hooks directed back and

converging on each other, base tumid ; lobe very narrow, subacute, prolonged.

Legs black, anterior femora yellow within ; hind femora armed with a row

of closely-set, minute but robust spines, with 3 to 4 longer ones at the distal

end of limb; claw-hooks as long as apex of claw, so that the latter appear as

if bifid.

Distribution. Confined to North Bengal and Assam, in submontane areas.

Type in the Selysian collection from Bengal. Several males from Shillong,

Assam, August 2, 1925, in Mr. Morton’s collection, one of which he has been kind

enough to giveme. Z. iris resembles malabarica by possessing a conspicuous

identification mark on segment 7, but in zvzs the marking is smaller and

differently shaped ; on the contrary other markings are more extensive than in

malabarica.

Female unknown.

stippled with brown; pterostigma black; nodal index trigones

Zygonyx iris malabarica, sub-sp. nov.

Male. Abdomen, 41mm. MHindwing, 46 mm.

Head. Labium bright gamboge yellow, the midlobe and borders of latera

lobes narrowly black; labrum glossy black; anteclypeus citron yellow,

postclypeus glossy black at the centre and along lower margins, bright citron

yellow laterally, this colour extending upwards along both sides of frons and

meeting as a narrow line along its lower border. Frons and vesicle dark

metallic violet ; occiput black.

Prothorax blackish brown.

Thorax dark metallic bluish green (prussian blue) marked with yellow as

follows :—A moderately broad humeral stripe bright citron yellow in its lowest

part, where it forms a conspicuous rounded spot, clouded and almost obscured

with dark brown above ; laterally a narrow irregular bright citron yellow stripe

situated medially, and rather less than the hinder half of the metepimeron the

same colour. Tergum spotted broadly with yellow.

Legs black, anterior femora bright citron yellow within, hind femora armed

with a row of very closely-set, small, robust spines.

Wings hyaline, uncoloured, longer and narrower than in the genotype.

Pterostigma black, equal in all wings, over 2-23 cells ; 3 rows of discoidal cells

in forewings; trigones all traversed once, inner costal angle of trigone in

forewing obtuse ; a single row of cells between As and &sf/, with occasional

8-152/153-9 |

9-10 |11--9 °

in the hind ; membrane brown,

double cells ; nodal index 2 cubital nervures in forewing, only ]

a REVISIONVOL DHE GHENOSIZY GON VX SELLY S 765

Abdomen black marked with citron yellow as follows :—Segment 1 pale

brown changing to black on dorsum, 2 with a broad lateral stripe almost con-

nected across the dorsum bya fine line at the jugali suture, a narrow basal

triangular spot on dorsum, segment 3 with the dorsal carina finely yellow,

broadening slightly at base, a broad lateral stripe tapering apicad and continu-

ous wilh that on the second segment, segment 4 with a baso-lateral spot con-

fluent with a fine basal ring, which latter is confluent with a fine line on the

dorsal carina, this gradually lost as traced apicad ; segments 5 and 6 with fine

basal rings, that on 5 confluent with a fine line on the basal half of the dorsal

carina, 6 has alsoa small middorsal isolated spot, segment 7 with a broad

conspicuous dorsal marking on its basal two-thirds, abruptly and squarely

constricted at its extreme base and broadening slightly towards the apex of

segment. At the base of segment a fine annule confluent with a narrow

ventrolateral obscure stripe which extends for half the segment. Segments 8

to 10 unmarked.

Anal appendages black, inferior hardly shorter than the superiors, triangular,

curling slightly up at apex ; superiors longer than in zrzs iris, the ventral spine

more obtuse, smaller and situated further from the apex of appendage, finally

3 to 4 spines on under surface of base of appendages.

Genitalia. Lamina projecting perpendicularly to plane of abdomen, taper-

ing to a blunt point, very prominent in profile; hamules stout and broad at

base, hooks short, directed back and in, striped with yellow, hooks glossy

black ; lobe long and narrow, rounded at apex and coated with long golden

hairs.

Female. Abdomen 40mm. Hindwing 47 mm.

Very similar to the male, but larger and more robust, its markings similar

but the humeral stripe citron yellow throughout ; segment 2 with the middorsal

carina conspicuously but narrowly yellow and forming a cross with the fine

yellow line bordering on the jugal suture. Segment 6 without the middorsa!

spot.

: , : 9-143)153-8

1 : os Eafe eer

Wings hyaline ; nodal index Tic 10/11-10 °

fspl especially in the hindwings ; 2 to 3 cubital nervures in forewing, 1 in the

hind.

Anal appendages small, conical, pointed, black. Vulvar scale inconspicuous

(hidder from viewin practically all specimens examined, by a mass of extruded

egos).

Distribution. Restricted to Southern India. Western Ghats below Bombay,

Palni and Shevaroy Hills and lower hills bordering the Madras District near

Chingleput. Extremely common in Coorg where a hundred or more may be

seen at one time flying together in the air, often 300 to 400 ft. above river level.

Differs from other species except ceyvlanica, by its large size and robust build,

and by its restricted thoracic markings. It differs from all species except zr7s

iyis, by the large dorsal marking on segment 7, this marking broadening

apicad in malabarica, tapering apicad inzrzs. Other smaller details in addi-

tion, also separate it from North Indian species. These differences are easily

appreciated when the species is confronted with others.

Larva strikingly like that of an /ctinus, ashy grey to black in colour, the legs

banded with black.

Head rather broad, eyes hemispherical, projecting markedly. Wing cases

divergent, broad, extending analward asfar as the level of the apex of

segment 5.

Mask short and broad, of the usual Libelluline shape, extending back as

far as the level of the first pair of legs. No teeth or dentations along the

contiguous borders of the lateral lobes or opposing border of the midlobe,

these borders fringed with very closely-set, short stiff bristles. Moveable hook

short. Six to seven sete along outer border of lateral lobes, a row of 7 to 8

setze on body of lobe near joints of lateral lobes and two converging rows of

10 to 12 in each row, near centre of body of mask. Midlobe produced in a

slightly blunt triangle at the middle.

Abdomen very broad and high, triangular in section, the sides sloping

steeply upward to a prominent dorsal keel, which bears a series of long robust

backwardly directed spines, one on each segment, rather long and angulate

near the thorax, obtuse, more robust, and less angulated back near the

anal segments. The last two segments with a long fine spine on each

2 rows of cells between As and

166 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL FIST. SOCIETY, Volo XXXT

side, that on the last being twice the length of that on the penultimate

segment.

Legs long and spidery, hind femora extending back to apex of segment 6,

almost naked.

These larvee equal in size that of /ctinus apax, and being very similar

in general appearance, are apt to be mistaken for it.

Zygonyx iris enea. (Kirby.)

( == Aened'-and ‘7sign7s.: Kirby.)

I have re-examined Kirby’s types in the British Museum. There are two

males of zwsignis and a single pair of @nea, all males agreeing in thoracic

and head markings, all without abdomen marked, and all of large size similar

to the Ceylon and South India forms. The two forms, one from Hainan, and

the other from Tonkin, are obviously of the same subspecies. The males are

without the yellow humeral stripe, although faintly indicated by a brownish

mark below. All four specimens are distinguished by having the apices of

wings enfumed with brown as far as the outer end of pterostigma, and also by

a dark brown basal marking to the hindwings, about 1 to 2 rows of cells deep,

and extending half-way to the tornus.

The female, which may or may not belong to these males, has the abdomen

marked somewhat as in davina, but in addition has on segment 7 a long

narrow oval yellow spot extending from base to apex. The dorsal carina is

finely yellow as far as segment 7. Whilst the males have the thoracic markings

obscured more than in ceylanica, the female has them as broad and distinct

as in davina.

Zygonyx iris ceylanica, Kirby

Male. Abdomen, 37mm. Hindwing, 50 mm.

Female. Abdomen, 45mm. Hindwing, 53-55 mm.

This species described by Kirby in 1905 (dun. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) v,

p. 533) is given as synonymous with zvzs by Dr. Ris in Cat. Coll. Selys,

Libellulines, 1911, it is however quite distinct and much more nearly related

to malabarica than to zrzs. Its size is even larger and its markings even

more restricted than in malabarica from which it has in all probability been

derived. I note the following differences :—Size distinctly larger on an

average, black bordering of lateral lobes very broad, only the basal part of

these lobes yellow, anteclypeus and postclypeus and portion of frons above it

entirely black, the extreme sides only of the postclypeus yellow, humeral

stripe absent, only a small rounded yellow spot below, lateral stripes of thorax

almost obscured by dark brown, only the hinder margin of metepimeron

narrowly yellow. Anterior femora black within. Inner costal angle of

trigone of forewing more cbtuse than in any other species. Abdominal

markings absent except for an obscure lateral stripe on segments 2 and 3.

Anal appendages as for malabarica but the ventral spines more numerous and

2 or 3 small spines found on the apical ventral spine.

Distribution. Restricted to Ceylon, to submontane areas. Several males

collected by Col. F. Wall, 13, ix. 24, Kandy, Ceylon. One pair froin Haragama,

Ceylon, 15, vii. 10. Laidlaw gives the dimensions of the female, this sex

otherwise has not been described, but probably closely resembles the mate.

Type in the B.M.

Zygonyx iris mildred#, sub-sp. nov.

Male.. Abdomen, 36 mm. Hindwing, 41 mm.

Head. Labium bright citron yellow, the midlobe and borders of lateral

lobes very finely black; labrum glossy black; epistome and_ face bright

greenish yellow, clouded centrally with brown, especially along the lower

border: of the postclypeus ; frons and vesicle dark metallic violet ; occiput

blackish brown ; eyes dark reddish brown. Prothorax brown.

Thorax dark metallic green marked with bright citron yellow, the middorsal

carina finely, a narrow humeral stripe which is clouded with brown above, a

broad lateral medial stripe and the hinder half of the metepimeron,

HW UREVAISION, OF THE GENUS ZYGONYX SELES 767

Wings hyaline ; pter ostigm a black, that of hindwing distinctly snialier than

: 9-164'163-9 : ; f :

es 2 oid: ells all wines ;

the fore ; nodal index iL “10 11- 10° rows of discoida! cells in all wings ;

trigones traversed once, inner costal angle of trigone of forewing obtuse;

2 cubital nervures in forewings.

Legs black, anterior pair of femora brownish. Hind femora armed with a

row of very small, very closely-set spines and 4 or 5 longer distal ones.

Abdomen black, atrace of yellow on the middorsal carina of segments 1

and 2;,and' the carina very finely yellow on segments 5 to 7. Laterally the

sides of segments 1 and 2 yellow along the ventral border.

Anal appendages and genitalia shaped very similar to those of 4%. zris.

Female. Abdomen 40mm. MHindwing, 46 mm.

Very similar to the male but the markings more extensive, and the body more

robust, the abdomen stouter.

Epistome and face uniform bright citron yellow ; frons dark metallic green,

vesicle dark metallic blue.

Thorax similar to the male but the yellow brighter, the humeral stripe better

defined.

Abdomen black marked more extensively than in the male. The dorsal

carina rather broadly yellow on segments 1 and 2, finely so thereafter as far as

the apical border of segment 7. The sides of segments 1 to 3 rather broadly

yellow, tapering away on the sides of 3.

Anal appendages short black conical. Vulvar scale scoop-shaped, with

straight hinder border, not prominent in profile.

Wings hyaline but palely washed with yellow from the level of trigones to

10-163|163-10

11-10 {10-10 ° |

Distribution. Maymyo, N. Shan States, Upper Burma. Five males and a

single female collected by Col. F. Wall, after whose wife this fine new species

isnamed. It is distinguished from Z. zsa by the 3 rows of discoidal cells in the

forewings (only 2 rows in zsa), as well as by the facial and abdominal

markings. The two last features also serve to separate it from Z. zvzs and

ceylanica, whilst venational characters easily distinguish it from 7%. zda and

tlia. The absence of basal wing markings separate the femaie from Z. davina

which it rather closely resembles in other respects. The clear apices of all

wings distinguish it from @uea from Tonkin.

the apices ; all trigones traversed once ; nodal index

Zygonyxi iris isa, sub-sp. nov.

Male. Abdomen 37 mm. Hindwing 44 mm.

Head. Labium dark brown with a very large citron yellow spot on each

lateral lobe ; labrum and epistome glossy black, a broad lateral] yellow fascia

on each side of face extending downwards from front, the latter and vesicle a

beautiful metallic violet; occiput brown; eyes dark reddish brown.

Prothorax brown.

Thorax metallic green on dorsum as far out as the humeral suture, which

latter ies in a stripe of dull brown. Laterally two broad bands of green

metallic separated by an equally broad belt of dull brown. Hinder border of

metepimeron dull pale brown.

Legs black, the anterior pair of femora reddish brown, armed with 3 long

spines at their distal ends.

Wings hyaline ; pterostigma black, 3°5 mm. long in the forewing, 3°0 mm.

in the hind; membrane dark brown, the wing enfumed on its outer border ; 2

cubital nervures in forewing, 1 in the hind ; trigone of forewings traversed

once, narrow, the costal side slightly longer than half the inner side; trigone

of hindwings traversed once; 2 rows of cells between As and Rspl ; nodal

index 9-143|143-8

79210 |9=9

Abdomen black with daik green metallic reflex, the sides of segments 1 and

2 yellow, the dorsal carina and the base of segment.2 finely yellow. The rest of

abdomen black, unmarked.

Anal appendages black, similar to. those .of Z . iris. Some minute spines

beneath the superiors near the base and again hear apex

_ Genitalia not differing markedly from Z. iris.

; only 2 vows of atscoidal cells in fo rewings.

768 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXt

Distribution. Maymyo, N. Shan States, Upper Burma, collected by Col.

F,. Wall, 1.M.s., June 19, 1924. The species closely resembles ceylanica in its

absence of markings, but is distinguished from it by the broader markings on

labium and thorax, and bythe slightly broader and less inclined trigones of

forewings, by its smaller size and more especially by the discoidal field of fore-

wings formed of only 2 rows of cells instead of 3 (three rows in all other

sub-species).

Larva of Zygonyx iris malabarica, Fras.

Zygonyx iris davina, sp. nov.

Female. Abdomen, 44 mm. Hindwing, 50 mm.

Head. Labium bright gamboge yellow, the midlobe and borders of lateral

lobes narrowly black, labrum glossy black ; anteclypeus pale brown, post-

clypeus citron yellow, this colour extending up along sides of frons, the medial

part glossy black ; frons and vesicle metallic green ; occiput black.

Prothorax matt black, posterior lobe small.

Thorax dark metallic green marked with citron yellow as follows :—The mid-

dorsal carina narrowly, its upper part extending out as a narrow bar; narrow

humeral stripes slightly constricted above, and limited behind by the humeral

suture, a broad lateral stripe extending between the two sutures, finally the

hinder half of the metepimeron.

Legs black, anterior femora bright yellow within, armature of hind femora

as for genus.

Wings hyaline, the apices enftimed brown in the forewing as far as a little

proximal of middle of pterostigma, inthe hindas far as distal end of ptero-

stigma, pterostigma black, sub-sequal in fore and hind-wings, over about 2

cells. Bases of ali wings marked broadly with brilliant golden amber, in fore-

wings as far as level of arc in the sub costal space, a little more distal behind

A REVISION OF THE GENUS ZYGONYX SELYS 769

Cuitz, and deepening in colour proximad ; in the hindwing as far as a little

beyond the level of outer end of trigone in subcostal space, to cuter end of tri-

gone at level of that structure, and from thence in a curve towards the tornus.

Discoidal field begins with 3 rows of cells for a distance of 5 cells and is then

continued forafew cells as 2 rows ; trigone with inner costal angle about a

right angle in the forewing, traversed once in all wings; subtrigones 3 to 4

11-173| 163-12

15-12 |15-14 ©

Abdomen black marked broadly with yellow as follows :—Segment 1 later-

ally, 2 almost entirely yellow, a narrow black subdorsal stripe broken broadly

at the jugal suture and confluent with a narrow apical black ring, three similar

to two but the black a little more extensive and coalescing over the dorsum at

the apex of seyment, four and five with the dorsal carina finely yellow, segment

4 has also a narrow stripe along the ventral border and a minute basal

lateral spot. Rest of abdomen black.

Anal appendages black, small, conical. Vulvar scale inconspicuous, hin-

der border straight, not prolonged. (A cluster of eggs is found on this

specimen, the individual eggs being ovalin shape and pale yellow.)

Distribution. Pashok, Darjeeling District. A single female of this magni:

ficent insect, collected by Mr. Chas M. Inglis at an altitude of 3,500 ft. May 24,

1925. It is distinguished at once from all other species by the broad

coloured fascia at the bases of all wings, a marking which in colour and extent

recalls that of Anofogaster basalis from the same district. Male unknown.

It is to be hoped that more specimens and the male of this fine insect will fall

to the net of Mr. Inglis.

celled ; 2 cubital cells in forewings, 1 in the hind ; nodal index

Zygonyx illa, Ris.

This species, like the following, belongs to an entirely different group and is

distinguished by having the costal and proximal sides of the trigone in fore-

wings nearly equal in length, and by the'trigones of both wings entire. There is

moreover only a single cubital nervure in the forewings (2 in all other species).

Zygonyx ida, Selys.

A small species from Java is distinguished by having only two rows of dis«

coidal cells in the forewings, the trigones of forewings free (at least in the

male, variably free or traversed in the female). The trigone of forewings is

also much wider and shorter than in zvzs. The female has the apices of

forewings pale reddish brown and the bases broadly golden yeliow as far out

as the middle of trigone, though not as deeply coloured asin davina. The

body colouring, in both sexes, is coppery, marked broadly with yellow.

Zygonyx torrida isis, Fras.

As already stated above, this Coorg form cannot be considered more than a

subspecies of forrida, the only species of Pseudomacromia with which 1 am at

all acquainted

NOTES ON FISHES FROM BOMBAY

HENRY W. FOWLER

Of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia

The fishes noted below were submitted to me by the Bombay Natural History

Society in 1925, Thougl none are new to science several are of special taxonomic

interest. Descriptive notes are also given of others with the idea of recording

variation. The sequence of characters, formulas, etc., is the same. as given in

my late paper in South African Fishes. The explanation in the introductory

remarks of that paper will likewise apply here. The collection will be

returned to the Bombay Society and with their permission a set of duplicates

retained by the Academy.

EULAMIIDZ

Scoliodon acutus (Rtippell.)

Two examples, 265 and 270mm. They appear to agree withthe example I

described from Baram, British North Borneo.” They also agree with Day’s

figure. The back and upper surface nearly olive-gray and the lower surface

creamy.

RHINOBATIDE

Rhinobatus rhinobatus (Linné.)

Disk width 13 its length ; snout rather broad, as seen from above profiles

slightly concave and end rather broadly rounded, length about 2? in disk

length ; eye equals space between interorbital ridges ; mouth nearly straight -

internarial space ¢ of nostril length, which 1g in mouth width; spiracle nearly

large as eye, with two papillee on hind edge. Row of fine close-set tubercles,

about fifteen over each eye and two over spiracle; row of small close-set

tubercles from middle of back to first dorsal, continued less distinctly between

dorsals; two groups of small tubercles at each shoulder; scales very fine.

Dorsals small, sub-equal.

Nearly uniform ecru-drab to vinaceous or light cinnamon above, with

narrow lighter border all around disk and tail. Undersurface of body creamy,

soiled with drab or pale brown.

Two examples, 253 and 263 mm.

'TORPEDINIDZ

Torpedo sinus-perstict (Olfers.)

Disk sub-circular, length 1,4 its width; snout short, much greater than

interorbital, nearly straight across front profile as seen from above; eye less

than spiracle, ? in level of interorbital ; mouth small, width 13 to 13 to front

profile ; teeth small, in about twenty rows in each jaw; internasal 1 to 1} in

mouth width. Spiracle eye-diameter behind eye, with eight or nine fleshy

marginal tentacles behind. Skin smooth. Dorsals small, inner angles rounded;

origin of first before hind basal edge of ventral and base end well behind

ventral base; tail 23 in tota! length; with small low fold each side; hind

caudal edge convex.

Nearly fawn-colour above, with large-dusky to dusky-black blotches, not

sharply defined, close-set, more or less uniform and all nearly twice larger

* Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 77, 1925, pp. 187-268.

2 1 bid., 1905, p. 458.

NOTES ON FISHES FROM BOMBAY rie

than eyes or spiracles. None extend in dorsals or caudal or have faded ? from

caudal peduncle and also not very distinct on ventrals. Lower surface whitish,

with light brown around edges of disk.

Two examples, 140 and 143 mm. compared with Yorpedo panthera from

Natal + the entirely different colour-pattern seems to be distinctive. This agrees

with Garman’s? description, though the figure by Sauvage? shows the spots

much smaller and pale.

CLUPEIDZ=

Flulsa blochiz (Valenciennes. )

Depth 3; head 33, width 23. Snout 3£; eye 6, with broad adipose lids

14 in snout, 14 in interorbital ; maxillary reaches opposite hind eye edge,

with broad supplemental bone, length 24 in head, expansion 1% in eye; front

of upper jaw well notched ; interorbital 44 in head, convexly elevated ; cheek

deep, with fine vertical striz ; opercle finely, though obsoletely striate. Gill-

rakers about 32 -+ 70, very slender, fine, much longer than gill filaments or

equal snout.

Scales 42, of which last 4 in caudal base, 14 transversely, 15 predorsal ; each

with 6 to 9 transverse or vertical striz ; scutes 16-+ 12; suprascapular region

yenulose.. /.D, i, 14; 1, first branched. ray 12 in head ;.A. ma1,'17, 1, first

branched ray 4; caudal strongly forked, 34 in combined head and body ; least

depth of caudal peduncle 27 in head; pectoral 14, axillary scale 2§ in its

length ; ventral 23 in head.

Black light olive, with deep blue and silvery reflections. Each scale above

with dusky vertical streak terminally. Sides of head and body silver-white.

Adipose region of eye pale. Fins all pale, front edge of dorsal and edges of

upper caudal lobe grayish. Along upper side of back traces of 6 or 7 obscure

neutral or dusky blotches.

One example, 320 mm. agrees with Day’s figure of Clupea kanayurta.*

Weber and Beaufort give the gill-rakers as 88 in an example 210 mm.

Llisha indica (Swainson.)

Depth 23 ; head 37, width 2. Snout 33 from snout tip ; eye 3, with adipose-

lids, longer than snout or interorbital ; maxillary reaches opposite first third of

eye, with anterior ligament along front edge, 24} in head from snout tip ;_ inter-

orbital 6, but little elevated. Gill-rakers 12 + 24, lanceolate.

Scales 41, transversely 13, predorsal 16; each scaie with 10 transverse

vertical strie, though only last complete; scutes 18+ 9. D. 1m, 13?, first

branched ray 1 in total head length; A 1, 36,1, first branched ray 23; least

depth of caudal peduncle 23 ; pectoral 12; ventral 4}.

Back olivaceous, sides and below bright silvery-white. Fins pale, dorsal and

caudal dusted with grayish.

One example 250 mm.

SYNODONTIDZE

Saurida tumbil ( Bloch.)

Depth 53 ; head 33, width 2,,. Snout 5; eve 64, 14 in snout, 12 in inter-

orbital ; maxillary 1; in head; interorbital 43. Gill-rakers row of minute,

uniform, close-set, numerous points.

Scales 52-4 in lateral line, slight keel along side of caudal peduncle, 5 above

6 below, 21 predorsal ; scales with 2 to 10 basal, short, marginal striz ; circuli

very fine, D. 11, 10,1, first short branched ray 13 in head: A. 1, 9,1, first

branched ray 33; caudal forked, 13; least depth of caudal peduncle 42;

pectoral 2,4, ; ventral 1%.

Back brown, below soiled whitish. Iris yellowish-brown. Dorsal deep

brown terminally, also caudal. Anal whitish. Paired fins largely dusky-gray,

pectoral whitish or creamy basally. ;

One example, 300 mm.

wip0Ge Acad. JVaL.. Sct. FRUaY 925, p. 193%

@ Fist. Nat. Madagascar, Porss., 1891, p. 3} Pl. 3.

3 Fishes of India, 1878, p. 640, Pl. 162, Fig, 4,

772, JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI/

Harpodon nehereus (Buchanan-Hamilton.)

Depth 6; head 4$, width 3%, snout 7% from snout tip; eye 13 in snout;

maxillary 1} in head; interorbital 45. Gill-rakers about 11-+ 11 groups of

small spines, of which enlarged one to each group.

Scales 40+8 in lateral line ; very thin and caducous ; circuli 7 to 21 + 18 to 26.

D. u, 10, first branched ray 1, in total head length; A. 11, 12, first branched

ray 13; caudal emarginate, with short median point, equals head ; least

depth of caudal peduncle 53; pectoral to first third of dorsal base, 3% in

combined head and body; ventral! reaches anal, or 33.

Upper edge of back heliotrope-purple, sides and below vinaceous-buff. ‘Tail

dusted with brown. Dorsal, anal and caudal dusted brownish, other fins pale,

One example, 242 mm.

PLEURONECTIDZ2

Pseudorhombus russellii, Gray.

Depth 12 to 1§; head 3 to 3g, width 43 to 4%. Snout tip to lower eye 43 to

5 in head from snout tip; lower eye 4 to 44; maxillary 2% to 2}, expansion

1# to 2 in lower eye, reaches opposite middle of lower eye. Gill-rakers 8+ 15,

lanceolate, slender, little shorter than gill-filaments.

Scales 65 to 67 in lateral line to caudal base, arch 2§ to 23 in straight section ;

15 or 16 scales above arch, 29 or 30 below straight section ; row of fine scales

on membranes of dorsal and anal between each fin ray and fin bases also scaly ;

scales of left side with 10 to 14 basal radiating striz, apical denticles 25 to 28,

with 2 or 3 transverse series of basal elements and circuli fine. D. 66 to 69,

height 24 to 23, in total head length; A. 51 to 53, height 23 to 2g; caudal

pointed medially behind, 13 to 12; least depth of caudal peduncle 2# to 3;

pectoral 13 to 14; ventral 2% to 22.

Left side drab-gray, marked with variable, scattered, darker rings, none

larger than eye. Iris grayish. Fins pale gray-brown, with dark, scattered,

irregular, variable spots. Pectoral and ventral grayish. Right side whitish,

dark spots on vertical fins showing pale in terminal portions. Paired fins

whitish.

Seven examples, 115 to 137 mm.

SOLEIDZ

Cynoglossus macrolepidotus (Bleeker.)

Depth 4 to 42; head 33 to 43, width 43 to6. Snout to upper eye 23 to 23;

upper eye 93 to 114, advanced nearly half its diameter from lower eye ; mouth-

cleft 43 to 4%, moderately arched, rictus reaches little beyond lower eye, lips

moderate. No gill-rakers.

Scales 55 to 57 in median lateral line to caudal base, 8 above median

to upper, 11 below to lower body edge; no lateral line on right side ; left scales

with 61 to 70 basal radiating striz, apical denticles 38 to 44 with 7 or 8

transverse series of basal elements and circuli minute; right scales with

61 to 66 basal radiating striz ; scales small on head, along body edges and

out over caudal basally, forming low basal sheaths to dorsal and anal.

Dorsal 113 to 115, height 4 to 5 im head; A, 84 to 92, heoht. 35 fo 5;

caudal 274, to 24, pointed.

Left side muminy-brown, each scale with vertical brown bar subterminally.

Irides slaty. Vertical fins with deep brownish:terminally. Right side uniform

cream-white.

Two examples, 278 mm

SPHYRANIDA

Sphyrena barracuda (Walbaum.)

Depth 57 ; head 23, width 3. Snout 2; from snout tip ; eye 4%, 2} in snout,

greater than interorbital ; maxillary reaches $ to eye, expansion 3 in eye,

length 22 in head from snout tip; lower teeth vertically erect ; interorbital

52; preopercle ridge obtuse or rounded. Gill-rakers 2, short, lanceolate

points, on lower branch of first arch.

Scales 78-+ 9, 8 above tc soft dorsal origin, 10 below, 23 predorsal to

occiput. D. v.—iI, 6, second spine 23 in total head length, first branched ray

NOTES ON FISHES FROM BOMBAY 773

3; A. 11, 7, first branches ray 33; caudal 1%, forked; least depth of caudal

peduncle 4}; pectoral 23; ventral 2$.

Back brown, lower sides and under surface silvery-white, Iris largely

silvery. Dorsals and caudal brownish, cther fins whitish.

One example, 275 mm,

POLYNEMIDZ

Polydactylus plebejus (Broussionet.)

Depth 3 to 33; head 3 to 3}, width 2§ to 24. Snout 5% to 6; eye 4} to 4%,

greater than snout, 1, to 1g in interorbital ; maxillary from its own tip 1§ to

2 in head from snout tip, expansion 13 to 1 in eye; interorbital 43 to 53,

broadly convex. Gill-rakers 10 + 15 lanceolate, longer than gillfilaments or

It im eye.

Scales 55 to 62 + 17 to 20, 8 above, 11 or 12 below, 32 to 34 predorsal. D.

VITESSE 13,1, third spime 13;to 131n bead, first ray 15 to 12; A. II, 11, second

Sra 3# to 5, first ray 1§ to 2; caudal deeply emarginate, upper lobe longer,

2% to oF in combined head and body ; least depth of caudal peduncle 2§ to 2}

in head, pectoral 13 to 12, with 5 filaments, upper longest and reaches little

beyond ventrals but “not to anal; ventral 2 in head.

Olive-brown above, paler to whitish below. Dorsals neutral-black termi-

nally and anal dusted with neutral terminally. Hind caudal edge dusted

narrowly with neutral dusky. Pectoral largely neutral-black. Ventral whitish.

Three examples, 228 to 278mm. They agree with Gtinther’s figure? except

the dark longitudinal streaks are not evident in my examples.

Polydactylus sextarius (Bloch.)

Depth 3; head 2g, width 22. Snout 53; eye 4%, greater than snout, 11 in

interorbital ; maxillary from tip 2! in head from snout tip, expansion 2 in

eye ; interorbital 3$ in head, broadly convex. Gill-rakers 16-+ 19, lanceolate;

longer than gill-filaments or 1} in eye.

Seales 42 + 4 in lateral line, 6 above, 10 below, 15 predorsal; basal radiat-

ing striz 3, 86 small weak apical spines with 15 to 17 transverse series of basal

elements and circuli very fine. D. VIN— I, 12,1, third spine 12 in head, first

ray 12? “A. Il, 13, 1, second spine 43, first ray 2: ; caudal deeply forked, 2t

in combined head and body; least depth of caudal peduncle 23 in head ;

pectoral 14, filaments asymmetrical as 7 right and 6 left, extend back beyond

depressed pectoral though not quite so far as tips of depressed ventral ;

ventral 1¢ in head.

Body largely brown, with pale or dull yellowish tinge, especially below.

On lateral line from third to sixth scale ellipsoid dusky or blackish blotch.

Ends of dorsals and anals dusted with brown. Pectoral neutral-dusky termi-

nally and ventral brownish terminaily.

One example 250 mm.

CARANGID#Z

Seriola nigrofasciata (Rtippell.)

Depth 3; head 38, width 2. Snout 32, from snout tip; eye 44, 12 in snout,

1? in interorbital ; maxillary reaches opposite hind pupil edge, expansion 2 in

eve.) Lenoths 2 1h ‘head from snout tip; jaw teeth in broad bands, simple,

conic, outer row enlarged, in about 5 series ; no teeth on vomer or tongue;

interorbital 3, convex ; opercle with rather weak, fine, radiating striae. Gill-

rakers 1-4-8, short, low, strong, mostly rudimentary.

Scales about 90 in lateral line to caudal base, irregular, 16 above, 20 below,

25 predorsal to occiput ; 5 weak basal radiating strize and complete circuli

moderate. ID. V—t, 32, 1, third spine 575 in tota head length, first branched

avec ND TOs. 1, first branched ray 2% ; caudal deeply lunate, 44 ; least depth

of caudal peduncle oO. epectoral 12; ventral dt:

+ Journ, Mus, Godetfroy, 4, 1875, p. 103, Pl. 77, Fig. A.

774 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORAL FIST, SOCInTY. Vol, XXxod

Dusky-brown generally, with grayish tinge on body above and under-

surface soiled brownish. Back with5 broad, rather oblique, obscure, dusky

cross-bands. Fins largely dusky, tip of soft dorsal whitish. Pectoral pale

brown. Ventral blackish. Iris brown, with yellowish tinge.

One example 240 mm.

Caranx djeddaba (Forskal.)

Depth 2¢ to 3; head 3%, width 1¢ fo: 2: Snout.32 ito 3% fromysnout ups

eye 44 to 5, 1;° to 1% in snout, 13 in interorbital, adipose-lids broad ;

maxillary reaches opposite front pupil edge, expansion 1§ to 2 in eye, length

2% to 24 in head from snout tip ; single row of fine, uniform teeth in jaws, on

vomer and palatines; interorbital 3 to 33, convex; preopercle flange with

shallow radiating venules and opercle smooth. Gill-rakers 11+30, lanceolate,

long, little shorter than gill-filaments.

Scales 35 to 37-++-43 to 45, arch 2 to 2} in straight section of lateral line, 10 or

11 scales above, 21 to 23 below; scute depth equals eye; breast densely

scaled ; circuli 62 to 70, median axis more or less complete. D.I, VIII—I, 23,

I, third spine 23 to 2%.in total head length, first ray 12, to 2; A. IY—T; 18,1

to 20, I, first ray 2¢ to 23 ; caudal widely forked, slender lobes pointed, equal

head ; least depth of caudal peduncle 63 to 63; ventral 1g to 23; pectoral 23

to 34 to caudal base.

Back olivaceous or brown, sides and lower surface bright silvery-white.

Large neutral-slaty blotch on opercle above but not on opposite side of gill-

Opening, nearly size of eye. Fins all pale, dorsals and caudal grayish

terminally,

Two examples, 240 to 260 mm.

Caranx kalla, Valenciennes.

Six examples, 155 to185mm. ‘These agree with examples from Portuguese

East Africa, Calicut and the Philippines. The back has light greenish and

bluish metallic reflections. All of lower surface bright silvery-white.

Carangoides malabaricus (Schneider. )

Five examples, 140 to175 mm. Agree with Day’s figure.?

Apolectus niger (Bloch.)

Depth 13 to 12; head 2% to 33, width 2 to 2}. Snout 3 to 33 from snout

tip ; eye 43 to 4%, 13 to 1 in snout, 13 to 14 in interorbital ; maxillary reaches,

opposite eye, 3 to 3g in head from snout tip, expansion 27 to 23 in eye; single

band of fine, simple, conic :teeth in each jaw, none on palatines or tongue ;

interorbital convexly elevated, giving median ridge upward, 24 to 2% in head

from snout tip. Gill-rakers 6-+14, lanceolate.

Scales 85, with about 15 along lateral line slightly thickened or keeled ;

sometimes single basal stria, circuli complete, 32 to 38, D. II, 43, 1 or 44, 1,

third branched ray 2 to 23 in combined head and body to caudal base; A, II,

37, 1 or 38, 1, third branched ray 22 to 33 ; caudal forked, 34 to 33; pectoral

22 to 2¢; least depth of caudal peduncle 5 to 63 in total head length ; ventral

23 in young.

Purplish-gray on back, young with 5 obscure, broad-dark vertical bands.

Iris brownish. Dorsal and anal slaty. Caudal pale brown, edges of all vertical

fins slightly dusky. Pectoral brownish,

Four examples, 112 to 168 mm.

LUTJANIDZE

Lutjanus zohnit (Bloch)

Depth 23 to 23 ; head 23, width 2 to 23. Snout 2% to 3-in head from snout

tip; eye 5¢ to 6, 1# in snout, equals or slightly greater than interorbital ;

maxillary reaches opposite eye, expansion 13 in eye, length 24 to 23 in head

from snout tip ; interorbital 5 to 6, convex. .

1 Fishes of India, 1876, P}. 50, fig. 2.

NOTES ON FISHES FROM BOMBAY 778

Scales 43 or 44 + 5 or 6, 7 above, 12 below, 13 predorsal to occiput, 6 or 7

rows on cheek. D. X, 14, 1, fourth spine 4 in total head length, first ray 2% to

3; A. III, 8. 1, second spine 375, first ray 22 ; caudal 12 to 13, little emarginate ;

least depth of caudal peduncle 33 to 32 ; pectoral 14 to 12; ventral 2.

Pale brown generally, each scale on back and side with deeper brown spot.

Lateral line with dusky blotch little larger than eye, largely above lateral line,

below junction of spinous and soft dorsal. Fins all pale brownish.

Two examples 240 to 263 mm.

POMADASIDZ

Pomadasts maculatus (Biloch.)

Depth 2% to 23 ; head 3 to 3}, width 1g. Snout 32 to 33; eye 32 to 3%, equals

snout, little greater or equals interorbital ; maxillary reaches opposite eye or

front pupil edge, 3 in head ; interorbital 3g to 4; broadly convex.

Scales 50 to 54 + 6 or 7, 9 above, 14 or 15 below, 13 predorsal to occiput. 1D.

X1t, 14,1, fourth spine 1{ to 2 in head, first ray,.2 to 25;.A. III, 7,-1, second

spine 2§ to 2}, first ray 25 to 22 ; caudal 14 to 14, emarginate ; pectoral 23 to 34

in combined head and body ; ventral 13 to 12 in head.

Brownish on back with 2 rows of deep brown blotches, largely alternating as

2 lateral series along back. Sides and below whitish, whole body with silvered

appearance. Iris pale. Spinous dorsal with large blackish median blotch.

Soft dorsal broadly dusted dusky, medially whitish. Caudal brownish. Anal

whitish, with dusky blotch in front.

Five examples, 139 to 160 mm.

Pomadasts hasta ( Bloch.)

Two examples, 260 mm. ‘These agree with those I reported from Calicut.

THERAPONIDZE

Therapon jarbua (Forskal.)

Depth 3; head 34, width 14. Snout 32; eye 4%, 14.in snout, 14 in inter-

orbital ; maxillary reaches opposite front eye edge, expansion 1? in eye, length

3 in head ; interorbital 33, broadly convex, little elevated.

Scales 80-+3, 15 above, 27 below, 22 predorsal to occiput. D, XI, 10, 1,

fourth spine 14 in head, second ray 23; A, III, 8, 1, third spine 33, second ray

21; caudallg, emarginate; least depth of caudal peduncle 2 ; pectoral 12 ;

ventral 13.

Dull brownish above, whitish below. Back with 3 longitudinal deep brown

bands, lowest median and paler, extends out on caudal medianly. Fins all

more or less dull brown. Spinous dorsal with large blackish apical blotch,

paler one posteriorly and soft dorsal with 2 deep gray blotches marginally.

Upper caudal lobe with blackish tip and horizontal blackish blotch, lower lobe

similar and dark tip less extensive.

One example, 218 mm.

SPARIDA

Sparus berda (Forskal.)

Depth 2} ; head 34, width 1. Snout 3; eye 4, 1 in snout, 1g in interorbital :

maxillary reaches opposite front pupil edge, 2 in head; 6 conic canines

in front of each jaw; molars 3 series above, little anterior 4 irregular series,

below 2 series and little anterior 3 irregular series; interorbital 3$, very

slightly convex. Gill-rakers 3+-9, short lanceolate.

Scales 46+7, 6 above, 13 below, 16 predorsal; 5 rows on cheek to preopercle

ridge, none on flange; basal radiating striz 10 to 13, apical denticles 42 to

58 with 3to 8 transverse series of small, weak, basal elements and circuli fine.

D. XI, 11, 1, fourth spine 12 in head, first ray 22; A III, 7, 1, second spine 13,

first ray 2}; caudal 14, emarginate, upper lobe little longer; least depth of

caudal peduncle 22 ; ventral 1} ; pectoral 27 in combined head and body.

1 Journ., Bombay Natural History Soc., xxx, No. 2,.1925, p. 319.

776 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Dull brownish generally, under surface of both head and body paler to

whitish. Each row of scales on back and side with median dull brownish band;

on sides of head similar and following scales at longitudinal streaks. Deep

brown blotch at suprascapula little larger than eye, conspicuous. Iris pale

brown. Fins all brownish, membranes of spinous dorsal with some deeper

brown.

One example, 163 mm.

Sparus spinifer (Forskal.)

Depth 13; head 2g, width 2. Snout 2; eye 3, 13in snout, lin interorbital ;

naxillary reaches opposite front eye edge, 23 in head ; interorbital 34, broadly

ecnvex. Gill-rakers 7+ 10, short, lanceolate.

Scales 53 to caudal base, 7 above, 17 below, 20 predorsal, 5 rows on cheek.

D, XII, 11,1, third to sixth spines end in long slender filaments ue

beyond caudal or equal combined head and peey without caudal, first ray 2},

in-head ; A. III, 8, 1, second spine 23, first ray 2% ; caudal Les emarginate ; least

depth of caudal peduncle 23 ; ventral 1,5; pectoral 22 in combined head and

body.

Back pale brownish, below paler to whitish. Fins all pale brownish.

Ventral and anal with little brownish medially and subterminally. Iris whitish.

One example 103 mm.

GERRIDZ

Gerres filamentosus, Cuvier.

Depth-2} to 24 5-head 3*to 32, width 20.22. ®ssnout 3 to Ghsxever37 monss,

equals snout, 1g in interorbital; maxillary 3 in head, reaches little beyond

eye front, well exposed, expansion 2$ to3 in eye; interorbital 22 to 22 in head,

convex, groove scaleless. Gill-rakers 6 4- 7, short, lanceolate.

Scales 43 to45 + 2 or 3, very caducous, 6 or 7 above, 10 or 11 below, 18 to

20 predorsal. D. IX, 10, ror 11, 3, second spine prolonged filament reaching

base of last soft ray,, first ray 23 to 22 an, head; +A III, 7, 1. third spines ito

33, first ray 2 to 22; caudal forked, equals head; least depth of caudal

peduncle 23 to 2$; ventral 1}; pectoral 2 to 23 in combined head and body.

Back drab-gray, sides and below silvery-white. Iris silvery-white. Dorsals

and caudal dusted gray, other fins whitish.

‘Three examples, 160 to 185 mm.

SCIZNID 2

Otolithus ruber (Schneider).

Depth 33 to 32; head 3 to 33, width 2§ to 24. Smnout 3g to4g in head from

snout tip; eye 42 to 44, 1; to 1h in snout, 1$ to 14 in interorbital; maxillary

reaches opposite hind pupil edge, 24 to 2; in head from snout tip; pair of

wide- set upper canines and one symphyseal mandibular canine; interorbital

32 to 3g, broadly convex ; preopercle edge membranous. Gill-rakers 9 + 16,

iencenines! slender, equal gill-filaments.

Scales 59 to 62 afi 7 to 10 along lateral line. Tubes 49 or 50 to caudal base, 8

or 9 scales above, 9 or 10 below, 30 to 32 predorsal ; 12 basal radiating strize

and circuli very fine. D. X or xa 29, 1 or 30, I, second: spine 21 to 23.in head

from upper jaw tip, first ray 33 to 37; A. II, 7,1, second spine 53 to 62, second

ray 2% to 22; caudal 12 to 13, obtusely angular behind ; least depth of caudal

peduncle 32 to 3%; pectoral 13 to 12 ; ventral 13 to 1f.

Back brown, below whitish with more or less silvery reflections on head and

body. Iris whitish. Spinous dorsal deep neutral-slate, little paler basally.

Soft dorsal grayish, darker all along margins broadly. Caudal brownish.

Anal whitish. Paired fins pale. Pectoral often with little brown above and

deep neutral-gray in axil.

Four examples, 206 to 238 mm.

JOHNIUS, Bloch.

PENNAHIA, new sub-genus.

Type. Johnius eneus, Bloch.

Body strongiy compressed, rather short. Head well compressed, deep,

bones somewhat cavernous. Eye large, mouth large, lower iaw protruding.

Single row of large teeth in each jaw ; upper rather curved, well covered with

NOTES ON FISHES FROM BOMBAY 7a

lips, though front pair of wide-set canines largest ; lower laterals largest and

close-set, in front—anteriorly few small inconspicuous teeth. Gill-rakers

lanceolate, long, 13 on lower limb of first arch. Scales little adherent in

preserved examples. Caudai obtuse. Pectoral long.

Distinguished from sub-genus Johnius chiefly by the projecting mandible

and increased gill-rakers.

(Pinnah, the Tamil vernacular. )

Johnius cneus, Bloch.

Depth 3 to 374,; head 23, width 2%. Snout 32 to 3% in head from snout tip,

1g to 14 in interorbital ; maxillary reaches opposite hind pupil edge, expan-

sion 2 to 24 in eye, length 23 in head from snout tip; interorbital 33 to 32,

broadly convex; hind preopercle edge membranous. Gill-rakers 5 + 13,

lanceolate, equal gill-filaments or longest 2 of eye.

Scales 48 to 50 close along and above lateral line to caudal base, 45 to 47

tubular, 9 above, 9 below, 30 to 37 predorsal. D. XI, 23, 1 or 24 1, third

spine 22 to 23 in head from snout tip, first ray 24 to 3; A. Il, 7, 1, second

spine 4, second ray 22 to 2g; caudal 12 to 14, nearly truncate or very slightly

concave-convex behind; least depth of caudal peduncle 3g to 4; pectoral

13; ventral 1$ to 1%.

Back pale brown, sides and below bright silvery-white. Iris white. Fins

pale, lower ones whitish. Spinous dorsal deep dusky-gray, soft dorsal with

broad margin of deep brown dots and subbasal longitudinal narrow band,

Two examples 182 and 209 mm.

Sub-genus PsEuDoscl4zNaA, Bleeker.

Type Pseudosciena amblyceps, Bleeker.

Differs from Johnius in having an enlarged inner row of mandibular teeth.

Johnius diacanthus (Lacépéde).

Depth 3% to 33; head 3 to 34, width 2: to 23. Snout 3 to4; eye 5 to 6,

14 to 12 in snout, 1 to 1§ in interorbital ; maxillary reaches nearly opposite

hind eye edge, expansion 1% to 13 in eye, length 24 to 23 in head ; row of upper

large teeth exposed with closed jaws; enlarged inner row of mandibular teeth ;

6 pores on lower mandibular surface ; interorbital 43 to 54, broadly convex ;

preopercle edge denticulate. Gill-rakers 6 + 9, lanceolate, short, half of

gill-filaments.

Scales 56 to67 + 7 in lateral line, tubes 41 to 43 -|- 22 to 32, 8 or 9 above,

10 or 11 below, 38 to 40 predorsal; basal striz 12 to 14, apical denticles

42 to 50 with 7 or 8 series of transverse basal elements and circuli very fine.

D. XI, 22, 1, or 23, 1, third spine 2} to 22 in head, first ray 32,‘A.II, 7, 1, second

spine 2; to 3},, first ray 2to 23; caudal 12 to 14, obtuse behind ; least depth

of caudal peduncle 33 to 3g ; pectoral 13 to 1g; ventral 1} to 1f.

Soiled drab-gray generally, four slightly deeper, broad bands on back,

Within cach 2.or 3 series of deep dusky blotches size of pupil. ~ Iris

yellowish. Dorsal pale, with 5 or 6 blackish blotches. Caudal similar,

only blotches at 3 or 4 transverse irregular rows. Ventral neutral dusky.

Paired fins same.

Eight examples, 190 to 280 mm. ‘These much more coarsely spotted than

in Bleeker’s figure of Pseudosciena diacanthus.+

Depth 2% to 33; head 3 to 34, width 1 to 2.’ Snout 33 to 34; eye 4§ to 43,

1} to 12 in snout, equals interorbital ; maxillary reaches midway or 3? in eye,

length from snout tip 23 to 22 in head; row of upper teeth each side

exposed with closed jaws ; inner row of enlarged mandibular teeth; 5 pores

in lower mandibular surface ; interorbital 44 to 43 in head, broadly convex ;

preopercle edge denticulate. Gill-rakers 4-+ 9, short, rudimentary tubercles,

greatly less than gill-filaments.

Scales 46 to 50 + 5 or 6 in lateral line, tubes 45 or 46 + 7 or 8, 5 or

6 scales above, 8 or 9 below, 24 to 26 predorsal; 9 or 10 basal radiating

1 Atlas Ichth., 9, 1877. Pl. (5) 88, Fig. 2.

773° JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST? SOGIBTY Wor word

strie, apical denticles 57 to 62 with 13 to 15 series of basal elements and

circuli: very fine. ~ D. X1, 27, 1 to’30, 1, third'spine 2 to 23, in heady firstenay

3 to 33; A: II, 7; 1, second spine 37to 32, third ray 2 toa; caudalaaitom-;

rounded behind with lower median rays longest; least depth of caudal

peduncle 37 to 32; pectoral 11 to 13; ventral 13 to 1%.

Drab-gray on back and sides, below white. Opercle neutral to slate-gray,

diffuse marginally. Iris pale and spinous dorsal slate-gray. Soft dorsal and

caudal pale brown, dusted with neutral-gray marginally. Pectoral and anal

soiled whitish. Slate-gray blotch in pectoral axil just behind fin origin.

Ventral whitish.

Sixteen examples, 164 to 268 mm.

Sub-genus JOENIU‘:, Bloch.

Type Johnius cavuita, Bloch.

Body moderately compressed. Head «!tuse. Mouth inferior, lower jaw

included. No enlarged inner row of m icibular teeth. Gill-rakers short,

usually tubercles or rudimentary.

Johnius carutta, Bloch.

Depth 32 to 33; head 33 to 33, width 13 to 18. Snout, 32 to 38; eye 44 to 53,

12 to 1g in snout, 13 to 12 in interorbital ; teeth on jaws in villiform bands,

only upper outer row enlarged ; 5 pores on lower mandibular surface ;

interorbital 33, broadly convex; preopercle edge membranous. Gill-rakers

4 + 9, short, lew tubercles.

Scales 50 to 51 close along lateral line to caudal base, tubes 45 or 46 + 4 or

5, 6 or 7 scales above, 10 below, 25 to 20 predorsal ; basal radiating striz 8 to

12, apical denticles 0 to 22 with 8 trar:sverse series of basal elements and cir-

culi very fine. D, XI, 26,.1 to 29,1, third ‘spine’2 in head: inst = nay. tos:

A. 11.6, 1 or 7, 1, second: spine 3? to 35, second ray.2¢ to 2% 5 caudalalzto 12

obliquely convex behind with lower median rays longest ; least depth of caudal

peduncle 33 to 3g ; pectoral 14 to 13 ; ventral 1} to 1g.

Back drab-gray with deep soiled appearance, undersurface white. Iris pale

or yellowish-white. Lateral line with pale median streak, spinous dorsal slate-

gray to blackish terminally, soft dorsal and caudal brownish, other fins pale,

soiled with brownish.

Two examples, 150 to 230 mm. Known by its pale lateral line, obtuse snout

and uniform villiform mandibular teeth.

Johnius glaucus (Day)

Depth 2% to 32 ; head 3% to 34; width l?to 2. Snout 33 to 32; eye 4 to 43,

14} tolgin snout, 1 tol, in interorbital; maxillary reaches opposite eye

center, 2} to 24 in head ; Spores on lower mandibular surface ; mandibular

teeth in villiform band, with inner posterior little larger ; interorbital 43 to 44,

broadly though slightly convex : preopercle edge membranous. Gill-rakers 6

+12, very short, lanceolate.

Scales 47 to 50+ 5 in lateral line, tubes 44 or 48 + 8, 6 scales above, 8

below, 25 predorsal: basal radiating strize 7to9, apical denticles 18 to

35 with 10 or 11 series of transverse basal elements and circuli very fine. DXI, 27.

I to 30, 1, third spine 12 to 2 in head, first ray 23 to 3; A. II, 7,1, second spine

3% to 33, second ray 22; caudal 13 to1$, cuneate, rounded behind, lower

medium rays longest ; least depth of caudal peduncle 3g to 33; pectoral

; to 12 ; ventra! 12 to 14.

Back vinaceous buff to buff below, with undersurface whitish. Iris pale.

Spinous dorsal dusky or neutral-dusky terminally. Soft dorsal, caudal and

anal brownish terminally. Paired fins pale, pectoral little darker terminally

and above. Deep slaty-gray blotch in pectoral axil, close behind fin crigin.

Opercle neutral-slate.

Three examples, 173 to 203 mm. Known by its pale general colour, which

yellowish-gray.

Serena dussumieri (Valenciennes. )

Depth 33 to 33 ; head 34 to 33, width 13 to 1,8,. Snout 3} to33}; eye 4% to5,

13 to 12. in “snout, 14 to 12 . in. ‘mterorbital); |, maxillary, reaches ee

in eye orto hind pupil edge, from snout tip 23 to 3in head; front of

NOTES ON FISHES FROM BOMBAY #79

snout below with pores and lower edge with 4 flaps along upper lip; arc of

5 pores around lower symphysis of mandible ; symphyseal barb half of eye ;

interorbital 32 to 3# in head, broadly convex. Gill-rakers 4+9, short tubercles,

rudimentary. Scales 52 to 57 along laterel line to caudal base, tubes 43 to 47-++

5 or 6, 8 scales above, 10 to 12 below, 28 to 30 predorsal ; basal radiating striz

0 to l2- and -cireuli very fine. .D; XI, 23,104 24,-1, third spine, 13 to 12 in

head, first ray 33 to 33;A.II, 7, 1, second spine 3 to 3$, third ray 1Z to 2¢ ;

caudal 12 to 1g, obtuse, little obliquely rounded below ; least depth of caudal

peduncle 3% to 3¢ ; pectoral 14 to 14; ventral 1# to 2.

Above generally bistre, with soiled or dark dusky appearance, also sides and

generally that with silvery, violet and bluish reflections. Along back 4 or 5

obscure, ill-defined dark blotches and sides with dark cloudings. Dusky

blotch, more or less conspicuous, about size of eye, at suprascapular region.

Iris brown, spinous dorsal neutral-blackish. Soft dorsal, anal and caudal dark

brownish. Paired fins pale basally, neutral-brown terminally.

Four examples, 144 to 217 mm.

DREPANIDZ

Drepane punctata (Gmelin.)

One example 138 mm. Largely silvery, back with gray shade and traces of

slightly darker-gray vertical bars.

OSTRACIONTIDAE

Ostracion gibbosus (Linné.)

Depth 12 ; head 3 ; carapace width 1$. Snout 1% in head; eye 2; inter-

orbital 1$, concave. Dorsai ridge with single compressed spine ; lateral ridge

with 2 anterior spines at greatest width, posterior larger, besides 2 more

subequal posteriorly ; suborbital spine broad. Gill opening long as eye. D.

11, 8, entirely before anal, first branched ray 1% in head; A. I, 8, second

branched ray 27, ; caudal 14, little convex behind ; pectoral 12.

Pale brown generally. Base of dorsal dusky-brown. Deep brown blotch on

spine of dorsal ridge. Brown blotch below pectoral base and one between

each of 3 last lateral spines along lower edge of carapace superiorly. Also

median lateral neutral brown area on body.

One example, 147 mm.

ON A COLLECTION OF MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GHOMETRIDZ

FROM UPPER BURMA MADE BY CAPTAIN A. E. SWANN

Louis B. PROUT, #E.E.s.

PART HIT

(Continued from page 322 of this Volume.)

* 139 ASHHENa 1aSSa, Spun):

3b, 24mm. Near A. anseraria, H.-Sch. (Syst. Bearb., vi. 134, Fig. 560), of

the Palearctic Region. Face cf a more uniform brown. Antennal ciliation

shorter.

Forewing with the brown lines fainter, rather thinner less macular, less deeply

sinuous, the sub-basal and postmedian vaguely double, the cistal postmedian

terminating in a small blackish dot on hindmargin ; minuter dots at hinder end

of distal subbasal and of antemedian.

Hlindwing with termen slightly smoother than in anseraria; cell-dot minute

or obsolete ; lines feeble, rather thin, less deeply sinuous than in anseraria.

Underside similar to that of azseraria.

Htawgaw, April-May 1923 (type), June 1923 and August to September 1923,

(paratypes).

140. Pseudostegania plurtlinearia (Moore.)

Somatina plurilinearia Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 645 (1867)

(Darjiling).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 192; Hpimaw Fort, June i923,6¢4, 399, 14-18

August 19235, 1¢, 19; Laukhaung, October 6, 1923, 1 ¢.

Distributed throughout the Himalayas, though rarer westward. Hampson

sinks wuzistirpis, Butl., from Japan and Central China, which is atleast racially

separable. I believe the similar forms from West China are a race of the

closely allied denigrata, Warr. (ov. Zool. iii. 316), but I have not yet studied

the group very closely.

* 141. Poecilasthena burmensis, sp. n. (Pl. 1, Figs 4)

¢, 26mm. Extremely like ¢halassias, Meyr. (Proc. Linn. Soc. N. Sth. Wales

(2) v. 813), from Australia. Antennal ciliation less minute.

Forewing with apex slightly more acute, termen slightly more oblique and

less curved ; SC® stalked with SC?-* considerably beyond apex of outer areole

(in all the ¢Aalassias which I have examined from or close about the apex, but

variation is frequent in these details) ; the white ground-colour less densely

irrorated with sea-green (in fAHalassias generally justifying Meyrick’s assump-

tion cf this as the ground-colour) ; the group of green lines which forms the

postmedian slightly more oblique and more solidified into a band ; termen with

some black-grey irroration which suggests a weak line, interrupted by white

dots at and midway between the veins. A/zmdwing perhaps slightly narrower

than in ¢halasszas, the bend in midterrmsen rather more pronounced ; ground-

colour and terminal line as on forewing.

Htawgaw, June 1923, the type only...

A very unlooked-for discovery, adding to the problem of the geographical

range of the genus ; apart from its headquarters (South Moluccas, New Guinea,

Australia and New Zealand) I had previously only seen a few examples from

the Malay Peninsula (¢/alassias), where I assumed them to be an accidental

importation, but this is clearly almost impossible for a remote fastness like

Htawgaw.

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDAE 781

* 142. Autallacta subobliquaria (Moocre.)

Timanda subobliquaria, Moore, Proc. Zool. Svc. Lond., p. 644 (1867)

(Bengal).

Htawgaw, April-May, 1923, 1 ¢, 2 92; Hparé, September, 1923, 1 9;

Hpimaw Lort, June 1923, 9 $4, 32°, July, 1923, 1 g, August 1923, 2 gg, 3 2.

A common Sikkim species, but I think not previously recorded elsewhere.

143. Aydrelia bicolorata (Moore.)

Ftyria bicolorata, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 642 (1867) (Bengal).

Htawgaw, April-May, 1923, 1 ¢.

* 144. Hydrelia rufinota, Hinpsn.

Hydrelia rufinota, Hmpsn., Faun. Ind. Moths, iv.|560 (1896) (Sikkim).

Htawgaw, April-May, 1923, 192; Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1 ¢, 9-13

August, 1923, 2 dt.

* 145. Hydrelia opedogramma, sp. n. (Pl. I, Fig. 5.)

3, 21 mm. Head and body white, the upper part of face suffused with

brown. Antenna with minute ciliation. Femsra and tarsi predominantly

brown,

Forewing white, rather glossy ; costal edge narrowly brown ; some brownish

suffusion between this and SC in median area, becoming much stronger in

distal area ; lines brown, very characteristically arranged, not at all dentate; a

group of three proximally, acutely angulated about cell-fold, obsolescent

anteriorly ; a strong, almost straight postmedian pair; a broad subterminal

and narrow terminal, meeting at both extremities, the intervening white line

very slightly interrupted by feeble brownish shading on the veins; fringe

brown. Alindwing with termen slightly flexuous; white; a fine straight

median brown line, crossing DC at origin of R*; a slightly thicker but not

very sharp postmedian ; subterminal and terminal a little thinner than on

forewing.

Forewing beneath with the brown darker and more extended, embracing

the entire costal area and entire cell, with some suffusion b-hind cell, and

thickening all the lines, the postmedian pair becoming confluent, the terminal

pair subconfluent. Hindwing with the lines—except the termina]—rather

thicker and stronger than above.

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, the type only.

* 146. Hydrelta entsaria, sp. n. (Pll, Fig. 23)

6,20 mm. Face blackish fuscous. Antenna with ciliation minute (less

than 4). Thorax above dark fuscous; beneath, with abdomen, grey, in-

definitely dark-marked.

Forewing broad, termen not very oblique ; areole rather narrow, S.C.1°5°?°3"4

stalked well beyond it; whitish grey; basal area fuscous, traversed by

indistinct darkest lines; a very narrcw, waved, dark-edged line of the

ground-colour between this and the median band ; median band rather broad,

with blunt distal lobe in middle, fuscous (in parts with brighter brown

shading), traversed by wavy darker lines and containing a large black cell-dot ;

band beyond rather broad, traversed by a weak fuscous line; subterminal

bounded by fuscous lines or narrow shades ; terminal line interrupted at veins ;

fringe weakly mottled. A/indwing with R*-M stalked; whitish grey,

cleanest in the double outer band and at termen ; cell-dot black, conspicuous ;

a faint wavy line just beyond, most observable posteriorly ; postmedian line

wavy, slightly dotted on the veins and ending in a black dot at abdominal

margin ; outer area much as on forewing.

Forewing beneath smoky, with the double outer band and terminal band in-

distinctly paler; hindwing nearly as above, but slightly weaker-marked.

Htawgaw, June 1923, the type only.

Near nisaria Christ. (Bull. Mosc., iv (2), 49) from S. E. Siberia, Corea and

Japan, possibly a race; slightly broader-winged, cell-dots stronger, forewing

in median area and on underside darker, antennal ciliation perhaps slightly

less vestigial.

782 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

*147. Discoloxia purpuraria (Hmpsn.)

Hydrelia purpuraria, Hmpsn., Faun. Ind. Moths, iii. 413 (1895) (Nagas).

Htawgaw, March, 1923, 1 ¢, June, 1923.1 3g, 1 9, July, 1923, 1 3, 1%,

August 1923, 1 ¢; Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1/4, August 1923, 1 d, 9-13

August 1923, 1 3, 2 99, 14-18 August 1923, 3 vg.

Slightly variable in size and tone, perhaps on an average larger and slightly

more purple-grey (less purple-red)' than Hampson’s type. An interesting

contribution to a little known species.

* 148. Discoloxia nigrifurca, sp. 0.

3 2, 27 mm. Face blackish grey. Palpus very short and slender, dark grey.

Antennal joints scarcely so strongly projecting as in odliguisigna, Moore (Lep.

Coll. Atk., p. 278); ciliation about 1. Vertex, thorax and abdomen whitish

grey, with slight irroration, the middle of thorax above slightly darker. Fore-

and midleg partly infuscated, with the ends of tibia and of tarsal joints remain-

ing whitish. '

Forewing with Dc? less oblique than in odliguisigna, De® bending to be-

come very oblique ; whitish grey, with a slight lilacine tinge, the irroration

faint ; a number of shadowy brownish waved lines; a rather more distinct,

slightly curved line bounding the small basal area; a black line from costa,

along Dc? and Dc* to hinder angle of cell, throwing off, at the bend

of Dc%, a proximal furcation of rather variable length and_ intensity, but

always obsolete posteriorly, or there represented by mere vein-dots, So that

the black marks produce an inverted Y with short arms, postmedian line

black, shaped much as in Jilacina, Warr. (Proc, Zool. Soc. Lond., 1893,

p. 364, Pl. xxxii, Fig. 4), curving to run obliquely outward to hindmargin,

thick from costa to M?, very fine and slightly interrupted posteriorly; a

warm brown line close beyond the postmedian and sharing its structure ;

some smoky shading beyond in anterior half of wing, traversed by a thick,

ill-defined darker line; distal area again of the eround-colour; a dark

terminal line, interrupted at the veins; fringe pale. Mindwing impure white,

in distal half with indistinct grey lines, best marked on the veins; the true

postmedian the strongest, with a slight outward projection about M? and in-

ward bend to M? ; terminal line as on forewing or scarcely so strong.

Underside with forewing suffused, hindwing whitish ; both with a cell-spot

and postmedian line and some other weaker lines, or at least the two sub-

terminals; terminal line rather weaker than above.

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 3 ¢¢, (including the type), 9-13 August, 1923, 1,

14-18 August, 1923, 1 4,19.

* 149. Leptostegna asiatica (Wart.)

Dyspteris asiatica, Warr., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 358, Pl. xxxi, Fig. 8

(1893) (Sikkim).

Htawgaw, early July 1923, 19, August 1923, 2 gd.

This species, although rare, seems to range from Sikkim to the mountains

of West China. Hampson has erroneously sunk it to its Amurland congener

tenervata Christ.

150. <Acasis viretata (HD.) ie

Geometra viretata, Hb., Samml. Eur. Schmett., Geom. t. 44, Fig. 230 (1798)

(Europe).

Htaweaw, April-May 1923, 2 $¢; Hpimaw Fort, August 1923, 2 3d:

The North Indian form has not yet, and the North American (viridata, Pack.)

scarcely proved separable from the very widely distributed Paleearctic vivetata.

Even Capt. Swann’s dates-—though this is probably more coincidence—are €X-

actly those at which British collectors would seek the two broods.

* 151. Phthonoloba decussata (Moote.) ;

Sauris decussata, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 655, Pl. xxxiii, Fig. 10

(1867) (Bengal).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 1 ¢.

Only previously known to me from Sikkim, Assam and Formosa, the latter

apparently a differentiable race ; Schultze (Philipp. Journ. Sez., Dv: 176)

adds Negros. Hampson’s South Indian records belong toa separate species

which I have described elsewhere (Nov. Zool., =xxii. 43).

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDAE 783

152. Sauris fasciata (Moore.)

keemodes fasciata, Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 270 (1888) (Assam).

Htawgaw, August-September 1923, 1 2.

The specimen is wasted, but apparently agrees perfectly with this species,

the only Indian one yet known of the subgenus (? genus) Stezrophora, Warr. ;

olivacea, Warr. and normis, Hmpsn., both sink to fasczata. Range: Sikkim

to the mountains of Selangor.

* 153, Sauris usta (Warr.) (?)

Flolorista usta, Warr., Nov. Zool. ii. 106 (1895) (Perak).

Hpimaw Fort, August 1923, 12.

Probably a new race of this species, but not in very fresh condition.

154. Sauris tgnobilis, Butl.

Sauris ignobilis, Butl., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5), vi. 227 (1880) (Darjiling) .

Laukhaung, April-May 1923, 1 2.

Subfam. GEOMETRINZ

155. Ourapteryx ebuleata Guen.

Urapteryx ebuleata, Guen., Spec. Gén. Lep. ix. 32 (1858) (Kashmir). Uvrap-

teryx kantalaria, Feld., Reise Novara, Lep. Het. ii., t. cxxii., Fig. 3’ (1875)

(N.-W. Himalayas).

Laukhaung, April-May 1923, 1 ¢, July 1923,2¢¢; Kangfany, June 1923,

1¢; Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1 2.

Probably confined to the Himalayas and their outliers (best known from

Kashmir), but a group of closely similar forms awaits revision.

156. Ourapteryx multistrigaria Walk.

Crapteryx multistrigaria, Walk., List. Lep. Ins. xxxv, 1535 (1866) (N.

Hindostan).

Fenshuiling Pass (four miles from), early July 1923, 1 ¢,192.

This species, which differs from the preceding in its brown (not white) face,

creamier wings, etc., is likewise best known from the Himalayas, but I believe

occurs also in China and even Formosa.

157. Myrteta ocernarta Swinh.

Myrteta ocernaria Swinh., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) xii. 152 (1893) (Khasis).

Shingaw, Hka Valley, January 13, 1923, 1 ¢.

A widely distributed Indo-Australian species. Probably the forms from the

Moluccas and New Guinea may prove differentiable, but as far as Borneo

and Pulo Laut there is very little observable modification.

*158. Myrteta tcuncula, sp. 0.

3, 38 :nm. Evidently very near moupinaria, Oberth. (Zt. Lep. v (2) 32, Pl.

Ixxxviii, Fig. 858), which is only known tome from Oberthtir’s @ figure and

almost worthless description ; perhaps a form. Differs in its smaller size,

forewing with a conspicuous cell-dot, slightly more oblique and greyer post-

median line, rather better developed subterminal and traceable (highly oblique)

antemedian, hindwing with termen slightly more bent, forewing beneath with

strong cell-dot more strongly infuscated costal margin, a fuscous costal spot

“near apex and some irroration in cell, both wings beneath with the two lines

slightly less obsolete. From ocernaria, Swinh., distinguishable zufer alia, by

the almost uniformly ochreous head (without the white lower half of face),

blackish (not ochreous) antenna, greyer and much less sharp markings, rather

more obliquely placed, without duplicating shade outside the postmedian,

stmilaria-like underside of the ¢, obsolescence of the postmedian dots on SC§

and R* and by the venation. In ocernaria the stalk of SC 1°? of forewing is

connected or anastomoses with C; in szmztlaria, Swinh. (Ann. Mag. Nat.

Fftst. (8) xvi. 183, W. Sumatra) and its smaller, less angle-winged and more

weakly marked replica zcuncula SC* and SC? separate earlier and the former

alone anastomoses with C. The hind tibia is dilated, though not so strongly

as in s¢milaria,

784 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Htawgaw, undated, the type only. Hsipaw, North Shan States, allotype

Oia coll. Brit. Mus:

The 2, which was found mixed among ocernaria in the British Museum, does

not seem to have had the subapical fuscous spot beneath, but is not perfectly

fresh ; otherwise agrees fully.

* 159. Jyrteta fuscolineata, Swinh.

Myrtet= tuscolineata, Swinh., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) xiv. 137 (1894)

(Khasis).

Htawgaw, 4-10 April 1923, 19, April-May 1923, 1 9, early July 1923, 1 ¢.

Capt. Swann’s three examples show considerable variation. The early 2 has

only the principal lines present, thus looking superficially a good deal like a

small, poorly coloured zcuncula; the other Q is large and bright, with the

supplementary (crenulate) lines all strong, the terminal line thick ; the ¢ is

intermediate in markings, all the lines being discernible, but fine and rather

weak. The species combines the face of ocernaria with the structure (venation)

and hindleg) of zeuncula, but has the hindwing less bent than either of them.

Swannia, gen. n.

Face smooth, nearly flat. Palpus rather short, densely scaled, third joint

very small, not distinct. Tongue present. Antenna in both sexes nearly

simple. Pectus moderately hairy. Femora scarcely hairy. Hindtibia rather

slender, both pairs of spurs unequal. Wing-scaling iridescent. Forewing

with costa scarcely arched, apex acute, minutely produced, termen almost

straight. tornus pronounced ; cell about 3, DC straightish, subcostals crowded,

SC t°? long-stalked, their stalk anastomosing slightly with C,R* separate, R?

slightly before middle of DC, M? stalked (sometimes only shortly). Aindwing

with costa rather long, apex round prominent, termen almost straight, tornus

sharp ; cell about 3, DC little curved, C approximated to SC to about 3 cell,

then rapidly diverging, SC* just separate, R* wanting, M? stalked.

Type of the genus: Swannia marmarea, sp. nN.

Presumably a derivative of .Wyrteta, but very distinct in shape and especially

remarkable for the stalking of M?* of both wings.

* 160. Swannia marmarea, sp.n. (Pl. 1, Fig. 16.)

32, 34-36 mm. Face white, narrowly bright red-brown above. Palpus bright

red-brown, first joint white beneath. Vertex and antenna bright red-brown.

Body white, with a brown spot on shoulder. Foreleg red-brown on innerside.

Midleg with a brown spot on knee.

Forewing glistening white, the iridescence predominantly bluish, in some

lichts with an admixture of pink ; sparse dark irroration visible with the lens ;

costal margin bright red-brown, with some dark metallic scales behind; a

very minute blackish cell-dot; a postmedian dot on SM® generally present ;

fringe tinged with brown. Aindwing uniformly iridescent white; fringe

tinged with brown.

Underside similar, base of fringe darkened, hindwing with a rather thick

dark terminal line, slightly interrupted at the veins, a little swollen between

them.

Htawgaw, March 1923, 2¢¢, 229.

161. Tasta argozana, sp.n. (PI. 1, Fig. 21.)

42, 24-27 mm. Face brown-black, edged below with metallic blue or green.

Palpus beneath pale brownish. Vortex brown-black. Thorax and abdomen

dirty white, the latter above clouded with grey except at extremity. Legs

whitish, tinged with brown, the anterior partly infuscated.

Forewing with SC’ generally free, occasionally anastomosing ata point

with C; white, tinged with pale brown, clearer at termen ; basa! area

sprinkled with metallic scales; costal area in proximal half leaden-grey,

sprinkled with metallic scales ; cell-spot roundish, dark-grey ; a grey median

band immediately beyond or absorbing the cell-spot, copiously sprinkled with

metallic (silvery or golden-tinged) scales; a brown, somewhat scorched-

looking costal patch at apex, rounded off behind, about reaching R*; a

subterminal row of metallic spots, on the apical patch receding slightly from

termen ; fringe grey, tipped with metallic blue. Aindwing with the median

band continued, its proximal edge shading off gradually basewards ; cell spot

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMET RIDA 785

elongate, indistinct ; subterminal shade anteriorly light-brown and narrow,

posteriorly dark-mixed and broad, throughout marked with metallic scales,

which generally form spots in the anterior cellules; on R° a small circular

black ocellus, ringed with pale brownish: fringe as on forewing,

Underside dirty white, with the dark markings feebly suggested ; fringes

mixed with metallic blue. A,

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 4 ¢¢, 12, June 1923, 4 gg, 19, early July 1923,

1 ¢ (worn) ; Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 2 ¢¢,19, early July 1923, 2 ¢¢ (worn).

Hampson’s differentiation (Faun. Ind. Moths, iii. 139, 140) of Zasta and

Lapta by the condition of ‘ vein 11’ is invalid, as this varies in both genera ;

but Zasta may be tenable on the strong metallic scaling. The Rev. C.R.N.

Burrows has compared the genitalia and confirms the close relationship

162. Bapta platyleucata (Walk.)

Acidalia platyleucata, Walk., List Lep. Ins., xxxv, 1628 (1866) (N. India).

Htawgaw, March 1923, 19, June 1923, 1, early July 1923, 1¢, Hpimaw

Pore,.Joned923, 640, 12, early July 1923,.2 ¢¢} 9-13 August, 1923, 12, 19.

Distributed from Afghanistan through North India to West China.

PNG. Bbapra avid, sp.otiaw (hl. ty Hig. 17,)

3, 29-30 mm. Face and palpus dark brown, the face slightly rough-scaled,

the palpus slender, with second joint appressed-scaled beneath, some scales

above projecting forward. Vertex white. Thorax and abdomen white,

irrorated above with erey. Fore and midleg partly infuscated.

Forewing rather short, termen very slightly curved, tornus pronounced ; SC’

free, SC? stalked, separating before SC5; white, densely and pretty evenly

irrorated with grey ; costal edge narrowly ochreous ; cell-mark darker grey,

slightly elongate; lines weak, grey; antemedian excurved anteriorly ; post-

median rather diffuse, recalling that of platvleucata, Walk., but more distally

placed and more feebly incurved ; subterminal thin, or only somewhat swollen

about the veins, slightly less straight than in p/atyleucata, being a little curved

behind middle; terminal line feeble, but sometimes developing slight vein-

dots; fringe slightly mottled. Aindwing with termen a little straighter

between R* and tornus than in platylencata; cell-mark as on forewing or

rather weaker ; two very feeble lines or shades beyond, much as in platyleucata

but with the first (the postmedian) much more curved or bent behind middle.

Underside glossy, unmarked, rather more brownish (or pinkish) white than

in platyleucata.

Htawgaw, July 6, 1923, 2 ¢§ (including the type), August 1923, 2¢¢.

Assam, Cherrapunji, July 1893, 1 ¢ in Coll. Tring, Mus.

164. Bapta alba (Moocre.)

Corycia alba, Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 261 (1888) (N. India).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1 2.

Range: Sikkim to West China,

* 165. Bapta ecitptica, sp. n.

3, 32mm. Near the preceding. Face rather more black-grey (less brown),

beneath paler, but not so definitely white at lower extremity as in aléa. Wings

slightly more elongate.

_ Forewing with costal and distal margins rather less curved; SC? an-

astomosing with C; cell-dot wanting; the two brown-grey lines fairly

distinct ; the thicker, less firm:substerminal also developed ; distal half fringe

smoky. Afindwing with termen between R* and tornus straightish, the

costal margin appearing relatively elongate (but apex well rounded) ; post-

median line fine, fairly strong, terminating rather nearer tornus than in aléa :

subterminal shade developed except costally ; fringe as on forewing.

Underside much as in a/éa except for darkened tips of fringes ; forewing

with cell-dot nearly as strong as in that species; postmedian line fine and

weak, pretty evenly developed throughout.

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, the type only.

166. Bapta distans, Warr.

Lapta distans, Warr., Nov. Zool. i. 404 (1894) (‘ Japan’).

Htawgaw, July 19236, gg, undated, 12; Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 3 ¢¢.

Range: North-west India to West China. Warren’s type was probably

from the latter locality, as the species is not otherwise known from Japan and

318,

786 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL GIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXII

there is internal evidence that in the early days of the Tring Museum one

consignment of Western Chinese species was erroneously labelled Japan, On

the differentiation of distans from alba see Seitz Macrolep. iv. 315.

“167. Tanaoctenta haliaria (Walk.)

Geometra haliaria, Walk., List. Lep. Ins., xxii 518 (1861) (India).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 299, August-September 1923, 1 ¢,

* 168. Nothomiza dentisignata (Moore.)

Geometra dentisignata, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 636 (1867)

(Darjiling).

Htawgaw, September—October 1923, 1 4.

*169. Nothomiza viridis (Warr.)

A plochlora,wiridis Wart., Proc. Zool..S0¢ \Lond:, Oy 386, ,Fl sxx big

(1893) (Sikkim.)

Htawgaw, September—October 1923, 1 ¢.

The specimen is discoloured to yellowish, a tendency not noticed in any of

the long series of the following.

*170. Nothomiza egriviridis, sp.n. (Pl. 1, Fig. 2.)

3 Q, 25-29 mm. Face light reddish brown. Palpus short and slender ; light

brown. Vertex and base of antenna white: antenna simple. Thorax and

base of abdomen above concolorous with wings ; posteriorly and beneath

white.

Forewing pale green, slightly variable, perhaps according to the degree of

freshness ; costal edge whitish ; cell-dot black, extremely minute, sometimes

scarcely discernible ; terminal line brownish, extremely fine, not thickening

anteriorly ; fringe whitish, in proximal half tinged with cream-buff.

Hlindwing with termen weakly bent in middle; as forewing, but with cell-dot

more distinct.

Htawgaw, Anoust 22; 1922°-2: 00) June’ 1923,73 (fo uly 1923 omc anes

August 1923, 6 ¢¢, 299

Perhaps a form of odscuristrigata Wehrli (/ris., xxxvii. 66, t. 1. Figs. 7, 18),

agreeing in size and shape, but without any trace of the lines or of the apical

mark and probably of a duller grey-green hue. In any case different in

colour from the greenish glaucous of Leech’s szmpliciarvia (Ann. Mag. Nat.

Hist. (6) xx. 239), the costal margin of forewing slightly less arched, termen

rather less oblique, palpus perhaps not quite so heavily scaled.

“171. Nothomiza cinerascens (Mootre.)

Caberodes cinerascens. Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 261 (1888) (Darjiling.)

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1°.

“172. Nothomiza tihytéyvma, spin: (PL My Hie r22):.

¢, 36mm. Closely related to costalis, Moore (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1867, p.

616), nearly agreeing in size with its Khasi race zzfensa, Warr. (ov. Zool. iv.

120). Head and body coloured as in that species, body above suffused with

dark grey. Antennal teeth somewhat slenderer, pointed at the extremities.

Forewing with apex-slightly less acute than in costalts, the ground-colour

truncate in cellule 7 about 1 mm. from the apex, instead of running out to a

point (commonly even produced to apex of fringe) as in costalis ; pink, much

suffused with dark grey, as in normal formosa Butl. or moderately suffused

examples of costalis ; the yellow costal edge underlined with bright red,

especially in proximal 4, this again by a very dark line or shade ; the projection

of the yellow into cell slight, not triangular; costal patch just outside cell

larger than in average cosfalis, but not so large as in formosa; apical (ter-

minal) yellow restricted, not reaching R?; a hindmarginal patch of pink

proximal to middle, about reaching M; less defined ones subbasally and

tornally ; the narrow dark area between subbasal and central pink patches

rather accentuated, oblique, suggesting the end of a thick antemedian line.

Hindwing with termen straighter from SC? to tornus than even in costalis ;

costal area white ; the rest less clouded than forewing, but with the beginnings

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMIIY GEOMETRIDE 787

of dark subbasal and postmedian lines (very narrow bands) at abdominal

margin ; termen and fringe dark. j

Underside similar, but paler and more washed-out.

Htawgaw, March 20, 1923, the type only.

* 173 Plutodes warrent, Prout.

Plutodes warrenit, Prout, dun. Mag. Nat. Aisi. (9) xi. 322 (1923) (N.-W.,

Himalayas).

Htaweaw, August 1923, 1 J.

P. warrent isnow known to me also from Sikkim and the Khasis, though very

much rarer in those localities than the allied costatus, Butl. The Htawgaw

example and the only Khasi ¢ known to me are very dark, with the posterior

terminal yellow mark of forewing narrowed.

174. FPeratophyga hyalinata (Koll.)

Idea hyalinata, Koll. in Htigel, Aaschmir, iv. 491 (1848) (Masuri).

Acidalia aerata, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 643 (1867) (Darjiling).

Htawgaw, April 4-10, 1923, 1 ¢ fab.), July 1923, 19, August 1923, 19.

The @ isa brightly golden-tinted aberration with the dark bands not very

strongly developed. The species, which is generally distributed from North-

West India to West China, is everywhere variable and it is pretty certain that

totifasciata, Wehrli (/vis, xxxvii. 66, t.1, Figs. 6,7) from Central and East

China is a race of it, asis also not improbably the case with vexetiza, Swinh.

(Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) ix. 416) from the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, etc. and

perhaps grata, Butl. (dun. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) iv. 438) from Japan.

* 175. Lomographa tenebrimedia, sp. n. (Pl. 1, Fig. 18.)

©, 24mm. Head and body concolorous with wings. Hindtibia with the

spurs extremely unequal, the inner of each pair being long, the outer vestigial.

Forewing with cell over 2; the coincident subcostal (Sc 1~?) free; reddish

ochreous-brown, with dark irroration, the tone similar to that of Pristoste

gania trilineata, Moore (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1867, p. 642) or a little darker ,

antemedian line obsolete ; postmedian pale ochreous, much as in ¢rilineata,

but less oblique than termen, posteriorly very faintly curved ; median, on the

other hand, dusky, crossing a black cel!-dot; termen with minute dark

interneural dots; fringe slightly paler.-H/zmdwing with cell at least 2;

median shade just distal to cell dot ; postmedian almost parallel with termen.

Underside brighter, less irrorated ; cell-dots and median shade strong ; post-

median very indistinct, but followed at about 1 mm. distally by anarrow dark

shade, which is moderately distinct on forewing, slight on hindwing ; terminai

dots of forewing fairly large.

Laukhaung, March 10, 1923, the type only. .

Superficially nearer to Pristostegania trilineata that to any other species

which Hampson places in Stegania (Lomographa, Hb.), but with R? of

forewing almost central, C of hindwing touching SC ata point, then diverging.

It may be assumed that the ¢ willprove it to belong to the section

Heterostegane.

* 176. Chiasmia levata sp. n. (Pl. 1, Fig. 20,)

d, 19-23 mm.; 2, 23 mm. Group of strigata, Warr. (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond.,

1893, p. 412, Pl. xxxi, Fig. 22). Face and palpus ochreous. Vertex pale

ochreous, collar ochreous, thorax and abdomen white, more or less clouded

with pale ochreous-buff and dotted and spotted with blackish.

Forewing with termen fully as oblique as in stvigata ; white, with copious

black irroration and strigulation, the ochreous suffusion much less strong than

in stvigata, chiefly represented in an oblique median stripe just outside the cell

and a broader shade beyond ; black cell-dot much less large than in striga/a }

lines macular, arising from enlarged costal spots, the postmedian more

distally placed anteriorly than in s¢vz7gata ; fringe sharply and almost regularly

chequered. Afindwing in proximal half (or more) predominantly white,

copiously marked with black-grey, distal part coloured more as in s¢rigaza but

still somiewhat paler and more variegated ; cell-dot almost as large as on fore-

wing; subterminal markings sometimes developed much as in sétrvigata,

sometimes weaker.

788 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol XXXI1

- Underside similar, the ochreous shades slightly paler and more diffused, the

dark strigulation in part coarsened.

Htaweaw, April-May 1923, 3 ¢¢ (including the type), August-September,

1923, 8 @¢, 12; Hparé, September 1923). 2as¢ ; Blackrock; June 1923, 45

(worn) ; Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 12.

Probably nearest to pygm@aria, Leech (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) xix, 339),

but weaker-marked. Varies very little; the second brood may be slightly

brighter than the first and the Hpimaw Fort specimen seems to have the dark

subterminal clouds enlarged, but is too wasted to be described in detail.

177. Synegia suffusa (Warr.)

Parasynegia sutfusa, Warr., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 414 (1893) (Nagas).

Laukhaung, March 7, 1923, 1 ¢.

The specimen approaches sudémissa Warr. (Nov. Zool. i. 411, Khasis), which

I take to be a form of this rather variable species ; erythra, Hmpsn, to which

Hampson (Faun. Ind. Moths, iii. 169) has sunk suffusa, is, however, distinct.

Range: India, South China, Formosa.

*178. Heterostegania nigrofusa, Warr.

Heterostegania nigrofusa, Warr., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 415 (1893)

(Sikkim).

Htawgaw, August 1923, 1 ¢.

The specimen is a modification—local or individual—of Warren’s nzgrofusa,

larger, the median area less suffused, the distal more so, the dark postmedian

patch much enlarged ; still more unlike /unulosa, Moore, to which Hampson

(Faun. Ind. Moths, iii. 170) has prematurely sunk it, than is Warren’s type

form.

* 179. Heterostegania thamia, sp.n. (Pl. 1, Fig. 10.)

SQ, 36-38 mm. Face ochreous below, bright rosy above. Palpus light brown,

second and third joints suffused with grey. Crown yellowish in front, bright

rosy. behind. Collar yellowish. Postorbital rim tinged with rose-colour.

thorax and abdomen above yellowish, varied with roseate; ends of tegule

and of patagia and base of abdomen bright rose; slight grey bands at ends

of first few abdominal tergites; body beneath pale.

Forewing, as in the genotype, with SC* connected with C, SC? long-stalked

with SC°-5, anastomosing. immediately (but shortly) with SC! ; pale yellow,

very copiously irrorated or strigulated with rose-colour and more sparingly

with dark grey, small, ill-defined spots of the ground-colour remaining in

base of cellule 4and as boundaries of the median area ; cell-dot_black ; ante-

median line obsolete ; postmedian obsolescent, lunulate-dentate, incurved

between the radials, marked with black interneural dots behind R* ;_a narrow,

very vague greyish shade shortly beyond the postmedian, connected with (or

running into) an oblique anterior streak towards the apex ; fringe pale yellow-

ish, with slight rosy admixture and with black-grey spots opposite the veins.

Hindwing concoloreus, with similar cell-dot and postmedian and their attend-

ant clear-yellow spots ; anill-defined dark-grey band or shade proximal to

cell-dot ; fringe as on forewing.

Underside pale buffy brown, irrorated and marked with dark grey ; cell-dots

black ; postmedian macular, ill-defined, on forewing divaricating at R°, the

proximal branch running obliquely inward towards the proximal shade of

hindwing (which is, however, obsolete anteriorly to SC, though strong behind)

the distal meeting the postmedian of hindwing ; terminal line indicated ; fringes

weakly spotted.

‘Htawgaw, August 1923,1 9,19.

A slightly paler %, with rather larger cell-dots beneath—perhaps a racial

modification but not so perfectly fresh as Capt. Swann’s examples—is in coll.

Joicey from Hunan, Central China (Pratt).

* 180. Crypsicometa homema, sp. 0.

¢, 33-34 mm. Closely related to zucertaria, Leech (Fut. Supp., p. 49, 1891,

Japan), possiblyarace. Distinguished as follows :—

Forewing slightly narrower, more tinged with reddish, the colouring almost

exactly asin particolor, Warr. (Nov. Zool., iii. 128) ; costal and terminal lines.

finely black-brown ; apical patch whiter, more regularly long-oval.—AHindwing

more sharply bicoloured, with the postmedian line straighter (neither crenulate’

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDAE 789

nor sinuous) but forming an excessively slight inward curve, thus closely

approaching the cell-dot ; irroration on outer half more blackish, but so

arranged asto leave almost clear a terminal patch between tornus and R?,

which is irregularly rounded proximally, about 3mm. wide at its middle.

Htawgaw, early July 1923, 2 gd.

* 181. Hypochrosis tinctaria (Walk.)

Decetia tinctaria, Walk., List Lep. Ims., xxvi. 1522 (1862) 9 [? N. India].

Marcala obliqguaria, Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 232 (1888) ¢ (Darjiling).

Laukhaung, July 1923, 1 ¢.

A rather small and rather dusky specimen, but not difficult to match from

Sikkim or Assam.

Swinhoe (Cat. Lep. Het. Oxf. Mus., ii. 241), who rightly criticizes Hampson’s

chaotic ‘yvadarta’, considers that the present is the true hyadaria, Guen.

Guenée’s description, however, seems to me to point clearly to the larger,

more fleshy-toned species which Walker described as adstractaria (List Lep.

Ins., xxvi. 1485, and again—apparently by oversight and on the same _ type-

specimen—xxxv, 1559) and Moore as zvrorata (Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 232). HY. tine-

taria is perhaps the Indian (chiefly North Indian) race of a widely distributed

species, represented on Ceylon by chlorozonarta, Walk (List Lep. Ins., xxii.

954)=galbulata, Feld. (Reise Novara, Lep. Het. t. cxxxiii, Fig. 20), Sumatra,

Borneo, etc., by korudorffert, Snell. (727d. uv. Ent. xx. 73), Celebes by auntu-

data; Pagenst. (ut. Nachr:, xxii, 52; Abh. Senckenb. Ges., xxiii. 456.)

182. Hypochrosts hyadaria, Guen. (?)

Hypochrosts hyadaria, Gauen., Spec. Gen. Lep. x. 537 (1858) (Central India).

Laukhaung, 23 July 1923, 1g.

This specimen is an ab. (or possibly race) of a rather smaller, rather narrower

form, with coarser or darker irroration, which [| am strongly inclined to

agree with Swinhoe in separating from true hyadaria (= abstractaria, Walk..,

vide supra), bat which has as yet no legitimate name, Swinhoe having

misidentified it as zguzvorata, Walk. Walker’s lost type of tenivorata (List

Lep. Ins., X¥Xvi. 1754, Cherrapunji) was certainly, according to the description,

the same species as his abstractaria (hyadaria). Both hyadaria vera and the

present form (or relative) seem to be confined to North-east India and Burma;

‘Central India’, with Guenée—as I have pointed out elsewhere—is known to

have signified the region of Sylhet (!)

*183 Hypochrosis mixticolor, Prout.

Hypochrosis mnixaticolor, Prout in Seztz Macrolep., iv. 337, ft. 17 g. (1915)

(Omei-Shan). i

Htawgaw, June, 1923, 1¢.

* 184. A ypochrosts eurynota sp. n. (Pi 1, Fig. 14.)

2 39mm. Face and palpus deep red, slightly mixed with black, palpus not

so long as typical and rather more loosely scaled. Vertex and antennal shaft

impure white ; pectinations about 3. Body, purple-reddish, the abdomen very

robust, paler than the thorax.

Forewing with costa strongly shouldered near base, apex minutely produced,

termen strongly oblique behind; cell well over 4; SC**? shortly stalked,

SC?! anastomosing with C and later with SC*; dull purple, irregularly shaded

with dark-grey and white-grey ; costal edge mostly brighter purple-red ; base

rather lighter and redder ; a minute whitish cell-dot ; a not very conspicuous

red line (thicker and clearer anteriorly than posteriorly) from costa close te

apex to hindmargin about 3mm. from tornus, accompanied proximally by

some ill-defined whitish maculation ; some whitish terminal shading behind

apex; fringe purple-red. Mindwing with termen slightly sinuous, tornus

somewhat produced ; rather paler purplish ; a reddish, proximally dark-shaded

postmedian line at # abdominal margin and a broad dark-grey suffusion

proximal thereto, all becoming obsolete about M?* or R?; fringe as on

forewing.

Forewing beneath slightly paler than above, but with costal margin more

broadly purple-red ; subterminal sine obsolete, but with a broader purple-red

patch marking its point of origin. Hindwing with the markings of abdominal

region vaguely indicated.

790. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Htawgaw, April 4-10, 1923, the type only.

In the rougher palpus, rather less robust wings, the prominent tornus of

hindwing, etc., this species is not a typical Aypochrosis ; like mixticolor

Prout, it suggests some possible affinity; with Phalena. There is, however,

much minor structural variation within the genus as understood by Hampson,

as also within the closely allied Sabaria (Prionia of Hampson) ; indeed my

repeated attempts to find any constant morphological difference between the

two, as arranged by that author, have hitherto proved fruitless and I am

inclined to think that Sabaria will have to be sunk or the grouping recast.

HI. mixticolor, eurynota and the muscicolor group (vide infra) possess in

common a fringe of Jong scales descending from the front of the fillet over the

upper part of the face, a feature shared by some of the Garaeus-Phalena

group; but lam not yet prepared to pronounce upon its distribution or its

possible generic utility.

* 185. Aypochrosis ancylotoxa, sp. 0.

3, 30 mm. Face with minute tuft below; red-brown, Palpus red-brown,

the terminal joint darkened. Vertex light violet-grey, the fillet more whitish,

its projecting scales (vzde supra) rather long. Thorax and abdomen con-

colorous with wings.

Forewing closely like that of A. muscicolor, Warr. (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond.,

1893, p. 407, Pl. xxxili, Fig. 25), the coloration more ochreous-brown than in the

figured 2, but with slightly more vinaceous suffusion than in the ¢ described by

Hampson (Faun. Ind. Moths, iii. 176) ; cell-dot white, a little larger than the

black speck muscicolor. Hindwing with termen round-prominent at R°-M?,

thin, strongly sinuous so as to form a rounded excavation behind M? and a

pointed tornis ; costal area broadly whitish, the rest nearly concolorous with

forewing, slightly more ochreous outside than inside the postmedian line ; cell-

dot black ; postmedian straight, as in mzscicolor, not bent as in zaformtis

Warr. (ov. Zool., iv. 120).

Underside similar or a little brighter ; cell-dot of forewing black.

Htawgaw, early July, 1923, the type only. (A ¢f:om E. Pegu, 4,000-5,000

ft., March-April, 1890 (W. Doherty) and a @ from Bangkok, respectively in

the Tring and the Hill Museums, evidently belong here and have developed

the pair of spots outside the postmedian of hindwing, as in Warren’s type 2 of

muscicolor, which is therefore not a sexual distinction. All three species of

the group seem variable, but there is no evidence in the Geometride that

such difference in shape could be other than specific.

* 186. Anonychia grisea (Butl.)

Nadagara grisea, Butl. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 172 (1883) [Simla].

Htawgaw, April-May, 1923, 12; Laukhaung, April-May, 1923, 1 4; Hpare,

August-September, 1923, 1 ¢. ;

A fairly common mountain species from North-West India to West China.

Everywhere more or less variable, but tending to become darker and more

strongly marked eastwards.

* 187. Anonychia diversilinea, Warr.

Anonychia diversilinea, Warr., Nov. Zool. iv. 101 (1877) (Sikkim).

Htawgaw, April-May, 1923, 1 J.

* 188. Anonychia latifasciaria, Leech.

Anonychia latifasciaria, Leech. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) xix. 225 (1897)

(W. China).

Hpimaw Fort, September, 1922, 1 9.

The specimen is very worn but appears to be arather dark, rather weak-

ly marked form of this species rather than a form of its Indian relative

lativitta, Moore.

* 189. Heterolocha talconaria (Walk.)

Aspilates falconaria. Walk, List. Lep. Ins., xxxv. 1665 (1866) (N. India).

Htawgaw, June, 1913, 1, July, 1923, 12 gg, 3,22; Hpimaw Fort, June,

1923, 1¢; Hparé, August-Spetember, 1923, 1 ¢.

Hampson only records this species from N.-W. India and Sikkim, but it is

well known also from Bhutan and Assam.

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDZ. 791

* 190. Heterolocha patalata, Feld.

Heterolocha patalata, Feld., Reise Novara, Lep. Het., t. cxxxii. Fig. 9 (1875)

(Rampur, Himalayas).

Htawgaw, May-June, 1923, 1 9, undated, 1 ¢; Hpimaw Fort, August,

1923-12:

Very variable; the Htawgaw @ is a fine bright green ab.

Iie etrerolocha segreszs ‘spine (Plu, ig. 2.)

2, 33mm. Head and body whitish drab, irrorated with dark grey. Palpus,

as is patalata, Feld., very long, the terminal joint even somewhat longer than

in that species. Antenna with minute ciliation.

Forewing with costa arched throughout, SC? from base of stalk of

S.C. 7°5°3°4*, anastomosing with C ; whitish drab, with rather sparse black-grey

irroration and strigulation; a very small black cell-dot; proximal area

weakly darkened, bounded by a narrow, bilobed, darker band; an equally

narrow, very irregular outer band, chiefly expressed in a quadrate costal spot

which reaches R!, a larger spot between hindmargin and M? and a weaker

- more distal one between the radials; a narrow dark terminal border, taper-

ing to a point at each end. Afindwing more whitish, with weak irroration ;

cell-dot very slight ; postmedian band showing in a spot at abdominal margin;

termen faintly and narrowly dark-shaded.

Underside more tinged with red-brown, especially on hindwing ; irroration

dark and coarse, especially on hindwing; markings of upperside indicated,

the postmedian on forewing only distinct in the costal spot, on the hindwing,

however, indicated throughout, sinuous ; dark border of hindwing distincter

and less narrow than above.

Htawgaw, beginning of July 1923, the type only..

192. Loxaspilates obliquaria (Moore.)

Aspilates obliquaria, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 649 (1867) (Sikkim).

Htawgaw, April 4-10, 1923, 12.

Range: Afghanistan, North India, West China.

*193. Opisthograptis molleri Warr.

Opisthograptts molleri, Warr., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 403, Pl. xxxi,

Fig. 12 (1893) (Sikkin:).

tawgaw, April-May 1923,1 ¢, Hparé, August 1923, 12.

Previously known to me from Masuri, Sikkim and Assam.

* 194. Ofptsthograptis swanni, Prout (Pl. i. Fig, 13.)

Opisthograptis swanni, Prout, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (9) xi. 314 (1923)

(Hparé).

Hparé, August 29, 1922, the type ¢ only.

Throughout the collecting season of 1923, and especially when he revisited

Hparé about the anniversary of its capture, Capt. Swann kept a vigilant look-

out for further’specimens of this very fine species, but without result.

* 195. Corymica specularia (Moore.)

Caprilia specularia, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 649, Pl. xxxiii, Fig. 11

(1867) (Bengal).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 2 jf, August 14-18, 1923, 2 g¢.

It is not at present safe to quote any localities beyond the North-east

Himalayas as previously known for this species. Hampson (Faun. Ind. Moths,

ii, 186) has, according to his wont, merged several distinct ‘forms’ (probably

in part species) from South India, North-West India and Japan. Even

Capt. Swann’s captures may indicate a racial tendency, the ‘ apical patch’ of

forewing being still more ‘ obsolescent’ than in the Sikkim form. One of the

August specimens is a colour-aberration, more suffused with orange.

*196. Corymica immaculata, Warr.

— Corymica immaculata, Warr., Nov Zool. iv. 116 (1897) (Sikkim).

tawgaw, early July 19, i923.

A scarce species, previously only recorded from Sikkim and Bhutan.

(92) JQURNAL, BOMBAY NAT CORAL HIST SOCKET Von eC

* 197. Xenographia adustata (Moore.)

Epione adustata, Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 229, Pl. viii, Fig.:20 (1888)

(Khasis).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 1¢.

198. Callerinnys obliquilinea (Moore.)

Epione obliguilinea, Moore, Zep. Coll, Atk., p. 229 (1888) ( Darjiling.)

Htawgaw, June 2 ff, 1923, August 1923, 1 ¢.

Range: Sikkim to Tonkin.

*199. Nadagara epopsioneura, sp. n.

¢,33 mm. Head, collar and tippets bright brown, somewhat reddish.

Thorax, abdomen and legs more flesh-colour, weakly clouded with brown.

Hindtibia not dilated.

Forewing rather narrow; termen scarcely crenulate anteriorly, almost

smooth posteriorly, obliquely curved ; reddish fawn-colour, with the veins

darkened ; costal edge spotted and dotted with deep brown; cell-dot

moderate; lines deep brown, finely edged on reverse sides with white;

antemedian from SC at 3 to hindmargin at 4, very strongly excurved but with

no actual angle; postmedian from costa about 3 mm. from apex, a little

excurved at first, then almost straight to hindmargin nearer to antemedian than

to tornus ; indications of an irregular whitish, proximally dark-skaded sub-

terminal; terminal line continuous. A/indwing with termen scarcely waved,

a very slight (scarcely noticeable) excision between the radials; costal area

whitish ; the rest concolorous with forewing; cell-mark slightly elongate;

postmedian line continued from forewing, almost straight; traces of sub-

terminal and its dark shading ; terminal continuous.

Underside (especially of forewing) rather more tinged with ochreous ;

hindmarginal area of forewing pale; both wings with grey strigulate, rather

elongate cell-mark and slender postmedian and terminal lines, the postmedian

of forewing as above, that of hindwing excurved anteriorly, straightish

trom. =.

Laukhaung, March 10, 1923, the type only.

A @ from the Naga Hills, rather larger but otherwise identical, in Coll.

British Museum.

* 200. Luxiaria tephrosaria (Moore.)

Acidalia tephrosaria, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 643 (1867) (Bengal).

Htaweaw, April-May 1923, 14, July 1923, 19, undated, 19.

The two 99 belong to the common aberration with a roundish black

postmedian spot on SM? of the forewing ; the ¢ lacks this spot.

Range: Kulu, Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam.

201. Luxtaria mitorrhaphes, Prout.

Luxiaria mitorrhaphes Prout, Nov. Zool., xxxii. 64 (1925) (Nagas).

Htawgaw, June 1923, 19, early July 1923, 1 ¢.

The ¢ belongs to the aberration with an irregular black postmedian spot

between M? and hindmargin of the forewing, analogous to the aberration of

tephrosaria mentioned above. For a fuller discussion of the species of this

group, see my article in the ‘ Novitfates’ (xxxii. 62-64).

Range: Sikkim to West China, Formosa,

202. Luxiaria amasa fasciosa, Moore.

Luxtaria fasciosa Moore, Lep, Coll. Atk., p. 254 (1888) (Darjiling).

Htawgaw, August 1923, 19.

Ibelieve amasa, Butl. (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) i. 405, Japan), fasciosa

Moore. (N. India) and falvirascia, Warr. (Nov. Zool., i, 440, Sumatra) to be

races of a single species, the first two, indeed, scarcely allowing of a rigid

differentiation, as they seem to intergrade in West China and perhaps on

Formosa.

* 203. Krananda orthotmeta, sp.n. (Pl. ii, Fig. 1)

3,40 mm. Head and body concolorous with wings. Foretibia blackened

on innerside, tarsus in part spotted with black, Mid and hindleg marked with

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDAE 793

black, especially at the joints, the spurs, and on tarsi, the hindfemur and tibia

each with a conspicuous spot in middle.

Forewing shaped nearly as in olzveomarginata Swinh. (Ann. Mag. Nat.

Fiist. (6) xiv. 139), the angle at end of R® rather stronger; SC* cannote

with SC*5 (probably variable, as in olzveomarginata) ; colouration much as

in the palest, most ochreous-toned examples of that species ; markings also

similar, but weaker ; postmedian line almost straight, the shade beyond some-

what rufescent, comparatively narrow, a great part of the terminal area heing

almost of the ground colour, merely a little more rufescent about the radials ;

some red-brown subterminal spots from costa to SC%, in cellule 5 and from

M? to hindmargin ; fringe mostly tipped with black. Aindwing similarly

with the tooth at R? accentuated ; colour and markings much as on forewing ;

postinedian line less straight ; fringe as on forewing.

Underside similar.

Hpimaw Fort, August 9-13, August 1923, the type only.

Quite,near olzveomarginata, but with the paler tints and the straight

postmedian line superficially recalling the very differently shaped datimargi-

maria. Leech (Seztz Macrolep. Pi. iv, 19 6). |

* 204. Loxotephria perileuca, sp.n. (Pl. ii, Fig. 5).

3, 27mm. Closely related to oltvacea Warr. ( Nov. Zool. xii. 414). The

pale, almost patternless areas (of forewing beneath and hindwing above) rather

more extended, probably betokening a somewhat different resting posture.

Forewing slightly narrower, darker, the white lines more sharply expressed.

Hindwing with postmedian line less straight (narrowing and slightly curving,

first outward and then inward, in approaching its anterior evanescence).

Laukhaung, July 1923, the type only.

* 205. . Sempothisg agefa, sp. n. (Pl. ui. Fig. 15).

¢,39 mm. Face with small cone of scales below; rufous. Palpus slightly

over 14; rufous, dark-mixed, at base pale-yellow. Vertex rufous. Antenna

with fascicles of very long cilia. Thorax and abdomen pale yellow, in places

slightly mixed with rufous. Legs pale, with patches of blackish scales at ends

of tibiae ; hindtibia not dilated.

Forewing with termen faintly crenulate from’ apex to R°, at R® slightly

bent, thence almost straight ; no true fovea, but SM? near base appreciably

curved and thickened, the usual thinly-scaled patch behind it accentuated ;

SC!? coincident, connected by weak bar with C; pale yellow, very slightly

irrorated with rufescent scales; slight dark marking at costa; a small black

cell-dot ; a thick, not very sharply defined, obliquely curved antemedian line

not quite reaching the costa, bounding some very slight basal suffusion (exag-

gerated by photography) ; postmedian line almost straight ; distal one-third

bright red-brown, mixed in part with violaceous, containing some small

ochreous spots (the rounded one between the medians more conspicuous than

in the photograph) and a blackish cloud between R® and M? just outside the

rounded spot ; a fainter curved line running close to the postmedian between

R! and M? but receding anteriorly and posteriorly ; fringe rufous, with

some glittering paler scales. Afindwing with apex almost rectangular, ‘tail

at R° strong; yellow in proximal half, bright brown, much suffused with

violaceous, in distal; a faint dark postmedian boundary-line ; cell-dot very

minute; terminal area slightly dark-clouded in anterior half; a weak oblique

brown half-line from tornus.

Underside similar, but with the yellow area rather more strongly and darkly

speckled, the antemedian line of forewing grey, the postmedian of both wings

less sharp than above, edged with brown proximally, the markings on the

distal area a little strengthened.

Blackrock, June 1923, the type only.

The most gaily coloured Semzothisa yet known.

* 206. Semtothisa khastana (Moore)

Gonodela khasiana Moore, Lep. Coll, Atk., p. 262 (1888) (Khasis).

Laukhaung, March 10, 1923,1¢.

The specimen is aberrant in some details, the most noteworthy of which—

the slightly less obliquely placed antemedian of forewing—might suggest that

494 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

it is a separate species; but as the structure and most essential features agree

I leave it here.

A fairly common North Indian species, with a Malayan race vehemens, Prout

(VOU. ZO0l. xxx, 23).

* 207. Semtothisa monticolaria (Leech)

Macaria monticolaria, Leech, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) xix. 308 (1897) ;

Seztz Macrolep. iv, Pl. 18 ft. (1915)-(Omei-Shan).

hangyane, July 1923, 1 2.

A smaller, stronger-marked aberration or race. It is, however, just

possible that the supposed species, of which Leech’s type remains unique in the

British Museum, is itself a strikingly differentiated form of the Indian

effusata, Guen. (Spec. Gén. Lép. x. 87) ; the Langyang example would be in

one or two respects slightly intermediate, though still very far from normal

effusata.

* 208. Semstothisa clivicola, sp. n.

3, 41 mm. Near the preceding species. Structure, so far as studied,

the same, antennal joints not projecting, ciliation about if hindtibia with hair-

pencil, fovea well developed, forewing with SC??? coincident, free, DC?

inbent before origin of R*. Second and third tergites of .abdomen with

distinct paired blackish spots. forewing appreciably ._ narrower than in

monticolaria, with termen more bent in middle, nearly (but not quite) as

extreme in shape as in avitwsaria, Walk ; rather darker than in monticolaria,

rather sharply marked, the antemedian and median lines rather more oblique,

the shadowy line which represents the postmedian of the underside better

developed, not meeting the exangled postmedian until close to hindmargin,

the angle of this latter postmedian less blackened, the duplicating line

outside it less complete, more macular. AHindwing also suggesting the shape

of that of avitusaria 38, only with the teeth slightly less extreme. Underside

with the dark borders heavier, more smoky, recalling ‘very- dark-bordered

avitusaria, but with the pale terminal patches of forewing largely obliterated,

even that at apex small.

Laukhaung, July 1923, the type only.

A ~@ from Ding Manon, West China, stands with monticolaria in Coll.

British Mus.; one each from the Khasis and the Nagas, rather large and

bright, are unnamed in Coll. Tring Mus.

* 209. Semtothisa subalbataria (Swivh.)

Gubaria subalbataria, Swiah, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond, p. 428 (1889). ( Nilgiris).

Laukhaung, April-May 1923; 200:

Oneisa dusky aberration, with the subapical dot of forewing wanting on

the underside, etc.

The species is widely distributed in India.

* 210. Semiothisa myandaria (Walk.) (?)

Macaria myandaria, Walk, List Lep. Ins., xxvi. 1649 (Canara).

Htawgaw, September-October 1923.1.

This troublesome group has already been the subject of some iveRe eau ene

but they are not yet completed. Walker’s type has lost its antennze,~but the

genitalia, kindly compared by Mr. W. H. T. Tans with those of: Hampson’ s

type of Gonodela triangulata (Ll. Fet., viii. 112), prove that the union propos-

ed in Faun. Ind. Moths iii. 205 is quite incorrect. <A fairly common-Khasi

species, however, with non-serrate { antenna, shows but a minor. difference

in the genitalia, which may prove racial only, from those of Walker’s type,

and itis to this Khasi ‘ myandaria’ that the Htawgaw specimen seems ‘to

belong, though it is an extremely dark aberration or local form.

* 211, Orsonoba PGA sp. n. (PI. i Fig. 14)

3, 40 mm. Face, palpus, antennal shaft .and one side of femora red, spotted

with yellow. Vertex, thorax and abdomen concolorous with wings, the pectus .

mixed with red.

Forewing with terminal tooth strong, tornal lobe sebunccde SHORES

stalked ; olive-green, clouded with olive-brown and with pale lilacine shades

at base, at tornus, proximal to the antemedian line and as a linear distal edging

NOTES ON MOTHS .OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDAE 795

to the postmedian ; a paler, yellow-green patch in median area between cell-

spot and hindmargin ; markings much as in. O. clelia Cram. or O. vartaria

Leech (Seztz Macrolep., iv. 326, Pl. 16 6, as Phalena) ; a white sub-terminal

dot in front of R’. Aindwing with the teeth in termen pronounced ; post-

median line not crenulate, subterminal feebly indicated.

Underside predominantly red irrorated with yellow ; forewing with costal

margin partly buff, dark-dotted ; ill-developed lilacine shades in distal part of

cell, between postmedian and subterminal (except between the radials) and at

tornus ; cell spot large, black, the pale band behind it white and buff (continued

as an amorphous costal mark on hindwing) ; sub-terminal line black. Hind-

wing with similarly placed lilacine shades, the outer one not interrupted at

radials ; cell-spot small.

Hpimaw Fort, August 9-13, 1923, the type only.

A few other examples have been detected or received since the above descrip-

tion was prepared, showing that the species occurs at Masuri, Sabathu and

Solun and in Sikkim (Gopaldhara) and is—like most: of the withered leaf

species—variable in colouring, the underside rarely so bright as in the type. I¢

may perhaps prove a form of variaria Leech ; Leech’s unique type has the

tornal lobe of forewing folded under, hence overlooked by the artist for

Seitz.

212. FPetelia vexillaria (Guen.)

Pachydi« vexillaria, Guen., Spec. Gén. Lép. x. 138 (1858) (Borneo).

Wansong, 11 miles East of Myitkyina Plains, January 10, 1923, 1 ¢.

An extremely purple-grey clouded aberration.

This species, No. 3275 in Hampson’s Faun. Ind. Moths iii. 217, is very widely

distributed in the Indian and Malayan Subregions. If there are separable

races the name of capztafa Walk, can be utilized for the Indian. Earlier mis-

identifications were corrected by Swinhoe (77. £xzt. Soc. Loud.1902, p. ae

and finally laid to rest by Oberthur’s figuring the type specimen (£7. Lép. Sex,

Pl. dlvii. Fig. 4778).

213. Syrrhodia lutea (Stoll)

Phalena Geometra lutea Stoilin Cram., Uitl..Kap. iv. 157 and 250, t. ecclxx.

Bio. C,.D. (1781): (Java).

Myitkyina, January 6, 1923, 1 J

Belongs to the pinkish aberration (nearly exnoniaria Guen). The species is

distributed through North India, Malaya, etc., and has close relatives in the

greater part of the Indo-Australian Religion.

214. Anthyperythra hermearta Swinh.

Anthyperythra hermearia Swinh., Tr. Ent., Soc. Lond. p. 485, Pl. xix, Fig.

9 (1891) (Khasis).

Htawgaw, April 4-10, 1923, 1 ¢; Hpimaw Fort, August 9, 1923, 19.

Both have the blotch of the forewing broad ; the @ is otherwise quite normal,

the § small and rather aberrant.

*215. Aspitates trilinearta (Leech)

Loxaspilates (?) trilinearia, Leech, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) xix. 235 (1897)

(Wa-Shan).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 1°

Only Leech’s type of this very distinct species hitherto known, likewise a 9.

* 216. Psyra spurcataria (Walk.)

Hyperythra spurcataria, Walk., List Lep. Ims., xxvi. 1498 (1862} (Darjiling).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1¢

The specimen belongs tothe dark form. The species is known from the

North-West Himalayas Sikkim, Assam and Siam.

217. Fascellina chromataria Walk.

Fascellina chromataria, Walk., List Lep. Ins., xx. 215 (1860) (Ceylon).

Hpimaw Fort, August 14-18, 1923, 1.

Common and widely distributed, though probably some of the localities

enumerated by Hampson (Faun. Ind. Moths, iii. 225) may produce loca! races

or representative species, .

796 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Volz XXXI

*218. Fascellina plagiata (Walk.)

Geometra plagiata, Walk, List Lep. Ins.. xxxv. 1601 (1866) (Sikkim). |

Htawgaw, April 4-10, 1923, 1¢, July 1923, 2 ¢%; Lavikhaung, March 9, 1923,

eee

The Laukhaung specimen is a small ab., with the underside of the hindwings

green instead of yellow.

This is another rather common species, from North India to the Malay

Peninsula and Java.

* 219. Fascellina inornata, Warr.

Fascellina inornata, Watrr., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 399 (1893) (Sikkim).

Htawgaw, July 1923, 1 ¢. !

Hampson (Faun. Ind. Moths, iii. 225-8) has sectionized this genus by shape,

a scheme which would have been very serviceable had he not stultified himself

by one or two errors of observation. The present species has an excision

(though small) at the tornus of the forewing and should therefore be in Sect.

II, not Séct. IV, and fuscoviridis, Warr. (Nov. Zool., iii: 320, Khasis),

which Hampson (Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., xi. 718) has numbered

‘ 3298 a’, thereby placing it in Sect. I, has exactly the same shape, being in

fact, as I believe, nothing more than a colour-form of zzornata.

220. Leptomiza calcearia (Walk.)

Hyperythra calcearia, Walk., xx. 132 (1860) (szme loc.)

Hkamkawn, February 8, 1923, 12; Laukhaung, March 10, 1923, 14.

221. Ocoelophora lentiginosaria (Leech)

Collix lentiginosaria, Leech, Fut. Supp., p. 55 (1891) (Japan).

Hpimaw Fort, September 18, 1922,19; Htawgaw, July 1923, 12.

The Hpimaw specimen is very dark, too worn to say much about, but

apparently conspecific with the Htawgaw <1, which is a small example of the

widely distributed /eztzginosaria. ‘The Khasi form, which I erroneously called

maculifera (Seitz Macrolep., iv. 328) is perhaps racially separable, in which

case the Burmese examples would go with it. More material is wanted.

* 222. Ocoelophora agana, sp. n. (Pl. ii, Fig. 16).

¢@, 31 mm. Head and body concolorous with wings. Face mixed with black.

Forewing with termen smooth; Sctfree; pale grey, only at base of costa

slightly more rufescent (extreme costal edge here blackened); sparse dark

irroration, least sparse in proximal area; antemedian line consisting of large

blackish dots on veins and folds, only weakly outbent in ceil; cell-dot

obsolete; median liné only developed from M? to hindmargin, thickened

posteriorly, angled outward on SM? ; postmedian consisting of costal mark

and vein-dots, minutest on R?, R® and M?; radialand posterior spots beyond

about as in the allies ; terminal spots very weak, only discernible anteriorly.

Hindwing very feebly (scarcely) crenulate ; a small cell-dot; median shade

represented by patches of irroration at both margins; postmedian vein-dots

large on C and SC?, then small and weak, slightly connected by a line

posteriorly.

Underside similarly marked ; the rufous anterior flush of forewing (common

in the genus) rather extensive but not intensive.

Hpimaw Fort, early July 1923, the type only.

Distinguishable by its smooth termen, weak markings and more than usually

distal position of median shade.

* 223. Gonodontis bilinearia (Swinh.)

Crocallis bilinearia Swinh., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 423 (1889) (Kulu).

Kangfang, September-October 1923, 1 2. ;

The specimen is coarsely irrorated, agreeing with a ¢ from Jalauri Pass and

(except in its less bright ochreous colour) with a ¢ from Kujiar and a @

Goorais Valley, all in Coll. Brit. Mus. The species, which is otherwise

known to me from Sikkim and the Nagas, is moderately variable and possibly

embraces a mixture, f

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDZ — 1797

* 224. Gonodontis acutaria (Leech)

¥ Crocattis acutaria Leech, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) xix. 221 (1897) (Chang

ang).

Hpimaw Fort, August 9, 1923, 1 4, August 14-18, 1923, 1 ¢.

May prove to intergrade with heydena, Swinh. (Tr. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1894,

p. 203), from the Khasis. I have differentiated another race (?) from the

North-West Himalayas as contaminata (Seitz Macrolep. iv. 331, Pl. 16g).

* 225. Gonodontis insulata (Bastelb.)

Odontopera insulata, Bastelb., Ent. Zeit. ( Stuttg.) xxii. 77 (1909) (Formosa).

Gonodontis variegata, Wileman, The Entom. xliii. 348 (1910) (Formosa).

Htawgaw, September 16, 1922, 1 ¢.

A variable species. I believe—but do not yet feel entirely confident—that a

dark ¢ from Chungking (Széchuan) is conspecific with it and I associate with

this latter the Htawgaw specimen, which is a pretty ab., of a light violet-grey

tone, with the median area rather narrowly but brightly ochreous. The excision

is the termen of the forewing appears slightly less deep than in the typical

Formosan examples.

* 226. Gareus specularis Moore

Gareus specularis, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 623, Pl. xxii, Fie, 3

(1867) (Sikkim.)

Htawgaw, September 16, 1922, 1 9.

* 927. Gareus cruentatus Buti.

Gareus cruentatus, Butl., dun. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) vi. 224 (1810) (Sikkim).

Htawgaw, July 1923, 1 ¢.

* 228. Gareus apicata (Moore)

Auzea apicata, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 617 (1867) (Sikkim).

Htawgaw, July 1923, add; Hpimaw Fort, August 9, 1923; 1 4:

Range : North-West India to Burma. I have described (Arch. Nat., 77A, 10,

p. 290) a race from Formosa.

* 229. Pseudomiza argentilinea eugraphes Prout

Pseudomiza argentilinea eugraphes, Prout, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (9) xi, 320

(1923) (Htawgaw).

Htawgaw, August 22, 1922, the type ¢ only.

* 230. Pseudomiza cruentaria (Moore)

Cimicodes cruentaria, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 616 (1867) (Befigal)-

Htawegaw, early July 1923, 2, Lo, Septembér-Octabey 1923, 1 Q.

The late specimen belongs to the form flavescens Swinh. (Ann. Mag. Nat.

Hist. (7) xvii, 284) = serinaria Th.—Mieg (Misc. Ent. xxii, 43), (syn. n.).

On the range and variation I have a brief note in Seitz’s ‘Macrolepidoptera,

vol. iv, p. 328.

* 231. Pseudomiza castanearia (Moore)

Cimicodes castanearia, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 616, Pl. xxxii,

Fig. 1 (1809) (Sikkim).

Htawgaw, October 14, 1923, 1 ¢.

* 232. Polyscia ochrilinea (Watr.)

Polyscia ochrilinéa, Warr., Nov. Zool. iii, 148 (1896) (Khasis).

Laukhaung, March 6, 1923, 1 2.

* 233. =<Auaxa kaluga Swinh.

Anaxa [ex. err.] kaluga Swinh., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) vi. 308 (1900)

(Jaintia Hills).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1 Q.

798. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATCRAL GIST SOCIETY | Vole Xd

The specimen is heavily marked, like cesadaria, Walk. (List Lep. Ins., xx,

271), of which kaluga may be a race, the chief difference being in the

postmedian line ; cesadaria extends from Japan to West China, kaluga is

known from the Khasis and I have one Q—also slightly transitional towards

cesadaria—from Vrianatong, Tibet.

* 234. Gunophos cinerea (Butl.)

Pseudasthena cinerea, Butl., ll/. Het. vii. 108, Pl. cxxxvi, Fig. 13 (1889)

(Dharmsala).

Htawgaw, August-September 1923, 1 ¢; Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 19.

A fairly common mountain species, Kumaon, Sikkim, Assam ; in West China

represented by /zlliputata, Pouj. (Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., 1895, p. 308, Pl. vi.

Bic, 7, 7a).

* 235. Gnophos approximaria Leech

Gnophos approximaria, Leech, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6), xix. 327 (1897)

(W. China).

Fenshuiling Pass (4 miles from), early July 1923, 1.

* 230. >, Clenornophos meiorid, spe De (Pla is. 12)

3, 62-64 mm. Head blackish brown; vertex with some pale admixture.

Antenna pectinate to slightly nearer the apex than in the allies (66 or 67

pectinations, reckoning to the last definitely projecting tooth), the branches

light reddish brown. Thorax and abdomen concolorous with wings. Hindtibia

not dilated. Wings shaped as in ventraria Guen. (Spec. Gen. Lép. ix. 294).

Forewing with SC* shortly stalked with SC?, anastomosing with C; deep

plumbeous grey (in the darker ab. almost black), with a rather ill-defined

pale, brown-mixed area corresponding almost exactly to the slightly more

ochreous area of ventraria, but a little ampler in its triangular costal part;

this area, as in ventraria, marked with small dark strigule (which in the

middle part tend to break up into dots) and with some slight brown shading

on the veins, at the edge of the median shade and towards the apex; cell-

mark elongate; lines crenulate, black, both about as in eolaria, Guen. (Spec.

Gén. Lép. ix. 294), but not arising from costal spots, the postmedian slightly

more distally placed ; subterminal pale line obsolescent, broken into spots ;

terminal dark line scarcely differentiated ; fringe dark, with a faintly paler line

at base. AH/indwing almost entirely clouded with dark plumbeous grey ; cell-dot

indicated ; a slight cloudy median shade beyond postmedian line as in eolarza,

but slightly more distally placed ; subterminal and termina! as on forewing.

Underside grey, with some dark irroration ; both wings with black cell-mark

(on forewing elongate) and postmedian vein-dots, scarcely connected by: a fine

and faint line; an ill-defined dark smoky distal band, darkest proximally to

the subterminal, well separated from the postmedian, on forewing leaving free

a small quadrate apical patch, on hindwing weak and narrow, subterminal,

almost obsolete in posterior half.

Hpimaw Fort, September 18, 1922 (type), September 24, 1922 (paratype).

An interesting link between ventraria and eolaria, though Jarger than

either.

* 237. LEnantiodes consanguinea, sp.n. (PI. ii, Fig. 10.)

3, 36 mm. Close to the genotype, stellzfera, Warr. (ov. Zool. iii. 133)

possibly a remarkable aberration of it.

Slightly broader winged, median line of forewing and postmedian of both

wings more distally placed, the postmedian slightly less sinuate, the white

subterminal spot of forewing obsolescent.

Fenshuiling Pass, early July 1923, the type only.

238. Lctropis conjunctaria (Leech) (?).

Boarmia conjunctaria, Leech, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist, (6). xix. 344 (1897)

(Ta-chien-lu.)

Htawgaw, early July 1923, 1 Q.

Provisionally regarded as a small dark form of this species, or at least of

the 2 which Leech, not quite convincingly, mates therewith. Cloudy dark

borders beneath—especially on forewing—more strongly developed than in

Leech’s 2. ‘

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDZ 799

239. LEctropis nigrosparsa, Wileman and South (form ?)

Ectropis nigrosparsa Wileman and South, the Entom. 1, 54 (1917) (Formosa).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1 Q.

Another provisional determination, the specimen being rubbed, the ¢

wanting. In any case not closely like the Formosan type.

240. Fctropis sp. (?)

Hparé, 19, September 1923.

I at first thought this specimen, also rubbed, might possibly represent a

second-brood form of the preceding, but the palpus seems shorter and

darker and SC?t:? of the forewing are short-stalked, not—as in that~—

separate.

* 241. Ectropis cyclophora (Hmpsn.)

Boarmia cyclophora, Hmpsn., Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., xiv. 504 (1902)

(Sikkim).

Hpimaw Fort; August, 9-13, 1923, 1 2.

So far as I am aware this is only the second known specimen of the

species.

+ PAZ... LEGLYOPIS GhYYSOLCUCLG, -Sp. i. -( Pls 77, Hig 22).

©, 36 mm. Head buff, mixed with bright golden vellow. Palpus rather

short, predominantly blackish fuscous. Antenna minutely pubescent; buff,

dark-spotted. Thorax above predominantly golden yellow; abdomen above

varied with whitish buff, golden yellow and dark fuscous. Foretibia,

foretarsus and midtarsus darkened, with pale spots at ends of joints ;

hindtarsus more slightly darkened.

Forewing broad, termen curved, anteriorly scarcely oblique; SC?

coincident, stalked with SC *>; bright golden yellow, with black irrora-

tion ; markings black ; cell-spot slightly elongate ; antemedian bent outward

at both folds, inward at SM ?; median well beyond cell-spot, distinct at

costa, then rather deeply dentate but aimost obsolete, rather near the

postmedian ; postmedian spotted on veins, subobsolete between; a dentate

subterminal indicated bya sprinkling of whitish scales and by some black

irroration, especially proximally ; this irroration develops into aspot at R°-

M? and smaller and weaker ones at costa and behind M?; termen with black

interneural spots; fringe weakly spotted opposite the veins. A/indwing

ample; termen scarcely crenulate except in middle, a slight curve inward

between the radials; concolorous with forewing; cell-spot rather larger ;

tnedian line just proximal to it, straightish to fold, then rather more oblique

outward ; postmedian slightly incurved between R* and M?; subterminal

appearing double—or broadened and with some black spots in its middle.

Underside glossy greyish, with a slight fleshy tinge; cell-spots strong ;

median line present on both wings, that of forewing only just beyond cell-

spot ; postmedian of both wings marked by dots on the veins; distal area

broadly, but not solidly, suffused with dark smoke-grey.

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, the type only.

(Zo be continued.)

REVIEWS

GOLD FISH CULTURE FOR AMATEURS by A, E, Hodge, =, Z:'s,

and Arthur Durham.

This book illustrated with photographs and text figures, solves the question

in a practical way as to whether Gold Fish can be bred in an aquarium. It

begins with the history of the Gold Fish, and then gives a description of the

various varieties with illustrations to enable the novice to distinguish one from

the other. It deals fully with the setting up of a stock tank, with sexing and

pairing, and rearing of the fry. Various methods by which culture of natural

food,e.g. Bloodworms and Daphine, can be obtained are given in the Chapter

on ‘ Foods and Feeding.’ A brief description is given of the diseases to which

Gold Fish are commonly subject, and of their treatment so as to enable the

novice to diagnose and cure the ailments of his own stock.

To the amateur the book is specially recommended, to the expert fancier it

will be an addition to his knowledge, and to one who has no pastime, it may

teach how to spend some of his leisure hours.

The book is published by H. F. and G. Witherby; 326, High Holborn,

London, W. C. 1 and is priced 5s.

HAMID KHAN, M. Sc.,

Superintendent of Fisheries,

Punjab, Lahore.

BIG GAME HUNTING IN THE HIMALAYAS AND TIBET by Major

Gerald Burrard, D. Ss. 0., R. F. A. With illustrations and maps. (Herbert

Jenkins, London.)

Major Burrard has given ts a very interesting book, and one which contains

much advice of value to the big game hunter.

It is a pity however, that he has included a chapter on the tiger and on some

other animals from Burma, which can hardly be considered as coming under

the heading of either the Himalayas or Tibet. Again the chapter on the

leopard is almost entirety written with reference to the plains of India; no

mention being made of the most sporting method of shooting them, namely

tracking them up in snow, and which can only be carried out in the hills.

It is also to be regretted that the author has not dealt with the various species

of animals in some sort of systematic order.

The maps showing the distribution of some of the animals are useful, but the

author should have checked his information when fixing the boundaries of

Burhel and Ovis ammon hodgsont ; Burhel extend W. of the Zanskar River and

70 miles W. of Leh in both the Indus and Shyok Valleys. The reviewer has

shot them in all three places. It is also hard to understand why that very

interesting river the Chenab has been omitted in this map.

Ovis ammon are found considerably further W. in the Indus and Zanskar

River catchment areas than the author is evidently aware of.

It is evident that Major Burrard has but a slight acquaintance with Kashmir,

and though his advice to beginners as to seeking new ground is excellent, he is

evidently not aware that much of the country he recommends is now very

difficult of access, owing to recent legislation having caused transport to become

almost unobtainable.

The hints on care of rifles are excellent.

The photographs illustrating the book are of high quality, but would have

been improved by the introduction of some more photos of big game, or their

substitution for some of those of scenery.

C.H.S,

REVIEWS 801

THE JOURNAL OF THE DARJEELING NATURAL HISTORY

SOCIETY, VoLumE I No. 1, (Issued June 1926), Edited. by C. M. Inglis

BiZ.Se; ae. Si) MiaB.O, Us

The Darjeeling Natural History Society, which was started about the end of

1923, with the object of maintaining the Museum in proper condition, promoting

the study of Natural History, and for the purpose of getting together as complete

as possible collections of Natural History specimens from a limited area

including the civil districts of Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling and the State of

Sikkim as well as what could be procured from the neighbouring countries of

Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal, has just published the first number of its Journal,

which forms a very welcome addition to our literature, and Mr. C. M. Inglis as

editor, is proof enough of its soundness.

The editor starts a series of articles on the Game Birds of Sikkim with the

Bengal Green Pigeon (Cvocopus phenicopterus phenicopterus). He notes it is

entirely a plain species and then quotes Stuart Baker who says it ascends the

hills to 4,000 ft. in exceptional cases. In the Simla hills it is found, in one

favoured spot at least, up to 3,500 ft. Probably the ripening fruits of the Pipul

and Banyan trees attract it. ;

A portion of the Journal is devoted to the description of new sub-species of

birds found within its ‘sphere of influence’ described in the Bulletin of the

British Ornithologists’ Club, and the notes on Puepyga squamata, Gould., the

Scaly-beilied Wren, are specially interesting as they corroborate what we have

long suspected to be the case.

A number of very interesting Miscellaneous Notes are followed by an Editorial

which enumerates the contributions received by the Museum since December

15, 1925, including 159 specimens of small man:mals presented by the Bombay

Natural History Society from the collections made by our Mammal Survey

within that area. These consist of 72 species of which 50 were not represented

in the Museum before.

Though the beginning is a small one (the present number being one of only

14 pages, 8” & 5”) the Journal has started on the right road by appealing to

sportsmen and bird-lovers in general, as well as tothe Scientific Naturalist,

and we offer our best wishes for its success, both to the Society and to the

Editor who is one of our oldest members and a member of our Managing

Committee.

Svs Ural

THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON by E. Blatter, s.J.,

Ph. D., F.L.S. i-xxviiit600 pp., 106 Plates, 2 Maps, 49 Figures in the text

(Oxford University Press, 1926). Price Rs. 30.

We have been looking forward to the publication of this volume for a

considerable time. The readers of our journal will remember that Father

Blatter published a series of articles on the Palms of British India and Ceylcn

between the years 1910-1918. In the meantime the author has gathered new

material, a number of inaccuracies have been corrected, and the general arrange-

ment has been changed in various places.

Though the palms from such a prominent feature of the flora of British

(India, and in spite of the fact that a great number of foreign palms have been

introduced from all parts of the world by curators of botanical gardens as well

as by horticulturists and amateurs, we had so far no book tnat told us anything

about the palms which are not indigenous to the Indian soil. The palms form

a difficult group not only to the layman but even to the professional systema-

tist. The difficulty is increased if we are confronted with palms of which

nobody knows either the origion or name ; and even if you are lucky enough to

discover a label in some botanical garden which tells you that the palm came

originally fron: Australia or South America, there is absolutely no means for

most people in India to obtain further information on the object in which they

are interested.

Father Blatter’s volume has done away with these difficulties. It contains

practically everything that can be said on the palms at present growing in

India and Ceylon, either wild or cultivated, The indigenous palms had received

caretul attention by botanists before, beginning with Griffith in 185C down to

802 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

the completion of Hooker’s Flora of British India and the authoritative

Monographs of Beccari and Mortalli on certain groups of palms. But the

foreign palms were entirely neglected. We have to thank Father Blatter for

having undertaken the laborious task of wading through such an amount of

literature as is indicated in his extensive bibliography, in order to present us with

acomplete account of our palm-flora. Representatives of almost forty genera

which are not Indian have been described. ‘The mere descriptions, however,

being of a strictly scientific character, would scarcely have appealed to the

layman. The popular element has been supplied by over 100 excellent full-

page plates and numerous figures in the text which will enable even the

amateur to arrive at the correct identification of his nameless favourites.

Notes on gardening are numerous, and the economic side of palm-trees has

been treated extensively. Those who are anxious to have still more information

on certain points will find the up-to-date bibliography a reliable guide.

Even the ‘human side’ of the palm-tribe has not been overlooked. Many

an interesting legend and story are told which go to show what part the palm

has played in the life and history of the human race,

RAs

A HANDBOOK OF THE BIRDS OF EASTERN CHINA by J. D. D.

La Touche (Taylor and Francis, London). Part III. May 1926.

We are glad to record the appearance of Part III of Mr. La Touche’s

Handbook to the Birds of Eastern China, of which the publication of the first

two parts has already been noticed in the Journal. The new part deals with

the families Pericrocotidee, Artamidee Dicruride, Sylvide, Regulide,

Oriolide, Eulabetidze and Sturnide all of which are familiar to the student of

Indian Ornithology. One new race Cisticola exilis courtoist is described on

p. 237 from S. Yunnan, and on p. 224 Mr. La Touche has separated and

described a specimen of Locustella certhiola from Chinwangtao which on

account of its wing formula he is unable to attribute to any named form ;

he has Lowever as yet hesitated to name it. The account of all four races

of Locustella certhiola is largely based on Dr. Sushkin’s exami ation of this

interesting group and should be consulted by any Indian student who tackles

these difficult birds. No races have been recognized in the new edition of our

Fauna.

Mr. La Touche not only recognizes Acanthopneuste as separable from

Phylloscopus, but further diminishes the latter by the recognition of the genus

Oreopneuste, which we consider rather unnecessary. Otherwise his treatment

of the families enumerated above follows the recognized lines that we are

accustomed to in the new edition of the Fauna.

As in previous parts there are two good plates of photographs to illustrate

typical bits of country in Eastern China, and in addition there is a clear and

well-printed sketch map of China and the neighbouring countries, extending

as far west as Bhutan. Detail has rather been sacrificed to clearness, but

we think with advantage ; while the division between Paleearctic and Oriental

Eastern China has been admirably indicated in colour.

In conclusion we may heartily congratulate Mr. La Touche on this further

instalment of his book.

H. W.

EDITORIAL

GAME PRESERVATION

During the last two years we have received a large number of interesting

letters on the subject of Preservation of Big Game in India.

The correspondence originated with a letter from a member of the Society

living in Southern India, who gave a most depressing account of the state of

affairs in the Nelliampathy Hills and suggested that the Society should take

early steps to urge the Government to legislate with a view to saving the game

from extermination.

On receiving this letter we wrote to a number of Forest Officials and

experienced shikaries, asking for their opinions, both as to the state of the

Big Game in various parts of India and the best method of preserving it. In

nearly every case we received a lengthy and most interesting reply, while,

though opinions varied in one particular, the general purport of the letters

agreed to a very great extent.

The first point to emerge was that the present state of the big game is, taken

ail round, decidedly good, though in some localities there has been a serious

depletion, amounting-in one or two cases to almost complete disappearance.

It has aiso been evident from most of the letters received, that we must

now expect a steady diminution of the game in most parts of India.

The adverse factor to the existence of game is almost without exception,

man. Rinderpest in Peninsular India has accounted for large numbers of

bison and buffalo, while foot and mouth disease killed many. Ovis ammon

in the higher hills.

Man affects the existence of game in two ways. First, as a settler clearing

the forest and driving the game completely from its habitat by grazing cattle.

In this case it is evident that the game must go, and it appears that it is this

which is seriously affecting the existence of the game in parts of Assam, which

was, up to quite recently, one of the best big game countries of the world. It

appears, however, that this is not at present affecting the game to any great

extent in other parts of India.

It is as a poacher that man is the great destroyer.

In considering how to deal with the problem of the native who kills game,

the first thing to be considered is his reason for doing it, and three reasons

immediately appear. These are first for profit, in order that he may sell the

meat, hide and horns, and this would appear by far the most common one.

The second is, for the meat only, and this is not so common.

The third reason, is to protect his crops, and no one can possibly complain

of an agriculturist in any part of the world protecting his property in such

a way.

The increase in the number of gun licenses issued has had a most fatal

influence on the existence of game in many districts. It is not that the

licensees themselves have done the actual damage, but that they have a habit

of lending or hiring out their weapons to others. In many cases it is the

custom for dear old Indian gentlemen whose figure puts out of the

question their personally taking an active part in hunting, to send out their

retainers with a gun to kill game for them, regardless of season, sex or size ;

and there is no doubt that by stopping this abuse of a gun license granted

as a personal privilege, much game would be saved. It is very often for

the purpose of such household use that gun licenses are applied for.

Such action would not however affect the poacher who poaches for pecuniary

profit, and from a large number of the letters received, it is evident that the

buyer is the person to get at.

Take this extract from a letter referring to the Eastern Ghats. ‘ Thereis no

doubt that there has been a lamentable decrease in head of game... there

has been a great increase in the export of skins, principally bison, buffalo and

sambhar. ‘This I believe to be the principal reason for the decrease in game.

Local dealers finance the village shikari providing him with guns and

ammunition,’

804. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL FIST. SOGEIN | Wolo ee

This is an example of what undoubtedly occurs in other parts of India also.

Bison, sambhar and cheetal hides are openly bought and sold in many

bazars, and there is nothing to prevent it.

The sale of trophies is also carried on in Bombay, Calcutta, Rawalpindi and

many other big towns.

If the poacher is deprived of his market, the temptation to kill is largely

removed, and it would appear that there could be no possible objection to a

general law throughout India forbidding the sale of any portion of a big game

animal hide, horns or meat, with an adequate penalty for breaking it. It is no

use imposing a fine of Rs. 5 while a bison hide fetches Rs. 25 and a Sambhar

hide Rs. 15.

Such a law in no way interferes with the right of a ryot to protect his crops.

It should however, still be possible for Forest Officers to continue the sale of

shed horns. It is easy for them to see whether a horn has been shed naturally

or not.

The formation of sanctuaries is the principal point on which the letters

differ. Where recommended the suggestion is always qualified by the remark

that they are expensive; as, to be effective, they must be well guarded by

unbribab'e Game Wardens, and this is put forward as an insuperable objection

by several. The majority are of the opinion that existing Reserved Forests are

sufficient sanctuaries in themselves, and the general consensus of opinion is

that the license holder is of considerable assistance in Game preservation. In

this connection it might be remembered what has happened on nullahs being

closed in Kashmir for a long period as sanctuaries : they have almost invariably

been found almost empty of Game on being re-opened, closing them having

proved to benefit the poacher only. This is the almost inevitable fate of any

sanctuary in India, unless unbribable game watchers are found at very high

rates of pav. As there is no prospect of such paragons ever being discovered

without the expenditure of money never likely to be available, the provision of

sanctuaries may be relegated to the dim future.

There is again the effect of preservation on the Forest itself. Bison and

Sambhar both do a great deal of damage to young teak and other valuable

timber trees, and must be kept within bounds. A sanctuary to be effective

must be big, and there are few places where the Forest Department can afford

to setaside a large tract of forest as a sanctuary.

One correspondent draws attention to the balance being upset in another

direction, and gives figures to support bis contention that tigers have taken to

man-eating much more of late years in the Northern Circars owing to the

decrease in their natural food, namely deer, at the hands of poachers.

To summarize the impression gained from the letters read it appears that

what is principally needed is a law forbidding the sale of any part of a big

game animal (carnivora excepted) save by a Forest Officer in the public

interest. An adequate penalty to be enforced.

Secondly that the use of a gun except by the license holder in person be

strictly fobidden and penalties exacted.

It only remains for us to accord our most grateful thanks to all those who

have answered our letters and for the care and trouble they have taken in

doing so.

MR. B. C. ELLISON

We are pleased to welcome back to India Mr. B. C. Ellison, from November

1920 to August 1923, Curator of the Society’s Museum. Mr. Ellison was Curator

at atime of flux—when the old order was changing, giving place to the new.

He had to plan the move of the Society’s Collections from their old home in 6

Apollo Street to the Prince of Wales’ Museum. He had to plan for the change

from asmall private Museum open only to a few—and that few interested,

educated and knowledgable—to a public Museum open to the many—those many

having to be made interested, and this the more difficult because the many were

uneducated and not knowledgable. The change has been a great one as all

members who knew the old and have seen the new will testify. Much remains

to be done and further on we refer to Mr. Ellison’s successor’s views as to

what the ideal public Museum should be. As Mr. Ellison watches the progress

of the Museum he will think with pride on the share he took in setting it

on its present foundation,

ee . EDITORIAL 805

Mr. Ellison may best be remembered for his work as Naturalist to His Royal

Highness the Prince of Wales during H.R.H’s shooting expeditions in India,

He has placed on record—and well placed too—the shikar experiences of H.R.H.

and party, and his book Azs Royal Highness the Prince of Wales’s Sport in

India, edited by Sir H. Perry Robinson, K.B.k., etc. with an introduction by

the Earl of Cromer, G.C.1I.Ez., etc., is well worth buying and reading. It

should find a place in every Mess ante-room and Club Library.

‘Mr. Ellison left India in March 1523 because he seemed to bea chronic

sufferer from Malaria. He never seemed to be able to throw it off in Bombay

but he has returned to India cured, and we hope during his tenour of office as

Game Warden in Bhopal State he will be immune from his old enemy. We

look forward to much help and assistance from him, and his successor and

erstwhile assistant will, we know, be glad to hear of his close proximity to

Bombay.

MR. PRATER IN AMERICA

We said in our last editorial that on Ist June our Curator, Mr. S. H. Prater,

left Bombay on deputation to America to study the latest methods in Museum

management now in vogue in ‘ God’s own domains.’

We have since had a number of very interesting letters from Prater in which

he waxes eloquent over American Museums, Methods and Money, and in fact

over America itself and nearly everything American.

Writing on the 26th July from the American Museum of Natural History,

New York, which has his first ‘ objective’, he says, ‘Iam at present engaged

in helping to mount an Indian Elephant by the new process which is quite

different from any of the methods adopted in England and yields infinitely

better results. It is all intensely interesting and some of the features of this

Museum are an absolute revelation to me in Museum methods. They have

developed the ‘‘group’’ system to a fine art and some of these exhibits area

triumph of art and technique. I propose working at the American Museum

till the end of August and while here will take in the Brooklyn Museum and

the Children’s Museum. I will also makeastudy of the educational pro-

grammes and hope to bring back information that will be of value to our work

in Bombay. Sometime in September, I shall go to the Field Museum at

Chicago and also visit the Museums at Milwaukee and Denver—which are

smaller Provincial Museums, but which are nevertheless excellent as types of

well conducted small Museums. These are my main plans. I shall leave

New York for London on the 6th October, spend 3 or 4 weeks in London and

then go to Berlin and travel south via Leipzig, Munich, Frankfurt and

Vienna.’

He continues on 2nd August thus : ‘ The more I study the methods and policy

of this Museum the more I realize how very much the Museums in America

diverge from the old accepted standards of Museum exhibition. The whole

idea behind the policy here is to reveal nature and the truths of nature ina

way in which the average visitor can and will understand it—not as the

Curator thinks he ought to understand it. The Curator by his training and

study has, or ought to have, a deeper and wider conception of the subject, but

to endeavour to foist this conception on the untrained mind of the visitor is

beginning at the wrong’end of the stick. He must be led up to it by stages, by

an arousing of his interest, by revealing some little bit of nature to him in a

manner that he is familiar with ;—everybody has seen bull frogs in the

monsoon—put up a frog pooi—illustrate the various stages in the life history of

the frog, then show this in surroundings which are easily recognizable. Then

you have something which will catch the eye—which will teach your visitor

that frogs go through a series of changes from the egg to the adult. In this

same group, on the leaves overhanging the pool, you can put ina tree frog and

you will show adaptation to particular needs by revealing just how the padded

toes of the tree frog enable him to sit securely on his unsteady perch—combine

this exhibit with a classified set showing various species of frogs, and in a small

space you have heen able to give your visitor a much clearer lesson than rows

and rows of stuffed frogs on shelves would have done. You can develop this

method indefinitely. A group with say Lycodon aulicus, the eggs and afew

young ones, and say an adult scaling upa sheer straight surface, will reveal

that snakes are born from eggs, that adults differ from young in colouration

and that a reptile, though limbless, can climb—illustrate the last point bya

806° JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORALSHIST. SOCIETY, Vole XO

diagram showing just how the ribs are attached to the ventral scales to help

the reptile in climbing and you have your lesson. Above all it will be

important to combine utility with art ; in such a representation the artistic and

the beautiful will always attract. Now in the arrangement of my Mammal

Gallery I have made classification the leading motif in the arrangement—

classification is of interest to the taxonomist but of little interest to the average

visitor. I donot for a moment wish to belittle the importance of classifica-

tion—it is the foundation of the science of Biology, but I believe now that in

the arrangement of a Gallery for the public the classification of Mammals

might be made subordinate to other features in the life of mammals—features

that would make a greater appeal to the visitor and interest him a great deal

more. lam now making plans for the arrangement of this Gallery and with

your approval and helpI hope to be able to carry them through and to make

that gallery something really beautiful and something that our Society will be

proud of. Iam sure that I shall be able to put up some really beautiful groups

at a comparatively smallcost. I am going very closely into the technique and

the details of group making. I have learnt the art of giving sunset and dawn

and moonlight effects—very beautiful in a group—-these are quite simple after

one has learnt how to do it.’

Again in his letter of the 19th August he says, ‘ What has impressed me most

in this Institution is its ideal of ‘‘ service’’ to the people; it is seeking every

channel of activity whereby its utility might be increased ; working with all the

ingenuity, skill and resource at its disposal for their betterment. This

Museum speaks to its visitors in terms they can understand, revealing nature

in all its beauty and charm, showing them another world in which the ideals

which seem so much to them are void of meaning and consequence. This

interests them, awakens them, educates them. It is a method that Museums

in other countries might well adopt—getting away from artificiality and

ugliness—striving after beauty—beauty in the design of a gallery—beauty in

the harmonious grouping of its cases, replacing drabness with colour and life,

aiming not only at the pictorial in the treatment of an individual exhibit but

also the aesthetic in the composition of a whole group of exhibits. This much

I have learnt, namely that the purpose of a Museum is to encourage the obser-

vant powers, and its success is measured by its power of arousing new thoughts

in the mind of the visitor and the greater number it can reach the greater its

SUCCESS.

It is not only by its exhibits that this Museum serves its public but by its

very comprehensive and far-reaching educational service. I have been going

into the details of this work with Dr. Fisher, the head of the Department of

Education in the Museum. This service not only aims at making good

naturalists but also at making good citizens. We in Bombay can do a great

deal in this way—the Museum should be a centre for the diffusion of knowledge

affecting every phase of the citizens’ life. We have a Municipality; it has a

health department and a water department. What just these departments are

doing they can tell us and we can tell the people, by means of illustrated

lectures, how the drinking water supply of the city is maintained; the im-

portance of purity, health, and sanitation, how this is achieved and what is

being done to achieve it. As regards the work of the Parel Laboratory, of the

Improvement Trust, of the Agricultural Department, of tne Forest Department,

of the great Industrial Concerns, the heads of these should be asked to

co-operate by providing material for lectures. The field is infinite—there is

History and Geography and a thousand other things to tell people about and

which they would be interested to know. The Museum should have a distinct

department of education which should organize this work. It is something

for the Trustees to think about and consider. I will endeavour to draw up

concise reports of the various phases of Museum work for the Committee on

my return.’ 5 han

From his previous visit to some of the Museums in Great Britain, Prater has

demonstrated to us that he is capable not only of absorbing new ideas but

also of developing and putting them into use in a practical and efficient

manner and we are looking forward to his return and to the revolution that

will result in consequence in the Natural History Section of the Prince of

Wales’ Museum. cn

It is however gratifying to note that Prater realizes fully that the limits to

our supply of the ‘ vernacular dollar’ are so clearly demarcated, but we think

EDITORIAL 807

he can be depended upon to take the fullest advantage of the Liliputian re-

sources we shall be able to place at his disposal.

We are in full accord with the ideals of the American Museuin, namely, that

a Museum—and especially a Natural History Museum—should play a much

larger part in the education of the youth of a city. A beginning in this

direction is being made by us sometime early next month when a number of

local. schools will send classes of children for instruction in Nature Study, to

our Section of the Museum. The beginning will be a small one but it is

hoped that in course of time and with the help of Prater’s advice and sugges-

tions we shall be able to develop this into a really useful department of educa-

tion and run it more or less on the lines found to yield the best results in

America and Europe.

SHIKAR STORIES

We have recently received through Lt.-Col. R.L. Kennion, some pages from the

‘ Shooting Times’ containing, in an article entitled ‘ Through the Indian Jun-

gle by Motor’, by Mr G. H. Knowles, a remarkable account of a tiger imitat-

ing the bellowing challenge of a bull (in this case one of the half wild cattle of

northern Oudh) and so calling up a fine bull and killing it. ‘It is further recount-

ed how the tiger, to render the deception more complete, threw up dust with

its feet, to imitate the pawing of the ground by a bull.

It is related that this incident was witnessed by the writer and three other

Englishmen, who, between them, killed the tiger.

Col. Kennion wrote to the ‘ Shooting Times’ to enquire whether the story

(which was written in rather florid style), was intended to be a strictly accurate

account of the event related, but the author’s reply, published in the same

number of the paper as Col. Kennion’s letter, is evasive and unsatisfactory.

We have submitted the story to two very experienced big game hunters, one

of whom knows northern Oudh extremely well, and they agree that such an

occurrence as is described is quite outside their knowledge and experience of the

animals concerned.

Mr. Knowles, in his original story, cites the ‘Sambhar’ call of thetiger as

being used to call up sambhar to be killed. It is generally agreed however, that

this call of the tiger is certainly not made for this purpose, and that there is no

evidence to support this contention.

The statement added by Mr. Knowles that tiger also call up chital in the same

way comes to our notice for the first time, and we should like to have further

evidence as to the tiger imitating the ‘ bray’ of a chital stag, before accepting

this as a zoological fact.

It isa pity that, in answer to Lt.-Col. Kennion’s query, Mr. Knowles has not

made a definite statement as to the exactness of his story, or referred to any of

the other English witnesses to corroborate’ him.

Perhaps this may catch the eye of one of them, and, in that case, we hope he

will let us have further information on the subject.

SIR SASSOON DAVID, BART., K.c.S.1.

It is with a feeling of deep regret that we have to record the death on 27th

September of Sir Sassoon David, Bart. K.c.S.1.

Sir Sassoon’s philanthropy and his open handed generosity in the cause of

education is well known, and though not a member of this Society he was a

true benefactor and took a keen interest in its welfare.

This was evinced recently by the munificent donation of Rs. 6,000 he made

towards the first year’s salary and expenses of the Guide Lecturer in Natural

History appointed at the Prince of Wales’ Museum.

Sir Sassoon was one of the original promulgators of the idea cf having a

Museum in Bombay worthy of her place amongst the foremost cities of the

Empire and it is partly due to his efforts and enthusiasm that we find the Prince

of Wales’ Museum in existence to-day. It is to him also that we owe the beauti-

ful statue in the Museum Grounds, of the King Emperor erected in commemora-

tion of his visit to this city as Prince of Wales in 1905, when he laid the foun-

dation-stone of the Museum,

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

No. I.—A PANTHER SHOOT AT SEA

(With a photo)

The following rather curious case of a Panther being shot at sea may interest

your readers.

In February last a small Pettamar, of about 60 tons, anchored off the Port

of Mangaiore and sent ashore two of the crew to report to the Port Officer,

Mr. Sims, that they had that morning been attacked by a ‘Tiger’ on board.

One man had been scragged down the face and breast, and the other had half

his scalp removed.

As Mr. Sims asked me to accompany him out to the ship I witnessed what

subsequently occurred. On arrival at the Pattamar we found she was five

days out from a Port south of Bombay where she had loaded salt. They had

not touched at any other port. _That morning when a member of the crew had

gone to the forepart of the ship (which is covered in for about 18 feet). for

firewood, he was attacked by the ‘Tiger’; a friend who went to his help also

got scalped.

We found the Pattamar, with the balance of the crew of six men still aboard,

was loaded from keel to gunwale with bags of salt. There was a space forward

where they kept firewood and in which we were told was a tiger. They had

GT SR

Sete

nee

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 809

been at sea with it for five days and never knew it was there till that

morning.

After some time we managed to get the panther to move, it crawled into

the light and suddenly raised its head between two pieces of timber. Mr. Sims

then shot it in the head, between ear and eye, with a .320 revolver.

It proved to be a full grown male panther, measuring between pegs

5 feet 9 inches.

In Canarese these panthers are called ‘Ni Kurukers,’ living chiefly on dogs

and small game.

At the port where the salt was loaded the boats go up a creek and tie up

along side. The panther presumably got on board just before they put off,

and crawled into the first available lair, which was on top of the stock cf

firewood. As the stock got reduced, the man who went for it daily at length

came within striking distance of the panther and was caught.

The two wounded men were in hospital for over a fortnight, but eventually

pulled round.

MANGALORE, N. KIRWAN.

August 4, 1926.

[It would be interesting to learn what this panther was after, and what

induced it literally to embarit upon such a novel undertaking! An instance is

related by Sir Samuel Baker of a tiger, during an inundation of the Brahmapvutra,

having climbed up in the night on the high rudder of a vessel much to ithe

discomfiture of the native steersman when he beheld the visitor in the morning.

In the uproar and confusion that followed the startling discovery, the tiger leaped

from the rudder on to the barge which was lashed to the steamer, and having

knocked over two men in its panic-stricken onset, bounded off the flat and

sought security upon the deck of the steamer alongside, where he was eventually

shot in the paddle-box. Eps. ]

No. II.—THE BREEDING HABITS OF THE PANTHER (FELIS PARDUS)

Could you kindly inform me whether it is customary in felines for the males

and females to remain in company after the latter become pregnant, and if

so, for how long? I am sending you under separate parcel a bottle containing

three cubs taken from the mother’s womb, a couple of days ago, and would

like very much to know how long she could have carried them.

This panther, together with a maie, had beea ‘carrying on’ for at least

three days, on a hillside not half a mile from my house. I received khubbar

about 3 p.m. and went out at once, to find a crowd of people looking on

from immediately below the cave; there were quite 15 men, women and children,

to say nothing of cattle grazing within 100 yards.

I was assured that the beasts had been chasing each other and playing a

sort of hide and seek, from one cave to another, the whole morning, and

making an appalling noise, and nobody had come to me as they heard I was

in camp.

I climbed up to a point just opposite the cave, and within 15 minutes saw

one beast bound from an upper to a lower cave, and a few seconds later the

second one came up from some rocks below, and lay flat in front of the cave

where the other had gone, and uttered a deep gurgle. I fired and she rolled

down without a sound and lay in the nallah. I waited for an hour but the

male did not put in an appearance, so I went home, had tea, and came back,

leaving some men to talk and make a noise while I was away.

On my return they (the men) disappeared and all was quiet, and I saw the

panther very stealthily come to the mouth of the cave and sit down, but all

I could see was what looked like a handful of oak leaves.

Suddenly he looked straight at me and began slinking back, so, as the

light was going, I took a snap at his head and missed. There was not a

sound or sign of anything for about five minutes, when he suddenly showed up

again, but this time with a bound and was gone, and a hurried snapshot again

had no effect. I saw him no more, but three shepherds that were watching

said he went off at a slow walk and appeared to be in no hurry.

810 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

I know that panthers are very daring at such times and are by no means

difficult to approach, but to be watched by some 15 people at well under a 100

yards, with no jungle to speak of, is surely a bit of an achievement even

among panthers, and is not the condition of the female and her share in the

verformance somewhat extraordinary?

EGERTON HALL, DHARMSALA CANTT, C. H. DONALD.

March 27, 1926.

[The three foetuses received from Mr. Donald appear to be about a fortnight old.

According to Dunbar Brander the male panther remains with the female

throughout the gestation period until the cubs are born, but as to their actually

‘carrying on’ after insemination and for how long after, is an open question

to which we would invite enlightenment from other sportsmen who may have

had some experience on this point. It is certainly not usual for the female to

mate until she is in a ‘tumescent’ state which occurs chiefly at the commence-

ment of the breeding season only. EDs. |

No. 1I].—A TIGRESS WITH FIVE CUBS

On an evening in January, 1925, Lt.-Col. H. D. of Wellington and I were

about to sit up over a tiger’s kill when we received news that a tigress with

cubs had kiiled a herdsman, near a village a mile off: the herdsman had

apparently blundered into their lair, with fatal consequences. It was too

late to do anything then; so we sent word that we would be on the scene of

the tragedy early on the following morning. The tiger we were sitting up for

came down the path, which ran between the kill and the machan roaring at

about midnight. It took no notice of its kill but continued on its way, its

roars sounding gradually fainter as it slouched on into the far distance. It

did not return, unfortunately, and not a glimpse of it could we see as it passed

our machan. We stuck to our machan till daylight hoping for its return but

we hoped in vain. At 8 a.m. we were at the village and were taken to the

lantana thicket where the herdsman had been killed. We soon found the poor

fellow’s blood-stained cloth and stick. The man had been able to reach the

village before he died. We then heard one of the cubs calling plaintively, and

one of our trackers spotted two of the cubs in thick lantana. The only means

of getting into the cover, which can best be described as perfectly ‘hellish,’ was

by cutting a path. The two trackers were detailed for this unpleasant job,

while H. D. and I crept close behind them shoulder to shoulder, crouching.

We very soon heard low and ominous growls from away inside the cover: and

these growls got louder and more menacing as we cut our way further in,

until finally it was evident that the tigress was on the point of charging.

The two trackers were then placed on either side of and level with us and

told to go on cutting. They had hardly started cutting again when the tigress

charged with terrific coughing roars, but the cover was so dense that, although

she came within a few feet of us, we only caught a momentary glimpse of her

as she turned. We naturally expected her to charge but considered it unlikely

that she would press her charges home, which proved correct. ‘The tigress

returned to her lair and commenced growling again. We advanced a little

further into the cover with the same result. We were again charged, and

again she turned when within a few feet of us, and we could see little or

nothing of her. This nerve-racking game seemed likely to continue indefinitely

as the tigress shifted her lair, retiring further into the lantana. Two men

were behind us, and one of these I sent up a small tree to overlook the mass

of lantana in the hopes of seeing an open patch anywhere to our front. Sure

enough he spotted an open piece, free of lantana, and informed us that he

could guide us to it from the other side, through lantana which was not

so dense. We therefore retreated, and making a detour soon arrived at the

place where our guide informed us we should enter the lantana in order to

reach the open patch he had seen. The tigress however had evidently divined

our intentions and we had not penetrated far into the lantana before we were

met by another charge accompanied again by a series of coughing roars. The

tigress retired again, and pushing forward a little further we found ourselves

in a small open patch. The tigress could be heard growling behind a hedge

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES sii

of lantana to our front. Close to us was a small tree, on this Col. H. D. and

I climbed in the hopes of being able to see the tigress, but with no success.

I told one of our men however, to throw a stone in the direction of the muffled

growls that proceeded from the wall of lantana in front of us without cessation.

‘fhe effect was magical, as with a terrific roar the tigress charged out, a fine

sight, all teeth and claw and a perfect mark. Desperately wounded by our

shots (Col. H. D. fired first) the tigress however managed to turn round and

gain the cover of the lantana before we could get in a second shot. We knew

the tigress was badly wounded, but not necessarily crippled, and it was possible

that we were in for a dangerous time following her up in the infernal lantana.

We cautiously followed the blood tracks, after a wait of an hour, and came on

four small cubs, which though hardly able to walk, snarled at us when we

picked them up. We had not gone far before one of the Sholaga trackers

with us whispered that he could see the tigress lying down. It took us a

little time to discover that the thing the man was pointing at really was the

tigress. It lay in thick lantana growling. Two more shots finshed her off,

and a very fine tigress was the reward for our perseverance. While we were

admiring her, a fifth cub, slightly larger than the rest came staggering along

her mother’s tracks, plaintively ‘me-owing’ in a deep and throaty way. Five

cubs to a single tigress is I think unusual. Three unfortunately died, including

the largest, although I procured a she-goat for each of the survivors. One

was sent to the London Zoo, and the other to a Zoo in America. When

rearing young cubs it should be remembered that in their natural state their

mother encourages them to perform their daily ‘duties’ by licking their nether

parts with her rough tongue while feeding them. In captivity therefore the

use of a tooth-brush should be employed while they are having their morning

reeds

ATTIKAN P.O., Mysore, RANDOLPH C. MORRIS.

April 29, 1926.

[The usual number of young seen accompanying a tigress is two or some-

times three, though records of up to five or even six being born are not

unknown. On p. 191, vol. v of this Journal, Capt. W. St. J. Richardson

records taking five fully formed young ones from a tigress he shot. W. Forsyth

(vol. xx, p. 1148) states that on 2 occasions he found 5 foetus in the uterus

of a tigress, once within a week of being born, and J. B. Mercer Adam

(vol. xx, p. 515) mentions a Karen in Burma taking five cubs found. in the

same lair and apparently from one mother.

It is therefore highly probable that a larger number of cubs is actually born

than live to grow up, not the least cause of their failure to survive being the

cannibalistic propensities of the parents.

It is a well known fact that tigers are partial to their offspring for dinner,

and notes in support of this are continually appearing in the pages of this

Journal. Among others, readers are referred to Col. Scott’s note on ‘Tigers

eating their young’ on page 253 of vol. vii and to another by the Honble.

J. W. Best, on p. 1318 of vol. xxi. Ens. j

No. IV.—WILD DOGS AND FURTHER JUNGLE TRAGEDIES

Wild dogs are greatly on the increase in this portion of the Coimbatore

District; and I believe the rewards for their destruction, given upto recently

by Government, have been withdrawn.

During the last month packs of wild dogs have been killing Sambhur all

over these hills and have, as weil killed and devoured four heads of catile that

had been tied up in the jungle for tiger by sportsmen shooting in this block.

I have never known this to occur before.

Far from withdrawing the rewards for the destruction of wild dogs, Govern-

ment should take early steps to enhance the rewards previously given.

Jungle Tragedies.—(a) A solitary Bull Bison has recently been killed by a

tiger in the jungle near here. There were signs of a great struggle having

taken place. The head was brought in by Sholagas.

(b) A sambhur doe was killed, and torn literally limb from iimb, by a

rogue elephant a day or two ago. The sambhur was probably being chased

bd Aer

812 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

by wild dogs and ran into the elephant: otherwise I do not see how this

could have occurred.

ATTIKAN P.O., RANDOLPH C. MORRIS

April 28, 1926.

No. V.—-THE BREEDING SEASONS OF THE GOORAL (NEMORHC@ DUS

GORAL) AND HiMALAYAN TAHR (HEMITRAGUS JEMLAICUS)

I notice that Lydekker states that the young of Tahr are dropped in June

and July and those of Gooral in May and June.

On April 20, 1926 in the Bheling valley, Tehri Garhwal at an elevation of

8,000 ft. I found a young gooral recently dropped, and on May 15, 1926 in the

same place I saw a young tahr with a party ot adults, so strong and well

grown that it could not have been less than a month old.

IROORKEE, E. E. G. L. SEARIGHET,

July 7, 1926. Capi. R. E.

No. VI.—JACKAL AND HARE

Apropos of a note by Mr. J. H. Amory on page 75 of the Field of January

14, 1926, entitled ‘Fox and Rabbit’ the following extraordinary behaviour of

a Jackal witnessed by me on December 24, 1925 in the Cambay State might

prove interesting.

We were out after partridge in the afternoon, and returning to camp had

to walk over flat, open country interspersed with an occasional stunted shrub

here. and.. there.

It was just getting dusk when a pair of jackals were sighted crossing our

path some distance ahead, and we decided to intercept them to see how close

they would allow us to approach them. The leading jackal spotted us, and not

being very satisfied regarding our bona-fides, started off at a siow trot imme-

diately he perceived a change in our proceedings.

At this stage, I saw a hare jump out of a tiny bush about 50 yards from

him, and taking a semicircular course at top speed, he made a bee-line in

our direction. On seeing the hare, the jackal forgot all about us, changed his

course and was instantly in hot pursuit. It was remarkable how speedily the

hare was being overhauled by its pursuer although the latter appeared to be

running at only an easy lumbering gallop. Unfortunately when the hare was

within 20 yards of us, one of our party being unable to resist the temptation

fired, luckily missing him. The hare only swerved in his course and kept

going as before.

The jackal was now about 15 yards behind the hare, and therefore could not

have been over 35 yards away from us. Notwithstanding, he appeared to

pay no heed whatsoever either to our proximity and excitement or to the

reports of the gun, but deliberately swerved off after the hare. I now let him

have both barrels in quick succession of No. 8, and from the dust flying all

round lim have no doubt that a few shots at least did hit the animal, but

even with this his attention was so riveted on his quarry that my firing did

not seem to produce the slightest effect, for he stuck doggedly to his purpose.

Sixty yards further there was a dense thicket into which the hare promptly

took cover. The jackal reached the thicket a moment too late, and _ still

perfectly oblivious of our hasty approach, was eagerly sniffing and peering

round it, when one of our party to get a better view of the proceedings com-

menced to run towards the spot. It was at this stage really that the jack took

in the situation for the first time and, starting up at the intruders for an

instant, made off full pelt with lowered tail. The other jackal had beaten

a hasty retreat immediately the first shots were fired at the hare.

It was astonishing to observe this extreme recklessness created in a timid

animal like the jackal when driven by hunger.

BomBay NatTuraL History Socixrty,

6 APOLLO STREET, SALIM A. ALI

April 12, 1926.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 813

No. VII.—HOW DO WILD DOGS KILL THEIR PREY?

Gn pages 32 and 33 of his excellent book, Wild Animals in Central India,

Mr. Dunbar Brander, after discussing the methods usually employed by these

animals in killing their prey, proceeds to say that ‘the story to the effect

that they are in the habit of emasculating the animals they attack cana be

discarded.’ The disinguished author is presumably speaking of Central India,

and it is therefore interesting to note that the same belief of wild dogs

emasculating their prey holds also among the Jungle Karens of South Tenas-

serim. Some of these that I knew well, who had accompanied me on many

a shooting trip, were trackers and hunters of life-long experience, with keen

observation and a thorough knowledge of the ways and habits of the animals

inhabiting their jungles. Their information on points that I couid verify was

in most cases surprisingly accurate, and after all there is a possibility that

this. widely-accepted belief may not be altogether without foundation. The

following incident that I was fortunate enough to witness some time after

I had heard this emasculation story from the Karens, has considerably enhanced

my credulity.

In July 1922 I was out after Bison at Pyaungbok-choung on the outskirts of

the Heinze Forest Reserve in the Tavoy District. The day had been a blank,

the trudge infernal, and my spirits low to match. A peculiar yapping drew

my attention, and turning in the direction of the sound, we soon came upon

the carcase of a huge sambhar stag—horns shed—lying in the middle of a small

choung. He was surrounded by an excited pack of wild dogs, some in the

water, others on the carcase itself, yapping and tugging at the meat in

ghoulish delight. One was caught in the rump with a solid bullet from my

.423 Mauser, and a second, and yet another, missed. The marks on the ground

and in the soft mud on the banks of the stream, plainly told the story of the

tragedy. The Sambar probably dead beat, had rushed into the water to

escape the demons at his flanks. His relentless foes had followed and pulled him

down while in the act of clambering the opposite bank. The whole incident

must have occurred within a few minutes of our arrival on the scene, as two of

our party who had gone the same way half an hour previously, had noticed

nothing. An examination of the Sambhar showed that all the meat from the

face and skull had been completely devoured fully exposing the bone. The

portion on which the dogs were busy when disturbed, was the part of the

under surface, just behind the forelegs, where the girth of the saddle goes in a

horse, and the abdomen was gradually being approached from this end.

Strangely enough the only part touched in the hind quarters were the testicles

which were clean missing. This, my Karens took in quite a matter of fact

manner, and again maintained that it was the usual method adopted by the

dogs when killing game. Probably some other sportsmen may be in a position

to shed further light on the subject.

BomBay- Natura History. Society, SALIM A. ALI

July 14, 1926.

No. VIII.—TWIN ELEPHANT CALVES

(With a photo)

I enclose a photo taken by me in January 1924, of a cow elephant with twin

calves born in captivity. These are the cow and two calves on the left of the

photo. The twins were about three and a half years old at the time.

The other cow elephant is with her third calf born in captivity, her other

two being 17 and 8 years old respectively, while the calf on the right of the

photo is 4 years old.

All these elephants were the property of Messrs. Steel Bros. & Co., Ltd., and

are on their timber-working establishment.

814 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

I was enabled to take the photo through the kindness of Mr. Gray, who is

in charge of their timber operations on the Upper Thaungyin tributaries, where

I took the photo.

AHMEDNAGAR, Cy Hy STOCKLEY,

March 15, 1926. Major.

[The birth of the identical twin calves was recorded by Mr. Gordon Hundley

on page 629 of volume xxvii where a photo also appears, and it is interesting

to compare the growth of the youngsters in the above picture taken a little

over three years later. Unfortunately Major Stockley does not give the

measurements. Eps. |

No. IX.—NOTES ON THE KASHMIR STAG (CERVUS HANGLU)

(With a photo)

I enclose a photo of ‘Buddhu,’ a Kashmir stag in Col. Ward’s paddock at

Pandrethan in Kashmir. A photo: of ‘Buddhu’ was published in No. 2 of

vclume xxx of the Journal with Col. Ward’s article on the ‘Game of Kashmir’.

Col. Ward’s photo was taken in March, 1923, while mine was taken in Sep-

tember, 1925 while the horns were still in velvet. Both photos show the

persistence of the long trez tines.

I have noticed a lot of heads with trez tines of this type on the mountains

north and west of the Liddar Valley, and in Tralrukh, though they seem very

rare elsewhere.

I think this is evidence in favour of the supposition that stags keep to

restricted localities, and inhabit the same stretch of country throughout the

year. :

I myself know of three places where stags in velvet are to be found in

summer, and these are widely scparated in different parts of the Kashmir

Valley.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 815

The old idea that the barasingh all moved westwards towards the Kishenganga

in March or April, and returned eastwards in September is no longer tenable.

C..H STOCKLEY;

Major.

No. X.—LIST OF CETACEANS TAKEN IN TRAVANCORE

FROM 1902 TO 1925

Students of Indian Cetaceans were for a long time indebted to the late

Mr. Harold Ferguson, F.L.S., F.Z.S., etc., the Scientific Director, Museum and

Public Gardens, Trivandrum, for the energetic work done in adding to our

knowledge of hitherto unobserved forms from the Travancore sea-board.

During his connection of 24 years with the Museum, he had contributed a series

of articles, based on personal observations, on birds and their nidification,

reptiles, and amphib‘ans, and their metamorphoses and also butterflies, etc.

As however he retired in 1904 owing to ill-health and was unable to work out

the remaining sections of the animal kingdom, so far as they have been

represented in the Museum, it is hoped that the present paper on the Travancore

cetaceans, may be regarded asa further contribution to the Journal of the

Bombay Natural History Society.

Order— CETACEA

Suborder—MvstTacoc TI

Family—Balenide (Fin-whales)

1. Balenoptera indica. The great Indian Fin-whale. This cetacean was

stranded in 1901 in an advanced state of decomposition at Raiakamangalum,

5 miles south of the Muttum lignthouse, on the coast-line between Colachel and

Cape Comorin. It was buried on the beach by order of the Travancore

Government and was exhumed in March 1904, with the result, that the skull

816 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

and the mandibles, forty-four vertebre and six ribs (one of which was 6 feet

long), the humerus, the ulna and radius with fragments of the metacarpal and

chevron bones, were obtained. For want of exhibition space in the Museum,

the bones were not set up, though the two halves of the lower jaw, 18 feet

3 inches each, have been displayed, mounted side by side, on the western

portico of the Museum building.

According to Blanford’s Mammalia (F. B. I. series) the lower jaw of a

specimen said to be 84 feet long measured nearly 21 feet.

Suborder—ODONTOCZATI

Family—Delphinide (Toothed Whales)

2. Lurstops catalanta (Syn. TZ. fergusoni) The australian Bottle-Nose.

February 1902. Length 8 feet 1 inch.

Dr. Blanford describes only one species of Tursiops, namely 7. tursio, from

which the present animal differs in the widely separated pterygoids and the

dentition, which is 38 instead of 33. It was described by Dr. Gray on the

evidence of two skulls obtained trom the north-west coast of Australia by

Mr. Y. Macgiilivray, and has been found to be not uncommon along the

Trivandrum coast.

3.° Tursiops gilli.

Rare, a solitary specimen was obtained in 1904. Being a type specimen, it was

made over to the S. Kensington Museum with a skeleton and colour sketches

taken in the flesh. It is said to be found on the Pacific coast of North America

and described on the evidence of the skull, and only known in the flesh by

“momentary observations taken by Scammar.’

4. Turstops dawsoni. Dawson’s. Dolphin-—two specimens were purchased

in February 1908. They were 9 feet and 9 feet 4 inches respectively, and

differed from all other species of Zurszops, in the dentition and the number

and characters of the ribs.

5. Neomeris phocenoides. The little Indian Porpoise—Fairly common

during certain seasons of the year at Trivandrum and the northern parts.

Several specimens of the Little Indian Porpoise were purchased in 1908 for

comparative study. Of these, one obtained in June, while agreeing with the

typical Indian Porpoise (Neomeris phoccenoides) in many respects, differed in

the purplish red patches on the lips and throat which were replaced by pale

grey of corresponding size and shape and also in the dental and vertebral

formule which are as follows :—

Neomeris phocenoides :

Teeth 33 and +8 = 36 and 36

Vertebre., C27 DiS. Le oriC. 26,09)

The present specimen :

Teeth 78 and 214 = 39 and 41.

Vertebrae.. C73) Dla ele ee 20s = oe

Of the 14 pairs of ribs 7 are double headed. :

As nothing of decisive importance could be inferred in these respects with

regard to the new specimen, Mr. Lydekker has preferred to leave it unnamed

for the present. d

6. Delphinus delphis. Thecommon Dolphin. Not uncommon. It is said

to have been recorded for the first time from the Madras coast.

7. Sotalia lentiginosa (Syn. Sotalia fergusoni). The speckled Dolphin. :

An immature animal was obtained in 1903 and though it resembled Sotalza

lentiginosa in many respects, the absence of pear-shaped flecks on the body

and certain other characteristics, led Mr. Lydekker of the British Museum to

provisionally call it S. fergusoni; but when in August 1908 another animal

measuring 7 feet 2 inches was also sent, he arrived at the conclusion that this

was the adult of what he once described as Sotalia fergusont.

8. Pseudorca crassidens. The False Killer. Length 16 feet 10 inches,

stranded on the Trivandrum beach in February 1902. Subsequently immature

ones measuring 11 feet 10 inches and 10 feet 94 inches, respectively at Trivan-

drum, and adults at Rajakamangalum and Tengapatam, were also recorded.

Itis said to be described by Owen, on the evidence of a skeleton, found on the -

Lincolnshire fens.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 817

Family—PHVYSETERID.EZ

9. Kogia breviceps. ‘The small Sperm-whale.

When I was at Trivandrum in February last I had occasion to observe this

specimen, a gravid female of about 10 feet in length ; there was another one of

the same species which was immature. It is described in Blanford’s Fauna of

British India, Mammalia, on the evidence of animmature female, captured at

Vizagapatam ; it is recorded for the first time from the Trivandrum sea-coast.

31st March, 1925 R. SHUNKARA NARAYAN PILLAY,

Ce MZ. 5

No, XI.—A LIST OF BIRDS OBSERVED IN THE BHELING VALLEY,

114.

SPA

295;

385.

386.

425.

439.

632.

653.

689.

M27:

784.

799.

803.

841.

916%

930.

O35:

1072.

1091.

1101.

ngs:

1258.

1277.

1283.

1335,

TEHRI GARHWAL, APRIL 1, 1926 TO MAY 25, 1926, FROM

2,000 FEET TO 13,000 FEET

Himalayan Jungle-Crow (Corvus coronoides intermedius).

Western Yellow-billed Blue Magpie (Uvocissa flavirostris cucullata).

Indian Tree-Pie (Dendrocitta rufa rufa). .

Himalayan Tree-Pie (Dendrocitta sinensis himalayensis).

Black-throated Jay (Garrulus lanceolatas).

Himalayan Jay (Garrulus bispecularis bispecularts).

Himalayan Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes hemispila), not seen

below 9,000 ft.

Red-billed Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) observed on April 16,

at 8,000 ft.

Kashmir Grey. Tit (Parus major kashmuiriensis).

Green-backed Tit (Parus monticolus).

Red-headed Vit (gztthaliscus concinna tredalet).

Simla Black-Tit (Lophophanes rutonuchalts rufonuchalis).

Himalayan White-crested Laughing-Thrush (Garrulax leucolophus

leucolophus).

White-throated Laughing-Thrush (Garrulax albogularis whistlert).

Himalayan Whistling-Thrush (A7yiophoneus horsfieldt temmincki1) .

Black-headed Sibia (Lzvptila capistrata capistrata).

Punjab Red-vented Bulbul (Wolpastes hemorrhous intermedius) .

White-cheeked Bulbul (AVolpastes leucogenys).

Cinnamon-bellied Nuthatch (Sztfa castanetventris cinnamoventris).

Himalayan Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus albtrictus).

Bay-backed Shrike (Lanzus vittatus).

Indian Scarlet Minivet (Pericrocotus specious spectosus).

Indian Oriole (Ovzolus oriolus kundoo).

Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis tristis).

Indian Paradise Flycatcher (Zerpsephone paradist paradist).

Baker’s White-throated Fantail. Flycatcher (AAzpidura albicollis stan-

leyt).

Northern Indian Pied Bush-Chat (Saazcola caprata bicolor).

Western Indian Redstart (Phanicurus ochrurus pheenicurotdes).

Himalayan Missel Thrush (Zurdus viscivorus bonapartei). Young had

left the nest on May 21 at 6,500 ft.

Large Brown Thrush (Zoothera montteola).

Brown Dipper (Czaclus pallast tenuirostris) observed right up to the

glacier.

Crested Bunting (Melophus melanicterus) .

Hodgson’s Striated Swallow (f/zrundo daurica nepalensis). Building

nest under overhanging rock at 4,000 ft. on May 23.

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea melanope).

Purple Sunbird (Cyrtostomus asiaticus astaticus) .

Scaly-bellied Green Woodpecker (Picus squamatus squamatus).

Western Himalayan Pied Woodpecker (Dryvéates himalayensis).

Fulvous-breasted Pied Woodpecker (Dryodates macet macet) observed

at 6,500 ft.

Great Himalayan Barbet (Megalema virens marshallorumy),

of)

S18 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORAL FIST. SOClAIM. Vol. VOT

1372. Himalayan Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle lugubris guttulata).

1373. Common Indian Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis bengalensis).

1390. Indian White-breasted Kingfisher (Afalcyon smyrensis fusca).

Hoopoe ( Upupa epops sub-sp 7?) observed in a snow storm at 7,000 ft. on

April 11.

1429. Blyth’s White-rumped Swift (A/icropus pacificus leuconyx).

1472. Asiatic Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus telephonus).

1478. Common Hawk Cuckoo (ffzerococcyx varius).

1521. Rose-ringed Paroquet ( Pszttacula torqguata).

1522. Western Blossom-headed Paroquet (Pszttacula cyanocephala cyano:

cephala).

1594. Black Vulture ( Zorgos calvus).

1596. Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis).

1602. Smaller White Scavenger Vulture (Neophron percnopterus gingin-

zanus).

1603. Eastern Bearded Vulture or Lammergeyer (Gypaélus barbatus grandis).

1689. Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus).

1695. Bengal Green Pigeon (Crocopus pheenicopterus pheenicopterus).

1724. White-bellied Pigeon or Snow-pigeon (Columba leuconota leuconota)

Five seen at 4,000 ft. on April 5 anda flock at 5,000 ft. on April 7.

Observed almost daily between 8,000 and 10,000 ft. between April 26

and May 4.

1726. Speckled Wood-Pigeon (Dendvotreron hodgsoni). A fair number about

in the jungle at 6,000 ft. from May 17 to 21.

1736. Indian Rufous Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis meena), Breeding

at 6,500 ft.

1738. Spotted Dove (Strepiopelia chinensis suratensis).

1741. Little Brown Dove (Streplopelia senegalensis cambayensts).

1743. Indian Ring-Dove (Streptopelia decavcto decaocio) .

1776. Cheer Pheasant (Catreus walltchit) .

1777. Koklas Pheasant (Pucrasia macrolopha macrolopha). 6 eggs taken at

8,000 ft. on May 15.

1783. White Crested Kalij (Genne@us hamiltoniz).

1794. Monal (Lophophorus tmpejanus) very numerous, but never observed

below 8,000 ft.

1825. Common Hil! Partridge (Arboricola torqgueola torqueola). 6 eggs taken

at 8,000 ft. on May 14.

1842. Northern Indian Black Partridge (Avancolinus francolinus asi@). One

seen as high up as 6,300 ft.

1918. Red Wattled Lapwing (Lodbivanellus indicus indicus).

1980. Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola rusticola), seen every evening between

8,000 and 9,000 ft. from April 26 to May 15.

1982. Solitary Snipe (Gallinago solitaria), a couple seen at 9,000 ft. on

April 27.

N.L.—This list is of necessity very incomplete owing to the writer’s inability

to identify a host of birds, particularly warblers, finches, pipits and the

falconide, etc.

ROORKEF (U. P.), E.H.G.L. SEARIGHT,

July 7, 1926. Captain, RF.

{Commenting on the above Mr. A. E. Jones, whose comprehensive ‘ List of

Birds found in the Simla Hills, 1908-1918’ appeared on page 601 of vol. xxvi,

writes as follows : ‘ This list is very interesting as it covers country adjacent to

the Simla Hills and includes some few species which I have never met in these

parts though the fauna does include Simla in their respective habitats, i.e.

(425) Cinnamon Bellied Nuthatch and (653) Indian Scarlet Minivet. While

most of the above have now come into my list, I have no record of (45) Red-

billed Chough or (1726) Speckled Wood Pigeon. The Hoopoe, unless Capt.

Searight collected specimens, would probably be Upupa epops epops.’

For the sake of uniformity the numbers used with Capt. Searight’s list are those

of Stuart Baker’s Hfandlist of Birds of the Indian Empire. For further notes

on the birds of this locality we would refer members to page 495, vol. xxv, Azrds’

Nesting in the Bhillung Valley, Tehri, Garhwal, by W. H. Matthews. Eds.]

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 319

No. XII.—ASSAMESE NAMES OF CERTAIN BIRDS USED IN

NOWGONG DISTRICT

I give below a list of the names of certain birds in Assamese, collected by me

for Mr. Stuart Baker during three vears in the Nowgong District. They may

be of use to you.

There is a mistake in the list of names of birds in Manipuri, published in the

Journal (vol. xxviii) December 30, 1921. ‘ Tharotchabt’ in Manipuri means the

Open-bill (Anastomus oscitans), not the Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia). 1

have never seen a Spoonbill in Manipur in eleven years’ residence.

ile

id.

17.

438.

459.

685.

695.

722.

734.

863.

1032.

1073:

1005.

1101:

1258:

1393:

1358;

1402.

1405.

1451.

1495.

1509.

1535,

1595.

1635.

1641.

1642

1643.

1645.

1665.

1695.

70.

1719.

1733:

1737.

1738.

1741,

1743.

1744.

1764.

1768.

1786.

1816.

1825.

1844.

1851.

1865.

Jungle Crow (Corvus coronoides andamanensis) = dhora kaori.

Indian House Crow (Corvus splendens splendens) == pati kaori.

Magpies, generally = era charai.

Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) sub-sp ? = phenchu.

Racket-tailed Drongo (Dissemurus paradiseus grandis) = bhimraj.

Black-headed Oriole (Orzolus indicus ss ?) = sakhiati.

Hill Mynas, generally =rupa kani moina, sona kani moina, chutiya

salika.

Common Myna ( Acridotheres tristis tristis.) = salika, ghor salika.

Pied Myna (Sturnopastor contra contra) = kan kurika.

Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis saularis) = dari katara.

Common Sparrow (fasser domesticus indicus) = ghor charika, ghan

charika.

Swallows, Martins generally = teltupi.

Wagtails, generally = balimahi, tipochi.

Grey Wagtail (Jotacilla cinerea melanope) = haldiya balimahi.

Woodpeckers, generally = barhoitoka, (kat katara, Kamrup).

Crimson-breasted Barbet (Xantholema hemacephala indica) = netuluka.

Burmese Roller (Coracias bengalensts affinis) = kwacha kaori,

Hornbills, large = raj dhanesh, huwong.

Small Indian Pied Hornbill (Axthracoceros coronatus albirostris) =

kao dhanesh.

Nightjars, generally = itakholi.

Malay Keel (Hudynamis scolopaceus malayana) = kuli.

Common Coucal (Centropus sinensis sinensis) = kukuha, dabahi

kukuha.

Owls, generally = phencha.

Vultures (Vultur, Gyps) = sagun.

Fish Eagles, generally = Kurna.chilani.

Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus indus) = ranga chilani.

Common Pariah Kite (M/ilvus migrans govinda) = muga chilani.

Kites, generally = chilani (chila in Kamrup District).

Harriers, generally = sen.

Hawks, generally = sen chilani.

Green Pigeons, generally = haitha, haithak (haithal, Kamrup).

Imperia! Pigeons, generally = porguma.

Emerald Dove (Calophaps indica) = sil kopu.

Doves generally = kopu (kopati, Kamrup).

Indian Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis agricola) == harua kopu.

Indian Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis suratensis) = pati kopu,

kupo.

Little Brown Dove (Streptopelia senegalensis cambayensis) == ram kopu.

Indian Ring-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto decaocto) = set kopu.

Indian Red Turtle-Dove (Cnopopelia tranguebarica ss?) =: harua

kopu.

Common Peafow] (Pavo cristatus) = moira.

Indian Peacock-Pheasant (Polyplectron bicalcaratum bicalcaratum) =

deodorik.

Indian Jungle-Fow] (Gallus gallus gallus) ban kukura.

Black-breasted Kalij Pheasant (Gennes horsfieldi horsfieldi) = dorik.

Quails, generally = batar.

Hill Partridges, generally ( drboricola) = duboi.

Black Partridge (Prancolinus francolinus melanonotus) = mechenteri.

Swamp Partridge (Arancolinus gularis) = koira.

Rails, generally = dalmura.

890 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

1884. Chinese White-breasted Water-Hen (Amaurornis phienicura chinensis)

= pani duboi:

1888. Purple Coot (Porphyrio poliocephalus poliocephalus) = kam chara.

1895. Sarus Crane (Megalornis antigone antigone) = korchon.

1903. Bengal Florican (Sypheotides bengalensis) = ulumoira (the peacock of

the ‘ulu’ grass).

1918. Red-wattled Lapwing (Lobivanellus indicus ss?) = balighora, tetetua.

1980. Snipes, generally = karcheleka, punga.

2027. Pelicans = dhera (bhela, Kamrup).

2034. Cormorants, generally = pani kaori.

2037. Indian Snake-Bird (Anhinga melanogaster) = maniori, bhejiagoi.

2049. White Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus melanocephalus) = boga akohi

bog,

2050. Black Ibis (Zzocotzs papillosus papillosus = kala akohi bog.

2053. Indian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia major) = khantiya bog.

2057. Indian White-necked Stork (Dissoura ebiscopa episcopa) = kunua.

2059. Black-necked Stork or Jabiru (Xenorhynchus asiaticus asiaticus) =

telia hareng.

2061, Indian Marabout or Smaller Adjutant (Leptoptilus javanicus) = bor

tokola.

2063. Open-bill (Azastomus oscitans) = samuk bhanga =: ‘ snail breaker ’.

2064. Herons, generally = koi.

2070. Egrets, generally = bog.

2070. Large Egret (Herodzas alba alba) = bor bog.

2073. Small Egret (Herodias garzetta garzetia) = teteri bog.

2074. Cattle Egret (Bulbulcus tbis coromandus) = Jobogali.

2077. Indian Pond Heron (Ardeola grayi1) = kona muchuzi.

2086. Black Bittern (Dupetor flavicollis flavicollis) = khaira bog.

2097. Cotton Teal (Nettopus coromandelianus) = nakor kerkechuwa.

2099. Grey Lag Goose (Amser anser) == rajhans, dhitraj.

2105. Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus) = rajhans, boga rajhans (= white

goose).

2107. Lesser Whistling Teal (Dendrocycna javanica) = sorali.

2110. Ruddy Sheldrake or Brahminy Duck (Casarca ferruginea) = chakoi

chakowa, ramkaon.

2111. Mallard (Anas platyrhyncha platyrhyncha) = amroliya hans, banariya

pati hans.

2112. Spot-bill (Azas pecilorhyncha pectlorhyncha) = bor mugi hans.

2116. Gadwall (Chaulelasmus streperus) = saru mugi hans.

2117. Wigeon (/Vareca penelope) = kathiya kunda.

2119. Common Teal (Vettion crecca crecca) = kalimuri, ghila hans.

2121. Pintail (Dafzla acuta) = nejal hans, lighal neji (== long tail).

2122. Garganey Teal ( Querguedula querquedula) = ghila hans.

2123. Shoveller (Spatula clypeata) = khantiya hans (cf. spoonbill), nak

dangara (= big nose).

2125. Red-creasted Pochard ( Netta rufina) == deo hans.

2126. Common Pechard (Vyroca ferina ferina) =ranga muriya (= red head).

2127. White-eyed Pochard (Wyroca rufa rufa) = kalimuri (cf. common teal).

2130. Tufted Pochard (Myroca fuligula) bamuniya hans (= the brahmin, from

his tuft like the Brahmin’s lock of hair).

Note.—In Assamese, ‘ch’ is pronounced as the English ‘s

pronounced as the Highland ‘ch’, a kind of guttural aspirate.

These names were collected partly from fishermen and cultivators, and partly

from a well-educated Brahmin, who was interested in sport and natural history.

They were all checked by the latter.

) ’

whilevts? 4s

J.C. HIGGINS, 1.C.S.

THE RESIDENCY,

IMPHAL, MANIPUR STATE.

July 10, 1926.

No. XITI.—OCCURRENCE OF THE INDIAN COURSER (CURSORIUS

COROMANDELICUS) AT PANCHGANI

Both Jerdon and Oates give the distribution of this bird as inhabiting the

greater part of the Indian Peninsula excepting Lower Bengal and the Malabar

Coast. It is also said to be very abundant in the Deccan on open dry plains

Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

TYPICAL BREEDING GROUND OF Caprimulgus monticolus AND C.

euvopeus unwint. SETHI, JHELUM DISTRICT, PUNJAB SALT RANGE

(ALT. 2,600 FEET.)

Caprimulgus europeus unwint, SITTING ON EGGS (AT THE FOOT OF

THE BUSH IN THE CENTRE OF THE PHOTOGRAPH). SETHI, JHELUM

DISTRICT, PUNJAB SALT RANGE (ALT. 2,600 FEET), 2ND JULY, 1926.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 821

away from forest, but no mention is made as to the altitude this bird goes

up to. In early March of this year I had the good fortune of observing a single

pair of these birds on the Tableland at Panchgani, the altitude of which is

4,300’. This pair remained on the Tableland for two days and were never

seen again after that. I have been observing animal life in Panchgani for

three years but never came across these birds before at any season.

It would be interesting to know how high these birds go in other localities.

Bompay NaturaL History Society,

6 APOLLO STREET, C. McCANN.

September 3, 1926.

No. XIV.—NOTE ON THE BREEDING. OF.THE GENUS. CAPRIMULGUS

(NIGHTJARS) IN. THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE

(With a Plate)

A few years ago Mr. Hugh Whistler drew attention to our lack of knowledge

of the Nightjars of the Punjab (four., B.N. H.S., vol. xxvii, p. 363) and in

response to his appeal for further information I venture to place on record what

I have so far observed of the breeding of these birds in the Salt Range.

The species met with in the Range are C. mahrattensis, C. monticolus, and

C. evropeus unwini, and all three of them breed there.

Sykes’ Nightjar, Caprimulgus mahrattensis.

This species is apparently confined to the broken ground along the southern

base of the Range, and I have never found it, nor its eggs, in the hills. The

country is mostly stony waste, diversified with occasionai stretches of hard,

bare soil and a succession of boulder-strewn, torrent beds, most of them

dry, but some with a small stream of brackish water. The vegetation consists

chiefly of stunted ‘Jahl’ trees (Salvadora oleolides) and ‘Kari’ bushes (Capparis

aphylla), and an abundance of small, bushy, plants, of which those known

locally as ‘Vena’ (Rhazya) and ‘Harmal’ (Peganum harmala) are the most

common. The birds spend the day in the shade of the larger trees and bushes

and sally forth at dusk after the manner of their kind. I am not acquainted

with their call, but when flushed during the day they utter a low chuckle.

The eggs are usually laid on stony ground at the foot of a small plant, and

one clutch, from which the sitting bird was flushed, actually had a sharp-edged

stone jutting up between tlem. These eggs were on the point of hatching, and

the bird, having settled a short distance away, threw itself about and fluttered

its wings much in the manner of Glareola lactea in like circumstances.

The usual time for eggs is March and Apirl, the earliest date on which I

have secured them then being March 17, and the latest April 26, but this

bird apparently breeds also at other seasons, for I have one clutch taken on

the same ground on July 26.

Franklin’s Nightjar, Caprimulgus moniicolus.

This species frequents stony hills lying between two and three thousand feet,

from which small ravines, well covered with ‘Phulah’ (Acacia modesta) and wild

olive trees and bushes of various kinds, lead down into cultivated valleys.

The hills themseives are bare, except for a small, thick-set, and thorny bush

called ‘Kander’ (Gymnosporia royleana). The birds spend the day in the shade

of the ravines and are on the wing as scon as it begins to get dark. The

call, with which I am well acquainted, is, as noted by Mr. Osmaston (Jour.,

B.-N. H. S., vol. xxvii, p.°949).a sharp and. penetrating ‘choo-ee’.. . It. is

uttered both on the wing and from the ground, and sometimes from the top of

a bush. It can be heard continuously all night long in June when the birds

are pairing, and becomes less frequent as the season advances. It is some-

times uttered in daylight, and I have located a bird at the beginning of July

by hearing its call as late as 7.0 am. Like C. mahrattensis it often gives a

low chuckle when flushed during the day. On three successive nights in June

a pair of these birds was watched drinking at a small pond. They appeared

regularly at dusk, calling repeatedly as they came, and flew over the water,

dipping down to it after the manner of swallows.

$99 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

The eggs are laid on stony ground, dotted with small bushes, in close

proximity to a ravine, into which the sitting bird flies when disturbed. The

place selected seems invariably to be in the neighbourhood of cultivation. The

eges rest on bare ground amongst the stones, at the foot of, or fairly close to,

a small bush or plant. When the hen is sitting her mate will usuaily be found

in the shade of a ravine nearby. During the nesting season I have several times

flushed as many as four male birds from one small ravine.

Eggs are to be found in June and July. The earliest date on which I have

taken them is June 25, and the latest July 18, but I have seen a young bird

with quills sprouting as early as June 23. The young apparently do not always

remain in the same place, but move, or are moved by their parents, short

distances of a yard or two from time to time. On one occasion a bird sitting

beside a nestling slunk off at my approach and squatted amongst the stones a

short distance away.

Two clutches of eggs almost certainly of this species, together with a clutch

of C. eurowus unwini, were brought to me on July 6, by a villager who

said that he had found them all on the 8rd near a>»village at the foot of the

hills, i.e.. on the ground where C. mahrattensis breeds earlier in the year, but

I have no personal knowledge of the nesting in that locality of any but the last

named.

There seems to be an autumn passage of these birds across the Range, as

-in certain localities the villagers state that they appear in large numbers in the

latter half of July and August. Two birds shot in the middle of July by a

Forest Guard, who probably ‘browned’ a party, were found to be of this

species and heavy in moult. I was told of a similar passage of nightjars at

this season in the neighbouring District of Rawalpindi, where they then become

a quarry for the hawks of the local gentry, and was shown some of this

species which had been taken thus on July 22. I was also informed that a

smaller kind, presumably C. curopeus unwini, appeared a little later and

afforded better sport.

Hume’s Nightjar, Cuprimulgus europeus unwini.

This species breeds on the same ground as C. monticolus and its ‘nest’? may

sometimes be found at no great distance from one of the latter. In general,

however, it seems to prefer more cover, being often found on hills thickly

clothed with ‘Santha’ (Dodonaea viscosa) and other bushes. This brings it

more in the track of the village goat-herd and is doubtless the reason why

its eggs are far more frequently discovered. Its habits are similar to those of

C. menticolus and it also gives a low chuckle when flushed during the day. As

reGards the call 1 can say nothing definite. According to the ‘Fauna’ it is a whir-

ring sound, and I have on one or two occasions heard such a sound on ground fre-

quented by this bird. On the other hand I have several times had cause to suspect

that it makes use of a note like that of C. menticolus.. The breeding season

is June and July, and nearly all the eggs in my possession have been taken

during the month following june 10. I have found young in down, with the

parent bird sitting beside them, on June 23, and have had half-grown young

brought to me on June 26. The down of the young in this species is grey ;

in C. monticolus it is pinkish brown. The eggs are nearly always laid under

the shelter of a bush, often one of fair size, and may sometimes be found on

the steep and rocky side of a ravine. The foot of a ‘Santha’ bush is a site often

selected. In one such case a bird was flushed from an egg lying on a flat

stone underneath the bush. The ground all round was littered with dry ‘Santha’

leaves and the bird had apparently cleared the stone of them before iaying her

egg on it.

The Salt Range name for Nightjars of all kinds is Chapdki; in the neigh-

bouring Rawalpindi District they are called Patdék. The villagers believe that

if one of these birds touches or flies over a cow or a goat the animal’s milk

dries up and its udder swells. The remedy is for a man who has killed a

nightjar to spread his Chadar (loin-cloth) over the afflicted beast, which is

thereby cured.

Prittaur, Punyjas, H.W: WAITE, F.Z:S..M. 8.010,

August 7, 1926. Indian Police.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 823

No. XV.—OCCURRENCE OF THE SHELDRAKE (TADORNA TADORNA)

AND LAPWING (VANELLUS VANELLUS) IN UPPER BURMA

In an editorial comment in No. 1, vol. xxxi of this Journal (p. 224) it is

mentioned that the Sheldrake Tadorna tadorna is an uncommon winter visitor

to Northern India and ‘is rare in Bengal but has been obtained as far east

as Arakan’. It may be therefore of interest to record that on December 6, 1924

I saw some of these birds at Posagon near Paungbyin on the Upper Chindwin

River. They were with a number of Ruddy Sheldrakes. On November 26,

1924, I saw on the same river south of Homalin, five Common Lapwings

(Vanellus vanellus) which I have never before seen or heard of in Burma.

They were on a jheel near Naungsankyin and were so close to me that it

was quite unnecessary to identify them by shooting.

RANGOON, I; Ke STANFORD) M-8:0.0:,

July 16, 1926. Indian Civil Service.

No. XVI.—THE MATING OF CROWS

On April 26, 1925, I observed a pair of crows (Corvus splendens splendens) in

copulation. It was at about six o’clock in the morning on an exposed telegraph

post, with a number of other crows around. The act was performed in the

usual manner of birds, and I am recording this as it is the first instance of the

actual act having been witnessed by me.

Prior to this I had understood—and the belief is more or less general--—that

the squabbles commonly seen in the breeding season, when one crow is lying

on his back on the ground seemingly pinioned, and grappling with another

standing over him, was the method in which the act was accomplished. It is

remarkable that there should be no records on this point, considering what an

aggressively common bird the crow is, and in what profusion their nests are

to be found at the beginning of the monsoon. Will any member who has

made similar observations, enlighten me with his experience?

Bombay, SALIM A. ALI

January 29, 1926,

No. XVII.—A NOTE ON THE NIDIFICATION OF THE WESTERN REEF

EGRET (LEPTERODIUS ASHA) IN KARACHI CITY, SIND

(With a Pilate)

I have closely observed the nidification of this species of Reef Egret in

Karachi for four successive years.

For three years, season after season, the birds chose two definite sites, a

straggling belt of trees bordering an old Burial Ground and a Public Garden,

both situated in the heart of the native quarter of the City, about a mile away

from salt water.

Both heronries were discovered early in May 1923. The site being given

away by the throaty squakings of numberless fledglings clamouring for their

never-ending meal of fish.

A score or so of very hard-set eggs, with which nothing could be done,

were, on this occasion obtained.

During the two following years the birds again chose these sites and a large

series of fresh and slightly incubated eggs was collected on March 22, 1924.

In 1926 the birds were obliged to abandon the burial ground site, which had

been taken forcible possession of by large numbers of the common House

Crow (Corvus splendens) attracted evidently by cattle tethered, for the first

time, beneath the trees.

Pipal (Ficus reiigiosa) and Ber (Zizyphus jujuba); Portia (Thespesia populnea),

Inga Dulcis (Pithecolobium dulce) and Jamblo (Eugenia jambolana) were the

trees chosen by nesting birds, the first two being particularly favoured.

Nim (Azadirachta indica) trees were left severely alone for nesting sites,

though some birds were noticed carrying small dried twigs off which the

leaves had fallen.

Generally speaking birds paired off and commenced building during the first

week in March. Courting preliminaries consisted of the male offering his mate

$24. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST \SOGIEDY Wool, Xeed

a freshly picked leaf or twig, which was accepted, played with and then allowed

to fall to the ground. This performance would be repeated again and again, till

the birds evidently tiring, would remain perched close to one another and at

intervals preen themselves.

Early birds were content with building an ordinary, typically heron-like stick

nest on the tree chosen by them, but numbers of birds building on Pipal after

the appearance of new leaves, constructed a leafy and unique type of nest,

photographs of which are appended.

Both types of nest vary in bull and shape and consist of a fairly stable,

platform-like structure of sticks lined with green leaves upon which three to

four eggs are laid. The birds are of uncleanly habits and nests after a week’s

occupation have anything but a sanitary odour or appearance.

In the third week most birds were found sitting close on young or hard sat

eggs, and by the end of the fourth weelk numbers of fledglings were seen

sitting loutishly on the edges of their nests eagerly awaiting their diet of

disgorged and evil smelling sprats.

Great excitement and a general uproar of throaty squaks, harsh quacks,

hoarse gurglings and high pitched screams accompanied by a furious flapping

ot wings noisily heralded the arrival of every bird returning to the colony with

a well-filled gullet of fish to appease the voracious appetite of its offspring.

On March 19, 1924, being unable to obtain a climber, I sat and observed

a pair of slate-blue birds for the best part of an hour and the following is a

polished extract of the note then made :—

‘Most of the time was spent perched close together in idle pontenimianont At

intervals first one and then the other would preen itself. After about twenty

minutes of this alternate dozing and preening, one lazily flapped its wings,

stepped awkwardly about the branches, and after apparently choosing a suitable

nesting site, crouched there with neck doubled in, till joined shortly after by

its pair, which after inspecting the place and making several idle pecks at the

twigs around, quietly crouched down, sitting cheek by jowl with its mate.

Thus they sat, at intervals either preening themselves, pecking lazily at

their toes or surrounding twigs or quickly opening and shutting their bills,

after the manner of storks when clicking their beaks.

Eventually they scrambled one after another to the topmost branches of the

Ber tree where they once again perched in moody silence.’

When I left the heronry about an hour later, this couple was still seated as

they had last been observed and some days later when I again visited the colony

a bird was sitting close on a nest placed near the spot which the birds, under

observation, had inspected on the 19th.

Though it cannot be positively stated that this bird was one of the pair

formerly observed, still’ the presumption does arise and the grounds for its

consideration are, at all events, reasonable.

During my visits to the heronries birds were often seen mating, the female

passive, crouching low on the branch across which she sat, while the male

completed the act with the usual flapping of wings.

IT quote below a note made on March 19, 1924 :—

‘Visited the heronry where about two hundred birds were nesting amongst

the topmost branches of lofty Pipal trees.’

A few nests however were placed in Jamblo, Ber and Inga Dulcis trees.

The majority of birds were slate, not more than a dozen pairs of the white

variety being noticed. About half the colony was sitting close, the remainder

busy building, nests being well advanced. Nests on Pipal were, in most cases,

made from Pipal branches withthe leaves still on. Freshly built nests had a

most singular appearance, the green leaves forming a sort of curtain to the

framework of the nest, which was in most cases completely hidden from view.

As the branches aged and decayed, the leaves withered and gradually fell

off exposing the stick structure of the nests.

Birds were observed in the act of building and carrying small branches of

Pipal bearing ieaves. In all cases the male, presumably, collected the building

material and carried it to the female who either rejected or accepted it.

She would remain perched on the chosen site while he flew off and deliberately

broke, at times after considerable labour, a small green Pipal branch with

which he flew to within a few feet of her. Two, three or more ungainly hops

and flaps then brought him to her. She with neck outstretched, would take

the branch from his beak, and if approved of would forthwith place it in

OSNIddOud ANV

ONIWAHIIM SHAVHT OL ONIMO AAO ONIVITVA

ATIVAGVAD NIVIUND AVAT ONIMOHS SAWVS AHL

HSHYA ATUIVA ITTILIS SHAVHT HIIM

HdAL AAVAT DNILOIGAd vysp SNIPOAAGZ IT HO ISHN

‘20G “FSIE] ‘yeNY Aequiog “usinor

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 508

position, he flying off for another, leaving her perched with neck drawn in or

pecking gently at the newly arranged branch.

If she happened to reject a branch she held it horizontally in her beak and

worked her hold along it, as if testing it, by a series of quick, short jerks,

ultimately allowing it to fall to the ground. The male looking foolishly on,

would then fly despondently off to make a better selection.’

The eggs of the Western Reet Egret are as described in ‘Nests and Eggs of

Indian Birds’, volume iii, 2nd edition. Some eggs though are a rich greeny

blue, a shade quite distinct from the normal pale blue egg generally laid by

this species.

_ The eggs of a clutch were usually similarly shaded, though on one occasion

out of a dozen nests I found a clutch of three containing one dark and two

light coloured eggs. I never found mcre than four eggs or young in a nest, gene-

rally three. Once a nest contained an unusuaily small and two normal eggs. ‘The

former was addled while incubation in the latter was well advanced. I succeeded

however in blowing the eggs which are at present in my collection.

I have never found this egret breeding in company with others.

Parent birds robbed of their eggs deserted their nests, the sticks of which

were in most cases appropriated by others.

In all cases observed white birds paired with white and slate with slate.

The young in each case taking after their parents. The fledglings of these twe

varities are a dirty white and a dirty slate grey respectively. As they grow

to maturity the plumage of the former changes to white and that of the latter

to slaty grey with the breast and abdomen feathers lighter than those of the

back and upper wing coverts.

Birds which I take to be fully grown adults are either a pure white or dark

inky blue, with a white throat patch. The variability in the size of the adult

of this species is very noticeable.

Many breeding birds, fully crested and plumed, were found to be much smaller

and of an apparently lighter build than the normal, which is a fairly large

sized bird.

Slate birds, presumably not fully grown, with a few white secondaries or

tertiaries in either one or both wings are not unfrequently to be seen. Adults

of both sexes carry crests and plumes during these breeding season.

The colouring of soft parts, bills and legs is anything but constant; the

eyes without exception yellow.

Year after year I have seen slate birds with dashes of white in either one or

both wings. Personally | am of the opinion that this partial albinism: or pied

condition is only teniporary and confined alone to young birds as I have never

found it occurring in the large, aged, dark inky blue variety.

Though slate and white birds have been said to interbreed in captivity I am

of the opinion that in their natural environment, where selection is unrestricted,

this very seldom, if at all, occurs. My observations during four years have

never led me to believe otherwise.

The building and rearing season of birds under observation extended approxi-

mately over a period of three months, from March to early June.

Local fishermen tell me that birds breeding in the mangrove swamps do not

commence building till May. A reliable man sent to the swamps on the 15th of

March reported that numbers of birds had been seen but none found building.

I hope, this year, to be able to observe the nidification of this species in the

Karachi Swamps.

My thanks are due to Mr. Chatterji, Superintendent of the Gardens, through

whose interest and courtesy I was able to secure snapshots of nests, which had to

be cut down in order to be effectively photographed.

KaRACHI, KorvRke EATES,

April 14, 1926. . Sind Police, Karachi City.

No. XVIII.—BREEDING OF THE GREAT HIMALAYAN BARBET (MEGA-

LAIMA VIRENS MARSHALLORUM) IN THE PUNJAB SALT RANGE

The Great Himalayan Barbet is to be seen, and heard, in the fruit gardens

at Choa Saidan Shah (2,000 feet), in the Jhelum portion of the Salt Range,

throughout the year, but I have only this year been able to make certain that

it breeds there. On June 5, I shot a male calling from the branch of a large

896 JOURNAL, BOMBAY. NATURAL. HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

mulberry tree in’ one of the gardens, and subsequently discovered a nest hole in

the lower side of the branch, at a short distance from the main trunk and a

height of about 20 feet from the ground. A few blows on the branch below

the hole caused a young bird to fly out, and two more were found inside when

the hole was opened cut on the following day. They were almost ready to

fly and would probably have left the nest in a week or so.

PHILLAUR, H. W.. WAITE, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.,

June 15, 1926: Indian Police.

No. XIX.-EXTRAORDINARY TAMENESS OF THE GARGANEY TEAL

(QUERQUEDULA QUERQUEDULA)

In ‘Indian Ducks and their Allies’ the distinguished author does not appear

to be quite clear as to whether to class the Gargany Teal as a tame or a wild

bird. In view of this an experience of mine may prove interesting.

Last March I was marching into a shooting block in the Mandla District

of the Central Provinces when I came across five Garganeys, two males and

three females on a circular ‘talao’ only about thirty yards in diameter. I watched

them for some time but although they could see me perfectly, there being no

kind of cover and I was carrying a rifle, (which, after all, to.a duck must look

very like a shotgun,) they made no attempt to move. Presently I went and

sat down right at the edge of the talao, not twenty-five yards from them.

They only flew round the talao once and then settled again. A month later,

on my way back, their number had increased to nine and they were even tamer

than before. Such extraordinary tameness on the part of migratory birds is

incomprehensible to me. There were plenty of small talaos round about ‘to

which they could have gone.

By the way, ‘Indian Ducks and their Allies’ makes no mention of the

peculiar noise, resembling a watchman’s rattle, that Gargany make when on

the wing.

RAZANI, WAZIRISTAN, J..u.Mc. °C..-GLIME,

June 30, 1926. Captain.

No. XX.—THE RED-LEGGED FALCONET (MICROHIERAX EUTOLMUS)

HAWKING BUTTERFLIES

The ‘Fauna of British India’ records that the falconets principally prey upon

insects but I do not think that it has ever been recorded that they catch

butterflies. On August 16, 1925, at Esauk in the Shwebo District, Upper Burma,

I was standing on the steps of a rest-house watching a red-legged falconet

(Microhierax eutolmus) which was perched on a dead branch of a high tree.

It launched itself into the air and with incredible speed flew under the bungalow

beneath my feet and carried something up to the same perch from which it

had started. It ate what it had caught and the wings floated to the ground.

[ picked them up and found that they were the wings of a butterfly—Papilio

demoleus. I saw it catch two of these butterflies. There is something very

appropriate in this exquisite little falcon hawking butterflies.

SyLvan LODGE,

Maymyo, Upper BurMA, S. F. HOPWOOD,

March 29, 1926. : I.F.S.

[Butterflies are not often hawked by birds, though moths of course are, and

it would be interesting to know whether this falconet systematically hawked

them—and as a species does so,—or the instance quoted was oniy an individual

idiosyncrasy. The late Mr. E. H. Aitken was of opinion that butterflies are

left so much alone by birds not because birds do not like them as food but, be-

cause being all wings and no body, every bird soon finds out that they are not

worth the trouble of catching. He says (vol. xvi, p. 156): ‘The peculiar zig-zag

flight of a butterfly makes it very difficult for even a king-crow or a’ bee-eater to

capture one on the wing, and when it thinks it has succeeded it gets a n:outhful

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 827

of wings and misses the body.... The flight of a moth is straight and offers

little difficulty, accordingly a moth can scarcely show itself by daylight without

being pursued.’

Summing up his interesting and instructive ‘Field Observation on the Enemies

of .Butterflies in Ceylon’ (Proc..Z. S., September 19138) Mr. J. C. Fryer after

quoting a number of observations from his diary ee that

(i) Butterflies do not form any large percentage of the food of the more

common birds in Ceylon.

(ii) With the exception of the Swallow-Shrike (Artamus fuscus) birds are by

no means clever in capturing butterflies.

(iii) The Swallow-Shrike is the only bird which actually lives on butterflies,

and it almost always chooses butterflies of the so-called nauseous genera Danais

and Eupleea; it seems however, that this preference is due to the difficulty of

catching faster-flying species, and not to the superior flavour of Danais or

Euplea.

(iv) The various species of Bee-eaters, when attacking butterflies, usually

choose members of the Papilionide and Fieride. Eps.]|

No. XXI.—HOUSE GECKO (HEMIDACTYLUS SP.) SHOWS A

SWEET TOOTH

Some time ago I noticed a pepermint sweet lying on the side-board which

had been partially eaten or rather sucked away in parts and, as I was anxious

to find out who was responsible for this improper behaviour, I left it there,

and kept a watch for the culprit. To my surprise after a little waiting, I

noticed a flat form moving towards the sweet. I have got it! It was no

other than the ordinary house lizard. After he had been there some time, I

examined the sweet, and found that he had licked hollows into the margin of

the sweet.

A few days later I noticed something that looked like a tail hanging out of

the sugar basin. Again my curiosity got the better of me and I endeavoured

to catch this little robber in the pot: I did. It turned out to be the gecko

again, in all probability the same one. I caught and examined him and

found that his mouth was full of sugar and that there was also a quantity

adhering to his chops which were wet with saliva. I have heard people say

that they have known these lizards to eat sugar but I never had the opportunity

till now of observing it for myself.

It would be interesting to know where a lizard would get his sweets under

ordinary circumstances and whether they are addicted to sweets or is this an

acquired character of the house lizard only?

Bompsay, C. McCANN

August 20, 1926.

No. XXII.—COMMENTS ON FR. LEIGH’S NOTES ON SNAKES

Reading Fr. Leigh’s notes on snakes in the Journal (vol. xxxi, p. 227), I

would.like to make the following remarks with regard.to the Russeil’s Viper

squirting its poison. As the poison is harmless unless it gets into the blood,

either through a bite or a wound, there would be no object for the snake to

acquire the habit of squirting its poison. The snake in question was _ seized

at the time. The undermentioned reasons might therefore enable us to explain

the apparent squirting of the poison :—

The snake being seized, behind the head, its first inclination is to open its

mouth. and also to inflate itself (being vexed). The grip of the person holding

the ,snake may in this case have been high up pressing on the poison. gland ~

which would naturally cause the venom to flow to the tip of. the: fang, (this. does

occur when the snake is caught) and the exhalation of air (which is considerable

in this viper) would naturally blow the poison off the tip of the fang. This

has actually taken place with a specimen kept by me in St. KXavier’s College,

Bombay. I can hardly imagine that under natural circumstances the snake

could or would squirt its poison in the manner described by Fr. Leigh. This

has never come under my experience.

With regard to Fr. Leigh’s attempt to drown a krait, it might be interesting

to quote the following incident which took place in the same College. A

828 JOURNAL, BOMBAY, NATOURATSAIST. SOCIETY “Volo Oa

Russell’s Viper which had ‘been put into a jar of spirit an hour before a lecture

commenced, was brought into the class for demonstration. On removal of

the cover the snake sprang out and struck the professor in the chest. Fortunately

he was not bitten and is still alive to tell the tale.

BomBay NaturaL History Society,

6, APOLLO STREET, C. McCANN

August’ 27, 1926.

No. XXITI.—PARTURITIONS. OF ELECTRIC RAYS AND A-SEA SNAKE

IN THE MARINE AQUARIUM, MADRAS

I. Two specimens of Astrape dipterygia apparently received in the Aquarium

in a gravid condition gave birth in February to six and four young rays

respectively. Both the mothers died immediately after parturition though the

young ones survived for a few hours. The latter differed in colour from .the

parents in the absence of the white spots.

In the first week of March, a specimen of Narcine timlei brought forth six

young ones. Both the mother and the young continued to live apparently in

good health. A thick bed of sand was provided to enable them to bury

themselves with ease whenever they liked. The cord and yolk sac of each

continued to remain in situ when they were born; nevertheless, the young

rays attempted to swim in a clumsy fashion. The cord and sac were dropped

after the fifth day when the young ones started to bury themselves in sand

and seemed to enjoy doing this.

They differed in colour from the adult in the absence of the chocolate-

coloured spots, so characteristic of the adult. The young ones continued to

live till the 8th April when they began to die one after another.

Il. One of the Hydrophiina or sea snakes exhibited in the Aquarium is

Distira cyanocinctus. On the night of 7th December a snake gave birth to three

young ones. It was an agreeable surprise for the members of the Aquarium staff

when they found one morning three saffron-colcured and black-striped young sea-

snakes swimming gaily with the other adult members in the tank. They began to

feed six days after birth. The food that is usually given is chopped fish. One of

the young ones died by an accident. The other two are still alive and thriving.

Mapras. B..SUNDARA RAJ,

Director of #isheries.

No. XXIV.—FISHING IN LONAVLA

Your attention is invited to the extracts from letters which were published

in 1831—32 in the Oriental Sporting Magazine and which are reprinted. It

is suggested that if the Indian Trout are still plentiful in the rivers of the

Neemuch District an attempt might be made to stock some of the waters in

the Lonavla area with this fish. The altitude of Neemuch is 1,476’ and that

BARILIUS BOLA. THE INDIAN TROUT

Lllustration from the ‘ Rod in India’

FLY-FISHING IN MEYWAR

of Lonavla is 2,037’, whilst the distance between the two places is only 400 ,

miles. The rainfall of the two localities shows, however, a great variation, /

MISCELLANEOUS NOLES 829

Taking a hopeful view of the subject there is some reason to suppose that

the operation, if attempted, might terminate successfully and another sport-

giving fish be thus introduced into Lonavla waters.

Extracts from letters which appeared in the ORIENTAL SPORTING MAGAZINE

of 1831— 32.

‘Many months have now elapsed since I wrote to you upon trout-fishing ; and

if my recollection fails me not, [ promised that you should hear from me again.

However, the prospect of a long march, and the time being rather close for

our start, obliged me to defer it until now, hoping, of course, to be able to

add to the epistle by so doing. It was a constant practice with those fond of

the sport at Neemuch to go out between musters as often as they could get

leave, which was seldom or ever refused by that fine old fellow who com-

manded us; and the first and second of every month were happy days for

some five or six of us, who generally made all sail to get to the banks of the

rivers Chumbal or Banass by breakfast time.’

‘The Lind we found full of very fine trout, a few of which we caught with

the fly and minnow; they are also to be taken in the Chumbal below the

junction of that river.’

‘The former river also abounds with very fine mullet, and in such large

shoals, that eight or ten were sometimes killed at a shot; the difficulty, how-

ever, was in getting them out, and we hardly succeeded in bringing home

more than a tiffin of them.’

‘By April 15, this fishing is at an end; the rapids present a sad _ picture

of what they were a month before, and I fancy the large fish must rusticate in

the deep water during that melancholy season, the hot winds. The trout,

however, are as eager as ever for the fly, and I think are to be taken in larger

numbers at this season than any other.’

‘On April 20, we returned into cantonments, having been many days without

seeing a single fish. During the march of the regiment in November last year,

we halted at a place named Ameerghur, and several of us took the opportunity

of visiting Mungroop, a place celebrated for fishing. Here three of us killed

the enorrmous number of 51 dozen of fine trout in one day, all of which were

brought into camp by four coolies. Many of your readers will doubtless

exclaim ‘‘Wah! wah!’’ but I assure you that several officers can vouch for the

truth of this, having seen the fish brought into camp. The most extraordinary

part of the business is that myself and our Neemuch Izaak did not stand

twenty yards apart, or more than double that distance, to the right or left,

during the time we caught upwards of nineteen dozen each, and it often

happened that two and three fish were pulled out at a time.’

‘The flies used were on a No. 4 hook.

The end fly—Scarlet hackle, green body, and gold twist, bustard’s wings

and tail. |

Ist drop-—Red hackle, Jay’s wings, bulbul’s tail and legs.

2nd drop—Red hackle, wings of the golden pheasant, scarlet body, and silver

twist, scarlet tail and legs.’

‘Hearing from some Neemuch sporting gents just returned from your side,

that you are somewhat incredulous on the point of our trout-fishing, I beg

leave to send you an account of a few days’ sport this season.’

‘In December last, 27th and 28th, two gents each killed five and a half and

six dozen each day, the general size of these fish from 8 to 143 inches. During

the months of March and April last, an old hand at the fly killed six: and seven

dozen for two or three days a week. Trout-fishing, in fact, is rather losing ‘‘its

celebrity’? at this place, as three red hot griffs at the work killed last month

ten dozen and two trout in about three hours. The nullahs under the Jaird

Hills, about twelve miles from Cantonments, swarm with these delicious fish,

which come into season at the end of December, and out at the commencement

of the rains.’

‘The baits used are the goorgoruk, and fly made of the gaudiest colours.

There seems to tbe a difference of opinion as to which bait is best, though I

am inclined to give a decided preference to the latter, and think that the

former are only used by those who cannot use the fly.’

‘We shall begin with our Neemuch fly-fishing.’

‘The Goorgoora (as mentioned by a ‘‘Friend to the Art,’’? in your February

number) is of the tribe scarabzei, genus coleoptera, usual antenne, etc. ; is found

830 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL FIST. SOCIETY, Vol, 2X

along the banks of rivers and nullahs in great numbers, and of all baits he is

the most repulsive and disgusting. He stares you in the face whilst being

impaled on the hook, and your true angler is considerably annoyed that during

such necessary operation he cannot obey old Izaak Walton’s injunciion to ‘‘use

your live bait as if you loved him,’’ for the goorgoora is furnished with a pair

of horny nippers which, in his agony, he never fails to impress severely on the

cuticle of his ‘‘biped tormentor. So the poor fellow is generally ‘‘whistled

down the wind’’ as quickly as possible. I have seldom used the animal, but,

to quote Izaak again, he is ‘‘a very choice bait,’’. and I have seen very fine

trout taken with him.’

‘The only peculiarity observable in our favourite fish, the trout, as compared

with the species in Europe, is the black spot instead of the crimson and yellow,

and its only singularity is the truly ‘‘oriental taste’? he shows in preferring

such artificial flies as display the most gaudy and glittering colours. He is

most successfully allured by a fly of tasteful compound, exhibiting a variety

of crimson and yellow, purple and gold; in short, by using feathers of every

hue radiant and glowing, such as the birds of this iland of caloric, ‘with

wings like their own sky,’’ offer for our selection. Our Neemuch Izaak (a

staunch, enduring, and steady angler) and myself have taken in one day,

with the artificial fly, sixteen dozen of fine trout, besides several mahseer of

two and three pounds each, which fancied the gaudy fabric.’

7 HayMAN’S GREEN,

W. Dery, LIVERPOOL, F. V. EVANS

May 31, 1926.

[As the flies described above would in all likelihood not be procurable in

India, Mr. Evans has very kindly got them made and mounted on gut traces

by Messrs. Albert Smith & Co., Ltd., of Redditch, England. He has sent us

out a small stock of these flies, which are similar or nearly similar to those

used successfully in 1831 so that members wishing to make a test of the

fishing in or around the localities mentioned in the note may be abie to obtain

their sets of flies from us free of charge. Eps. ]

No. XXV.—DEATH FROM THE STING OF A SCORPION

On the evening of June 18, 1926 a boy named Bhaiyaram, son of Bihari

Barbar of village Lata (Drug District, C.P.) aged 6 years was playing with

some other boys vutside the village under the Babul trees. At about 6 p.m.

the boy was stung by a scorpion on his left foot. Maniram Kurmi who was

working nearby heard the boy’s cry and searched for the scorpion which he

found and killed. It was of greyish colour. Fruitless attempts were made

by the Busti people to cure the boy by Mantars.

The boy lost his senses at about midnight and expired at noon on June 19, 1926.

At the time of inquest held by the Sub-Inspector of Police, on June 20, 1926, some

watery discharge was coming out of the nose. The finger nails had turned blue

and the body had become black.

DrusG, Gos. SHACK VA. a Meas.

July 17, 1926. Offg. Civii Surgeon.

[he effects of scorpion poison are seldom fatal to man though death has

been known to follow in the case of victims in a poor state of health at the

time of being stung. Another great factor to be reckoned with is Fright which

in the case of snakes has te known to kill many persons bitten by perfectly

harmless species. Ips. |

PROCEEDINGS

Proceedings of the Meeting hcid on Sepiember 1, 1926.

A meeting of the members of the Bombay Natural History Society and their

friends was held on Wednesday, September 1, at 6.45 p.m. in the Rooms of

the Natural History Section, Prince of Waies’ Museuin; Mr. G. F. J. Cumberlege,

D.S.O., M.c., presiding.

WHITE TIGER

In the absence of Sir Reginald Spence owing to indisposition, the Honorary

Treasurer drew the attention of those present to the skin of a White Tiger

shot and presented to the Society by His Highness the Maharaja of Rewa. Some

years ago there was published in the Journal an article entitled ‘A White

Tiger in Captivity’ (vol. xxvii, p. 932). The specimen referred to in that article

was caught in the same State near Sohagpur in December, 1915, and. died

recently in the Maharaja’s gardens at Rewa.

White Tigers have been known to occur in Rewa State for a considerable

length of time and it is known that there are one or two families of these

animals living in the forests there to-day.

It is curious that albinism, though not uncommon among wild animals of

different groups, should be seemingly restricted to this particular area with

tigers, though white tigers have sporadically been seen in various parts of

the country.

BACTERIOPHAGE FOR DyYSENTERY AND CHOLERA

Major J. Morison, 1.m.s., of the Haffkine Institute then gave a short account

of the Bacteriophage for. Dysentery and Cholera recently discovered by a

French-Canadian Dr. D’Herelle.

He exhibited two tubes containing agar jelly, on the surface of ‘which was

a film produced by the growth of cholera vibrics. In this film were clear

circular spaces as if the film had been pricked through with a pin. In these

spaces no cholera vibrios could be found. The spaces were colonies of d’Herelle’s

‘bacteriophage’—literally ‘eater up of bacteria’—a minute parasite of bacteria.

Though the colonies were easily visible, the bacteriophage itself passed through

a porcelain filter and was about one-tenth the size of the smallest organism

visible under the highest powers of the microscope.

Dr. i*. d’Herelle first discovered the bacteriophage in studying a bacterial

disease of locusts in Mexico in 1909, but not till 1916 when he found this

minute parasite in a man recovering from severe bacillary dysentery did he

recognize the nature of the phenomenon shown in the exhibit. Since that

time races of bacteriophage have been found which are more or less active

against various other microbes: staphylococci which produce boils, the typhoid

and paratyphoid bacilli, the plague bacillus, the vitrio fowl cholera, the bacillus

of the septicaemia of buffaloes, etc. The latest to be discovered by Dr. d’Herelle

himself when recently in Bombay is the chclera bacteriophage, and _ those

were his first preparations.

The discovery of the bacteriophage opened a new chapter in the history of

our knowledge of immunity to disease. In certain cases of dysentery, d’Herelle

has. been able to trace a struggle between baciili, the more active the bacterio-

phage the more the patient improved. If the bacteriophage disappeared while

the disease was still active, the patient’s condition got worse. How far

d’Herelle’s discoveries may be applicable to the treatment of disease depends

apparently on whether bacteriophages sufficiently strong can be discovered. A

weak bacteriophage allows the bacillus to become immune against attack.

A strong bacteriophage completely destroys the bacillus for which it is virulent.

832 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XX X

Mr. LaPERSONNE’S PAPER

Mr. Gill then read a very interesting paper by Mr. V. S. LaPersonne, the

Scciety’s collector, on a ‘Collecting Trip to Ladak’ which was iliustrated by

the author with lantern pictures.

The trip was organized by Col. Meinertzhagen for the purpose of acquiring a

thorough knowledge of the resident species of birds found in lLadaix and also

of those which go up there to breed.

The route chosen was that which leads over the Great Himalayas at the

depression known as the Zogi-la Pass, along the Indus Valley ito leh, the

capital of Ladak, and thence on to the Chinese-Tibetan border, or that bleak

region known as Chang-Chen-Mo Valley, the haunt of the wild yak, snow

leopard and Tibetan gazelle. The mountain system of Ladalx is punctuated by

large salt lakes, which occur at 14,500 feet. A large propertion of the wild fowl

that visit India in the winter breed on these lakes. Scme of these iakes are

4) to 60 miles in length and 5 to 10 miles in breadth.

Winter conditions prevailed at altitudes over 14,500 feet throughout the year.

This altitude appears to have no effect on human respiration. Tibetans live

at these heights during summer only. The Expedition kept at elevations between

14,000 feet—-10,000 feet for over four months. The party were physically

weakened during their stay at these altitudes, the leader of the Expedition losing

28 Ibs. in weight, and the author—his enthusiasm for mountain sublimity.

New MEMBERS

The following 35 new members were elected since the Jast meeting :--Mr.

Jz: Ay R..AGentle, ‘Betul, -C.. Pi 3) Maw Be L.. ‘Glass, Naspuree © cP alaseisle

‘Maharana Shri Sir Daulatsingjee, k.c.1.k., Thakur Saheb, Limbdi State, Limbdi ;

H. H. Raja Rawat Sir Birendra Singh, k.c.1.£., Ruler Rajgarh State, Rajgarh ;

His ‘Excellency Sir John Kerr, .c.S:7.,.K.¢.1.8,, (Governor jot Assam ei Min noe ata.

. Williams, South India;; Mr, L...B.. Holland, \1.F.s., Rawalpindi ;..Mr. C. 7A.

Malcolm, .ris.,, Nagpty,,©.P.;; ‘Capt, Te A. Stevenson) "1.47, soilchar, i ssam,

Shrimant Sankarrao Parasuramrao alias Appasaheb Patwardhan, Chief of

Jamkhandi; Mr. R. N. Burton, Gauhati; Mr. F, Kindersley, °1°C:s., Karwar;

Mr. J. S. Brown, ,Bombay; Mr..B. C.. A, “Lawther, ‘Peshawar: Mr ian.

Ragg, Munnar, s.1.;H. B.” Wood, Esqg., fort Sandeman; Mr. A. N. Barker,

LES.,,.Rangoon;, Mr... J. EF... .D,.Lafouche; g.n:.s., Rangoon Miz te: avon,

Kermode, 1.F.S., Rangoon; Mr. G. Peddie, Secunderabad; Mr. E. J. Van Ingen,

Ootacamund; Mr. H. V. Prendergast, Cawnpore; Capt. O. $. Cumming, B.aA.,

Jhansi; Mr. W. S. Wood, Tavoy; H. H. Maharaja Gulab Singh Bahadur,

Rew State, Rewa; Mr. R. W. Palgrave, Calcutta; Mr. A. Fe R. Brown, 15.8%

Pakokku; Mr. A. B. Rayner,: Lahore; Mr. J. Macpherson, Amritsar; The

Mess Secretary, 1/12th F. F. Regiment, Jhansi, U-P.; The Mess Secretary,

Officers’ Mess, 1/10th Gurkha Rifles, Fort Sandeman; The Secretary, United

Service Club, Lid., Simla; the Hon’ble the Chief Commissioner, North West

Frontier Province, Peshawar; Mr. Hugh D. Latham, Vellore; Mr. F. W.

Gordon, 1.F.S., Rangoon.

Property of Jhansi Club

1 set (3 Vols.) in good condition. Hume and Marshall’s

Game Birds of India ie aril i sable OO)

Aiso a spare 3rd Volume of the above yt OP t+ 40)

Day’s fishes of India (very good condition) ee sc Lo

A pply—

Honorary Secretary, Jhansi Club,

JHANSI.

Printed by George Kenneth at the Diocesan Press, Madras, and published by

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Game iaals; sot India, Barna, al ae

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By G,- 5). Licehurst;/ McA, MiR.G.S.,5M.B.O.U., ER.G:S.e eeseesas sk ones fo

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES. Part XXVI. (With three text figures.) By_Lt.-

Colle Go HraSeheily My Gie BLES. Ue fanteccr i sdldentibcwerestie esse piiestotes cnuene

Tue Mason Wasp (umenes conica). Part III]. By Major R. W. G.

URTOOSE OMS EMSs Lure sec s15 ac bamotiicr siege eis saaene¥s sos tetinersclsiesuievclvestcstessees

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THF BOMBAY PRESIDENCY. PartII. By E.

BIGGECE Boe ee POD ae Ee Li Soe bests sci antccutes tuiega sclsn mace’ stunt dansaneieinareley caaleanes

IMPRESSIONS OF PACHMARHI BirpDs. (With four plates.) By Capt.

RES ALCS eee tern euecngltsy ase ct oa aici samba chur ate rer aten aces iietabaweab et gecseuait ass

On A COLLECTION OF MOTHS OF THE FAMILY Geometrid@ FROM UPPER

BURMA MADE BY Capt. A. E. SwANN. Part IV. By L. B. Prout,

TNE Sep ete ee Ore ate Te cea ours as xe caded eS tawul Aiea vied eds vaclamenaumeonreten

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. (Including those

met with in the Hill Stations of the Bombay Presidency). Part

OV by ba ke ellinGriie, Esb-S., (INCE: )¥ ses. ccasthices ence coraweceee

NoTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR. Partl. (With a plate and a

Wipe by eer. OSMASTON : Col, Hy MB. O5We, Zona sac d.saeyeaeneern teers:

FURTHER NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF AMBALA DISTRICT. By A. E. JONES.

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF SIR J. C. BOsE’S ‘ NERVOUS MECHANISM OF

PANIC DY, IN cole ASE UIE sey wien. Uarseiee ye ang ht.c.co hawt eas cures Guisalesice Swat

Rew wo = SiR OTUDY@INGINDIA® cvusctssatvarsostescdscanendsaueceaandseteesrssaee

TEN RUINIGNOWNGARAIBEAR \ Acticcachiae dion tacts reece ess ioe cand ieee

NOMOGENESIS OR EVOLUTION DETERMINED BY LAW

AN INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIMENTAL EMBRYOLOGY

eooees

ees000

1 BBO ETN O01 25 61: Se nearer, Seca Cr Pc Ur Uno A eo ER at

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES :—

I.—A Comment on ‘ Tigers and Elephants’ and notes on Tigers and

Buffaloes. By Maharaj Kumar Victor N. Narayen of Ccoch

ATS SUN Ail epee sc coe nimi na Auth g 60 sis s vag weld a aap etioh oe jaa weed eee e Me ewateanxainaic

II.—Notes on Tiger preferring carrion to live bait. By A Beginner ...

III.—Black Leopards. By Salim A. Ali

ee ee oe ee ey

IV.—Ships’ Cats, and an Instance of their Homing Instinct. By J. H.

PAM OMEC PENA CEs. cs ciciesnaaiaiate’s seule tigi cuanteneen aa nigh Mama paieeueuldyacess

V.—Wild Dogs in Mysore. By E.G. Phythian-Adams, Major 1.a.

(BERS tal lad Brac ai acsA wise diac a'n foelaisaiaaige ate cette sae teens a emcumia otra his cia c's easee's

VI.—Notes on the Long-armed Sheath-tailed Bat (Zaphozous longi-

manus, Hardw.), By C. McCann, (With a photograph.)

922900

932

ii CONTENTS OF Vol. 2207, Now 7

PAGE

VII.—The Breeding of the Indian Rhinoceros (AAinoceros unicornts) in

captivity... By Salim pA. UAT Wire cco: cer a: scinelis ak ates cie tare 1031

VIII.—Extension of Habitat of Hume’s Scimitar Babbler (Pomatorhinus

horsfieldi obscurus) to Orissa. By Salim A. Ali ..............4.: 1032

1X.—Indian Cuckoo Notes—Koel (Audynamis s. scolopaceus) parasiti-

sing nest of Indian Oriole (Oriolus vo. kundoo.) By E. A.

D’Abrett.) FiZiSs sche eects oan na eave en nara ete ee ane 1032

X.—Occurrence of the Wood Snipe (Gallinago nemoricola) in Burina.

By". Macdonald sions ccccrsn acutenet stows neceer acute cate nite tenons 1033

X1.--Arrival of Snipe in Mysore; ByGeVoR, Prend 9 cece ee 1033

XII.—Migration of Wildfowl. By G. B. Pauri, Private Secretary to

H.:H.. The Maharaja0f Dhar’ vc. eerie eet oen eee cae 1034

XIII.—The Breeding of the Indian Lesser White-throat (Sylvia curruca

affints)-at Ouetta. By brigs-Genl RR: M. Bethaminr. ane 1035

XIV.—The Effects of a Recent Cyclonic Storm on Bird Life in Karachi

and its Environs. 3 By Kagk Wates «8. se.aa sh te ee ecu an ee 1035

XV.—Strange behaviour of a Truncated Fly. By Major C. W. Sanders. 1037

XVI.—The Pairing of Sea Snakes. (With a photo). By Commander ;

AIR. POYNIZ. ieterincscres ses tere tess a etva na chee cae) teat een ete 1038

XVII.—Occurrence of the Worm-like Batrachian (chthyophis monochrous,

Bouleng.) at Khandala, Poona District By C. McCann. ...... 1039

XVIII.—Viviparity ina Thistle. (Witha plate.) By E. Blatter ......... 1039

XIX —The Use of Patent Bullets in Shot Guns. By E. L. McCulloch. ... 1040

a _ _ _ = - - 7

— eee nan ee Oo eee eee tee

ae,

at ens

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

THE EMPEROR JEHANGIR SHOOTS A LARGE LION. (J/emoirs, vol. ii, p. 284).

Painted ¢. A.D. 1623, Indian Museum, Calcutta, No. 316, size 122” &K 7}”.

By kind permission of the Publishers, ‘ Indian Painting under the Moghuls,’ by Percy Brown.

JOURNAL

OF THE

Bombay Naturai History Society

FEBRUARY, 1927 VoL. XXXI No. 4

THE MOGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS

AND SPORTSMEN

Satim A. ALI

PART I

(With 3 plates)

The title of this paper is somewhat misleading, hence it may be

advisable at the outset to indicate its scope. The term ‘ Moghul

Emperors’ here represents only the Big Six, from Babur—the

illustrious founder of the dynasty—to Aurangzebe, with whose death

the great empire launched on a career of steady and rapid decline.

The ‘ Naturalists’ of the title also needs qualification. It stands

here only in respect of animal life, though it is well known that the

Moghuls were great lovers of Nature in all its other aspects as

well.

The wonderful gardens! built by them all over Northern India

remain to this day to bear testimony to their love for flowers and

trees, and the genuine delight which Babur and his great-grandson

Jehangir felt in the natural objects they saw around them cannot

help impressing anyone who wades through the inimitable memoirs

left us by these two sovereigns.

To avoid repitition of lengthy titles of works which I have most

frequently quoted, I propose to use the following abbreviations :—

Babur = Memoirs of Zahiruddin Mohomed Babur, translated from

the Chagatai Turki by John Leyden, m.p. and William

Erskine in two volumes, annotated and revised by Sir Lucas

Ring, C.S:k., EL,),, F.S.Ai

1 For descriptions of the gardens see C. M. Villiers, The Gardens of the Great

Moguls.

834 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Jeh. = Tizik-e-Jehangiri or Memotrs of Jehangir, written by the

Emperor himself and translated in two volumes from the

Persian by Alexander Rogers, I.C.S. (Retd.) and H.

Beveridge, I.C.S. (Retd.)

Ain. = Ain-e-Akbari by Abul Fazl, translated by Blochmann

(first volume) and Jarrett (second and third volumes).

Names of other works quoted from occur in full in the text.

Though it is not my purpose to go into the history of the rise

and fall of this great house, the following few remarks concerning

each of the six sovereigns may not be out of place for introducing

my subject.

BABUR

Babur was a born commander and leader of men, possessing all

the attributes that go to make a successful general, conqueror and

administrator, and withal a very loveable and extremely human

man.

He was an athlete of the highest order and a sportsman in every

sense of the word. His nature was aesthetic to a degree, and all

throughout the delightful memoirs written by himself, one con-

stantly alights on passages which reveal something of the passionate

infatuation he felt for the beautiful and the new, whether in scenery

or architecture, plants, flowers or animals.

One of Babur’s first cares after his victory at Panipat in A.D. 1526

was to describe at length the land of his acquisition, its peoples,

customs, animals, fruits and flowers: to compile in fact a com-

prehensive Gazetteer of Hindustan. The outstanding feature of his

accounts is their extreme truthfulness and accuracy. If there is

anything of which he is not positive at the time of writing, he does

not omit to make special mention of the fact, and hearsay of

the veracity of which he is not convinced is likewise duly

recorded as such. For instance, writing about parrots he says: ‘I

had imagined that a parrot or sharak (Myna) only repeated what it

had been taught, and could reduce nothing into words from its own

reflections. Abul Kasim Jalair who is one of my most familiar

servants lately told me a remarkable incident. A cage of a parrot

of this last-mentioned species 1 having been covered up, the parrot

called out, ‘‘ Uncover my face, I cannot breathe.’’ On another occasion

the bearers who were employed to carry it had set it down to rest

themselves andanumber of people passed by, the parrot called out,

‘Everybody is going by, why don’t you go on ?’’ Let the credit rest

with the relater! Yet till one hears such things with his own ears

he never can believe them.’ |

Similarly in another place after describing the ‘ Lujeh’ (Monal

Pheasant) he says with the keenest humour: ‘A remarkable

circumstance is told of them. It is said that in winter they come

down to the skirts of the hills and if in their flight one of them

happens to pass over a vineyard, he can no longer fly and is taken.

God knows the truth! Its flesh is very savoury.’

* The Large Indian Paroquet (Paleornis nepalensis).

MOGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS 835

Whether engaged in weighty affairs of state, or in marching

against a foe, Babur always had his senses wide awake to objects

around him beyond the pale of his immediate concern. A new

flower or bird or beast never failed to excite in him a feeling of the

profoundest interest. He made a careful mental note of the object,

and reproduced it faithfully in his memoirs whenever he found a

temporary respite from the arduous duties of kingship in a newly

conquered and unsettled country. Forexample, the Pied Myna

(Sturnopastor contra) finds a place in his memoirs thus: ‘ When I

threw a bridge over the Ganges and crossed it, driving the enemy

before me, I saw in Lucknow, Oudh and these countries, a species

of Sharak which has a white breast and a piebald head with a black

back. I had never seen it before. This species probably does not

learn to speak at all.’

Of the larger mammals of Hindustan, the rhinoceros was one

that must have seemed altogether strange and unnatural to the

conquerors, and Babur took great delight in hunting the beast. In

his memoirs he gives the following account of a hunt. (This was

at the time of his final march against Hindustan which ended

successfully at Panipat) :—

‘We continued our march till we came near Bekram (Peshawar)

and then halted. Next morning we continued halting in the same

station, and I went out to hunt the Rhinoceros. We crossed the

Siah-ab (i.e. Black River—perhaps another name for the Bara) in

front of Bekram, and formed our ring lower down the river. When

we had gone a short way, aman came after us with notice that a

rhinoceros had entered a little wood near Bekram and that they had

surrounded the wood and were waiting for us. We immediately

proceeded towards the wood at full gallop and cast a ring round it.

Instantly on our raising the shout the rhinoceros issued out into the

plain. Humayun and those who had come from the same quarter

(i.e. from Turkestan) never having seen a rhinoceros before, were

greatly amused. They followed it for nearly a kos, shot many

arrows at it and finally brought it down. The rhinoceros did not

make a good set at any person or any horse. They afterwards

killed another rhinoceros. I had often amused myself by conjectur-

ing how an elephant and rhinoceros would behave if brought to face

each other ; on this occasion the elephant-keepers brought out the

elephants so that one elephant feli right in with the rhinoceros. As

soon as the drivers put their beasts in motion, the rhinoceros would

not come up but immediately ran off in another direction.’ 4

Further on Babur mentions, ‘In the course of my expeditions

into Hindustan, in the jungles of Peshawar and Hashnagar I

frequently killed the rhinoceros. It strikes powerfully with its

1 Captain Williamson in his Oriental Field Sports recounts several incidents

of the deadly enmity that is supposed to exist between the rhinoceros

and the elephant and the stories copied from this not over-veracious source

have subsequently found their way into European works on Natural History.

Despite its bulk and strength the rhino is as arule quiet and inoffensive. Owing

to the nature of theterrain they inhabit, elephants are almost always used in

rhino huntingin India. As arule the mounts remain indifferent in the presence

of the enemy though occasionally one takes fright and bolts.

$36 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

horn, with which in the course of these hunts, many men and

horses were gored. In one hunt it tossed with its horn a full

spear’s length, a young man named Maksud, whence he got the

name of ‘* Rhinoceros Maksud”’ (i.e. Rhino’s aim).’

On the conclusion of Babur’s accounts of the Fauna of Hindustan,

descriptions of the trees, flowers, and fruits follow, and throughout

is noticeable the under-current of his superlatively aesthetic soul, and

the knowledge and insight born of careful and intelligent observation.

It appears truly remarkable that a man in Babur’s situation, faced

with innumerable and ever-recurring practical and administrative

difficulties in a foreign an unsettled land, with the prospect of

rebellion within and invasion without perpetually staring him in

the face—with marked discontent amongst his troops and following

to boot—should have found time to devote himself so earnestly

to minor pleasures which would probably have had no appeal for

lesser natures than his own.

HuUMAYUN

On the death of Babur, his son Humayun ascended the throne of

Hindustan. Unfortunately he appears to have kept no memoirs of

himself and the chief contemporary records availabe to us are the

Tazkereh-alvakeaat' (or private memoirs of the Emperor Humayun)

written by his confidential domestic Jouhar, and the delightful

Humayin Naém&? of his sister Gulbadan Banu Begum.

These tell us extremely little of the aspect of Humayun’s nature

that concerns our paper, but however suffice to establish the fact

that he had inherited in full measure his father’s love of nature and

fondness for sport.

That our information as regards Humayun’s private life and

affairs should be so scanty is not surprising; for throughout his

reign he was being unremittingly harassed by his rebellious

brothers, and it was not long after his accession that he was even

driven out from his kingdom and was not able to return and regain

it till three or four years later.

No elaborate accounts of Humayun’s hunts are available. That

he showed keen partiality for and considerable skill in the chase,

however, may be gleaned from several references in the memoirs of

his father. With paternal joy and pride we are told how on one

occasion when the prince was eleven years of age, and Babur and

several of his associates were in a boat in the ‘ Bagh-e-banafsheh ’

(Garden of Violets) in Kabul, Humayun ‘ shot a waterfowl in very

handsome style.’

Further on is recounted? how the sight of a rhinoceros—an animal

Humayun had never seen before—at Peshawar had amused him and

with what enthusiasm he and his party had followed the beast and

+ Translated from the Persian by Major Charles Stewart of the Hon. East

India Company’s Service.

2 Translated by Mrs. Annette S. Beveridge.

3 Babur, vol. ii, p. 138.

* Toid:, p. 159.

MOGAUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS 837

brought it down and then had killed another. Hunting an animal

like the rhino with bows and arrows, which were the weapons

employed on this occasion, is a feat that calls for not only skill and

physical strength but an uncommon amount of that dash and courage

which were ever characteristic of the great Moghuls. And this was

at a time when the prince was barely seventeen years of age.

That Humayun was naturalist at heart is evident from just this

one little passage that appears in the Zazkereh. To realize the true

significance of the incident it must be remembered that it happened

at a time when defeated by Sher Shah and deprived of his kingdom,

he was fleeing for his life and liberty through the inhospitable desert

of Sind—a harassed refugee—-subjected to the greatest hardships

from hunger and thirst, and accompanied only by a mere handful of

his faithful adherents. At Amerkote,‘... the king undressed

and ordered his clothes to be washed, and in the meantime wore his

dressing gown. While thus sitting, a beautiful bird flew into the

tent the doors of which were immediately closed and the bird

caught. His Majesty then took a pair of scissors and cut some of

the feathers off the animal; he then sent for a painter and hada

picture taken of the bird and afterwards ordered it to be released.’

A temperament capable of being roused from the gravest anxiety

and concern to light-hearted pleasure and interest at the mere sight

of a strange and insignificant bird, surely proves a more than

ordinarily deep-rooted love for Nature. In spite of the fact that

Humayun’s reign was short and replete with trouble and anxiety,

he sometimes found leisure for indulging in the chase, for which

sport as a care-free prince we know he had evinced marked predi-

lection. His sister tells us* that one day at Kabul, ‘ His Majesty

attended by Mirza Hindal (his brother) was hunting near the

mountain passes. They had very good sport. The Emperor went

to where the Mirza was hunting and had made a very good bag.

Following the rules of Chingiz Khan the Mirza proffered his game

to the Emperor, for it is the rule of Chingiz Khan that inferiors

should so act towards their superiors. In short he gave the

Emperor all his game. ... ’

This account also serves in bringing to light the peculiar hunting

etiquette of the Moghuls, traces of which are to be met in our own

day especially in relation to the hunts of Rajas, Nawabs, and other

high personages.

It is much to be regretted that Humayun’s career as a Naturalist

was so disturbed and short. He was a devout lover of Nature, and

given the opportunity, we should certainly have expected to be left

with notes and descriptions at least equalling in originality and

interest those of his father or of his grandson Jehangir.

AKBAR

Akbar, rightly called ‘the Great’ reigned over Hindustan from

1556 to 1605. Summing up his character Dr. Richard von Garbe?

1 Humiayiin Namda, Beveridge, pp. 96-97.

2 Akbar, Emperor of India, a Picture of Life and Customs from the sixteenth

century.

838 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST) SOCIZTY, Vel XxXod

states: ‘Akbar was very fond of flowers and perfumes and

especially enjoyed blooded doves (pigeons) whose care he well

understood. About 20,000 of these peaceful birds are said to

have made their homes in the battlements of his palace.’ His

historian (Abul Fazl) relates, ‘His Majesty deigned to improve

them in a marvellous manner by crossing the races which had not

been done tormerly.’

‘ Akbar was passionately fond of hunting and pursued the nobie

sport in its different forms, especially the tiger hunt and the trap-

ping of wild elephants, but he also hunted with trained falcons,

and leopards. He was not fond of Jdbattue; he enjoyed the

excitement and exertion of the actual hunt as a means of exercise

and recreation for training the eye and quickening the blood. Besides

chess, cards and other games, fights between animals may be

specially mentioned, of which elephant fights were the most common

but there were also contests between camels, buffaloes, cocks and

even frogs, sparrows and spiders.’

In support of his conclusion that Akbar was, true to the traditions

of his ancestry, a brave man, von Garbe quotes the foliowing

incident :—‘ On the way back to Agra where at the time he was

holding court, Akbar had ridden aione in advance of his escort and

suddenly found himself face to face with a powerful tigress who with

her five cubs came out of the shrubbery across his path. His approach-

ing attendants found the nineteen-year old emperor standing

quietly by the side of the slaughtered beast whom he had struck to

the ground with a single blow of his sword. To how much bodily

strength, intrepidity, cold-blooded courage and sure sightedness this

blow of the sword testified which dared not come the fraction of a

second too late, may be judged by any one who has any conception of

the spring of a raging tigress anxious for the welfare of her young.’

Two other incidents are recorded! where the Emperor saved the

life of a man who was in the act of being mauled by a tiger by

shooting the animal dead when his following were ina state of panic

and complete disintegration, and incapable of coming to the victims’

assistance. Other equally outstanding examples of his cool headed

courage and daring are not wanting, and some of Abul Fazl’s des-

criptions of the fights of infuriated and ‘musth’ elephants, one of

them being ridden and guided by the young Akbar, though couched

in such flowery and ornate style as to render the incidents some-

what melodramatic, are sufficient to convince the most exacting of

his wonderful prowess, pluck and bravery.

Akbar was passionately fond of animals, and the Royal Menagerie

was a very extensive one comprising of, as Abul Fazl states,

‘Animals of all kinds from Persia, Turkestan and Kashmir,

whether game or other’ which had been brought together ‘to

the wonderment of beholders.’ Bernier? mentions that the

inmates of this menagerie were led past under the royal

window where the monarch sat every day about noon, the procession

1 Ain., vol. i, p. 284.

2 Francois Bernier, Zvavels in the Mogul Empire, A.D. 1656-1668 (A.

Constable).

MOGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS 839

commencing with the horses and elephants. ‘Other animals

are next introduced’ continues the writer, ‘tame antelopes kept for

the purpose of fighting with each other ;1 Nilgaux or grey oxen that

appear to me to be a Species of elk; rhinoceroses; large Bengal

buffaloes with prodigious horns that enable them to contend against

lions and tigers; tame leopards or panthers employed in hunting

antelopes ; some of the fine sporting dogs from Usbec of every

kind, and each dog with a small red covering ; lastly every species

of birds of prey used in field sports for catching partridges, cranes,

hares and even it is said, for hunting antelopes on which they

pounce with violence beating their heads and blinding them with

their wings and claws.’

Abul Fazl informs us that Akbar paid great attention to the

selection and breeding of elephants, camels, cows, mules and horses

and that through his encouragement of the last, the breed of horses

produced in Hindustan was as fine as those of Irak or Arabia.

One of the modes of hunting mosi frequently employed by the

Moghul emperors was the QVamargah or ‘ Ringing-in’ method.

Last tracts of country were surrounded by the armies which gradually

worked thcir way towards the centre driving in and collecting the

game. On account of the area over which operations extended,

very often hundreds of square miles, the processes occupied several

months. The various divisions of the army were placed under

command of their proper officers, and the whole thing was really in

the nature of what are now known as Army Manceuvres. As the

favourite plan of campaign of the Moghuls was to surrcund an

enemy first and then gradually close in upon him, these Qamargah

hunts provided the means of keeping the soldiery in the necessary

training and practice in times of peace.

One such ‘drive’ that took place under orders of the Emperor

Akbar in the year 1567 is remarkable for the magnitude of the scale

on which operations were carried out. On this occasion 50,000

beaters were employed and, according to Abul Fazl involved all

the country ‘ from near the mountains on the one side and from the

River Bihat (Jhelum) on the other.’ The historian proceeds : ‘ Each

district was made over to one of the great officers and Bakhshis,

Tawacis and Sazawals were appointed to every quarter. Several

thousand footmen from the towns and villages of Lahore Province

were appointed to drive the game. A wide space within ten miles

of Lahore was chosen for the collecting of the animals.’

This drive occupied a whole month. When all the arrangements

were completed, ‘ His Majesty the Shah (Akbar) went to the hunting

ground and viewed it from the circumference to the centre. Every

one of the Grandees and other servants who had exerted themselves

in this delightful service was gratified by H.M’s approbation. Then

he placed the foot of dominion in the stirrup of auspiciousness and

made his tiger-like steed career in pursuit of the prancing deer.

He used the arrow, the sword, the lance and the musket. At the

* The Emperor Akbar was particularly fond of this sport and in the Azz. pp.

218-22 are to be found full details regarding the kinds of fighting deer, how

they fought together, and elaborate regulations as to the betting allowed on

such encounters.

8410 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

beginning the hunting ground was ten miles in circumference, but day

by day the Qamargah was pushed on and its area lessened... . ’

Akbar had a special Game Department and caused an account to

be kept of all the animals hunted with measurements and the

minutest details concerning them. Particulars of the guns or other

weapons used upon different occasions were also recorded. He

knew his favourite guns by names and was especially fond of one

which he called ‘Sangram’ and which afterwards came into the

possession of bis son Jehangir who likewise prized it highly. Akbar

was a remarkable shot with this piece, and Jehangir states in his

Memoirs, ‘ He (Akbar) had no rival in shooting with a gun, and with

the one with which he killed Jitmail (the defender of Chitor), and

which he called ‘‘Sangram’’ he killed some 3,000 or 4,000 birds

and beasts.’ Abul Fazl is more moderate; he says! that Akbar

killed 1,019 animals with ‘ Sangram ’.

Besides shooting with the gun Akbar also did a good deal of

hunting with the bow and arrow, and several instances are on record

of his tackling tigers with these weapons.

He was possessed of remarkable observational powers and it is

said of him that he could at once tell by seeing the hide, to what

hunting ground a particular deer belonged.”

Besides the cheetas (it is asserted to the number of 9,000) and

lynxes which largely constituted his hunting establishment, Akbar

was extremely fond of good hunting dogs, and imported them from

all countries. ‘Excellent hunting dogs come from Kabul,’ says

Abul Fazl, ‘especially from the Hazara District (north of

Rawalpindi). These dogs will attack every kind of animals, and

more remarkable still, they will attack a tiger.’

European bloodhounds were also imported by the ieee se

which helped them greatly to maintain favour at court.

With regard to the birds employed in the chase, the ietoeain Says,

‘H.M. is very fond of these remarkable animals and often uses them

for hunting purposes. Though he trains the Baz (Astur palumbartius),

Shahin (falco peregrinator), Shunqar (either Falco cherrug or

F. milvtpes) and Burqat falcons (probably the Golden Eagle—Aguzla

chrysaétus) and makes them perform wonderful deeds, H.M. prefers

the Bashah (Sparrow Hawk—Accipiter nisus), to which class of

hawks he gives various names.’

A:nong the various birds trained for the chase are mentioned

the crow, sparrow and quail (?). Odhpapars which were

brought from Kashmir, appear from the description to be some

species of Kingfisher. They are described as of a blue or green

colour (sabz) smaller than a parrot; with a red beak straight and

long ; and a tail rather elongated. They were taught to bring down

small birds and return to the hand of their keepers.

JEHANGIR, 1605-1627

If Akbar was the greatest monarch of the Moghul dynasty, it

cannot be denied that Jehangir was far and away its greatest

1 Ain, vol. i, p. 116. Ibid., p. 290.

MOGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS 841

naturalist. His profuse and engrossing memoirs are a veritable

natural history of the animals that came under his notice, and a

record of the most Searching observations concerning them.

It has been rightly said of Jehangir that had he been head of a

Natural History Museum he would have been a better and happier

man. Besides a passion for justice the outstanding features of his

character were his love of nature and his powers of observation.

Jehangir’s love of the chase was excessive. He never failed to

create opportunities, for indulging this propensity and as a marksman

showed considerable skill. He writes of himself, ‘I am myself not

without some skill in the use of this weapon (meaning the famous

“Sangram’’ also called ‘‘ Droostandaz’’ =*‘ Straight thrower’’) being

exceedingly fond of field sports of every kind and having frequently

with the same piece killed twenty antelope of a day.’ Hewas an

adept at the use of the bow and arrow, and often used these weapons

especially in Oumargah hunts.

Extensive game preserves were maintained and frequently the

emperor hunted accompanied by the ladies of his zenana. His

beautiful and accomplished queen Nur. Jehan was his constant

companion on such occasions. .She was an excellent horsewoman

and possessed remarkable dexterity in handling a gun. Jehangir

gives the following. account of a hunt where Nur Jehan killed four

tigers in quick succession. ‘ . . . the huntsmen marked down four

tigers and I went out to hunt them with my ladies. When the

tigers came in sight Nur Jehan Begum submitted that if I would

order her she herself would kill the tigers with her gun. I said ‘‘ Let

it be so.’’ She shot two tigers with one shot each and knocked over

the two others with four shots. In the twinkling of an eye she

deprived of life the bodies of these four tigers. Until now such

shooting was never seen that from the top of an elephant and inside

of a howdah, six shots should be made and not one miss, so that the

four beasts found no opportunity to spring or move. As a reward

for this good shooting I gave her a pair.of bracelets of diamonds

worth one hundred thousand rupees and scattered 1,000 ashrafis

(gold mohurs) over her.’

It isiunnecessary here to dilate upon Jehangir’s qualities as a natura-

list. His descriptions of animals that I have quoted in the following

pages bespeak his interest and proficiency in unmistakable language.

Like his father, Jehangir also caused minute records to be kept

of his hunts with particulars as to the bag, etc. The registers

showed that from the tweifth year (1580) of his age to his fiftieth

lunar or forty-eighth solar year, 28,532 animals had been taken in

his presence, including 17,167 which had been killed by the Emperor

himself. These are tabulated thus :—

Tigers (and lions) sso) OO

Bears, leopards, foxes, otters (ubdilao)and hyenas... )

Blue bulls ae nee Dit e0>5s OOO

Mhaka? sae ses Sete OO

1It has been suggested that this may be the ‘Maha’ or Swamp Deer of the

Terai. As there is no mention of Sambur elsewhere in the list, it is possible

these were included here. Jehangir mentions that in size this animal was equal

to the Nilgai.

842 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Black buck, chinkara, cheetal, mountain

goats, etc. cats es cee 1,670

Rams (quj) and red deer ah ee 215

Wolves! aft a aa: 64

Wild buffaloes ald fe aoe 36

Pigs eh Be a 90

Rang (ibex) ie ue ahs 26

Mountain sheep... ae ney 22

Arghali ae He es G2

Wild asses AS ae aah 6

Hares ite ce ihe 23

(ROtali oie: 3,203

Of the 13,954 birds that constituted the total bag during the period

were :—

Pigeons ae 10,348

Lagai-jhagar (a species of hawk) eld 5

Eagles ot, a aa 2

Qaliwaj (kites) ... ie ra 23

Owls (chugd) : bee ae 39

Qautan (goldfinch 2) at ac 12

Mush-khwar = ‘rat eaters’ (probably

harriefs;ete.t ih ine bs 5)

Sparrows use is das 41

Doves Pa kh He 25

Owls (bum) ty. 30

Ducks, geese, cranes and wildfowl Lik 150

Crows ot A : 3,276

Total: i 13,954

Crocodiles "a 10

Jehangir also was exceedingly fond of good ‘hunting dogs, and

collected them from distant parts. Sir Thomas Roe records that

once the Emperor mentioned to him ‘I only desire you to help me

to a horse of the greatest size, and a male and female of mastiffes

and the tall Irish Greyhounds and such other dogges as hunt in your

lands.’

Long accounts appear in the Memoirs of the various hunting

exploits of the Emperor which are too profuse to reproduce here.

A number, however, will be found under descriptions of the animals

to which they relate.

SHAH JEHAN

Shah Jehan ruled over the Moghul Empire from 1627 to 1665.

Gifted with the love of nature and artistic temperament of his

1-In Persian ‘Kure’ is ‘a rhinoceros and ‘Gre’ = wolf. :-I-think it very

probable that if it is not ‘kurg’ in the original MS thereis at least some

confusion on this point. Jehangir records the killing of a rhino (cf. Rhinoceros)

with a single shot in the temple, and this does not appear in the above list af

game.

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

THE CLOSE OF A QAMARGAH HUNT

from a Moghul painting in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

ROLES

A LION HUNT WITH BUFFALOES

| From a Moghul Painting in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay

MOGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS 843

distinguished ancestors, his name is however best associated with

architecture. The palace-fort at Delhi and the peerless Taj at Agra

are living tributes to his magnificent regime.

Compared with his father, Shah Jehan’s fondness for sport was

moderate. He preferred hawking and hunting with cheetas to the

actual shooting of game.

Jehangir relates that it was once reported to him while encamped

in the neighbourhood of Ajmir that there was a man-eating tiger

about who had already accounted for several lives. The Prince,

Shah Jehan, was detailed to ‘ save the people from its wickedness ’

and before nightfall the animal was shot and brought to the Emperor.

The following is an account of one of Shah Jehan’s tiger hunts

written by Manucci, who lived at his court for a number of years.

‘His ordinary amusement,’ says the writer, ‘ was tiger hunting, for

which he kept ferocious buffaloes with very big horns. These

fought with each other or with tigers, and they are very brave

animals, and skilful in the sport above referred to.

When the king desires to go out hunting the huntsmen are

warned. ‘These men see to the finding of the tigers and send out

into the jungle asses, cows, sheep and goats to prevent the tigers

from changing their haunts. The king goes out on his tallest

elephant and the other princes likewise on elephants acquainted

with the requirements of this sort of fight. They sit in uncovered

howdahs, each one with his matchlock. Then they encircle the

jungle with high nets, leaving only one opening, through which the

king and huntsmen enter. Around the net on the outside stand a

number of soldiers, who cannot wound the tiger when it comes

near the net, nor can the tiger injure them, for in no manner can it

break the net and get out. The order in which the king moves is as

follows: In front go the buffaloes, sometimes more than one

hundred in number, all ina row. On each one is mounted a man

with his legs guarded by leather, and having a broad sword in one

hand and holding with the other the reins, which are passed through

the buffaloes’ nostrils. Behind them comes the king on an elephant,

and after the king the princes and the men in highest favour.

When they get into the jungle where the tigers are, the buffaloes

advance slowly in the formation of a half moon, until the tigers are

in sight. After locating the tigers by sight and smell, a circle is

formed, leaving them in the centre. In this way, the tigers finding

themselves caught, search for an exit. Unable to get away, each

one makes its spring in the direction that it sees best. When this

spring takes place the man who is mounted on top jumps off with

agility, and the buffaloes seize the tigers on their horns with great

dexterity and, shaking their heads tear them to pieces. If any one

of the tigers escapes the horns or refuses to stir from its place, the

king fires his gun and kills it, or gives an order to kill it.

Sometimes they go out to these hunts without taking any

buffaloes, but riding on elephants as I have before said. This way

1 Storio do Mogor or Mogul India, 1653-1708, by Niccolao Manucci,

translated with introduction and notes by William Irvine, B.c.s. (Retd.), vol.

deep. LOL.

844 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

of hunting has much more risk for the hunters. Once it happened

to King Shah Jehan that a badly wounded tiger bounded up and —

hung on with its claws fixed in the elephant’s head. The elephant-

driver fell to the ground from fright. The king seeing himself in

this urgent danger, clubbed his matchlock and hit the tiger on the

head with it, but the tiger did not let go, and the elephant finding he

could not make use of his trunk, ran furiously till he found a tree,

against which he crushed the tiger. It was on this account that

Shah Jehan gave orders for the head of the elephants to be protected

in future down to the end of the trunk with a covering of thick

leather, studded with sharp nails. In addition to the huntsmen,

there is always an official present whose business is to take

possession of the tiger’s whiskers; and therefore as soon as the

tiger is dead, they put on his head a leather bag, coming down as

far as the neck. Having tied the bag the officer attaches to it his

seal. After this the tiger is carried in front of the entrance to the

royal tents, when the official appears who has charge of the poisons,

and removes the whiskers which are employed as venom.’

Shah Jehan devised a novel method of punishing officials found

guilty of taking bribes or of failing to discharge their duties to his

subjects by getting them bitten by poisonous snakes in his presence

in open court. The process has been described in detail under

‘ Snakes ’.

AURANGZEBE, 1665-1707

The circumstances under which Aurangzebe came to the throne

of Hindustan are well known and no doubt supply the basis for the

character in which this Emperor has been painted by most historians

of the past.

The recent researches of Dr. Jadunath Sarkar, however, have

thrown new light upon this much misunderstood and misrepresented

sovereign, and done much to vindicate his reputation. As far

as concerns our paper, however, Aurangzebe’s was not a very

fruitful career. He was a man possessed of an indomitable will

and courage, but appears on the whole to have taken life much

more seriously than any of his forbears, and this left him little

leisure for lighter pursuits.

He was fond of the chase and occasionally indulged in hunting

with cheetahs and hawks. Hunting the lion was his favourite

sport. The method of hunting most commonly in use at this periods

also was the Qamargah as will be seen from the following account

by Bernier,t who was physician at the Court for a number of years:

‘I could never conceive how the Great Mogul could hunt with an

army of one hundred thousand men, but there certainly is a sense in

which he may be said to hunt with 200,000 or with any number of

which his army may consist. In the neighbourhoods of Agra and

Delhi, along the course of the Jumna reaching to the mountains,

1 Francois Bernier, Zravels in the Mogul Empire, A.D 1656-1668

(A. Constable).

MOGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS 845

there is a large quantity of uncultivated land covered either with

copsewood or with grasses six feet high. All this land is guarded

with the utmost vigilance ; and excepting partridges and quails and

hares, which the natives catch with nets, no person, be he who he

may, iS permitted to disturb the game which is consequently very

abundant. Whenever the monarch is about to take the field, every

game keeper near whose district the army is to pass is called upon

to apprise the Grand Master of the hunt of the various sorts of

game under his particular charge, and of the places where they are

in the greatest plenty. Sentries are then stationed at the different

roads of that district to guard the tract of ground selected,: which

extends sometimes four-.or five leagues ; and while the army is on

its march, on one side or the other, so as to avoid that tract, the

king enters it with as many Omrahs and other persons as have the

liberty to do so, and enjoys leisurely and uninterruptedly the sports

of the field, varying them according to the nature of the game.’

Bernier then goes on to describe the various methods of hunting,

such as with cheetahs, tiger hunts and so on.

The order followed in the arrangement of the descriptions and

notes concerning of the animais of Moghul Hindustan is that adopted

in the Fauna of British India series.

Tur BENGAL Monkey. (Macacus rhesus.)

Babur writes about this species as follows ‘One species (of

monkey) is the smaller that is brought to our country. Its hair is

yellow; its face white; its tail is not very long. The jugglers

teach them tricks. It is met with in the hill country of Dareh Noor

on the Koh-e-Sufid on the outskirts of the hills in the neighbour-

hood of Khyber, and from thence downward throughout all

Hindustan. It is not found in the places higher up than the places

I have mentioned.’

THE LANGUR OR HANUMAN MONKEY. (Semnopithecus entellus.)

Babur says: ‘ There is another species of monkey which is not

found in Bajour, Sawad and these districts, and is much larger than

the kinds brought to our country. Its tail is very long; its hair

whitish ; its face entirely black. They call this species of monkey

‘‘Langur’’ and it is met with in the hills and woods of Hindustan.’

Jehangir remarks about the animal as follows: ‘The Langur is

an animal belonging to the monkey tribe. But the hair of the

monkey (mazmun—no doubt the Bengal Monkey) is yellowish and

its face is red, while the hair of the Langur is white and its face is

black. Its tail too is twice as along as the mazmun’s. _Pahluwan

Bahauddin, the musketeer, brought a young langur (at Dohad, on

the borders of Malwa and Gujerat) with a goat, and represented

that on the road one of the marksmen had seen the female langur

with a young one in its arms on atree. The cruel man had shot

the mother, which on being struck had left the young one on a

branch and had herself dropped on the ground anddied. Pahluwan

846 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Bahauddin had then come up and taken down the young one and

put it beside a goat to be suckled. God had inspired the goat with

affection for it and it began to lick the monkey and fondle it.

In spite of difference of species, she showed such love as if it had

come out of her own womb. I told them to separate them, but the

goat immediately began to lament, and the young langur also

became much distressed. The affection of the monkey is not so

remarkable as it wanted to get milk, but the affection of the goat,

for it was remarkable. I have written these things on account of

their strangeness.’?

Jehangir records coming across this species of monkey at the

village of Bakkar while on the march to Kashmir, in about the year

1620.2

OTHER SPECIES

Babur observes: ‘There is still another species of monkey

whose hair, face and limbs are quite black; they bring it from

several islands of the sea.’ This may be one of the Gibbons,

Hylobates sp., possibly the White-handed Gibbon, Aylobates lar,

which occurs throughout the Malay Peninsula and islands.

Abul Fazl describes as follows what from the indication of its

size may have been an Orangutan. ‘The ‘“ Ban-manus”’ is an

animal like the baboon, dark in colour and in stature and face

resembling a human being and walks on two feet. Although it has

no tail, its body is slightly covered with hair. One of these was

brought to His Majesty (Akbar) from Bengal which performed the

most astonishing antics.’ 3

‘Jal manus’ or ‘ Ban manus’ in Hindi literally means ‘ Jungle

man,’ and is the name by which the Orangutan is known in India.

LEMURS

Some species of Lemur is evidently referred to in the following

description; Jehangir describes this as ‘a monkey of a strange and

wonderful form. Its hands, feet, ears and head are like those of a

monkey and its face is like that of a fox. The colour of its eyes is like

that of a hawk’s eye, but the eyes are larger than those of a hawk.

From its head to the end of its tail it is an ordinary cubit in length.

It is lower than a monkey and taller than a fox. Its hair is like the

wool of a sheep, and its colour like that of ashes. From the lobe

of its ear to its chin it is red and of the colour of wine. Its tail is

two or three fingers’ breadths longer than half a cubit, quite different

from that of other monkeys. ‘The tail of this animal hangs down

like the tail of a cat. Sometimes it makes a sound like a young

antelope. On the whole it is a strange beast.’ #

This was included among the animals brought back by his envoy

from Goa, whence he had been authorized to purchase and bring

‘for the private use of the Government’ certain rarities procurable

there, regardless of cost.

1 Jehangir, vol. i, p. 445. 2 (67d evol..aty pe130;.

3 Ain, vol. iii. + Jehangir, vol. ii, p. 215, ef. seq.

MOGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS 847

Writing at Agra, Jehangir mentions that ‘ A dervish from Ceylon

came and brought a strange animal called ‘‘ deonak’’ (or ‘‘ devang-

deviag’’). Its face was exactly like a large bat, and the whole shape

was like that of a monkey, but it had no tail. Its movements were

like those of the black tailless monkey which they call ‘* Ban-manush”’

in the Hindi language. Its body was like that of a young monkey

two or three months old. It had been with the dervish for five

years. It appeared that the animal would never grow larger. Its

food is milk and it also eats plantains. As the creature appeared

very strange, I ordered the artists to take a Jikeness of it in various

kinds of movements. It looked very ugly.’ ?

The identity of this animal as the Slender Loris, of which three

species occur in South India and Ceylon, is unmistakable. According

to Blanford, its Telugu name is Devanga-pilli and Tamil 7evangu.

THE LION

In his Fauna of Hindustan ? Abul Faz] mentions the lion as being

numerous.

Jehangir describes a lion hunt of his father, the Emperor Akbar,

in a jungle in the neighbourhood of Lahore ‘ which was known to

be infested by these fierce and ferocious quadrupeds to the number

of twenty, male and female.’

Jehangir shot a lion while encamped at the village of Giriin the

Subah of Malwa about which he remarks: ‘ As the braveness of

the lion (SAzrv babar)? has been established, I wished to look at his

intestines. After they were extracted it appeared that in a manner

contrary to other animals, whose gall-bladder is outside their liver

the gall-bladder of the lion is within its liver. It occurred to me

that the courage of the lion may be from this cause.’*

The shooting of another lion is recorded by the same Emperor in

the neighbourhood of Shakkar Tank (now locally called ‘ Sagan

Sea’ tank) within the famous fortress of Malwa on. about

March 25, 1617. On this occasion the lion charged his retinue and

mauled ten or twelve persons, whereupon Jehangir ‘ finished his

business with three shots from my gun, and removed his evil from

the servants of God.’>

Another lion was shot by him in the neighbourhood of the

pergana of Rahimabad (probably in the Bari Duab). This appears

to have been a particularly large animal and Jehangir writes of it

as follows: ‘Of all the tigers (? lions) I have shot from the time

I was a prince I never saw a tiger (?) like this for size and majesty,

1 Jehangir, vol. ii, p. 143,

2 Ain, vol. iii. .

3 There is apparently a good deal of confusion in translations from the

Persian between Lion and Tiger, and apart from a few exceptional cases it is

very difficult to say with any degree of certainty which of these two animals

is referred to in any particular episode. Prof. E.G. Browne in his ‘ Year

among the Persians’ states that the Lion is correctly ‘ Sizr’ in Persian and the

Tiger ‘ Baby’. He remarks that he makes special mention of this fact

because ‘ Sher’ is applied in India to the Tiger, which animal is properly

termed ‘ Babr’ in Persian.

* Jehangir, vol. i, p. 350,

01d: Pp. oFd,

848) JOURNAL; BOMBAY NATORAL FIST SOCIETY. Vol wood

and the symmetry of its limbs. I ordered the artists to take its

portrait according to its real form and body. He weighed 84

Jehangiri maunds. His length from the top of his head to the end

of his tail was 34 cubits (?) and 2 tassu.’

What has been rendered as cubit here is ‘ Dara’ or ‘ Zara’ in the

text. A ‘tassu’ is 1/24 of a yard, and the length of this lion would

therefore be about 10 ft. 3 in.

All translations of this work erroneously state that the animal of

this adventure was a tiger, while the painting reproduced in the

frontispiece and obviously depicting this very hunt proves conclu-

sively that it was a maneless lion.

‘It is related,’ says Percy: Brown? ‘that Jehangir and his

courtiers used to ride these beasts down and kill them with bows,

carbines and lances. In all the shikar scenes of the Moguls, the

animal is represented as the animal of their choice, pictures of

tigers being extremely rare.’

Sir Thomas Roe who visited Jehangir’s court as ambassador

from James I of England, mentions how a lion anda wolf broke

into his quarters one night while encamped at Mandu, and fell

upon some sheep in the courtyard. He says, ‘I sent to ask leave

to kill them; for in that country none but the king may hunt a

lion. Leave being granted I went out in the court; the lion

quitted his prey and fell upon a little Irish mastiffe.’ 3

Tran TIGER

The tiger is also mentioned in Abul Fazl’s chapter on the

Fauna of Hindustan as being plentiful. He describes several

methods of hunting the animal, the following of which were most

commonly employed :—

1. Cage with sliding door and goat bait.

2. Poisoned arrows from bows set on trees on the tiger’ S

path. i

3. Bait surrounded ath glued straw in ee the tiger got

more entangled the more he attempted to extricate himself, till at

last the hunters came up and finished him off.

The faithful Abul Fazl adds that ‘His Majesty (Akbar) from

straightforwardness, dislikes having recourse to such tricks and

prefers with bows and matchlocks openly to attack this brute which

destroys so many lives.’

Yet another method, apparently not in common use is thus

described: ‘ An intrepid experienced hunter gets on the back of

a male buffalo and makes it attack the tiger. The buffalo will

quickly get hold of the tiger with his horns and fling him violently

upwards, so that he dies. It is impossible to describe the excite-

ment of this manner of hunting the tiger. One does not know what

1 Jehangir, vol. i, p. 285.

2 Indian Painting under the Moguls.

3 Sir Thomas Roe’s Voyage to India,’ Pzakerton’s Voyages, vol. viii, p, 14.

MOGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATCORALISTS 849

to admire more, the courage of the rider or his skill in standing (?)

firm on the slippery back of the buffalo.*!

The killing of a man-eater by Akbar in the neighbourhood of

Ajmer in the year 157? is this recorded in Abul Fazl’s picturesque

words: ‘On the way the scouts reported that there was a powerful

tiger there that always lay in wait for travellers and killed them.

Inasmuch as the extirpation of causers of evil is one of the duties

of sovereignty, the prince went forward to destroy him, and did

Sone

Jehangir describes an instance of the most extraordinary beha-

viour on the part of a tiger at Agrain the year 1609. He says:

‘They brought a tiger from my private menagerie to fight with a

bull. Many people gathered together to see the show, and a band

of Jogis (religious mendicants) with them. One of the Jogis was

naked and the tiger by way of sport, and not with the idea of rage,

turned towards him. It threw him on the ground and began to

behave to him as it would to its own female. The next day, and

on several other occasions, the same thing took place. As no such

thing had ever been seen before, and was exceedingly strange, this

has been recorded.’?

The same story is also related in the /gbal Nama (p. 137) where

it is stated that this particular tiger was one brought by a

‘kalendar’ (mendicant) as a present to the monarch. It had the

name of ‘ Lal Khan’ and was very tame. It is added that the tiger

did no injury to the Jogi with his claws or teeth.

Jehangir gives the following instance of the breeding of tigers in

captivity: ‘It happened that a tigress became pregnant and after

three months bore three cubs ; it had never happened that a wild tiger

after its capture had paired. It had been heard from philosophers

that the milk of a tigress was of great use for brightening the eyes.

Although we made every effort that the moisture of milk should

appear in her breasts we could not accomplish it. It occurs to me

that as it is a raging creature, the milk appears in the breasts of

mothers by reason of the affection they have for their young as:

milk comes into their breasts in connection with their young ones

drinking and sucking at the time of their taking (the milk) their (the

mother’s) rage increases and the milk in their breasts is dried up.’#

The iast sentence is very obscure.

Jehangir probably refers in the above passage only to the

breeding of tigers captured in the adult state. The breeding of

animals reared in captivity is by no means such a rare occurrence.

The period of gestation according to Dunbar Brander is about

fifteen weeks. Tigress’s milk is still regarded as panacea for a

great many eye troubles. The difficulty in obtaining it, however,

has probably much to do with its reputed efficacy.

THE LEOPARD OR PANTHER. (felis pardus.)

Abul Fazl mentions this animal as occurring in the Sarkar of

Kashmir where it was tracked.> It is possible that the Snow

teAtn vol. i, pre2sou . *.LOtd.,/ Vol. 11,.p. 539. 3 Jehangir, vol. i, p. 157

* Ain, vol. i, p. 241, 5 {bid., vol. ii, p. 351.

850 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vet. XXXI

Leopard is referred to. The tracking of this animal in the snow is

still considered very good sport.

In the chapter on the Fauna of Hindustan, the animal is stated

by the same author to be ‘numerous ’.}

Jehangir relates that on his return march from Kabul, from one

of his periodical tours of inspection, a female panther (yz) fell into

their hands in the course of a hunt between the Garden of Wafa

and Nimlah, in the neighbourhood of Jelalabad. ‘The zamindars

of that place,’ he continues, ‘ Laghmanis, Shali and Afghans came

and said that they did not remember, nor had they heard from their

fathers, that a panther had been seen in that region for 120 years.’ ?

CATs

In the Fauna of Hindustan, Abul Fazl mentions that ‘ Cats, white

and tawny and even winged that will fly a short distance are

numerous.’ 3

The last evidently relates to the flying squirrel, which in Urdu is

called ‘ Udti billi’—flying cat. This has been dealt with in its

proper place.

LYNX AND CARACAL

These animals, the Hindustani name for which from the Persian

is ‘ Stah-gosh’ (Black-ear), were extensively employed by the

Moghul Emperors in the chase. According to Abul Fazl they were

plentiful in Hindustan in Akbar’s days and he states, ‘His Majesty is

very fond of this plucky animal for hunting purposes. In former

times it would attack a hare or a fox, but now it kills black buck.’*

Both these species are still found within Indian limits, the Cara-

cal according to Blanford in the Punjab, Sind, North-western and

Central India? and the greater part of the Peninsula except the

Malabar Coast but rare everywhere, and the Lynx which has a more

northerly habitat, in the Upper Indus Valley, Gilgit, Ladak,

Tibet, etc.

THE CHEETAH OR HUNTING LEOPARD. (Cyne@lurus jubatus.)

The Moghul emperors were extremely fond of this animal, large

numbers of which were kept at court for hunting purposes.

With regard to the capture of cheetahs, Abul Fazl observes: ‘ The

ordinary pitfalls were liable to injure the animals severely and

sometimes these managed to jump out and get away. Akbar

invented a special sort of trap-door which closed when the cheetah

fell into the hole. This pit was three gaz deep (about eight feet).

Falling through the trap-door the animals were never hurt. On

one occasion seven leopards—six males following a female—fell

into a pit of this kind.’

Akbar was said to be able to train wild cheetahs in a much shorter

time than was ordinarily required, and Abul Fazl relates an instance

1 Ain, vol. iii. 2 Jehangir, vol. i, p. 125.

3 Ain, vol. iii. * Jbid., vol. i, p. 290.

MOGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS 851

where ‘ anewly captured cheetah followed the emperor about without

collar or chain to the astonishment of his court.’ !

The following account of a hunt with cheetahs is interesting inas-

much as it conveys some idea of the depth of interest Akbar took

in this form of sport. Abul. Fazl writes that ‘... at the time

' the army was encamped at Sanganir, His Majesty according to custom

engaged in hunting. He was at this much devoted to hunting with

cheetahs, and after assigning cheetahs to numerous parties, he went

off himself with some special attendants. It chanced that they looseda

special cheetah called‘‘Chitr Najan’”’ atadeer. Suddenly there appeared

in front of them a ravine which was twenty-five yards (gaz ?) broad.

The deer leapt into the air to the height of a spear and a half and

conveyed itself across. The cheetah in its eagerness took the same

course, cleared the ravine and seized the deer. On beholding this

astonishing occurrence the spectators raised a cry of amazement

and there was great rejoicing and astonishment. The khedive

raised the rank of that cheetah and made him chief of the cheetahs.

He also ordered that as a special honour, and as a pleasure to men,

a drum should be beaten in front of the cheetah.’

Fr. Monserrate, a Jesuit, who sojourned at Akbar’s court fora

considerable time refers to the Emperor’s love for this form of sport

and to the method of hunting, in the following words: ‘ Zelaldinus

(Jelaiuddin Akbar) spends enormous sums in keeping countless

hunting panthers, for hounds such as those of the Gallic and Alan

breeds are unknown in this country. The panthers are drawn

by horses under care of the keepers to the place where the game is

feeding. They are blindfolded so that they may not attack any one

on the way. When they are freed they dash ravenously upon the

quarry ; for they are kept in a state of starvation.’

Speaking of the various kinds of animals in the albino phase that

had come under his notice, which included hawks, quails, flying

squirrels, black buck, chinkara and others, Jehangir mentions a white

cheetah which was brought to him at Agra by one Raja Bir Singh

Deo. He states that he had never seen a white cheetah before and

describes the animal thus: ‘ Its spots which are usually black were

of a blue colour, and the whiteness of the body was also inclined to

bluishness.’

The breeding of a pair of cheetahs in captivity is recorded by

Jehangir in the year 1613. This is a valuable record; Blanford

says that they do not breed in captivity. ‘It is an established fact,’

writes the Emperor, ‘ that cheetahs in unaccustomed places do not

pair off with a female, and my revered father (Akbar) once collected

together 1,000 cheetahs.” He was very desirous that they should

pair, but this in no way came of. At this time a male cheetah,

having slipped its collar, went to a female and paired with it, and

after two and a half months, three young ones were born and grew

up. This has been recorded because it appears strange.’ 3

mate: NOL. 1, ZOO.

2 The /gbal Nama (p. 70) has 9,000. It says that Akbar was so keen on their

pairing in captivity that he even allowed some cheetahs to run about in the

gardens without collars, letting them walk about and hunt after their fashion,

but all to no purpose. 3 Jehangir, vol. i, p. 240.

852 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Writing in the time of the Emperor Aurangzebe, the traveller

Mons. de Thevenot ! states: ‘There are a great many Forests

about Ahmedabad where they take panthers for hunting, and the

Governor of the Town causes them to be taught that he may send

them to the king. The Governor suffers none to buy them but

himself, and they whose care it is to tame them in the meican

where from time to time they stroke and make much of them that

they may accustom them to the fight (?) of men.’

CIVET CATS

Mentioned by Abul Fazl in his Fauna of Hindustan.

The Moghuls were extremely fond of perfumes of all kinds and

this animal was naturally well known to them for the musk it

yields. No actual description of a civet cat is furnished by any of

them, but from the fact that a number of animals have been

compared to it for shape and Size, it is obvious that they were well

acquainted with the animal.

THE Hyana. (Hyena striata.)

Mentioned by Abul Fazl in the Fauna of Hindustan. ?

THE WOLF. (Canis pallipes.)

Mentioned by Abul Fazl in the Fauna of Hindustan.

The Emperor Jehangir records that he examined a male wolf

killed by one Mirza Rustam Khan in the neighbourhood of the fort

of Mandu to see ‘ whether its gail-bladder was in its liver like that

of a tiger, or like other animals outside its liver. After examina-

tion it was clear that the gall-bladder was also inside the liver.’?

Sir Thomas Roe relates that while encamped at Mandu with the

royal entourage, his servants killed a wolf that had broken into his

camp and fallen upon some sheep in the courtyard. This animal

was afterwards sent by him to the king (Jehangir). *

THE JACKAL. (Canis aureus.)

Mentioned by Abul Fazl in the Fauna of Hindustan.

THE WILD Doc. (Cuon dukhenensis.)

What is so fancifully described by Abul Fazl in his Fauna is very

probably this animal. He writes ‘ Sardol is the name of an animal

smaller than a dog, but preys upon lions and other wild beasts.’

Controversy on the subject as to whether wild dogs kill tigers or

not is a flourishing evergreen. Competent authority maintains,

however, that under very exceptional circumstances they may do so.

1 Travels into the Levant, licensed, December 2, 1686.

2 Ain, vol. iii,

] JR. VO\. 1, ‘Pp. 364,

* Pinkerton’s Voyages, vol. viii, p. 14.

MOGHUL EMPERORS OF (NDIA AS NATURALISTS 853

THE Fox

Mentioned in Abul Fazl’s Fauna.

THE OTTER

Mentioned in Abul Fazl’s Fauna as being common.

Jehangir enumerating the animals met with on a march to

Kashmir in the course of one of his periodical migrations, observes

that he saw numbers of these ‘ sag-e-abz’ (i.e. water dogs) in the

River Bihat (Jhelum).

THE BEAR

Abul Fazl mentions this animal is his Fauna.

THE FLvinc Fox

The Emperor Babur appears to have suffered from the popular

delusion regarding the status of this animal which he has placed

amongst his birds. He described it thus: ‘ The Great Bat ; they call

it ‘‘Cham-gidri”’. It is about the size of an owl, and its head

resembles that of a young whelp. It lays hold of a branch of a tree

on which it intends to roost, turns head undermost, and so hangs,

presenting a very singular appearance.”}

THE FLYING SQUIRREL

In his enumeration of the Fauna, Abul Fazl refers to this animal

as ‘a winged cat that will fly a short distance.’

THE SQUIRREL

Babur describes our common palm squirrel as ‘of the mouse

species which they call ‘‘ Galahri’’. It always lives in trees and runs

up and down them with surprising nimbleness.’

‘Gilehri’ or ‘ Galahri’ is the Hindustani name for the Common

Indian Squirrel (Scuzrus palmarum) and Mrs. Beveridge’s suggestion

that it may perhaps be Vandeleura oleracea which is a nocturnal

animal rarely seen in daytime, is certainly untenable. Moreover I

am not aware of any distinction being made in India generally

between this latter species and a rat, and the name ‘ Galahri’

undoubtedly suggests a squirrel.

THE HARE

According to Abul Fazl, this animal was plentiful in the Sarkar of

Tattah (Sind) where the hunting of it was much pursued, lynxes

and falcons being principally employed for the sport.

THE ELEPHANT. (Llephas maximus.)

Of all the animals Babur found in his new kingdom, the one that

appears to have excited the utmost wonder and amazement in

himself and his Tartar hordes was the elephant. It is possible that

1 Babur, vol. ii, p. 222.

854 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

neither he nor his followers had ever beheld an animal before of

such gigantic proportions, possessing such power behind his push,

such a faithful ally in battle, and withal so tractable and docile.

All of Babur’s descendants shared with him this special regard for

the elephant, and it has always figured rune ay in all their State

functions, peaceful and otherwise.

Babur thus describes the animal: ‘ As for the animals peculiar to

Hindustan, one is the elephant. The Hindustanis call it Hathi

which inhabits the district of Kalpit and the higher you advance

thence towards the east, the more do the wild elephants increase in

number. That is the tract in which the elephant is chiefly taken.

There may be thiry or forty villages in Karran? and Manikpur?

that are occupied solely in the employment of taking elephants.

They account to the Government for the elephants that they take.

The elephant is an immense animal and of great sagacity. It

understands whatever you tell it, and does whatever it is bid. Its

vaiue is in proportion to its size. When they arrive at a proper age,

they sell it, and the largest brings the highest price. They say that

in some Islands the elephant grows to a height of ten gaz (25 ft.

I have never in these countries seen one above four or

five gaz (10 or 124 ft.). The elephant eats and drinks entirely by

means of its trunk. Hecannot live if he loses it. On the two sides

of its trunk, in his upper jaw, he has two tusks; it is by applying

these teeth and exerting all his force that he overturns walls and

tears up trees; and when he fights or performs any operation that

requires great exertion, he makes use of these tusks which they call

‘aj’ (ivory). The tusks are highly valued by the Hindus. The

elephant is not covered by hair or wool like other animals. The

people of Hindustan place great reliance on their elephants ; in their

armies every division has a certain number with it. The elephant

has some valuable qualities; it can carry a great quantity of

baggage over deep and rapid torrents, and passes them with ease ;

gun carriages which it takes four or five hundred men to drag,

two or three elephants draw without difficulty. But it has a great

stomach and a single elephant will consume the grain of seven or

fourteen camels.’

Sanderson found by experiment that a full-grown elepnant

consumes between 600 and 700 lbs. of fodder per day.

The measurements given by Babur are also in keeping with actual

facts. ‘There is a skeleton of an Indian elephant in the Calcutta

Museum which measures 11 ft. 3 in. so that its owner must in life

have stood guite 12 ft. in height. This is the largest Indian

elephant known.

As regards the sagacity of the elephant, Babur’s description falls

short of Aelian’s who in his attempt to endow the elephant with

unusual mental! perception, relates that an elephant after carefully

1 A town of great historic interest on the right bank of the Jumna in the

Jalaun District, U.P.—King.

2 A town on the left bank of the Jumna in Allahabad District.—Aing.

3 A town in Partabgarh District, Delhi.—King.

MOGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS 855

watching its keeper wrote after him with his trunk letters upon a

board.

Both Blanford and Sanderson agree in believing that the intelli-

gence of the elephant has been greatly overrated, its extreme

docility being confounded with intelligence. From a comparison ot

the development of its brain it is assumed that an elephant is

probably of lower intellectual capacity than other ungulates.

Babur had probably never seen a newly born elephant for it is an

interesting fact that the young of both the Indian and African

elephants have a complete coat of fairly long hair which disappears

in a few weeks.

Only once does Babur make an allusion to the sport of elephant

hunting. It is doubtful whether this refers to the killing of

elephants with bows and arrows or other weapons, or to the trapping

of the beasts. Elephant trapping was an ancient practise necessi-

tated by the extreme utility of the captures to the possessors, and

Aristotle’s descriptions show that the methods of capturing then

differed little from those in vogue at the present day. Then as now,

tame elephants were used as decoys.

Abul Fazl mentions that ‘Garha! is a separate state abounding

with forests in which are numerous wild elephants .. . ’ and again

that ‘in the Sarkar of Bijagarh there are herds of wild elephants.’

He also describes an elephant hunt from which, it appears that

there were several methods employed at the time for capturing

these beasts. On the occasion referred to, Akbar’s army which was

encamped at Gwalior marched to Narwar where the elephant forests

were. ‘Arrangements for hunting were made and servants divided

into several bodies. To each of them a great officer was appointed

and several tame elephants assigned. Strong ropes too were

provided for dragging purposes, and in case of need for nooses.

An order was issued that whenever wiid elephants were found, the

tame one should follow it until it lost power of movement from

weariness. Then from each side of the wild elephant, the drivers

who were seated on the tame elephants should cast one end of the

rope round the neck of the wild elephant and the other round the

neck of the tame one. In this way to be brought to captivity and

dragged along. Every day they were to tame him more and more

and throw fodder before him till they could mount on him. This to

occupy a Short time. The real method of training every wild animal

is gentleness and the exhibition of everything that is agreeable to

him, such as grass, grain and water. On rational grounds this mode

of hunting seems to be the best plan for hunting elephants; for the

wild elephant is great of body and powerful, and is subdued by

elephants more powerful than or like himself, the hunters avert his

malignity from themselves and gain the victory ever hw. cic *

The historian recounts that on the third day of this hunt, as Attar

was on horseback at early dawn, he came across a herd of over

seventy elephants. These were ordered to be driven into a dense

forest where the foot of each was secured to a tree. Watches were

stationed over each animal till the tame elephants with ropes arrived

1 Ancient capital of the Gond dynasty of Garha of Mandla—/mp. Gazetteer.

856 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX] -

from camp, when under Akbar’s direction the elephants being firmly

bound, each between two of the royal elephants, were conveyed to

the camp by evening.

It is interesting that in Belgian Congo where the Government are

at present conducting experiments to tame and train the African

elephant for work, the above method of capture is followed. Native

hunters with nooses follow a herd for days until the animals are

driven into dense forest where they can be approached, and as soon

as an opportunity offers a calf’s leg is lassoed and the animal

firmly secured to a tree.

Abul Fazl enumerates the methods of capturing elephants as

under :—

1. Kheddah. This method was practically the same as now

employed.

2. Chor Kheddah. Here a driver lay flat on the back of a

tame female which was driven into a herd of wild elephants. The

driver secured a will one by throwing a rope round its foot.

3. Gadh—Pitfalls.

42> Bat.

Regarding the last he states: ‘From times of old people have

enjoyed elephant hunts by any of the above modes. His Majesty has |

invented a new manner which admits of remarkable finesse. In fact

all excellent modes of hunting are inventions of H.M. A wild herd

of elephants is surrounded on three sides by drivers, one side alone

being kept open. Atit several females are stationed ; from all sides

male elephants will approach to cover the females. The latter then

gradually go into the enclosure whither the males follow. They are

now caught.’

In his ‘ Travels into the Levant’ published in the year 1686, and

written probably in the reign of the Emperor Aurangzebe, Mons. de

Thevenot describes the various methcds of catching elephants as

follows: ‘ Elephant hunting is variously performed. In some places

they make pitfalls for them, by means whereof they fall into some

hole or pit whence they are easily got out when they have once

entangled them well. In other places they make use of a tame

female that is in season for the male whom they lead into a narrow

place and tie her there; by her cries she calls the male to her, and

when he is there, they shut him in by means of some rails made on

purpose, which they raise, to hinder him from getting out, he having

the female in the meantime on his back, with whom he copulates in

that manner, contrary to the custom of all other beasts. When he

hath done he attempts to begone, but as he comes and goes to finda

passage out, the huntsmen who are either upon a wali or in some

other high place, throw a great many small and great ropes, with

some chains, by means whereof they so pester and entangle his

Trunk, and the rest of his body, that afterwards they draw near

him without danger; and so having taken some necessary precau-

tions, they lead him to the company of two other tame elephants,

whom they have purposely brought with them to show him an

example, or to threaten him if he be unruly. There are some other

snares besides for catching elephants and every country hath its way.

The females go a year with young and commonly live about an

MOGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS — 857

hundred years.’ This travelling gentleman’s method No. 2 is doubt-

less an elaborated version of the ‘Bar’ above described. We

can only hope that his description of the elephant’s modus copuli

is not a sample of his general veraciousness.

Writing of elephants, Fr. Monserrate the Jesuit from Goa, who lived

at Akbar’s court for a considerable time, observes as follows: ‘The

males go so violently mad for about three months of every year that

sometimes they kill even their keepers; they are most useful for

fighting at this period. When the time of madness is past, if they

have to be enraged again on account of an impending battle, this is

effected by giving them cats’ flesh to eat mixed with their other food.

They are kept quiet and harmless at home by the company of female

elephants: for all their rage abates as soon as they see a female.

They live in herds in the forests, having a sort of joint family

life, under the leadership of the father (as it were) of the herd and

family, who is obeyed by his offspring and followed like a general

in the wars which they carry on with other elephants. When they

are hunted the herd retreats or attacks according to the command

of this leader who marches with a proud and insolent air, like a true

general in the midst of his forces, and seems to threaten all who

approach. He paces slowly toand fro terrible to behold, and spares

none but those who grant himself and his family feeding ground.

Those are regarded the best which have low hind quarters and

strong legs and necks. Strabo writes that their period of pregnancy

is normally eight months, but sometimes six or ten: that the mother

suckles her young for six months: that the female reaches maturity

at ten years: that they live as long as a long-lived man: that some

even reach 200 years: that their health is delicate: that they cannot

be cured if once they become diseased. ... Their young are at

one year old, hardly as big asa pig....’ 1

With regard to the peniad of vestation and the birth of an

elephant, Jehangir records:‘ .. . a female elephant in the private

elephant stud gave birth to a young one in my presence. I had

repeatedly ordered them to ascertain the period of their gestation ;

at last it became evident that for a female young it was eighteen

months and fer a male nineteen months. In oppositionto the birth

of a human being, which is in most cases by a head delivery, the

young elephants are born with their feet first. When the young one

was born the mother scattered dust upon it with her foot and began

to be kind and pet it. The young one for an instant remained

fallen and then rising made towards its mother’s breasts.’ ?

The following account of a hunt given by Jehangir is interesting

more particularly in the fact that the locality where it took place has

long since gone out of the wild elephant’s range of distribution.

Writing from camp at the village of Sajra (Sajwara ?), eight kos from

Dohad, now ia the Panchmahals District (Bombay Presidency), the

Emperor says: ‘1 went to hunt elephants with a body of my private

servants. As the grazing place of elephants is in a hilly country,

with elevations and depressions, a passage is obtained with difficulty

i Commentary, p. 84.

2 Jéh.; vol,'i,/ ps 265,

858 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

by one on foot. Before this, a large body of horse and foot had sur-

rounded the jungle after the manner of a qamargah, and outside the

jungle on a tree they had prepared a wooden platform forme. On all

sides of this they had arranged seats on other trees for the Amirs.

They had got ready 200 male elephants with strong nooses and

many female elephants. On each elephant there were seated two

elephant drivers of the tribe of Jarga, whose special employment is

the hunting of elephants, and it had been arranged that they should

bring the wild elephants from the jungle into my presence, that I

might witness the hunt. It happened that at the time when the

men from all sides entered the jungle, in consequence of the

thickness of the forest and the heights and hollows, the chain was

broken and the order of the qamargah did not remain perfect. The

wild elephants in bewilderment turned in every direction, but twelve

males and females came to this side (i.e. where Jehangir was). As

the fear was that they might escape, they drove in the tame

elephants and tied the wild elephants up wherever they found them.

Although many elephants were not caught at least two excellent

ones were captured, very handsome in shape, of good breed and

perfect marks. As there is a hill in the jungle where the elephants

were, called ‘*‘ Rakas (Rakshas) Pahar’’ or ‘‘ Demon Hill”’; I called

the two elephants ‘‘ Ravan Sar’’ and ‘‘ Pavan Sar ’’, these being the '

names of two demons.’

The hill referred to is, as suggested by Rodgers and Beveridge,

doubtless Pavagarh, a hill-fort in the Panchmahals District which is

2,800 ft. above sea level.

Jehangir left the place while the khedda operations were still in

progress, and soon after he mentions that ‘a report was received

from Gajpat Khan, Superintendent of the elephant stables, and

Baluch Khan, the chief Huntsman that upto this time sixty-nine

elephants male and female had been caught. Whatever took place

after this would be reported. I ordered them to beware not to take

old or small elephants, but with this exception they should catch al]

they saw, male and female.’

With regard to the size of elephants Jehangir! says, ‘In the

elephant stables of His Majesty Akbar the largest elephant I saw

was ‘‘ Durjan Sal’’. It was long the premier elephant. Its height

was four yards (dara) and 34 quarters of the ilahi gaz, which is eight

yards and three fingers of the ordinary gaz. At present among the

elephants of my establishment the iargest athlete is ‘‘ Alam Gajraj’”’

which H. M. Akbar himself had caught. It is the chief of my

special elephants. Its height is 44 yards (dara) or 7 yards 7 fingers

of the ordinary yard. The ordinary gaz (yard) has been fixed at

twenty-four fingers’ breadths of an average sized man and the ilahi

gaz is forty fingers’ breadths.’

This would make the height of ‘ Alam Gajraj’ about 11 ft. and

that of ‘ Durjan Sal’ about 124 ft.

Jehangir mentions that one of his private ? elephants Gajpati by

name and a female that was with him in the stables were both

Se ee ee ee

1 Jel, VON pls:

* [bid., vol, i, p. 242.

MOGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS — 859

bitten on the foot by amad dog. The symptoms and effects ofthe

bite recorded by him as follows are interesting: He writes, ‘ When

a month and five days had passed after this event, one day when it

was cloudy, the growling of thunder came to the ear of the female

elephant that was in the act of eating, and it all of a sudden raised a

cry and its limbs began to tremble. It threw itself on the ground

but rose again. For seven days water ran out of its mouth, and

then suddenly it uttered a cry and showed distress. The remedies

the drivers gave it had no effect and on the eighth day it fell down

and died. A month after the death of the female they took the large

elephant to the edge of a river in the plain. It was cloudy and

thundering in the same way. The said elephant in the height of

excitement all at once began to tremble and sat down on the ground.

With a thousand difficuities the drivers took it up to its own place.

After the same interval and in the same way as had happened to the

female elephant this elephant also died.” The Emperor concludes

this account with ‘Great amazement was caused by this affair, and

in truth it is a matter to be wondered at, that an animal of such size

and bulk should be so affected by such a weak creature.’

Two records of African elephants being brought to India are

to be found in Jehangir’s Memozirs(p. 323). One was a young

individual brought as an offering by the Governor of Gujerat to the

Emperor Akbar which we are told was very fiery and bad tempered

when it grew up. The other was asmall elephant presented

to Jehangir in 1616 by one Mugarrab Khan which had been brought

by sea from Abyssinia. Regarding these Jehangir observes that:

‘In comparison with the elephants of Hindustan it presents some

peculiarities. Its ears are larger than the ears of the elephants of

this place, and its trunk and tail are longer.’

THE GREAT ONE-HORNED RHINOCEROS. (RAznoceros indicus.)

Babur, as we know, frequently hunted this animal which he

describes as follows : |

‘The rhinoceros is a huge animal. Its bulk is equal to that

of three buffaloes. The opinion prevalent in our countries that a

rhinoceros can lift an elephant on its horn is probably a mistake.

It has a single horn over its nose, upwards of a span! in length,

but I never saw one of two spans. Out of one of the largest of

these horns, I had a drinking vessel-made,? and.a dice box, and

about 3 or 4 fingers’ bulk of it might be left.’

‘Its hide is very thick. If it be shot with a powerful bow drawn

up to the armpit with much force, and if the arrow pierces at all,

it enters only 3 or 4 fingers’ breadth. They say however, that

2 A span would be equal to 8} or9 inches. The record horn of R. indicus

given in Rowland Ward’s Records of Big Game, 7th. ed. is 24 inches length on

front curve or equal to about 3 spans of Babur. It will be noticed here how

guarded Babur is regarding the measurements he gives.

2In commenting on this Sir Lucas King observes as follows: ‘ The

rhinoceros’s horn was supposed to sweat on the approach of poison, a quality

which fitted it in a peculiar manner for being made into a drinking cup for an

Eastern king.’

860 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

there are parts of its skin that may be pierced and the arrows enter

deep. On the sides of its two shoulder blades and of its two thighs

are folds that hang loose, and appear from a distance like cloth

housings dangling over it. It bears more resemblance to the horse

than to any other animal. As the horse has a large stomach, so

has this; as the pastern of a horse is composed of a single bone, so

also is that of the rhinoceros. It is more ferocious than the

elephant and cannot be rendered so tame and obedient.’ 1

As regards the distribution of the rhinoceros, Babur says: ‘ There

are numbers of them in the jungles of Peshawar and Hashnagar, as

well as between the rivers Sind and Behreh in the jungles. In

Hindustan too they abound on the banks of the Saru (Gogra).’

Towards the end of Humayun’s reign, in about the year 1556, a

a Turkish admiral of Suleiman the Great, by name Sidi Ali Reis,

who by the exigencies of war and weather, had found himself

obliged to travel overland from Surat to Lahore and thence across

all the intervening lands to Turkey? records that his party came

across two rhinoceros near Peshawar, ‘an event’ as Mrs. Beveridge

observes ‘which makes one wonder whether there still remained

apart of the ancient lake of the plain of Peshawar to serve as

habitat for the huge now vanished beasts.’

Compare the above distribution with the present sadly diminished

territories of the animal, which are Burma, Assam and the Nepal

Terai, nowhere of which can it be said to be really plentiful, except

perhaps in the last named, where owing to its being strictly preserved

as Royal Game, the rhinoceros is still to be found in fair numbers.

In parts of Assam, too, owing to strict protection, its numbers are

slightly on the increase.

The belief in the efficacy of the rhinoceros’s horn against poison

remained in England even upto the time of Charles II. In his

Science from an Easy Chair, Sir E. Ray Lankester mentions that at

that time a cup made of rhinoceros horn was. handed over to the

Royal Society for experiment, with the result of entirely disproving

the superstition. The belief however, still exists in certain parts

of India and in Oriental countries generally. In Tenasserim, where

both R. sondaicus and R. sumatrensis are found, the Chinese pay big

prices for the horn. The blood, urine and other fluids of the body

are likewise preserved and greatly valued. The blood is believed

to possess tonic and aphrodisiac properties and sells at about

Re. 1 per tola dried. ‘The animal when killed is turned on its back

with its feet in the air. The viscera is carefully removed so as not

to lose any of the precious fluids, and all the blood, etc., which flow

down into the body cavity are scooped out and collected in hollow

bamboos, or in the guts of the animal in the form of sausages, and

1 Babur, vol. ii, p. 210.

With regard to Babur’s comparison of the animal to a horse, Mrs. Beveridge

in her translation of the J/emoirs notes: ‘The anatomical details by which

Babur supports this statement are difficult to translate, but his grouping of the

two animals is in agreement with the modern classification of them as 2 of the

Ungulata vera, the third being the Tapir /.B./., Wammals, pp. 467-8, Blanford.’

2 Vambery, Travels and Adventures of Sidi Ali Reis, Luzac & Co., 1899.

MOGHUL EMPERORS OF INDIA AS NATURALISTS 861

smoke-dried. It is said that a dead rhino is worth anything from

Rs. 900 to 1,200 to its hunters. Professional Siamese hunters,

presumably having exterminated the rhinoceros in their own coun-

try, formed themselves into small roving bands and crossed over

into British territory in the Mergui and Tavoy Districts of Lower

Burma, and carried on the merciless slaughter of this animal on an

extensive scale, and it was on this account that the Government of

Burma had to pass legislation to protect it, making poaching a

serious offence, and to appoint patrols in areas inhabited by these

species.

Writing in the reign of the Emperor Akbar, his chronicler Abul

Fazl states regarding the Sarkar of Chambal: ‘ There is game in

plenty and the rhinoceros is found. It is an animal like a small

elephant without a trunk, and having a horn on its snout with which

it attacks animals. From its skin, shieids are made, and from its

horn finger-guards for bow-strings, strings and the like’. The same

author includes this beast in his Fauna of Hindustan where it is

described thus: ‘The rhinoceros is a stupendous creature ; he is

twice the size of a buffalo, and much resembles a horse in armour.

His feet and hoofs are like those of an elephant and his tail similar

to a buffalo’s, and he has a pastern joint like a horse. On the point

of his snout he carries a single horn, and his hide is so thick that

an arrow will not pierce it. Of this breast-plates ani shields and

the like are made, and he is bold enough to charge a man on horse-

back.+

The above description, as will be noted, closely resembles

Babur’s account, and may have probably been taken from his

Memojirs.

The record Indian rhinoceros shot in Nepal measured 6ft. 4in.

at the shoulder. A good sized bull buffalo measures 5 ft. or a few

inches above.

The Emperor Jehangir mentions that one day he was hunting the

thinoceros from an elephant in the Kul Nuh Ban (Forest) in the

neighbourhood of Aligarh. He says ‘ A rhinoceros appeared and I

struck it with a bullet on the face (mana) near the lobe of the ear.

The bullet penetrated for about a span. From the bullet it fell and

gave up its life. It has often happened in my presence that power-

ful men (jawanan) good shots with the bow, have shot 20 or 30

arrows at them and not killed.’ This took place about the year

1622 a.p. It has been stated that this animal was a wolf, but this

is obviously incorrect. In Persian Gé#rgisa wolf and Kurg a

rhinoceros. A wolf certainly would not require 20 or 30 arrows to

kill it.

(To be continued)

* Ain, Vol, 111.

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN

CLAUD B. TICEHURST M.A., M.R.C.S., M.B.O.U., F.R.G.S.

PART II

(With 2 Plates)

(Continued from page 711 of this Volume)

Pioceus philippinus philippinus (L.) The Baya.

A male shot at Quetta on July 10, 1916 anda female at Sheik Mandah,

August 6, 1914, are the only records of this weaver. I have examined both these

birds in the Quetta Museum and could see no signs of their having been in

captivity. Weavers are very likely to be resident at Sibi (I have seen nests close

tothe upper Sind-Baluchi frontier) so perhaps odd ones stray up to Quetta

occasionally.

There is no record of any Weaver in the rest of Baluchistan, it might well

occur in Las Belas ; Zarudny however mentions old Weavers’ nests of unknown

species in South Persian Baluchistan.

Ploceus manyar flaviceps (Less). The Striated Weaver Bird.

Radcliffe records that a pair of these Weavers were seen at Samunegli four

miles west of Quetta on July 17, 1913 and suggests that they were escapes from

the bazaar ; very likely.

Uroloncha malabarica, L. The White-throated Munia.

In the Quetta valley there are records of this Munia in July, August, Sep-

tember and January. In small numbers and locally it may be resident ;

Cumming found a nest at Babli on August 16. Onthe Ziarat Road Meinertz-

hagen saw large flocks at Khawash (7,500 ft.) on July 31. It is common at

Sibi and at Fort Sandeman.

Duke and St. John both met with it at various places in Kalat (up to 5,790 ft.),

and Hotson found it in S. Kalat and Jhalawan where it was not uncommon in

August and September and is doubtless resident. In the Habb Valley I found it

quite common and it occurs in the Las Belas Plain but how far, if at all, it ex-

tends along the Makran is not known ; no one has recorded it from west of

Las Belas.

Amandava amandava amandava, L. ‘The Indian Red Munia.

Radcliffe says that this Munia is frequently seen in small flocks in the Quetta

valley and he has obtained specimens in November. Probably it is an irregular

wanderer from the plains and may well be resident at Sibi.

No records elsewhere and I failed to find it west of Karachi.

Coccothraustes coccothraustes humii, Sharpe. Hume’s Hawfinch.

Murray records the Hawfinch on the Khojak in April and May; and Barnes

says itiscommon in the hills. This is probably correct as there isa specimen

in the Karachi Museum labelled Chaman. It occurs at Fort Sandeman whence

there is aspecimen in the British Museum ; Meinertzhagan obtained astraggler

at Quetta on March 1. Marshall’s records do not refer to this species. The

Hawfinch is probably very local and not very common (as in most places) in the

wooded hills.

Mycerobas carnipes speculigerus, Brandt. The White-winged Grosbeak.

This fine Grosbeak is resident in the highest hills of N. Baluchistan from

Harboi in Kalat,-on Khaliphat, Murdan, etc., and the Ziarat District and prob-

ably beyond. It is not uncommon where found and breeds in Juneat

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 863

9,000-11,000 ft. In winter it is said to descend to lower levels but it never reaches

the Quetta Valley. Meinertzhagen records a nest with four eggs on June 7 as

being a cup made of fine twigs and coarse grass lined with fibre and placed

on a branch of a juniper 5 ft. from the ground. I came across small parties

of this bird in autumn at Ziarat associating with 7urdus atrogularis in the

juniper trees and feeding on the orange berries of a bush socommon in the

forest ; they seenied rather secretive and shy.

Baluchi birds and those from Tian-shan and Gilgit on the one hand differ

from those from Sikkim onthe other in that the females are paler on the

breast and vent ; the wing measurements of the two series of females are the

same, viz., W. 116-123 mm. the type of carnezpes came from Nepal whence the

specimens examined are few and poor, but I think that they are the same as

Sikkim birds. I think speculigerus may be used forthe Baluchi bird and for

those from the N. W. Himalayas.

Carpodacus rhodochlamys grandis, Blyth. The Red-mantled Rose Finch.

The distribution of this Rose Finch in N. Baluchistan appears to be the same

as that of the Grosbeak, and it breeds at similar elevations but in winter it moves

down more and is occasionally found in the Quetta Valley. Meinertzhagen

records nests early in May in wild briars. In the autumn I found it only at

the highest part of the Ziarat juniper forest ; small parties were met within the

thickest juniper trees often feeding under them close to or on the ground.

C. rhodochlamys rhodochlamys has been recorded from Quetta; I have ex-

amined the supposed example in Quetta Museum and consider it to be grandis.

Carpodacus erythrinus roseatus (Hodg.) The Common Rose Finch.

Information concerning the Common Rose Finch is not as full as it might

be. In N. Baluchistan it must breed fairly commonly in the higher hills ; Col.

Venning obtained several specimens between June 4 and July 14 at Shinghar

(Fort Sandeman District) where the birds must have been nesting ; Marshall

records it as common in May at Ziarat so it may breed there too. I sawa large

flock in the forest therein September. Meinertzhagen records that he often

saw this species round Quetta in the summer—presumably on the higher hills.

To the Quetta Valley and Kandahar it is a fairly common passage migrant

in Apriland ayain at the end of August and in September, but there are no

winter records in the north.

Over the rest of Baluchistan there is still less information. Cumming has

obtained it at Ormarra on October 1 and found it not uncommon at Charbar

in winter.

Buchanetes githaginea crassirostris, Blyth. ‘The Trumpeter Bullfinch.

The Trumpeter Bullfinch is apparently rather local and not very common in

N. Baluchistan though Barnes records it common at Chaman ; it may well be

commoner than records indicate as I have found it easily overlooked except

when coming to water. Itis no doubt more or less resident moving about

locally. Meinertzhagen hasseen it at Kushdil Khan and Azimin July and

June and W. D. Cumming at Saranan also in June so it must breed in these

localities and also at Kalat whence I have seen specimens in May and early

August. It is recorded from the Pishin Valley in September and Kandahar in

February. Williams records a nest with four eggs at Sheik Mandah on May

14 ; the nest was among the rafters of an old out-house, he says it also nests in

_ vineyards in Pishin Valley.

To the Makran coast it is a winter visitor from the Habb Valley in the east

to the Persian frontier, so far as is known, though it probably breeds in the hills

at no great distance away. In Central Baluchistan its status is unknown but I

have seen a specimen from near Khozdar (Jhalawan) obtained on September

30. Cumming renders the call-note as ‘ stand-at-ease.’

Buchanetes mongolicus (Swinh.) The Mongolian Trumpeter Bullfinch.

Barnes records this Desert Bullfinch as not uncommon at Chaman and. two

were obtained thereon April 8, 1880, by Murray (now in British Museum). I

met with a large flock on rather bare stony ground by the tank at Hanna near

Quetta on December 13, 1917 and obtained two specimens. W.D. Cumming

sent ae another from Saranan on March 1, 1924, Status not clear; winter

visitor }

864 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Rhodospiza obsoleta (Licht.) Lichtenstein’s Desert Finch.

This Rose-finch, known locally as the Quetta Rose-finch, is not uncommon

and resident, but is only recorded in the district, Quetta to Kandahar. At Quetta

the numbers are said to be augmented by spring arrivals in March, It appears

to be subject to local migrations when the young are flown, andis said to leave

the Quetta Valley at the end of July until September; certainly I searched in

vain for it in mid-August. At Sheik Mandah where it breeds commonly

W. D. Cumming noticed the same thing.

In some years nest building begins us early as the first week in March but

_ the last week of Aprilis the more usual time for first full clutches of eggs;

young have been found however by April 28 and May 9. W. D. Cumming has

noted asecond nest being built on May 22, while the young of the first brood

were still being fed and has found fresh eggs on June 18. Itis a garden bird

nesting in pollarded vines, roses, almond, apricot, etc., from 3 to 10 feet up

and also in roadside trees ; the clutch is 5 to 6 sometimes 4 or 7. Thenestisa

typical finch nest composed of sticks, twigs, grasses and lined with cottonwool

and hair or feathers ; one nest examined by me was made mainly of native

cotton and string incorporating a few tamarisk twigs and bits of rag and lined

with wool. The eggs vary from palest sea-green to nearly white marked at the

larger end with dots and scrolls of brownish-black, sometimes very sparsely.

Nineteen eggs measure max. 20°5 15 mm., 18X14'5 and 19°5X 14.

Williams records a young cuckoo in a nest of this species.

It has been recorded ascommon at Chaman in spring and autumn and at

Kandahar throughout the year.

THE GOLDFINCH

Carduelis caniceps caniceps (Vig.).

Carduelis caniceps subulata (Gloger.).

Carduelis caniceps paropanisi (Koll.).

The status of this Goldfinch is not clear; most observers state that itis a

winter visitor in fair numbers from early November to mid-April to Quetta,

Chaman and Kandahar; Radcliffe however says that it is found in summer in

the higher valleys and that at Ziarat he thought that it was breeding. Hotson

too thought he saw it there in the last week of July. Further information and

specimens are needed to clear up the point. Elsewhere in Baluchistan there

are no records.

In spite of its being a fairly common bird few specimens are available to

determine what races occur. One, obtained by Meinertzhagen, is very large

and pale, ¢ W. 87°5 mm. and is I think-C. c. swbulata (= ortentalts, auct.); this is

the only one I have seen of this race. Three others are distinctly darker and

smaller, ¢¢ W 82°5-83°5 and match well birds from Tian-shan and I consider

them to be C. c. paropanist. Two others again W. 79 and 82 are darker still

and match well the Himalayan bird C.c. caniceps ; (subcaniceps of Zarudny

appears to be the same) or paropanisi ; at least a series from Ferghana are

quite the same as a series from Tian-shan and measure 80-86 (Ferghana) and

81--86 (Tian-shan).

Carduelis carduelis major (Tacz.). The Eastern Goldfinch.

One ofa pair, trom a flock of caniceps, obtained by Meinertzhagen on

February 27, at Quetta, is the only record.

Acanthis cannabina fringillirostris (Bp. and Schleg.). The Eastern Linnet.

The Linnet is evidently arare winter visitor. Meinertzhagen records a flock

at Quetta on February 14; he obtained a male at Chaman on April 2, and there

is another in the Quetta Museum obtained on March 31. No records elsewhere.

[C. E. Williams records that he saw an Eastern Twite in N. Baluchistan in

June. There are no other records of this species which I cannot include or one

‘sight record ’. |

Serinus pusillus (Pall.). The Red-fronted Serin.

The Red-fronted Serin is common and resident, breeding in the higher hills

of N, Baluchistan—Ziarat, Zarghun, Takatu, Murdan and probably the

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN.'* 865

Khojak and elsewhere at 8,000 to 10,000 ft. It descends to lower elevations in

winter and in severe weather at allevents enters the Quetta Valley, and the

Kandahar Plains. Meinertzhagen record anest on May 10, situated in an

oleander bush, 3 ft. from the ground. In the autumn these birds congregate into

small flocks and are very partial to the sides and bottoms of the famgzs in the

forest, feeding on grass seeds, etc., and they are very fond of clumps of wild

briars in which too they seek their food. On being disturbed the flock will

invariably fly up to the bare top of the nearest juniper. At Chaman it is recorded

in spring and autumn in agricultural fields as they move up and down from

their nesting ground. No records elsewhere.

Fringilla montifringilla, L. The Brambling.

The Brambling is a common winter visitor to the Quetta Valley frequenting

gardens, orchards, etc., and the roadside. In December 1917 it seemed to me

to be the commonest small bird inthe valley. It is recorded from Kandahar

and Fort Sandeman and piobably occurs elsewhere in N. Baluchistan at not

too high an elevation. It arrives early in November and leaves at the end of

March, latest April 2.

Gymuorhis xanthocollis transfuga (Hart.). The Yellow-throated Sparrow.

The Yellow-throated Sparrow is decidedly uncommon in N. Baluchistan.

Murray records it frorm Sagee near Gulistan and the Khojak early in April but

says it was rare and only seen in the plains. St. John only recorded it from

Kandahar. Meinertzhagen obtained one from a small flock at Quetta on March

2. It occurs at Sibi and is probably not uncommon there. The status beyond

the Bolan Pass is probably a rare summer visitor.

Throughout Central and Coastal Makran however it is found locally where

trees occur and is resident. Its distribution can be traced from Sind right

through the Makran to Charbar, Jask, Bampur and Shiraz to Fao, Busra and

Baghdad. At Charbar W. D. Cumming informed me it was only a passage

migrant and in Iraq it is only known as a summer visitor.

THE HOUSE SPARROW

Passer domesticus indicus, Jard.

Passer domesticus parkini, Whistler.

‘Gingishki’, Bal.

To Kandahar, Chaman, Quetta Valley and the hill country generally of

N. Baluchistan the House Sparrow is a very common summer visitor arriving

in the second week of March at Quetta, first week of April at Kandahar.

Meinertzhagen records that on arrival at Quetta they frequent hillsides before

drawing in to the town to dispute possession of nesting holes with the resident

Tree Sparrows. It is certainly of the two much more acountry bird, the road-

side trees being full of their nests—a thing I never remember seeing in the

plains of India—while in the autumn swarms may be seen in every field to the

entire exclusion of the Tree Sparrow. But besides habitations and trees, hoies

in earth banks are used and even cliffs at 10,000 feet. Full clutches of eggs

may be found by the second week in May. Most must depart in September

and Cumming has noted them collecting and migrating by September 9

but I saw some still at Ziarat (9,000 ft.) on October 7. Nor do quite all leave

Quetta in winter for I sawa few, the only ones however, on December 14

at the railway station. It is common and resident in the Sibi plain but at

stations between Sibi and Jacobabad I saw in small patches of cultivation on

September 24, far more Sparrows than could possibly have been bred locally

and these were no doubt migrants from the hills. I saw an albino at Spintangi.

' How far south the House Sparrow ceases to be a migrant and becomes

resident I do not know but it is fairly common throughout Central and Coastal

Makran wherever there are habitations, aswell as in the Nushki Plain. In

Coastal Makran it is at all events resident. W.D. Cumming informed me that

there were no House Sparrows at Ormarra prior to 1901 but since then it has

become common. - —

The question arises what race of House Sparrow inhabits Baluchistan?» In

the plains of India we have a small and resident race imdicus. In the higher

parts of the Himalayas we find a larger and migratory bird which Mr. Whistler

866 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

has named parkini (type loc. Cashmere) but as we should expect with a bird

of continuous distribution some places are inhabited by intermediate sized

birds. ‘Turning now to Baluchistan there is no doubt that zmdicus goes along

the Mekran coast to Gwader and beyond and the few I have seen from Central

Makran are zzdicus too. But birds from Kalat, Quetta and Kandahar are large

13 ¢¢, W. 77-82 (most 79-82) though Meinertzhagen tells me he hasa ¢, W. 72, an

abnormal bird. 30 ¢¢ from the plains of India measure W. 72-78 (most 75-77).

Passer hispaniolensis transcaspicus, Tschusi. The Spanish Sparrow.

I think the Spanish Sparrow has been largely overlooked in Baluchistan or

else itis unaccountably rare. Mr. J. W. Nicol Cumming obtained three at Sheik

Mandah on November 3, 1913 and his brother recorded them there on October

24, 1923 and obtained specimens on March 1, 1924. Watson records it as a

winter visitor at Chaman from October to December. On the other hand

St. John says it is common at Kandahar in summer and Swinhoe says it arrives

‘there in large flocks with the House Sparrow, i.e., in April; St. John was

probably referring to this and not implying that it bred there.

In British Mekran I have no record though this species must surely occur ;

Hotson however met with large flocks in January at Geh on the Persian side

and Zarudny says a few breed in the Karwander District (N. of Bampur.)

There can be little doubt that the Afghan Scrub Sparrow (Passer moabiticus

yatit) will be found within our limits ; Zarudny found it at the following places

some of which are only just over the British frontier, in Persian Baluchistan

and Makran—Naranu and Mok Sultan in Mashkel Valley district; Jalk ; Rud-i-

Kalugan ; nr. Dizak ; Rud-i-Sarbas ;—all in winter and he found no evidence

of nesting there. One might expect it too in the Chaga District west of Nushki.

Zarudny records too the Sind Scrub Sparrow (Passer pyrrhonotus) from the

Zaristan district and from Lekuball where he found supposed old nests. I

know of no record between these places and the Indus.

Passer gviseigularis has been obtained at Kandahar in Aprii but not so far

in Baluchistan.

Passer montanus dilutus, Richm. The Tree Sparrow.

The Tree Sparrow is resident in N. Baluchistan between 5,000-7,500 ft. and is

the ‘ house sparrow’ of the country. There is some slight elevational move-

ment in winter when the numbers at Quetta and Chaman are augmented by

visitors. It breeds in holes in trees, but more often under eaves, holes in

buildings, etc. Eggs are recorded from April 2 to June 4 (Meinertzhagen).

In August I found it very noticeable that all the Sparrows of the streets and

compounds at Quetta were all Tree Sparrows and the Sparrows of the country

side were all House Sparrows.

How far south of Kalat it is resident I do not know but small numbers

evidently visit the Makran coast in winter at which season Cumming

occasionally saw them at Ormarra.

Zarudny named the bird from the Iranian plateau as pallidus it being between

montanus and dilutus in colour; Baluchistan specimens however do not differ

from those from Turkestan.

Although I have no records within British Baluchistan of the Desert Rock

Sparrow (Carpospiza brachydactyla) yet it is likely to occur as W. D. Cumming

found it resident as near as Charbar where he obtained specimens in April and

October. Further on at Jask it is evidently common as on April 10, 1910, he

found six nests. These he tells me were cup-shaped and situated in small

desert bushes 13 to 23 feet from the ground ; the eggs number 4 to 5 and have

a white ground with minute brown spots especially towards the larger end. It

is an early breeder as incubated eggs were found on April 1, and young,

‘ covered’ with yellow down, on April 10, while other nests on that date had

fresh eggs.

Petronia petronia intermedia, Hart. The Rock Sparrow.

One was obtained by Lloyd at Quetta on March 14, 1910, and is in the Quetta

Museum ; Meinertzhagen obtained another there on February 28, 1914. Murray

records a pair at Sagee on April 2, 1880. Swinhoe says it is a winter visitor

to Kandahar. Apparently a rare straggler.

THE. BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 867

Bombycilla garrulus centralasie, Poljakov. The Waxwing.

Meinertzhagen records that he obtained one of a pair at Quetta on November

11. No other record of this straggler, which Whitehead and Magrath met with

in the N. W. F. Province.

The Snow Finch (Montifringilla nivalis alpicola) occurs in the Hand-list of

Indian Birds as ‘ breeding from Caucasus to Baluchistan.’ I know of no record

of this species in Baluchistan.

Emberiza scheniclus pallidior, Hart. The Reed-Bunting.

The Reed-Bunting appears to be uncommon or eise overlooked. There is

one in the Bombay Museum collected by Watson at Chaman and there is one

in the Quetta Museum from Sheik Mandah (labelled &. stracheyi /) obtained

on November 15. Murray recorded it as common near Mach! W. D.

Cumming obtained three at Saranan on March 2, 1924. Swinhoe lists it as a

winter visitor to Kandahar.

Emberiza teucocephala, Gm. The Pine Bunting.

The Pine Bunting is a winter visitor in fair numbers but is only recorded

from Kandahar and the Quetta district. Extreme dates of arrival and

depaiture are November 11 and April 28.

I saw a flock at Quetta in December picking over droppings on a horse exer-

cising ground and others in willow trees flying out and taking insects on the

wing.

One received from W. D. Cumming obtained at Urak on February 19, 1924, is

exactly intermediate in characters between cztrinella and leucocephalus and

would do for an abnormal! bird of either species except for its larger size. It is

a female W. 92, i.e., the size of leucocephala 2 from which it differs by the pale

yellow wash on the whole of the underparts while the chestnut colour on the

upper breast is almost absent ; also the bases of the crown feathers are yellow.

It differs from cztrinella 2 in having less yellow on these parts and on the under-

wing, besides being larger. Such hybrids, as I take them to be, are fairly

well known.

Emberiza stewarti, Blyth. The White-capped Bunting.

The White capped Bunting is a very common summer visitor to N. Balu-

chistan arriving in the hills at the end of April, earlier at lower elevations, and

breeding on all the hills between 7,000 and 9,000 ft. Nests recorded as early as

May 10, and as late as June 29; at the end of the first week in October it was

still very common in the juniper forest at Ziarat and appeared to be the chief

prey of the Sparrow Hawks ; but some must leave earlier as I have seen a few

in the Quetta Valley already by August 19. It seems that most leave Balu-

chistan for the winter though odd ones are recorded at Quetta in December

but where they goto is not clear ; there are no records of it in Central or South

Baluchistan at that season, only one record in Sind and Mr. Whistler never

found it inthe Lower Punjab. It may possibly winter in the low hill country

north of the Sibi Plain,

Emberiza cia per, Hart. The Meadow Bunting.

Though recorded as extremely common in N, Baluchistan by Murray. the

Meadow Bunting appears to be quite rare. Watson records it from Chaman

and | have seen two in the Quetta Museum, obtained at Baleli on December 9,

and at Quetta on February 24, and one in the British Museum obtained by

Col. Venning at Fort Sandeman on December 26. Meinertzhagen obtained

a fourth at Quetta on March 11.

This Bunting is probably commoner than these records indicate and it must

breed as near our area as S. Waziristan whence there is a bird in the Bombay

Museum obtained on the Marwatin River on June 29, 1918. St. John too

obtained a young bird at Kowur Kalat (where?) on June 19, 1881.

Emberiza buchanani, Blyth. The Grey-necked Bunting.

N. Baluchistan would appear to be the eastern fringe of this bird’s breeding

distribution ; Barnes says it is very common at Chaman arriving at the end of

March and he believed it bred in the hills, i.e. the Kwaja Amian, and he found

a nest on the Khojak which he attributed to this species. It is not clear that

it breeds in Kalat where however it is common on spring passage in April,

868 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Meinertzhagen considered it to be a scarce summer visitor round Quetta where

he found a few pairs breeding in rock and low bush country between 5,500 and

8,000 ft. such as at Takatu, Spereragha, etc. He found a nest with one egg on

May 9, another with four on June 11, and a third with young on May 30.

Though Newnham recorded it as overwintering at Quetta most leave entirely,

but I have notes of odd ones up till November 7.

In Central Makran it is doubtless a passage migrant ; Hotson met with it in

September in Jhalawan and in the valley of the Hingol. Cumming records it

in small numbers at Ormarra in Coastal Makran during September and at the

end of March and also at this time at Charbar,

Emberiza aureola, Pall. The Yellow-breasted Bunting.

The only record of this Bunting comes from Ormarra on the coast where

Cumming obtained one on November 14, 1901 ; now in the British Museum.

Emberiza melanocephala, Scop. The Black-headed Bunting.

‘ Zarden drushk,’ Bal. (= small yellow bird).

In N. Baluchistan the Black-headed Bunting is a spring and autumn passage

migrant but although Barnes said he found it very common at Chaman in

spring the evidence of others seems to point to its not being at all abundant.

Swinhoe too found it uncommon enough to mention each individual and

St. John lists it as very rare in N. Kalat. Such as pass this way are met with

in April and early in August.

The main migration westward certainly passes further south ; in S. Kalat and

Jhalawan, Central and Coastal Makran this bird passes through in swarms,

males first, during the last week in March and during April, as it does in Sind,

but it has been noted at Ormarra as early as February 22. At Charbar Cum-

ming noted the main passage as from March 26 to April 27. Further on at

Bampur in Persian Baluchistan Blanford met with great numbers on April 14,

passing through from the S.E. to reach their breeding grounds in the Persian

Highlands. The return migration in Makran begins at the end of July and

lasts to the third week in September. Asin Sind so in Baluchistan this bird

does not overwinter but passes on to Central India.

Emberiza icterica, Evers. (=Jduteola, auct.) The Red-headed Bunting.

The Red-headed Bunting is a local summer visitor througnout N. Balu-

chistan, breeding at between 5,500 and 8,000 ft. ; it arrives from mid-April on-

wards and is fairly common on passage in the Quetta Valley and at Chaman.

It is recorded as fairly abundant in the nesting season between Kach and

Ziarat but I found by September 24 all had already gone. The latest record

I have is cne from the Quetta Valley on November 11. This species must take

a S.E. route to reach its winter quarters in the plains of India as it is unknown

in Central and S. Baluchistan and practically unknown in Sind. JI am indebt-

ed to W. D. Cumming for notes on the nesting of this Bunting ; he found it

breeding not uncommonly at Sheik-Mandah near Quetta. On arrivalit starts

building at once and the earliest nest found was on May 8 and this on the 21st

held 3 eggs ; the last week in May is the usual time for full clutches. The

nests are well concealed in garden hedges, rose bushes, vines and not uncom-

monly 2 to 4 feet up in a fork of peach trees growing in wheat-fields. The

male usually sings in the vicinity of the nest. A nest sent is composed of weed

stalks and fibres and is lined with goat hair. Five is the usualfull clutch. The

eggs are white tinged with green and finely freckled all over with pale sepia

and yellowish-brown, more at the larger end, and there is no scrolling as is seen

in other Buntings’ eggs; they measure 21°5 & 15°5 to 22°5 & 15°5 and

22 OO AG:

Emberiza striolata striolata (Licht.) The Striated Bunting.

In the north the Striated Bunting would seem to be local ; it is not a bird

of very high elevation and to the Quetta Valley it is but a straggler (obtained

twice), though Marshall says it is not uncommon in the hills near Quetta in

summer. Murray called it very common but he probably was referring to

the Bolan Pass where it might well be fairly common ; I saw it on the Nari

River below Spintangiin September. Not recorded at Kandahar.

From S. Kalat southwards it is fairly common from the Khirthar on the

ast to the Persian border and beyond. It doubtless is more or less resident

Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

Journ.

ON THE EDGE OF THE JUNIPER FOREST,

CHUKOR GROUND

pes ig. leucogenys,

Carpodacus grandis, ETC.

IN THE JUNIPER FOREST, ZIARAT

carneéi

HOME oF JV.

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‘UHILNOUWA IHONATVd-GNIS ‘AONVY AVHLYIHNY

"206 ‘JsSIP] ‘YeNY Aequiog ‘usmor

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 869

moving altitudinally and locally down in winter when it is a bird of barren

hillsides and sandy wastes. Duke obtained it in S. Kalat in the nesting

season.

Delichon urbica, L. The House Martin.

House Martins are said to be seen occasionally in the Quetta Valley and

Marshall obtained one some years ago. It must be a rare bird as no one

else has since met with it though Nicol Cumming says that it breeds in the hills

near Quetta. This however needs confirmation. Baluchistan must be on the

eastern fringe of this bird’s distribution on passage.

Riparia riparia riparia (L). The Sand Martin.

Riparia riparia diluta (Sharpe and Wyatt.) The Pale Sand Martin.

Sand Martins do not appear to be common in N. Baluchistan ; Meinertz-

hagen obtained two birds on August 1 and 4, which are too dark for dzluta

and not distinguishable from ‘the typical race which must just fringe

Baluchistan on passage.

Nicol Cumming records that Sand Martins breed near Quetta in April, but

I know of no actual records of nests; breeding colonies must be few and far

between as no one else has recorded it as nesting though Meinertzhagen obtained

a specimen of dz/uta on June 11, and saw a party of 10 and on June 24, he

obtained a juvenile. Murray records it from Mach on March 17, and Swinhoe

noted the arrival at Kandahar at the end of March; all his specimens are

diluta. WHotson records it from Dalbad (2,900 ft.) on April 16. I saw a

single bird at Khawas near Ziarat on September 28. It has been obtained at

Fort Sandeman.

In Coastal Makran W. D. Cumming has noted Sand Martins in March and

April while I found diluta common in the Habb Valley in winter as did

Hotson in the Makran. There is a specimen from Charbar in the British

Museum.

Riparia chinensis (Gray.) The Indian Sand Martin.

Murray records that he obtained the Indian Sand Matrin at Sibi and Pir

Chowki at the entrance to the Bolan. He distinguished them from diluta.

This bird may well occur at Sibi and iu the Sibi Plain as itis exceedingly

common in Upper Sind. It does not breed in Lower Sind, west of the Indus

and so probably isnot found in Las Belas.

Ptynoprogne rupestris (Scop.) The Crag Martin.

The Crag Martin is a fairly common summer visitor to the hills of

N. Baluchistan breeding at from 6,000 to 10,000 ft. in cliffs and sides of the

‘tangis.’ Betham records a nest with four fresh eggs on May 31, and Marshall

a nest with young on May 27. Meinertzhagen has noted birds incubating as

early as May 3, and young in the nest on July 24, so probably more than one

brood is reared. At Ziarat I found it still fairly common on October 6, and

Zeugmayer Obtained it at Kalat on the 7th; an odd one is recorded at Quetta

in December.

Unrecorded in Central and Coastal Makran; possibly it takes a more

eastern rotite.

Ptynoprogue obsoleta pallida, Hume. The Pallid Crag Martin.

The Pallid Crag Martin replaces the last in Central and Coastal Makran and

probably in Jhalawan and is common and resident right through to the

Persian boundary and beyond. In winter at all events it may be seen in the

plains and even hawking over the shore, at which season it occurs in Las Belas

to the Sind boundary. It may even breed on the coast as it certainly does

‘according to W. D. Cumming at Jask in Persian Makran where a pair always

nested in his verandah. Blanford records birds in breeding state at Jask and

Kalayan on March 12, and Hotson obtained it at the end of April in Central

Makran; I have no records of any nests but Hotson says it nests in ‘ Karez’ pits.

In N. Baluchistan this bird’s distribution is peculiar. Murray records it

from Kondalanee in the Bolan Pass (900 ft.) and there is a specimen from

there in the British Museum and it may well occur both there and along the

toothills bordering the Sibi Plain as it does in similar places in Sind in

winter. Further north it is not recorded until S. Afghanistan is reached where

870 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

the Afghan-Baluchi Boundary Commission obtained it, and St. John

obtained it at Kandahar on May 3, where presumably it breeds.

Compared with Egyptian birds (odsoleta) obtained at the same time of year

Baluchi birds are darker; these Crag Martins darken with wear and winter.

Baluchi specimens are the same shade as Egyptian May birds, however if

compared in similar states of plumage the two forms are easily separable.

Unfortunately the Baluchi birds must bear the inappropriate name of

pallida /

Hirundo rustica rustica. L. The Common Swallow.

‘Kir Kishi’ (Brahui), also ‘ Totaki.’

The Swallow is acommon summer visitor to N. Baluchistan usually arriving at

the end of February or beginning of March ; Swinhoe however saw it already by

January 29 at Kandahar and nesting numerously by February 10. St John in

another year records the first arrivals on February 7. It probably settles down

at lower elevations earlier than at Quetta. It nests in houses, culverts and

commonly in the Quetta bazaar and ranges up to 7,000 ft. Swinhoe records a

nestina tent (cf. ‘ Birds of Mesopotamia’, J.B.N.H.Soc., vol. xxviii, p.296.).

Eggs are recorded at Quetta from Marci 23 to June 2, so more than one brood

is reared. It breeds in the Bolan Pass but how far down towards the Sibi Plain

is not known; it probably winters in the latter locality where I found it common

in October. Meinertzhagen says all have left the Quetta Valley by the end of

August.

In the Mekran the Swallow certainly breeds at Mand and Panjgur as well as

at Kalagan and Jask just on the Persian side, at elevations of 2,750 to 3,500 ft.

thence to the coast at Gwadar at sea-level ; further west than this it is resident

and breeds at Charbar and Jask. Possibly it breeds further east on the coast

than Gwader as Butler saw one at Astola Island off Pasnion May 29. So far as

I can trace it the breeding range in Baluchistan lies north and west of a line

drawn from Gwader to Sibi. South and east of this line it is a winter visitor

to Coastal Makran and Las Belas, but information is lacking over the rest of

this area.

A Brahui verse runs :—

‘ Cat-footed Swallow, come sit on my door,

‘Give me a piece of mutton fat for my feet are cracked.’

What is the legend behind this ?

Hirundo smithi filifera, Steph. The Wire-tailed Swallow.

The Wire-tailed Swallow is a scarce local summer visitor to N. Baluchistan.

It is recorded by Nicol Cumming as nesting at Harnai; in the Quetta Valley

on the Lora River I found several pairs nesting in the ‘ karezas’ entering the

river and on August 18 examined an empty nest. It is unrecorded elsewhere

till Kandahar is reached where St. John obtained a specimen on May 12, and

saw others on several occasions on the Arghandab River and once at Kalat-i-

Ghilzai in S. Afghanistan. It occurs in the Sibi Plain where it is doubtless

resident.

In S. Baluchistan I only know of it in the Habb Valley where it is resident

and breeds; a nest in a rock overhanging the river found by Mr. Culbertson

on July 19 held three eggs.

Hirunde daurica rufula, Temm. The European Red-rumped Swallow.

There is nothing to add to Meinertzhagen’s account of this bird (Ibis, 1920,

p..167). He says it is an evenly distributed but a scarce summer visitor to the

Quetta District arriving in the last week of March and breeding in May at 5,000

to 11,000 ft. Lieut Searight informs me that a pair were building in the rest

house at Barkhaw (Fort Sandeman District) on March 19, 1924. It leaves in

September and October. Marshall records a nest at the end of April in a

culvert under a railway bridge. ;

Not recorded elsewhere in Baluchistan, its passage perhaps lies further west.

Motacilia alba dukhunensis, Sykes. The Indian White Wagtail.

Common throughout the whole of Baluchistan (and at Kandahar) in winter

except at the highest elevations, i.e., above 6,000 ft. It arrives in the Quetta

Valley at the end of September and leaves early in April. Also in the north

it is of course a double passage migrant in March and October.

LAE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALOCHISTAN. 871

Tt arrives in the Makran in October and leaves at the end of March; W. D.

Cumming noted it at Ormarra once as early as August 14, an unusually early

date.

Motacilla alba personata, Gould. The Masked Wagtail.

The Masked Wagtail is sparingly distributed in N. Baluchistan; it is

recorded in winter at Kandahar (common), at Chaman, Pishin, Quetta Valley

and Sibi. It undoubtedly breeds. Meinertzhagen saw it at Khushdil through-

out May and near Baliki, June 2. Swinhoe obtained it at Kandahar on

June 26. D. Radcliffe found it at Ziarat in June and July, while W. D. Cumming

sent for identification a half-grown young bird picked up in Quetta Canton-

ment.

Though it probably occurs in small numbers in Makran, the only record

we have of it is from near Dizak on the Persian side where Hotson found it

fairly numerous on November 4, and obtained two specimens.

Motacilla cinerea caspica (Gm.) (== melanope, auci.) The Grey Wagtail.

In N. Baluchistan the Grey Wagtail is a summer visitor to the mountain

streams between 7,000 and 9,500 ft. arriving according to Meinertzhagen early

in March and nesting in May. He found nests with four eggs on June 2, and

five young on June 10.

Some at all events overwinter in the lower plains and valleys ; it has been

obtained at this season at Kandahar and Kalat, and on December 12 I saw

several by an open pipe line in the Quetta Valley.

Hotson noted this bird in the Makran first on September 16, at Ornach in

the Hingol Valley and obtained others on the Persian side in January. It is

of course a winter visitor and not common.

Motacilla flava beema, Sykes. The Indian Blue-headed Wagtail.

The Blue-headed Wagtail occurs in small numbers in the Quetta Valley on

spring passage from mid-March to mid-April and it is common too at Kandahar

by the end of March. It has doubtless been overlooked in autumn. St. John’s

record that Duke obtained a young one at Mastung in June must, I think, have

been made in error.

The only record in S. Baluchistan is Cumming’s statement that it occurs at

Ormarra on spring and autumn passage. It doubtless occurs elsewhere at these

seasons but probably does not winter there as I failed to find it at that season

in Sind.

Motacilla flava thunbergi, Billberg. The Grey-headed Wagtail.

The status of this bird is not at all clear and records appear to be mostly

founded on sight records. Radcliffe says it is occasionally seen at the end of

March and early in April at Quetta, whence Marshall also records it and also

Murray. It probably does occur as Swinhoe certainly obtained several at

Kandahar on spring passage and St John’s record as cinereocapilia no doubt

refers to the same. Meinertzhayen records it on passage at Quetta in the latter

half of August. There are no records of this bird in the Makran nor in Sind.

Motacilla feldegg melanogriseus (Hom.) > The Black-headed Wagtail.

The Black-headed Wagtail passes through N. Baluchistan’s plains and

lower valleys in spring in fairnumbers. Meinertzhagen noted in the Quetta

Valley from March 22 to May 5, and Swinhoe records the arrival at Kandahar

as early as February 22. At Kandahar a few according to St. John remain

to breed and there are specimens thence obtained on June 15. It passes

through again in August and September. I have seen an immature bird

obtained at Quetta on August 17, and I obtained one there on August 17, and

another was obtained at Sibi on September 2.

It has been noted on the Makran coast on spring and autumn passage and

on spring passage in Central Makran at which time Blanford too obtained it on

the Persian side.

I cannot find the specimen (in the British Museum) recorded as JV. raii

obtained by St. John at Dubraiin April 1881, it could hardly have been this

race.

872 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX]

Motacilla citreola citreola, Pall. The Yellow-headed Wagtail.

This is commonest Wagtail on spring passage in N. Baluchistan arriving in the

middle of March and swarming early in April (Meinertzhagen) ; at this time it

is recorded by Barnes as very common at Chaman and at Kandahar by Swinhoe.

It has been obtained at Nushki as late as May. On autumn passage it must

have been overlooked as Swinhoe got several at Kandahar; it is recorded

in autumn by Marshall.

On autumn and spring passage it is commonin S. Kalat, Jhalawan and

Central Makran. Cumming records it too at Ormarra at these seasons but it

probably winters in suitable spots as Hotson obtained it on the Persian side

and Cumming at Charbar and I have seen it in the Habb Valley in winter.

Motacilla citreola calcaratus (Hdg.) Hodgson’s Yellow-headed Wagtail.

This Wagtail is chiefly a passage migrant in the north; Meinertzhagen

notes it arriving in far fewer numbers than cztreola early in April at Quetta

and Swinhoe records it as common in spring at Kandahar; it has been

obtained at Nushkiin May. Here and there a few pairs breed ; Meinertzhagen

found two nests with young, at Khushdil on June 20, and at Bostan on June 18,

and W. D. Cumming saw young on the wing at Khushdil on June 28, 1923.

A few too breed according to St. John at Kandahar. On autumn passage it

must have escaped notice amongst the other Wagtails ; there is a specimen in

the Quetta Museum obtained at Baleli on August 15.

There are no records elsewhere in Baluchistan.

Anthus trivialis trivialis, L. The Tree Pipit.

The Tree Pipit does not appear to be common or else it has been over-

looked. Barnes recorded it for Chaman, and Radcliffe and Newnham say it

is occasionally seen in the Quetta Valley in winter where in two years

Meinertzhagen failed to meet with it. It certainly occurs at Kandahar in winter

and spring. Murray recorded it as abundant on the plains above and below

Quetta in March and April. Betham says that a few breed near Quetta and

that he found two nests on June 21 with 3 eggs and with 3 young; but in the

absence of any confirmation of this, or specimens bearing this statement out,

I hesitate to accept it. J obtained a migrant at Ziarat on September 29 and

W. D. Cumming notes it at Sheik Mandah on September 26. I have examined

specimens from the Khojak, September 14 and Kandahar, October 31 and

April 2 and Quetta September 22.

Cumming has obtained it at Ormarra in Makran on September 19, otherwise

there are no records in S. Baluchistan where it must surely occur here and

there in winter or on passage.

Murray thought he examined the remains of a specimen of Anthus maculatus

( = hodgsont) ; he was doubtless mistaken.

Authus sordidus decaptus, Meinertz. The Brown Pipit.

Recorded by the old writers as A. similis or jerdoni, this Pipit is common

throughout N. Baluchistan from Kalat to N. E. boundary breeding in the hills

at from 6,000 to 9,500 ft. In winter it wanders down to the Jower valleys and

plains including the Sibi Plain and I found all had left the Ziarat District by

the third week in September. Nests with eggs are recorded from April 19

to July 18, so probably there is more than one brood. Four to five is the usual

clutch and the nests are usually on hill slopes in the shelter of a rock or

tussock.

To Coastal Makran, including'Las Belas, it is a scarce winter visitor but it

possibly breeds in Central Makran as it does so in Persian Baluchistan, but

I have no actual records.

A series of Persian, Baluchi and Sind birds measure W. 94-105 and this

I find to be the same as in A. s. jerdoni; quite fresh-moulted birds are

more rusty underneath than they are later in the year and approach very

near to 7erdoni while the edges to the grater wing coverts may be as brown as

in 7erdonz ; however in series decaptus can be differentiated.

Anthus richardi rufulus, Vieill. The Indian Pipit.

On August 17 I saw a pair of Pipits in some damp grass close to

Galbraith Spinney in Quetta which were undoubtedly this species. St. John

obtained it at Kandahar on June 15 where he says it is a summer visitor ;

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 873

Swinhoe too obtained it at Pishin at the end of April. It will probably be

found here and there in the north in the plains and valleys and it may

well occur in Las Belas but there are no records of it. Murray lists it.

Anthus campestris griseus, Nicoll. The Tawny Pipit.

St. John and Marshall both record the Tawny Pipit as common in winter in

N. Baluchistan as Swinhoe does for Kandahar. Some may winter of

course but all the specimens available tend to show that it is a passage

migrant passing through in September and October and in March and

April. In the Quetta Valley it would be seen to be rare as Meinertzhagen

only met with two both in April. The spring passage would appear to last

from about March 20 to April 26. I obtained one at Ziarat (in a small

clearing in thick juniper forest!) on September 25.

At Nal in S. Kalat Duke obtained it on April 22 and in Coastal Makran

Cumming has noted it in spring and autumn, but one would think that it

must winter there. At Dizak on the Persian boundary Blanford obtained it

on March 24.

I know not on what grounds this bird is listed as ‘ breeding ’ in Baluchistan

in the Hand List of Indian Birds. Sex for sex measurements will at once

distinguish this pipit from rufulus; W. g 90-94, B. 17-18, 2 81-84, B. 16-17.

rufulus W. 3% 80-85, 2 76-80.

Anthus cervinus, Pall. The Red-throated Pipit.

The Red-throated Pipit was obtained by Blanford at Dizak, just over the

border in Persian Makran on March 24. It should occur within our area asa

winter visitor passage migrant but there are no records of it.

THE WATER-PIPIT

Anthus spinoletta blakistoni, Swinh.

Anthus spinoletta coutelli, Savig.

The Water-Pipit is a winter visitor to the lower valleys and plains of

N. Baluchistan and Kandahar from early October to the second week in

April. It is not uncommon in suitable places such as irrigated fields, ditches,

etc. Both races occur and I have examined several of both races from

Quetta and Kandahar.

It is found throughout Coastal Makran in winter and probably also in

Central Makran ; it so happens that the western birds I have examined are

coutelli and the eastern ones blakistont.

Oreocorys sylvanus (Hodg.) The Upland Pipit.

Ball states that he shot one and saw several in the highest parts of the

Sulaiman Range. It may well occur there as Whitehead records it from

Samana, 4,500 feet, near Kohat. A bird however which was obtained at Quetta

on September 22, and which has been recorded by Radcliffe and Meinertzhagen

as this species is nothing but a Tree Pipit. It isin the Quetta Museum where

I have examined it.

[Radcliffe records that he often saw Pipits at Ziarat breeding in June and

July at 9,000 ft. which he thought might be Anthus rosaceus of which species

I have no record in Baluchistan. What species it is which breeds at Ziarat is

still unknown and all Pipits had gone when I was there in September. ]

Alemon alaudipes cinerea, Zar. ‘The Large Desert Lark.

Radcliffe says this Desert Lark occurs sparingly and records one from

Quetta Valley in the winter of 1911-12 where Meinertzhagen obtained one on

November 3, 1913; he also records one from the Zhob Valley in April 1891.

According to Nicol Cumming it breeds at Nushki and it had been obtained at

Kandahar. It probably occurs here and therein suitable plains ; Murray records

it from the Bolan Pass and Gulistan.

In Las Belas, Jhalawan, S. Kalat and throughout Coastal and Central

Makran it occurs in suitable places and is resident, especially in the sand-hills

and desert plains near the coast. W. D. Cumming who found several nests

with 3, and once, 4 eggs between April 5 and 27 describes the nest as always

being placed on a small bush or shrub,

8/4 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Otocorys alpestris albigula, Bp. (=pencillata auct., pl.) The Horned Lark.

This Horned Lark is recorded from Kandahar by Swinhoe and St. John but

so far has not been obtained within our limits though I thought I sawa flock

on the top of Kitchener Hill, Quetta, on December 12. Swinhoe obtained a

pair at Kandahar on January 25, 1881, in the British*Museum.

Melanocorypha bimaculata. (Ménét.) The Bimaculated Lark.

Most authors state that this large Lark is a winter visitor to N. Baluchistan

but there are no definite records between November 26, arid March 2. I

know of no record bearing out Radcliffe’s suggestion that it breeds there.

Swinhoe says it is a common cage bird at Kandahar and a winter visitor there.

hse must surely have meant this species when he records J7. maxima from

Shaman.

Cumming has noted this Lark as a not uncommon winter visitor to the

Makran coast and Blanford too obtained it at Gwadar. Beyond the fact that

Duke got it in S. Kalat I have no information concerning the rest of the

Makran.

The Curator of the Quetta Museum assured me that he had examined two

Calandra Larks (J7. calandra) taken by bird-catchers amongst some Bi-

maculated Larks at Quetta in the winter of 1916, however as these were

not preserved, I must omit them.

Alauda arvensis intermedia, Swinh. . (—=dwlcivox, Brooks=cinerea, Ehmcke.)

The Skylark.

All records of any arvensis breeding in British Baluchistan are erroneous.

The Skylark is a winter visitor in considerable numbers to the valleys and

plains, including Kandahar, but not Sibi, from mid-November to the end of

February.

It may winter in Central-Makran but the only record I have comes from

Magas on the Persian side. Not recorded elsewhere.

Alauda arvensis schach, Ehmcke.

Meinertzhagen has shown me two males collected by him at Quetta on

October 30, 1913 and February 20, 1914 (W.118-119) which are pale sandy

brown above quite unlike zutermedia. ‘The bird described by Ehmcke from

E. Persia is said to be of this colour and so I place these birds under this

name until more is known about this race.

Alauda guigula inconspicua. Severz. The Small Turkestan Skylark.

This is the breeding Skylark of N. Baluchistan below 6,000 feet. St. John

says it is resident but Swinhoe states it isa summer visitor. All the records which

I have been able to gather relate to the period March 20-August 24. Meinertz-

hagen records nests at Khushdil on May 17, with 3 eggs and on July 11, with

3 young. I found this Lark abundant in damp grass fields and cut lucerne

in the Quetta Valley in mid-August. It occurs from S. Kalat to Kandahar and

from Quetta to the Bolan Pass. There are no records of it elsewhere.

I have examined 13 Baluchi-Kandahar specimens, a large series from the

plains of India and a few Turkestan birds. The Baluchi birds measure W. 90-

101, and the typical race 87-98. Some March birds from the plains of India

are quite as pale as Turkestan and Kandahar birds though others are darker

while some freshly moulted Baluchi birds are only a trifle paler than fresh

moulted Indian birds. On the whole I think this is a poorly defined race which

can only be said to average paler and larger than the Indian bird.

Calandrella brachydactyla longipennis (Evers.) The Short-toed Lark.

This Short-toed Lark is a winter visitor in numbers from October to March ;

the earliest J have seen it was on September 24 at Khawash, near Ziarat and

I obtained one at the latter place on October 3. It is also a passage migrant

through N. Baluchistan.

To Central and Coastal Makran it is also a winter visitor, the latest record

being April 13, in Kolwa District.

Most specimens | have examined are typical dongipennis but in the plains

of India individuals occur which are barely separable from the typical race,

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 875

Calandrella acutirostris acutirostris, Hume. Hume’s Short-toed Lark.

Hume’s Short-toed Lark is fairly common in the hills of N. Baluchistan but

rather local ; it breeds in the valleys of the hills at 6,000 to 9,000 feet throughout

the Kalat and Quetta Districts. Meinertzhagen records nests between May 10,

and June 8, with one and four eggs and he thinks that most of the birds

leave in the winter, he has however obtained it at Chaman on February 17.

It may of course have been overlooked but it has not been met with in Lower

Punjab in winter nor in S. Baluchistan and is only once recorded from Upper

Sind.

Calandrella raytal adamsi (Hume.) ‘The Indus Sand Lark.

This Sand Lark is probably resident all along the Makran coast. Cumming

has seen it at Ormarra and obtained it at Pasni in February while at Jask in

Persian Makran he found it breeding. I have seen skins from Bundar Abbas

further west still where it was said to be numerous. Unknown elsewhere ir

Baluchistan.

Calandrella rufescens leacophea, Severtz. The Lesser Short-toed Lark.

Meinertzhagen has shown me a specimen of this Lesser Short-toed Lark

which he obtained on November 7, at Quetta ; it is a very pale grey form.

Calandrella rufescens seebohmi (Sharpe. )

Meinertzhagen identifies as this race a bird he shot from the nest at Kushdil

Khan on May 17, and which he previously (B.N.A.S. Journal, xxiii, 362)

identified as persica. It is not clear therefore that this last race occurs within

our limits though two labelled S. Afghanistan (Griffith coll.) are in the British

Museum.

Calandrella rufescens seistanica, Zar. and Loud.

Meinertzhagen informs me that he obtained a bird which he assigns to this

form at Quetta on November 7, out of the same flock as the specimen of

leucobhea above. ‘This race appears to be very close to seebohmi.

It is evident that there is much yet to be learnt concerning the range and

status of the Lesser Short-toed Larks in N. Baluchistan. In the Makrans there

is no record of any form of it.

Mirafra erythroptera sindianus, Ticehurst. The Red-winged Bush Lark.

This Bush Lark certainly occurs in the Habb Valley where I saw it doubtless

breeding in June and it may well occur in parts of Las Belas but probably not

elsewhere in Makran. Some species of Bush Lark occurs in the Suleiman Hills

(Fort Munro District) as Ball records that he obtained a young bird which he

doubtfully identified as cantillans in July 1874 at 4,000 ft. in the Charmarlang

Valley.

Galerida cristata magna, Hume. Hume’s Crested Lark.

This Crested Lark is common and more or less resident throughout Kalat

and the whole of N. E. Baluchistan below 7,500 ft. but is scarce above 6,500 ft.

First nests with eggs may be found by the last week in April and the usual

clutch is 4 or 5 eggs; W. D. Cumming notes however a nest with young on

April 27.

This race extends, in winter at least, to the Sibi Plain and to the Makran.

This is undoubtedly the race that breeds in Kalat, Quetta District, Kandahar,

and Fort Sandeman District, and probably in Central Makran.

Galerida cristata chendoola (Frankl.) Franklin’s Crested Lark.

This is undoubtedly the breeding bird in the Habb Valley and Las Belas

Plain. Laubmann records the birds collected by Zeugmayer in Coastal

Makran as magna? I have examined these birds (kindly sent me by Dr.

Laubmann) ; they are breeding birds and very worn in plumage more so than

would be Sind birds at the same time of year (cf. under Argya c. huttont)

and are also very bad specimens but they agree fairly well with chendoola and

have not the sandy colour of magna, moreover they are small for this race

(5 gg, W. 100-109.) ; on the other hand I have seen no chendoola from the Indian

Plains with a wing quite so long as 109. Two birds collected by Hotson in

February at Charbar however are certainly chendoola by their coloration, both

876 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

labelled males they have wings of 99 and 108. Itscems probably the case then

that in western Coastal Makran we find the intergrading area between these

two races. From Central Makran I have only seen winter birds and these are

magna, but a bird from Dizak on the Persian boundary obtained on March 21,

when it may have been breeding or still a winter visitor, is too undoubtedly

magna.

The Crested Larks then of the Makrans present an interesting problem as to

over what area and where the Indian form intergrades into the nill form of the

north, and this can only be determined by more and carefully collected speci-

mens; but it is of considerable interest to find that so far as we know

intergradation takes place in one area and is the same area where Argyac.

caudata grades into A. c. huttont.

Breeding birds from Sibi and the Bolan Pass would be of interest as here

too probably intergradation takes place.

The Crested Lark has several names in Baluchistan according to the District

—Chajok, Chotab, Chagul, Chirlul, Chagag and in Persian Kamalak.

Ammomanes deserti iranica, Zar. ‘The Persian Desert Lark.

Ammomanes deserti phoenicuroides (Blyth.) The Indian Desert Lark.

‘ Dasht-i-Chajok’, Bal. ; ‘Kompi’, Brahui.

Desert Larks are common and resident throughout the whole of Baluchistan;

in the north they affect the foothills of the plains, and valleys up to 7,000 ft.

but not ascending the actual hills. They breed in the first half of May.

In the Makrans it iscommon and occurs and breeds right down to sea-level ;

here it nests earlier as Cumming noted fledged young on March 18 and again

on June 14 and nest building on June 8, so, two if not three broods are reared.

These two races are very near each other; birds from Persian Makran are

topo-typical zranica and these are darker colder grey on the upper parts than

phenicuroides and tend to run rather larger ; a large series measure ¢ W. (99)

101-112, 2, 96-101 ; phanicuroides does not reach stich extreme measurements,

a series (Cashmere. Punjab and Sind) ¢ 99-104'5, 993.99. Under zranica then

I would place birds from Gwader, Charbar and Persian Makran, Persian

Baluchistan, E. Persia and Muscat in Arabia. Passing east, the Las Belas bird

is certainly phaenicuroides (as is Lower Sind) but between these two areas

I have seen none; probably as in the case of the Crested Lark intergrading

will be found.

Passing to the north, birds from Sibi and the Bolan Pass are phenicuroides

as are birds from Fort Sandeman. When we come to Quetta, Kalat and

Kandahar birds, I find that many are indistinguishable in colour from phent-

curoides in all three localities but they tend to run a trifle larger,7¢¢ W.

99-108, 6 2 Y, 96-104. Odd birds however are not distinguishable in colour

from ivanica. 'The larger series which I have examined does not bear out that

Quetta birds are zvanica and Kandahar birds are phenicuroides as suggested

by Meinertzhagen but that here in N. E. Baluchistan too we have an intergrad-

ing between the two races.

From Central Makran | have only seen one or two moulting specimens and

so cannot fix which race is found there or whether they too are intermediates.

Ammomanes pheenicura zarudnyi Hart. Hartert’s Rufous-tailed Desert Lark.

This Lark must surely occur in British Baluchistan ; Zarudny obtained it at

several places in Eastern Persia (which, like most of his localities, | am unable

to trace on the maps) and also in the ‘ Mashkel Plain’ but whether on the

Persian or British side of the frontier is not apparent. However as Blanford

obtained it south of Sehwan in Sind it should occur right across Baluchistan.

Pyrrhulauda grisea siccata Ticehurst. The Ashy-crowned Finch-Lark.

W. D. Cumming informed me that he has seen a few pairs on plough land

near Ormarra and it may well occur in Las Belas. No other record in the

south. Murray records it from the Bolan Pass.

Pyrrhulauda frontalis affinis, Blyth. The Black-crowned Finch-Lark.

This Finch Lark is probably a local resident all along the Makran coast to

Persian Makran. It is certainly resident in the Habb Valley; Cumming

obtained it at Ormarra; Zeugmayer near the Hingol River and near Pasni

and Blanford at Bahu Kalat. No records elsewhere.

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 877

Cinnyris asiatica brevirostris (Blanf.) The Purple Sunbird.

The Sun-bird is not uncommon in the Sibi Plains and appears to ascend the

Bolan Pass to Mach as a summer visitor at the end of March, and occasionally

straggles to Quetta ; it is not recorded from elsewhere in N. Baluchistan.

Throughout Las Belas, Jhalawan and as far as Nalin S. Kalat the Sun-bird

occurs upto 4,000 ft. and is common as it is too throughout Coastal and Central

Makran in suitable places, especially in tamarisks in the valleys. Further west

it extends through Persian Baluchistan as far as Bam and Bunder Abbas in

E. Persia and Muscat in Arabia.

The type of drvevirostris came from Persian Baluchistan and the few

specimens I have seen from British Makran and 9 males from Mach in the

Bolan do not differ from 6rvevirostris, their bills measure 15-16°5 mm. (from

frontal feathers) against 14-15 mm. in a series of topo types.

Cumming who found this bird nesting plentifully at Charbar noted that none

of the nests had the ‘ porch’ entrance and thought that this absence was

associated with no rainfall; I noted the same circumstance in Sind.

Picus squamatus flavirostris (Menzb.) =(gur7z, auct.). Hargitt’s Scaly-bellied

Green Woodpecker.

This Woodpecker occurs in the juniper forest at Ziarat where Meinertzhagen

obtained several and where I and Radcliffe have seen both birds and old nest

holes. St. John records it from the Kwaja Amran and it occurs on other

forested hills in N.E. Baluchistan and extends to Shinghar in the Zhob Valley

and doubtless other places though I have no record of it in Kalat. It is

nowhere very common and is resident moving to the lower valleys only in

winter and has at this season been obtained in Quetta.

Unknown elsewhere in Baluchistan but occurs on the Helmund in Seistan.

Dryobates scindeanus (H. and M.) The Sind Pied Woodpecker,

‘Gihan’ Brahui; ‘ Tukok’ Bal. ‘ Burdi-tokeri’, in S. Kalat.

The distribution of the Sind Pied Woodpecker is rather patchy ; it is found at

Sibi but up the Bolan it is unknown and to Pishin and Quetta it is only a

wanderer. However, at Shalabagh and at Chaman on either side of the

Khojak and on the Kwaja Amran it is fairly common and resident. Murray

records a nest without eggs on April 4 and Barnes found a nest with young in

May. It occurs throughout Kalat.

In the south it occurs not uncommonly in the Las Belas Plain breedingin the

Acacia arabica. Here and there it is not uncommon in the valleys of the

Central Makran such as the Dhor, Mashkai and Nihing and occurs north to

Nalin S. Kalat. Further westward its distribution can be traced into Persian

Baluchistan at elevations up to 3,000 on to Bampur in Persian Baluchistan.

Baluchi birds are not different to Sind ones ; the bills vary much in size but

this is individual, not geographical. It is not a bird of high elevations.

Brachypternus benghalensis dilutus, Blyth. The Sind Golden-backed Woodpecker.

Within our area this Woodpecker only occurs at Sibi where it is no doubt

resident.

Lynx torquilla torquilla (L.) The Wryneck.

The Wryneck occurs in N. Baluchistan as a passage migrant only; earliest

March 10, most pass in April to mid-May and again in mid-September ; it is

never common and is only recorded from the Quetta Valley, Kandahar and

Loralai Districts.

For the rest of Baluchistan there is very little information, it must pass

through on passage as W. D. Cumming noticed it regularly on passage at

Ormarra and Charbar from mid-August to the last week of September and

again in March in quite small numbers; presumably these are oversea

migrants. ‘There are no winter records.

I agree with Meinertzhagen that the Baluchi birds (as also the Sind ones)

belong to the typical race.

Coracias benghalensis benghalensis (L.) The Indian Roller.

‘ Kangashk ’ (Bal.)

The Indian Roller is resident at Sibi and at the entrance to the Bolan

Pass ; it is said by Swinhoe to occasionally straggle to Quetta but no one has

met with it there in recent years.

878 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

In the Mekran it is more or less resident below 3,000 feet ; avoiding hills and

more desert parts it is found where trees are sufficient which means practically

its distribution is that of the Date Palm. From Las Belas it can be traced as

far north as Jebri in Mashkai valley (Jhalawan) but no further north,

Westward it is found throughout the Makran in suitable places to Persia and

beyond ; in other places where it does not breed, such as Ormarra, it is a

winter visitor from August to May.

Coracias garrula semenowi, Loud and Tschusi. The Common Roller.

‘ Sabzkarask ’ (Brahui}

The Roller arrives in N. Baluchistan early in April and becomes conimoner

later in the month. Nicol Cumming and Murray both record it as swarming on

passage on the Khojak and on the Kwaja Amran hills but in other places it

would appear to be less common. It is common too at Nushki in April.

St. John recorded it as a common summer visitor to Kalat but he gives no

evidence of it breeding nor does Radcliffe who found it common between Kach

and Ziarat at the end of July. It returns on passage regularly at this date and

I know of no evidence of it nesting within our area. Its migration extends

throughout August and odd ones may occur later.

It must occur in the Mekran as a passage migrant one would think, but I

have no definite record of it.

Merops orientalis beludschicus, Neumann. The Little Green Bee-eater.

Swinhoe records the Little Green Bee-eater from the Bolan Pass but not

beyond Mach and it is of course common as a resident in or a summer visitor to

the Sibi Plain ; it occasionally straggles into the Quetta Valley where it is

recorded in November and January.

Common and resident throughout Coastal and Central Makran and so into

Persian Baluchistan, to Bampur, Bunder Abbas, etc. In the Makran Hotson

did not meet with it further north than Gajar in the Mashkai Valley.

Merops persicus persicus, Pall. The Persian Bee-eater.

‘Haur Murgh’ (Brahui=rainbird) ‘ Kurru’ (Bal.)

The Persian Bee-eater is locally fairly common as a summer visitor to

N. Baluchistan ; Meinertzhagen and W. D. Cumming have met with it breeding

at several localities in the Quetta District, viz., Sheik Wasil, Khushdil, Saranan

and Yaru, the former recording nests with 3 and 4 eggs on June 2. St. John

considered it to be a common summer visitor to S. Afghanistan and Kalat and

Hotson came across it in two localities in S. Kalat in the breeding season I

noticed it on passage in the Sibi Plain at the end of September and early in

October.

It would appear to breed here and there throughout at least the western part

of Central and Coastal Mekran, definite records coming from Panjgur, Nihing

Valley and Gwadar. As a passage migrant they first arrive early in April, most

coming later in the month, to early May and it repasses again in the last half of

August.

A young bird recorded as Merops phillipinus by Radcliffe which was shot

at Quetta on September 1913 and went to the Quetta Museum must, I think.

have been wrongly identified. There is no specimen of this bird in the

museum.

Merops apiaster, L. The Common Bee-eater.

By far the commoner of the two large Bee-eaters the European bird is an

abundant summer visitor to N. Baluchistan arriving throughout April (earliest

4th) and leaving by September. It nests in suitable places in the plains and

valleys below 6,000 ft. between Quetta and Kandahar and east to Shingar

in the Zhob Valley and all over Kalat where Hotson found it very abundant

at Mastung and a great nuisance to bee-hive owners. But besides bees it preys

upon wasps and hornets and Nurse records that it is the only bird which will

tackle the fierce yellow wasp Polistes hebr@us. Meinertzhagen records nest

excavations on April 15 and first eggs on May 9.

South of Shiretai (Kharan) in S. Kalat (where it breeds) this Bee-eater is

apparently only a passage migrant, but Hotson met with it in the Panjgur

District on April 27, where it may have been on passage. It arrives in Coastal

Makran in the first days of April and repasses again in August overseas.

THE BIRDS OF BRITISH BALUCHISTAN 879

Ceryle rudis leucomelanura, Reichen. ‘The Pied Kingfisher

The Pied Kingfisher is resident at Sibi and only just penettates into the hills

up the Nari River where I have seen it and up into the Bolan Pass. To the

Quetta Valley it appears to occasionally straggle where single birds are

recorded by Duke and Marshall. Lieut. Searight informs me it is always to be

found near perennial water in the Zhob and Loralai Districts. St. John says

it is very rare at Kandahar.

It is common and breeds in the Habb Valley and perhaps elsewhere in Las

Belas but there are no records of it west of this. There appears to be a big

break in the distribution of the Pied Kingfisher ; the typical race occurs as

far east as the Shiraz District where it is rare.

Alcedo atthis pallasii, Reichen. The Central Asian Kingfisher.

‘ Narian Shid’ (Bal.)

Although there are no records of any nests of this Kingfisher in N. Balu-

chistan it seems quite possible that some may breed there. At all events it is

common in the valleys and plains where water is found from November to

May (latest May 6) and Meinertzhagen records a birdin the hills on July 17.

In the Sibi Plain it occurs in winter.

To Central Makran it isa winter visitor arriving at the end of August and on

the coast at this season it is found on salt water frequenting mangrove swamps

or posts about the shore. So far as is known it does not breed in the Makran

but Hotson met with it in the Punjgur District on April 23.

Numerous specimens examined from Baluchistan all belong to this race

and none to dengalensis W. 73-78, B exp., 36-42. mm.

Halcyon smyrnensis smyrnensis (LL). The White-breasted Kingfisher,

‘ Aspi-chidok ’ (Bal.) (=he who chatters at horses. )

The White-breasted Kingfisher is resident in the Sibi Plain and occurs in the

lower part of the Bolan Pass. It occasionally straggles to Quetta where one

has been obtained on August 2, 1908. Not recorded from Kandahar.

Coming down from Kalat Hotson did not meet with this species until he got to

Gajar in the Mashkai Valley and Duke implies that above about this part it is

but a wanderer. From the Sind boundary in Las Belas throughout Central and

Coastal Mekran it is found locally wherever there are suitable trees, date groves,

etc., and it is-resident. West of our boundary its distribution can be traced

right through Southern Persia to Iraq. (cf. Ceryle rudis).

Upupa epops epops. The European Hoopoe.

‘ Lachar-ghak ’ (Pushtu), ‘ Murgh-i-Suliman’ (Bal.)

The Hoopoe is mainly a summer visitor to N. Baluchistan and is

quite common and generally distributed. It arrives in March and April,

Meinertzhagen records nests with eggs (maximum 5) between May 14 and

June 11 and Marshall a nest with 4 young on May 18. It breeds in holes in

trees and rocks between 5,000 and 9,000 feet. I found most had left the hills

by the end of September, Fut some must winter in the lower valleys and plains

as I have several records from Quetta between November and February, also

at Kandahar. It winters of course in the Sibi Plain.

All through the Coastal and Central Makran it is a characteristic winter bird

and is recorded at Ormarra already by August 4 but how far south it breeds is

by no means determined. It of course breeds in Kalat and probably at Nal in

S. Kalat and Hotson records it from Mand boundary outpost in Central

Makran but there are no other records suggestive that it breeds in the Makran.

On the coast line Cumming has noted it as a passage migrant in August and

September and again in March and no doubt many cross the sea for the

winter; on March 23, 1918, when 20 miles from Charbar a Hoopoe came

aboard iny boat tired out and remained till we reached Karachi.

Baluchi Hoopoes I cannot separate from the typical race and I think

Zarudny must have been mistaken in referring his Persian-Baluchi specimens

to the resident Indian form. Upupa epops loudoni described from Baluchistan

by Tschusi (Orn. Jah. 1902) is a synonym of the typical race.

Micropus melba, L. The Alpine Swift.

The Alpine Swift is a summer visitor to the hills of the Quetta District arriving

according to Marshall at the end of April and early May. It has been obtained

880 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

at Quetta on June 1, no doubt a wandering forager from the hills. I saw a

flock of 30 birds over Quetta on August 18 apparently migrating and

Meinertzhagen records migrants there in the last half of the month. Noone

has yet located any nesting sites. It is unrecorded in the rest of Baluchistan

but has been obtained at Kandahar,

Micropus apus pekinensis (Swinh.) The Eastern Swift.

This Swift is a common summer visitor to N. Baluchistan arriving in April

and breeds in cliffs and caves up to 11,000 ft, ; Marshall found nests in a cave

on May 31. At Kandahar it arrives much earlier, Swinhoe first saw it on

February € St. John speaks of it as being very common in Kalat but there

are no records of it further south though one might expect that it would occur

in Makran on passage ; possibly it comes in from the west.

Micropus murinus murinus (Brehm.) The Pale Brown Swift.

Though stated by Radcliffe to be common in summer in N. Baluchistan no

one else has met with it there and no speciinen has been obtained there, so

there may be some mistake.

It occurs locally on the Mekran coast in winter but Cumming noted none

between November 25 and March 10, so perhaps some leave the country

altogether.

Micropus affinis galilegensis (Ant.). The Kashmir House-Swift.

The House-Swift is a local summer visitor to the hills round Quetta arriving

in the last week of April ; Marshall records fresh eggs on May 17, and Meinertz-

hagen noted young in the nest on Murdan on June 7. St. John says ‘there are

small colonies here and there and it has been met with at Kandahar.

Meinertzhagen obtained cne on October 17, but most have gone before that date.

Beyond the fact that Hume and Blanford both met with it on the Mekran Coast

in February there is no information about this bird in the rest of Baluchistan.

It is recorded from Muscat but throughout its distribution it seems to be very

local and there seem to be wide gaps in between the localities where it is

found.

Caprimulgus mahrattensis, Sykes. Sykes’ Nightjar.

‘ Shapkor’ (Bal.)

This Nightjar is only known from the Sibi Plain where I saw several and

obtained one on October 8. It is probably common there. It is recorded by

Finn from S. Afghanistan in the reports on the 1896 Boundary Expedition but

not as yet elsewhere in N. Baluchistan.

Throughout Coastal and Central Makran it is probably not uncommon. Hotson

obtained it in the Buleda (1,650 ft.) and Turbat districts (1,000 ft.) in March and

December and Ihave seen eggs in Ludlow’s collection from Las Belas’

Blanford obtained it at Bahu Kalat. A desert bird of no great elevations, it is

said to be the only Nightjar of Seistan and very common there.

Caprimulgns europzus unwini, Hume. Hume’s Nightjar.

A local summer visitor to N. Baluchistan and not uncommon in suitable

places. This Nightjar arrives in April (earliest April6). Itis said to be common

on the Khojak along wooded streams and St. John records it as common in

Kalat where Hotson too met with it in the breeding season ; it is found on many

of the hills in the Quetta-Ziarat District from 5,000-9,000 ft. Meinertzhagen

records nests with eggs from May 6 to 28. Single birds linger late (one

obtained at Quetta on October 11) but most depart in the last half of August.

It must breed in Central Mekran where Hotson obtained it in the nesting

time at Chattuki sixty miles from Panjgur and Zeugmayer noted it at the latter

place on July 27. Further south and on the Mekran coast it is only known as a

passage migrant in spring and autumn.

Caprimulgus europeus plumipes was obtained by St. John at Kandahar on

May 8, but so far has not been detected in Baluchistan. C. egyptius does not

occur nearer than Bampur in Persian Baluchistan.

Cuculus canorus. ‘The Cuckoo.

The Cuckoo is a common summer visitor to and a passage migrant through

N. Baluchistan ; the earliest record is March 27 but most arrive during April

LHe BIRDS OF BRITISH BALOCHISTAN 881

but Swinhoe records many females at Quetta from May 5 to 15, possibly on

migration ; but during May Cuckoos leave the valleys for the hills where they

breed up to 10,000 ft. Meinertzhagen records Saxicola caprata and Anthus

sordidus as fosterers while Radcliffe thought that the Buntings (4. stewarti ?)

were imposed upon at Ziarat. Williams records Phodospiza obsoleta and Scoto-

cerca tnguieta striata as fosterers.

The status in the Mekrans is not clear; Blanford heard Cuckoos calling jn

February and March in the Mekran hills bordering the Nihing river, the first as

early as February 18 and Mr. Wilson of the I. E. T. informed me he has

heard it at Turbat on March 14. I do not think it is likely thatit breeds in

Makran and there is no certainty that it winters there. At Ormarra Cumming has

only noted it on passage on May 4 and October 11.

‘There may be more than one race of Cuckoo in Baluchistan and it is possible

the race that breeds is not the same as the race which passes through to breed in

countries further north. I have only seen two, a male from Iskulko on May 26,

W 222 and a female Quetta May 6, W 194. Neither are with certainty breeding

birds, both are very pale, finely barred and small and quite different to the birds

which breed in N. W. Himalayas. Such similar birds I have seen from Persia

breeding and from Iraq and Kurdistan on passage and these seem to correspond

well with Zarudny’s subtelepbhonus since they are smaller than felephonus

and paler. One requires further specimens from Baluchistan to solve this

difficult question.

Toccacua leschenaulti sirkee (Gray.) The Sirkeer Cuckoo.

Blanford obtained one in winter in the Habb Valley on the Sind-Baluchi

boundary. It must have been a straggler, I think, as it is only a rarity or very

local in the best wooded parts of Sind.

Centropus sinensis sinensis (Stephen.) The Chinese Crow Pheasant.

There is a specimen from Jhatpat in the Sibi Plain in the Quetta Museum ;

it is common at Jacobabad on the frontier and may well occur at places like

Jhatpat where there is some cultivation and tamarisk but it is not likely to occur

elsewhere in Baluchistan.

Psittacula torquata (Bodd.). The Rose-ringed Paroquet.

Resident at Jhatpat and probably elsewhere in the Sibi Plain this Paroquet

wanders irregularly up as far as Quetta whence it has been recorded in most

months of the year. Even at Sibi I failed to see it so that it presumably is not

common there. Single birds at Quetta may of course be escapes but on several

occasions small parties have been noted and so far there is no record of it

breeding there. Moreover a flock was seen by Sir Henry McMahon at Ziarat

(8,500 ft.) on September 1, which could hardly have been even the progeny of

escapes.

That this bird had extended its range into Las Belas from Sind was discover-

ed by that intrepid explorer Masson early in the forties of last century and he

found it also up the Porali, at the foot hills at the head of the river. It is still

common and resident in Las Belas, but has not penetrated any further north or

west so far as we know.

/ (To be continued)

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES

Lt.-CoL. F. C. FRASER, I.M.S., F.E.S.

Part XXVI

(With 3 text-figures)

(Continued from page 74/7 of Vol. XXXT1)

Fig. 1. Wings of Leptogomphus gestroi, Selys, male.

Genus—LEPTOGOMPHUS, Selys.

Leptogomphus, Selys, Bull. Acad. Belg. (11), xlvi, p. 442 (1878) ; Will. Proc.

U:S. Nat. Hist. Mus., p. 291 (1908) ; Laidl. Rec. Ind. Mus., p. 378 (1922).

A genus of medium sized Gomphine dragonflies coloured black; vividly

marked with citron or greenish yellow.

Wings long, moderately broad ; reticulation close; base of hindwing rather

narrow, deeply excavate ; tornus acute or right-angled: a basal incomplete

antenodal nervure present in all wings; arc opposite the 2nd antenodal or

between the 2nd and 3rd; sectors of arc closely apposed at origin, then

divergent ; 1 or 2 rows of postanal cells in forewings, usually 3, rarely 4 in the

hind ; the first postanal cell in hindwing entire and extending a little more than

halfway along the base of subtrigone; 1 or 2 cubital nervures in all wings ;

trigones, hypertrigones and subtrigones all entire; trigone of forewing

subequilateral, the distal side slightly longer than the other two; in the hind-

wing, the costal side much longer than base, and distal slightly longer than

costal ; 2 rows of discoidal cells in forewings to the level of, or a little distad of

inner end of bridge ; Cuzz pectinate in forewing (at its outer end only); Cuz

- and Cuii in hindwing parallel as far as termen; J/za variable, 1 or 2 rows

between it and JZ at level of outer end of pterostigma ; pterostigma short,

rather swollen, shorter than one-fourth the distance between node. and outer

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES ' 883

end of pterostigma, unbraced ; 4 to 6 transverse nervures between Mz-72z and

Miv in forewing, 3 to 4 in the hind.

Head triangular, rather wide, frons rounded, depressed, face very oblique.

Thorax moderately robust; abdomen tumid at base and less so at segments

8 to 10, cylindrical between these two points ; oreillets prominent.

Legs moderately long, hind femora extending to about the middle of segment

2 and armed with a row of short, closely-set spines, which in the female are

fewer in number, less closely set and more robust.

Genitalia. Lamina depressed, arched ; anterior and posterior hamules

robust, especially the latter, projecting prominently as broad pointed organs,

variable in the Species ; lobe tumid, prominent, its border usually notched.

Vulvar scale moderately long, triangular, slightly bifid at apex.

Distribution. Species of the genus are so rare, that I have been able to

study only both sexes of L. gestroz, Selys, and L. lansbergei, Selys. Thirteen

species have been described, one or two of which doubtfully belong to the

genus, and of which only three occur within Indian limits. L. gestrot, inclitus

and maculivertex have all been reported from Burma, the latter however is

probably not a Leptogomphus. L. sempert, Selys is from the Philippines,

L. sautert, Ris., from Formosa, L. perforatus, Ris., from China, L. lansbergez,

Selys., from Java and Sumatra, L. assimilzs, Krug., from Sumatra, L. gracilis,

Krug., from the same island, L. kelantanensis, Laid., from the F.M.S. and

L. williamsont, Laid, from Borneo.

Genotype—Z. sempert, Selys.

Leptogomphus inclitus, Selys, l.c. p. 144 (1878) ; Will. l.c. pp. 291-294 (1908)

Laid, l.c- p. 378 (1922).

Female. (Male unknown.) Abdomen 36 mm. Hindwing 32-35 mm. Head :

labium yellow; labrum greenish yellow bordered anteriorly with black ; face

black, the centre of postclypeus yellow ; crest of frons yellow, invaded at its

middle from behind by black or actually cut in two by this meeting the black on

front of frons ; vertex and occiput black, the latter concave, a ridge on each

side near the eyes, the area between these depressed. Behind eyes tumid,

black above, yellow below.

Prothorax black with a middorsal geminate spot of yellow and a larger spot

on each side.

Thorax black in front as far as first lateral suture, marked with a narrow

antehumeral stripe which may or may not be confluent with a narrow

mesothoracic collar. Inthe former case forming inverted letters ‘7’. External

to these, an equally narrow humeral stripe. Laterally yellow, the 2nd lateral

suture mapped out in black and confiuent with an upper black bordering below

the wings.

Wings hyaline, reticulation black, close ; pterostigma brown between black

nervures, over 4-5 cells, 3°5 mm. in feng 14-19 antenodal nervures in

forewings, 9-11 postnodals.

Legs short, 6°5 mm. in length as to femora, black, the inner sides of anterior

two pairs and the greater part of inner sides of hind pair yellow.

Abdomen black marked with yellow as follows :—A narrow yellow stripe

running along the middorsal carina from segment 1-7, broad on segments

land 2, tapering on 3. A lateral stripe on the same segments, broad from

segment 1 to base of 3, broken into an elongate basal spot and an elongate

subapical rounded spot on 3 to 7, vestigial in character on segments 5-7.

Remaining segments unmarked.

Anal appendages short, conical, pale yellow, the apices ferruginous,

separated by a conical structure as long as themselves.

Vulvar scale moderately narrow, extending to the middle of segment 9, bifid

at apex.

Distribution. Burma. Type in the Maclachlan collection from Moolai,

Lower Burma, collected by Prof. Wood-Mason. This specimen shows a greater

melanism than two other females from Upper Burma, which may possibly

belong to a distinct species. The species bears a close resemblance to

L. semperi from the Philippines, a comparison with which serves to place it

in genus Leptogomphus.

It is to be hoped that someone of our entomological members in nates will

rediscover this interesting insect, an examination of the male being necessary

to settle its identity with the genus.

884. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL (HTST. SOCIETY, Vol XXXI

Leptogomphus gestroi, Selys. (Odonates des Birmanie) Ann. Mus. Civ. Genov.

xxx (1890) ; Will. l.c. pp. 291, 294 (1908) ; Laid. l.c. p. 378 (1922).

Male. Abdomen 40-42 mm. Hindwing 32-35 mm.

Head. Labium pale yellow, the middle lobe bordered, with black ; labrum

palest yellow, almost white, its base very narrowly, its anterior border broadly

black, the yellow area almost bisected by a fine black medial line and a lower

brownish fusiform spot. Bases of mandibles yellowish white ; ante- and post-

clypeus black ; frons pale greenish yellow above and overlapping crest, its base

very finely black ; vertex and occiput black but latter with a small median point

of yellow, emarginate behind especially at its middle. Behind eyes yellow

except the upper border.

rothorax black, a medial spot of yellow on the posterior lobe confluent with

a larger paler yellow spot on dorsum of median lobe, lastly a large outer lateral

spot on each side.

Thorax black marked with yellow as follows :—A pair of antehumeral stripes

running parallel with the middorsal carina, not confluent with the mesothoracic

collar below but extending nearly to the alar sinus above ; a long curved, very

narrow humeral stripe, its upper end slightly expanded. The mesothoracic

collar very narrowly interrupted. Laterally yellow, the humeral black slightly

overlapping the humeral suture, the first lateral suture and the upper part of

the second mapped out in black.

Legs black, anterior pair of femora yellow on inner sides, hind femora with

an outer yellow stripe, which fades away distad. The same femora armed with

two rows ot robust short spines, the inner row moderately widely-spaced, more

robust and less numerous than the outer row, which ends in a single larger

distal spine. Middle and anterior pairs with fewer but more robust spines.

Wings hyaline; pterostigma dark brown between black nervures, over 3-4

cells, unbraced ; anal triangle 3-celled ; 3 rows of postanal cells in hindwings ;

: : : ; 11-14)16-10

a t ' ee ee ee ee

a basal incomplete antenodal nervure in all wings ; nodal index TOSTSES STE

5 cross nervures in forewings between J/1-227 and Miv.

Abdomen black marked with greenish yellow as follows:—A small dorsal

spot and the sides broadly of segment 1, a trilobed dorsal stripe and the sides

broadly on 2, the middorsal carina of segments 3 to 7 finely, a baso-lateral spot

followed by a medio-lateral spot on segment 3, smaller baso-lateral spots on 4

aad 5, remaining segments unmarked. The abdomen from the apex of

segment 7 gradually and progressively broadens as far as the apical border of

10, which latter is rather massively square, its dorsum dome-shaped, its apical

border prolonged squarely between the anal appendages.

Anaiappendages. Superiors bright yellow, darker below and at the inner

and outer ends of base, which latter is outwardly and downwardly prolonged

as a broad robust spine. Broad at base, rapidly tapering to a fine point.

Beneath, and to its outer side, about 8-10 small but prominent spines. ‘hese

appendages shaped like a barbed arrow-head and widely separated from each

other. inferior appendage black, very deeply and narrowly cleft, the two

branches, thus formed, curling very slightly in to enclose a large segment of a

small circle. Superior appendages slightly longer than segment 10, the inferior

considerably shorter and strongly curled up as seen in profile.

Genitalia prominent ; lamina arched, very depressed ; anterior hamules broad

at base and nearly as far as apex, directed straight out, the borders inwardly

curled, the apex ungulate and recurved at an obtuse angle ; posterior hamules

mucn larger, also directed straight out, tongue-shaped, sinuous, the apex

ending in a forwardly directed, very robust curled thick spine; lobe tumid,

prominent, its anterior border deeply but narrowly notched.

Female very similar to the male but slightly larger and more robust, differs

as follows :—Occiput with a broad rounded notch at its centre, on each side of

which is arobust black spine.

Anal appendages short, conical, pointed, yellow, separated by a conical

yellow protuberance.

Vulvar scale broad at base, tapering as far as apex of ninth segment, its

apical half split into two slightly separated lamelle.

Habitat. Burma. The type, a male in the Selysian collection, is from Leito,

and was taken towards the end of May, by Mr. Fea. ‘There is a female in the

same collection, the only specimen of that sex known.

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES 885

Col. F. Wall. I.M.s., has taken a second male at Maymyo, Upper Burma 1,

vii. 25. It differs from type by possessing an occiput almost exactly similar to

that of the female as described by Selys. The Selysian male appears to be

more teneral than the Maymyo one, the markings of which are pale greenish

white to greenish yellow on the thorax. This species is closely related to

L. lansberget, Selys., from Java, the female only of which has been described.

Recently I have seen a male of this latter species, so take the opportunity of

describing it, enclosing the name in brackets to differentiate it from Indian

forms.

[Leptogomphus lansbergei, Selys. Bull. Acad. Belg. (2) xlvi, p. 446 (1878);

Will. 1. c pp. 291-293 (1908) ; Laid. 1. c. p. 378 (1922) ].

Male. Abdomen 44 mm. Hindwing 34 mm.

Head. Labium yellow, midlobe dark brown; labrum glossy black with two

small bright citron yellow basal spots well separated ; bases of mandibles

citron yellow ; ante-and post-clypeus matt black, as also the frons in front.

Whole of upper surface of head matt black save for a bright citron yellow

transverse stripe on crest of frons broadly interrupted at its middle: occiput

shallowly concave, depressed, at its middle two tiny spines lying close

together.

Prothorax black marked with bright citron yellow as follows :—A small

medial spot on posterior lobe, a large geminate spot just in front of it, a very

large triangular spot on each side, below which is a smaller rounded spot.

Lastly a narrow anterior collar almost confluent with the larger lateral spot.

Thorax black marked with citron yellow as follows :—A pair of antehumeral

narrow stripes, slightly divergent below and not meeting the mesothoracic

collar which is broadly broken at its centre. A narrow humeral stripe expand-

ed above and again thickening below, curved convexly outward. Laterally

the two sutures broadly mapped out in black so that one sees three black stripes

alternating with yellow ones.

Legs black, hind femora extending as faras middle of segment 2, armed

with 2 rows of very closely-set robust spines, with a single longer distal spine

at the end.

; f j : ae : 13-18|18-13. ;

Wings hyaline, reticulation close ; nodal index 14212! 19213 a basal incom-

plete antenodal nervure in all wings; 5 transverse nervures between Mi-2i7

and Miv in forewings, 3 in the hind; 1 cubital nervure in all wings; anal

triangle 3-celled ; 3 rows of postanal cells in the hindwings; pterostigma

brown between black nervures, covers 4-6 cells.

Abdomen black, shaped exactly as in gestroz, marked with citron yellow as

follows :—A small quadrate dorsal spot and the whole of the sides of segment

1, a narrow trilobed linear middorsal stripe on segment 2, the oreillets and a

broad latero-apical spot continued narrowly along ventral border towards the

base, segment 3 with the middorsal carina finely and a baso-lateral triangular

spot, the basal part of the middorsal carina on segment 4, the remainder

unmarked.

Anal appendages. Superiors nearly as long as segment 10, closely similar to

those of gestroz in shape, citron yellow above, brownish at apex and below,

broad at base, the outer part of which is prolonged as a robust obtuse spine,

not as evident as in gestvoz. Armed beneath with a series of small spines as in

that species. ‘he apex acutely pointed, but on its inner side and slightly

below is an angular projection, so that the appendage viewed from within

appears to be abruptly bevelled off into a spine. Inferior appendage glossy

black, differing markedly from that of gestroz, deeply and broadly cleft into

two long branches with blunt apices, which project laterally and beyond the

apices of the superiors.

Genitalia scarcely differing from that of gestrot, the anterior hamules

relatively larger, the posterior relativeiy shorter and not so curled at their

apices ; lobe rounded, less prominent, deeply but very narrowly fissured.

Distribution. Java. A single male in my own collection. Its close re-

semblance, in all features, to the female of /ansbergat, as described by Selys,

is apparent, its venation definitely places it as a true Leptogomphus. The

discovery of this male places Kruger’s assimlis, from the same country, as a

definite species.

886 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Liat ] ‘ dee

' ye te

ran. GS

Deuient x

tee

AYE.

ro ey

ONY

At ¥ iy NNR As

RUS

RMN oY

g Si ANY \: N

BigigZ.

Fig 2.—l. Anal appendages of Leptogomphus gestroi, Selys, seen from

above. 2. The same seen in profile. 3. The same of Leptogomphus lans-

bergel, Selys, seen from above. 4. ‘The same seen from the side. 5. Anal

appendages of Szeboldius nigricolor, Fras., seen from above. 6. The same

seen in profile.

Leptogomphus ? maculivertex, Selys (Odonates des Birmanie) 1.c. (1890) ;

Will. l.c. pp. 292, 293 and 295 (1908) : Laid. Me. p-'378. (1922).

Female. (Male unknown) Abdomen 33 mm. Hindwing 31 mm.

Head. Labium, black its base broadly yellow; anteclypeus black, post-

clypeus black with a rounded spot on each side bordering the eyes ; crest of

-frons yellow, this colour slightly overlapping the anterior surface, and invaded

behind by the black of base of frons.

The occiput and . medial spot on vertex yellow, the former black behind,

slightly emerginate, and with a convex scallop at its middle.

Prothorax black, its dorsum and the posterior lobe yellow.

Thorax black as far as the humeral suture, marked with yellow as follows :—

A slightly interrepted mesothoracic collar, narrow antehumeral stripes which

form inverted figures ‘7’ by confluence with the collar below, a fine humeral

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES 887

stripe on each side, broken up into an upper spot and a lower fine line. The

middorsal carina bears a small medial spot. Laterally yellow with the upper

part of the first lateral suture, and the whole of the second mapped out in

black.

Wings hyaline, reticulation black, close; pterostigma dark brown, over

4 to 5 cells, 3 mm. in length; 15 antenodal nervures and 12 postnodals in

forewings ; basal incomplete antenodal nervure absent.

Legs black, femora yellow marked with an outer black stripe and armed with

black spines, which are moderately robust, short, and numerous. Hind

femora 5 mm. in length.

Abdomen slender, the borders of segments 8 and 9 slightly dilated, black

marked with yellow as follows:—A triangular dorsal spot on segment 1, a

trilobed middorsal stripe on 2, the sides of these two segments broadly yellow.

Segments 3 to 7 with the middorsal carina finely but not quite extending to the

apical borders cf segments 3 to 6, and occupying only the basal two-thirds of

7; the dorsal stripes on segments 3 to 6 lobed by an encroachment of the black

at the jugal sutures, remainder unmarked.

Anal appendages slender, cylindrical, pointed, rather longer than segment

10, separated by a conical yellow protuberance.

Vulvar scale robust, yellow at base, tapering, narrow, extending to the

apical border of segment 10, deeply bifid into two closely apposed lamelle.

Distribution. A single female only of this species is known, which comes

from Meteleo, Burma, collected by Mr. Fea, September 10, and now in the

Selysian collection. I have not seen this type, a better knowledge of the

venation of which, is needed to place it correctly.

The absence of the incomplete basal nervure suggests that it is rather a

Hleliogomphus than a Leplogomphus. The very long vulvar scale is analogous

to that of Gomphus nilgiricus and Onychogomphus M-ftlavum. ‘The discovery

of the male is necessary to settle its identity.

Genus—SIEBOLDIUS, Selys.

é,

alone!

a®

'o.

WY)

Fig. 3.—Wings of Sieboldius nigricolor, Fras., male.

Genus Szeboldius, Selys, Syn. des Gomphines, Bull. Acad. Belg. (1), xxi.

(1854); Id. Mon. Gomphing, Mem. cour. Soc. Roy. Sci. Liege, xi.

(1857)\; Will. 1.c. p. 285 (1908) ; Laid. 1.e., p. 372 (1922).

A small genus of very large, very robust dragonflies of sombre colouring.

Wings broad and long, reticulation very close, base of hindwing oblique,

shallowly notched, the tornus obtuse; anal triangle 3 to 6 celled ; primary

antenodals the Ist, 7th, 8th or 9th; trigones traversed once in all wings, very

888 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

similarly shaped in fore and hindwings, the distal side angulated and longer

than the costal, the base much shorter than either, a supplementary nervure

springing from the angulation of the distal side ; hypertrigones and subtrigones

entire ; 2-3 cubital nervures in all wings; a basal imcomplete antenodal

nervure present in all wings; arc between the Ist and 2nd or 2nd and 3rd

antenodals, its sectors parallel for some distance ; 2 rows of postanal cells in

forewing, 5-7 in the hind, the first postanal cell in hindwing split into 3 or 4

cells and forming a distinct but rudimentary loop; Cuz and Cuwzi in forewing

neatly parallel as far as termen, the former markedly pectinate; Cuzz in

hindwing with 4 to 5 sectors running parallel with Az, 2 rows of discoidal

cells in forewing to about level of inner end of bridge. All main sectors,

especially (zz, As, Mitt and Miv curving sharply towards the termen ; ptero-

stigma comparatively short, over 6-7 cells ; M/za beginning nearer the node than

pterostigma.

Head comparatively small and disproportionate to rest of body, triangular,

frons not prominent, occiput raised into a characteristic subquadrate plate,

notched at its middle and fringed with short hairs. Thorax bulky, very robust ;

legs of great length, hind femora extending nearly to the apical end of segment

two, and furnished with a row of closely-set spines, which become more widely-

spaced and longer towards the distal end of femora. ‘Tibial spines of the same

pair of legs, very closely-set, thick and robust, relatively short. Mid-femora

with very similar armature. Hooks of tarsal claws very minute, situated at

middle of claws.

Abdomen long and cylindrical, tumid at base ; 10th segment markedly dome-

shaped, tumid and quadrate. Anal appendages short, robust.

Superiors variable in the species, tapered, furnished with ventral spines ;

inferior shallowly but broadly notched, hollowed out above, its outer ends

biuntly pointed branches, curling strongly up as seen in profile.

Genitalia. Lamina prominent, sloping anteriorly ; anterior hamules short

thin stillettes; posterior hamules broad, robust ending in a short acutely

pointed recurved hook ; lobe very large tumid, scrotal-shaped.

Distribution. China, Sumatra, Tonkin, Siam and Burma. Szeboldius

albard@, Selys, is from Pekin, S. grandis, Krug., from Sumatra, S. gigas

(Hagenius gigas) Mart., is from Tonkin, S. japponicus, Selys, from Siam and

Malaysia, whilst S. zzgricolor, Fras., comes from the Chin Hills, Burma. Very

little separates the two genera Hagenius and Sieboldius, hence both gigas and

nigricolor were first described as belonging to the former. Williamson has point-

ed out the differences as follows :—Hagenius comes from America, Szeboldius

from 8. Asia. The former has no incomplete antenodal nervures, the median >

sectors curve very leisurely towards the termen, Wia begins nearer the

pterostigma than the node, and lastly one may add that the primary antenodal

nervures in forewings are the lst and 6th. On the other hand, the shape of the

10th abdominal segment, the anal appendages and the genitalia are strikingly

similar.

_ Sieblodius nigricolor (Fras.) (Hagenzus nigricolor), Mem. of Pusa, Ent. Series.

vol. viii, No. 8, pp. 78-79 (1924).

Male. (Female unknown). Hindwing 49mm. Abdomen 54 mm.

Head glossy black, the upper surface of frons bright greenish yellow, except

its base which is very narrowly black ; eyes prokably bottle green during life.

Occiput projecting squarely back as a thick plate which overhangs the

prothorax, its hinder border slightly notched at its middle and densely fringed

with short stiff black hairs, its upper surface coarsely corrugated and a little

hollowed out; vesicle raised into two robust points very much as in the

Libelluling.

Prothorax matt black, with two small yellow points on middorsum.

Thorax black marked with yellow as follows :—A complete mesothoracic

collar, which is confluent with a median spot on the lower half of the middorsal

carina ; narrow antehumeral stripes not confluent with the mesothoracic collar,

divergent in front, the upper ends turning out at a little more than a right

angle. No humeral stripe. Laterally two oblique yellow stripes, a narrow one

bordering the hinder border of the humeral suture and a broad one covering

the greater part of the metepimeron.

Legs black, armed as for genus. Wings hyaline, pterostigma black, braced,

6 mm. in Jength; costa finely yellow ; membrane nearly obsolete; 3 rows of

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES 889

cells between J/z and Mia at level of distal end of pterostigma; 2 cubital

nervures in all wings; 2 rows of postanal cells in forewing, 5 in the hind ;

13-18]20-12 |

14-14/13-15 ’

Abdomen black marked with yellow as follows :—The sides of segments 1] and

2 broadly, this colour extending up along apical margin as far as dorsum on

segment 2, a fine obscure middorsai carinal line on segments 2 and 3, the latter

with the basal part of sides yellow, segments 4 to 7 with basal paired lunules

separated by the dorsal crest, 8 with its basal half yellow and rather more than

that of its sides, 9 with a small baso-lateral spot, 10 unmarked.

Anal appendages black. Superiors barely longer than segment 10, broad

and of even width for rather less than the basal half, then abruptly tapering to

a point and converging gradually towards one another. A robust ventral spine

directed slightly inwards at the level where they begin to taper. Inferior

curling upward, quadrate, the outer corners produced as short robust blunt

branches directed up and a little out.

Genitalia, lamina depressed, deeply and very narrowly cleft at the middle ;

anterior hamules thin stilettes directed backwards and downwards, converging

towards each other, their apices curled a little outwards; posterior hamules

very broad, long, robust, the apices quadrate, a robust hook, shaped like a

tiger’s claw, springing from the outer corner; lobe enormously inflated,

rounded, glossy black.

Distribution. A single male from the Southern Shan States, Burma,

September 23, 1923, coll. Captain Drummond.

In this Part I conclude the sub-order Anisoptera, which includes roughly

about half of the Indian dragonflies. It has taken nearly nine years to

complete and as was to be expected over stich a long space of time, a great

mass of material has been collected, containing many new species, some of

which belong to the genera first described. The earlier part of this monograph

has therefore become more or less out of date and will need revision. The

inclusion of many new species will entail an extensive alteration of the keys.

The descriptions of these new species will be found in this Journal, the Records

of the Indian Museum, and the Memoirs of Pusa. The primary intention of

this monograph was to stimulate interest in the collecting of Indian dragonflies

and to add to our knowledge of a little known group. That the Journal has

been able to effect this is amply shown by the fact that the total number of known

species in India has since been more than doubled. We are especially indebted

to Messrs. Bainbrigge Fletcher, Chas. M. Inglis, Col. F. Wall, H. V. O’Donel,

T. N. Hearsey, Major Frere, J. Elton Bott, C. Souter, I.C.S. and C. Stoney,

all of whom have not only collected largely but sent in valuable notes without

which much of the monograph could not have been written.

nodal index anal triangle 3-celled.

(To be continued)

THE MASON WASP (LUMENES CONICA)

Mayor R. W. G. HINGSTON, I.M.S.

(Continued trom page 761 of this Volume)

ParT III

EXPERIMENTS

The illustrious observer, M. Fabre, made a series of experiments

on Chalicodoma sicula, a mason-bee which nested under his roof.

The object in view was a psychological investigation. Does the

mason work blindly under subjection, or can she modify her

behaviour at will? In other words, is instinct or reason her guide ?

The observer reached aclear conclusion. He found the Chalicodoma

to be little more than an automaton. It can cope with just the

simplest emergencies, but is unable to turn from the ordinary

course. If, for example, it is building, then it can make a slight

repair. If, on the other hand, it is collecting provender, then it can

do no architectural work. Routine enslaves it. It cannot break

away from the duties of the moment. It must keep to the establi-

shed rhythm. M. Fabre will not grant it an inkling of intelligence.

‘O little gleams of reason that are said to enlighten the animal, you

are very near the darkness, you are naught.’

Here is an opportunity to test this. JI examined the mason on all

possible occasions. The result surprised me. I am satisfied that

mentality than the Chalicodoma of M. Fabre. :

Our experiments will fall into two classes. First, those

indicating the intensity of instinct; second, those which prove

intelligence.

EXPERIMENTS ON INSTINCT

We will compare our mason with the Chalicodoma. The latter

constructs an earthen cell, stores it with honey, lays an egg, then

closes the gate. But her activities alternate. First she buildstoa

certain height, then gathers some provender, then resumes the

architectural task. Thus she varies the nature of her business,

being at one time a mason, at another a provisioner during alternate

stages in the work.

While the Chalicodoma was building M. Fabre made a hole in her

cell. The insect quickly repaired the damage. A simple feat,

scarcely beyond instinctive routine. The wasp at the time was

employed at masonry. The repair then was amere continuation of

building, the clay being applied to the breach instead of to the edge

of the wall.

THE MASON WASP (EUMENES CONICA) 891

Experiment 1.—Now turn to the cone-shaped mason. While she

is collecting clay I break a hole in the side of her cell. It is a

‘gaping rent. Through it she might thrust her head, or a caterpillar

might fall out from the inside. The wasp on her return resumes

architecture. She continues to apply pellet after pellet, raises her

wall to the very summit, lays an egg inside. But she never pays

the slightest attention to the breach, makes no attempt at repair.

Remember our egg-laying experiment. In that case the breach

was in the egg-attaching area. ‘The wasp was driven to the greatest

perplexity. She was enduring a painful strain, having nowhere to

attach her egg. Yet even this did not impel repair. A pellet or

two might have solved the difficulties. But she never seemed to

think of this simple solution. On the contrary her egg was shot

into the air. We might conclude that she was even more of an

automaton than even the Chalzcodoma of M. Fabre.

Experiment 2.—Let us continue. ‘To solve the problem of instinct

and reason we must employ every test. A cell is built, an egg

laid, the mason is onthe hunt. During her absence I amputate

the rim. I remove that elegant support which she fashions for

securing the plug. She returns. Only a visit of inspection

however. There is nothing in her jaws. The inspection proceeds.

Her antenne enter the gate, investigate its shape and width, then

test the edge all round. It is a rapid, yet thorough survey.

Moreover it is prolonged. Clearly it discloses something abnor-

mal. Perhaps she appreciates the loss of the rim. Off she goes.

I anticipate that she will bring materials for repair. A wrong

supposition. Her burden is a caterpillar, not a pellet. More are

brought. She stuffs the cell fuli, again tests the amputated

aperture, finally introduces a plug into a rimless hole.

Again we see agreement with the Chalicodoma. Provisions were

being collected ; the work of building had been done. She could

not go back to it. The machine had advanced so far that the mason

could not retrace her work.

Experiment 3.—Here is another confirmation. The wasp is col-

lecting caterpillars. I cut a square from one side of the gate. The

size of the opening is doubled; its shape is completely changed.

Size and shape, what are these to the mason? We have seen her

geometrical capacity, measuring distances, shaping a circle from an

ellipse. But see her futility in this emergency. Her measuring

powers are useless. She is oblivious to all geometry. Nothing but

storage occupies her mind. All she does is to bring caterpillar after

caterpillar. No repair is attempted. At length storage finishes.

Then she builds up both the natural aperture and my artificial square.

Again we reach the same conclusion. The wasp will have nothing

to do with masonry when employed in collecting supplies.

Experiment 4.—While the mason is touching up the cover, I pull

out the plug. Here we seea better behaviour. The mason brings

afresh plug. This makes her equal to the Chalicodoma, which, when

working at masonry, repaired the breach. But there is no intelli-

gence. Itis scarcely more than instinct. Cover-making is the time

at which to search for imperfections. The absence of a plug is an

obvious imperfection. Hence it is restored.

892 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXi

So far we have seen not an inkling of intelligence, nothing but

instinct, inflexible instinct, guiding the architectural work. One

more experiment will suffice. It will indicate the force of instinct

even when opposed to sensual desires.

Experiment 5.—Suppose instinct impels the wasp in one direction

and some sensual desire impels her in the opposite direction, which

will conquer in the end. No doubt sometimes one, sometimes the

other according to their relative strength at the time. Take, for

example, this incident. Work is in progress. A cell is_ half

complete. The mason is arriving every few minutes with a fresh

load of clay. I place a lump of camphor inside the chamber. The

Eumenes, like many insects, has asense of smell and strongly

dislikes the odour of camphor. What will she do? She cannot

escape it. When she bends to mould a brick she will almost touch

the nauseating lump. Instinct will impel her to build, the foul

odour to withdraw. Let us see. She arrives. The smell. arrests

her when an inch from the cell. She hesitates, approaches warily,

then doubtfully ascends the wall. Her head bends down to apply

the brick. The odour drives her away. Again she approaches ;

again retreats before the fumes. This continues for a dozen efforts,

the force of instinct impelling her to build, the olfactory stimulus

preventing the act. At length there occurs a most determined

effort. Down goes her head almost on the camphor and she

trembles in the obnoxious fumes. ‘Then with a few thrusts she

moulds the peilet. But the act is hasty. It is arough kind of

masonry, ill-laid, and unworthy of her graceful cell. But it is

enough. The force of instinct is fulfilled. The masonis off. Instinct

in its conflict with the ordinary senses has won the day.

Nor is this all. The force of instinct persists. Again and

again she comes with pellets, each time braves the stupefying fumes

and persists in laying brick after brick. She even pushes in her

abdomen and deposits anegg. Four succulent caterpillars arrive.

Then the foetid chamber is sealed. Instinct has unquestionably

won. Yet in this case how false is instinct as a guide.: The labour

is wasted. No egg could ever develop in so offensive a cell.

Enough of these experiments. They illustrate the remorseless

force of instinct in controlling the operations of the wasp. Did we

stop here and investigate no further we would find that the cone-

shaped mason of the east was no better than the Chalicodoma of Fabre.

But there is another side to the picture. Let us turn to it. I

have some experiments which clearly prove that the mason is an

intelligent creature. )

EXPERIMENTS PROVING INTELLIGENCE

Occasionally we observe some trivial act, apparently slight and

unimportant in itself, yet enough to arouse suspicion in our minds.

Perhaps the mason is not so thoughtless. For example, one day

she brings an unusually large pellet. It is too bulky for easy

manipulation. There will be trouble in applying it to the wall.

But she is not ata loss. Instead of going to her routine employ-

ment she climbs out on to the nest. There she searches for an

uneven spot, and employs part of the pellet smoothening. it.

yin ek Side

THE MASON WASP (EUMENES CONICA) 893

The remainder, now of suitable size, is applied to its proper use on

the wall. This is behaviour out of the ordinary. It suggestsa

trace of thoughtfulness, an indication, apart from experiment, that

she can alter routine. Admittedly she has not abandoned masonry,

only varied the sequence of the work. ‘The time for working at the

cover is after plug-insertion. Butin this instance the wasp attends

to the cover while still employed on her wall. If, finding her pellet

too large, she had merely thrown away a portion, then the behaviour

would be instinctive. But her action seems on a higher plane.

She studiously seeks out some special defect in order not to waste

clay. :

Here is another suspicious incident. A cell has been built at

sunset, an egg laid. I watch for the mason on the following

morning, anticipating the usual stores. But, to my surprise, instead

of caterpillars, she brings pellets. ‘Then for hours she works at the

cover without giving a thought to supplies. Again an alteration in

routine, and, what is more, change in the nature of the task.

Normally the time for storing comes after egg-laying. In this

instance the sequence is interrupted. A certain amount of plaster-

ing takes place between the introduction of the egg. and the

supplies.

-« Now for the experiments, the less conclusive ones first.

(3 Ex periment 1.—The Chalicodoma provisions her cell with honey.

M. Fabre, by employing a wad of cotton, drained away the store.

This did not interfere with provisioning. ‘The bees continued to

bring honey in spite of its being systematically removed. In the

end they layed their eggs, and ciosed the cells with a lid.. The

observer then measured the contents. The amount was different in

each cell. In one it was three millimetres, in two one millimetre in

depth, in others there was no honey at all. He concludes that the

bee is so ruled by instinct that she does not even estimate the

amount of her store. The sufficiency of honey is not measured by

its height. She accumulates only so long as she feels the accumuiat-

ing impulse. ‘She does not reason like a geometrician, she does

not reason at all.’

We will apply this test to the Aumenes. As fast as she brings

caterpillars I will systematically rob the cell. A chamber is built.

At 3 p.m. the first caterpillar arrives. It is large and fleshy. Two

or three of that pattern will easily fill the cell. When she departs

after introducing a caterpillar I extract it through the gate. At

first she takes no notice. She continues to bring caterpillars,

pushing them each time into an empty cell. By nightfall I have

robbed her of five, a supply sufficient for two cells. She returns

next morning. More caterpillars are brought. As before they are

systematically robbed... The Aumenes now becomes concerned.

She makes unexpected visits at frequent intervals, not bringing

provisions, but merely to inspect the cell. Now and again another

caterpillar comes. Capture after capture is pushed in, but the

cell remains void. What an unaccustomed experience for the

mason! Strenuous collection but no accumulation! Nothing like

this ever happened before. Altogether I rob her of nine caterpillars.

This is sufficient. There is no need to persist in the experiment, so

804 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Volt. XXX1

I allow her to store in peace. Then she brings two more, large

ones, sufficient to fill the interior. She is satisfied and closes the

gate. Thus in all she collected eleven, a supply more than enough

to provision three cells.

Now forthe conclusion. Her behaviour differs from Chalicodoma.

It is not instinct alone which guides her. If it were, then she

would have brought three or four caterpillars, the amount sufficient

for one cell. Instinct would have been satisfied as in Fabre’s

Chalicodoma. But it is not satisfied. She knows that her chamber

is empty: she persists until it is full. Her guide in storage is the

quantity of provisions. She will not close her cell until it is packed

tight. She estimates intelligently by measuring the height of the

supplies.

Experiment 2.—This experiment concerns the young Eumenes.

Here again we shall find superiority over the Chalicodoma.

Having taken a young bee from its prison, Fabre placed it in a

tubular reed. He barred the entrance with a double door, the outer

one of paper, the inner of clay. The young wasp, on emergence,

was confronted with the earth. No difficulty about this. The earth

barrier was penetrated just as if it was a cell wall. But the wasp

could go no further. It could not penetrate the paper barrier. It

died helplessly, not knowing how to get through.

Fabre supplies a simple explanation. The young wasp’s instinct

is to eat through its cell. That is the natural mode of escape. The

compietion of that act satisfies instinct, and instinct is so mechanical

that the wasp cannot repeat the act. It can penetrate once, not

twice. If, in the experiment, it bored through the paper, then it

would perform a second time what ordinarily it does only once.

Such repetition is impossible. Hence it dies rather than escape.

I repeat this experiment with the Aumenes. The larva, only afew

days old, is transferred to a glass tube. There it develops as safely

as in its natural cell. I block the tube with three mud barriers,

formidable obstacles, each twice the thickness of acell wall. I

confess I do not anticipate the result. I expect to see the wasp eat

through one partition, then live on for aday or two, but fail to

perforate the second wail. Nature, however, is full of surprises.

This species is not so bound to instinct. It is better than that

investigated by Fabre. I look one morning to see what has

happened. ‘The three Larriers have been perforated in succession

and the wasp has left the tube.

fix periment 3.—While the Chalicodoma was provisioning M.

Fabre made a breach in its cell. The mason was unable to close

the rent. She merely continued to thrust in honey, which, of course,

as guickly leaked out through the breach. Finally the bee intro-

duced her egg, sealed the door, but made no effort to rebuild the

breach. His explanation is as follows. The insect is controlled by

rigid instincts. She must follow a psychic course, and perform her

acts in a definite routine. She must keep to the occupation that

engages her at the moment. Though confronted with damage of

glaring importance, yet she cannot change her task.

Now for the cone-shaped mason. I break a hole in the bottom

ot a cell. The owner is absent, hunting for caterpillar. It is a

THE MASON WASP (EUMENES CONICA) 895

gaping rent. I have made it so large that when a caterpillar goes

in, it will very likely fall through the breach. She starts provision-

ing. The first caterpillar falls through the rent. Her next is so

large that only part hangs out. The subsequent ones remain inside.

Then she closes the gate. Not the slightest attention is given to

the breach. So far her behaviour has been automatic. But now

some enlightenment appears. At last she seems to see the damage.

She examines the breach with the caterpillar dangling through it.

If an automaton, she will be helpless in this emergency ; things will

remain just as they are. But watch her behaviour. She stuffs back

the caterpillar, by no means an easy task. Then she makes off,

fetches a pellet and builds up the breach.

I regard this as asign of intelligence, an indication that the mason

appreciates difficulties and realizes how to put them right. Then

why did she not repair when provisioning ? Merely because she

was so pre-occupied. She did not notice the hole. At the final

survey she sees it immediately. Then she not only repairs the

damage, but also pushes back the grub.

Experiment 4.—I am not quite satisfied with the above experi-

ments. They are not convincing enough. Here is more definite

proof. She is plastering the cover, having completed a cell. I

break open an adjoining chamber, one finished days before. She

discovers the damage, makes no end of a fuss about it, pulls the

caterpillars through the hole, then pushes them back. In the end,

however, she brings pellets and repairs it in the usual way. This,

after all, we might anticipate. She had been engaged at strength-

ening the cover so it is an ordinary feat to fill the hole.

But watch further. Having closed the breach, she returns to the

cover. JI reopen the breach, in fact make an immense rent through

which a pencil might be passed into the cell. I extract the

caterpillars, leaving avoid behind. Here at iast is a crucial test.

Will she, as before, just repair the masonry, or will she in addition

restore the supplies? If the former, then her action is instinctive ;

if the latter, then she works intelligently. She will have broken

from the duty of the moment and departed altogether from routine.

Let us see. Very soon she arrives. Plastering is resumed.

She does not attend to the breach immediately. Many irregularities

first occupy her. Not till after a dozen journeys does she think

about repair. Observe her actions now. She is faced witha ragged

opening on one side of her cell. She investigates it, crawis through

it, explores the void within. Then she takes suitable action. A

pellet is brought. With it the edge is made even. The jagged

rent is shaped into a circular hole. At the next visit I expect to see

her close the opening. For remember she had been engaged at

plastering the cover. Her employment was masonry; therefore I

anticipate a more filling of the branch. But when she arrives I am

astonished at her actions. She goes direct to the breach, not just

to fill it, tomy surprise she encircles it with arim. What can this

forbode? This is not the time for rim-construction; this is not the

place where that structure is applied. Is she going to treat it as if

it were agateway ? Is she by any possibility going to replenish

the stores? Her next visit will decide the point. A long absence

8096 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

arouses suspicion. If collecting clay, she should be back ina

minute. I donot see her for quarter of an hour. At last she

arrives, and to my delight I see a caterpillar dangling in her jaws.

In the orthodox manner she pushes it in, then brings others, fills

the cell to its utmost capacity, finally inserts a plug.

What is this? I am losing faith in certain views on insect

psychology. Iam thinking that they work on higher principles

than unchanging and unchangeable routine. She finds a breach in

a cell when manufacturing her cover. Not only this, in addition

the cell-contents have vanished, nothing but the egg remains. Ifan

automaton what can she do? At most she might close the opening.

That would still be building work. But her mentality is higher.

She shapes my rough opening into a circle, constructs a rim,

replenishes the provender, seals the gate. These are actions far

outside routine. They are in no way connected with cover-

construction, the duty which she had in hand. This is not the

course of undeviating instinct. It is the comprehension of new and

unexpected problems and the solving of them by rational means.

We have here no thoughtless automaton like the Chalicodoma of

Fabre.

This concludes my series of experiments. I find that the wasp

has powerful instincts. Under their obedience she lives and works

and raises her graceful cell. But they do not bind her inexorably.

She is not in slavery to strict routine. On the contrary she can

break the chain of her behaviour, can appreciate new occurrences,

can deal with emergencies, in fact can behave in a rational manner

according as occasion requires.

REVISION OF

THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY

E. BLATTER, S.J., PH.D., F.L.S.

Part II

(Continued from page 557 of this Volume)

34. TURNERACE,? (Hutchinson i, 111).

Cooke does not mention this order, but as one representative is commonly

cultivated in gardens and has run wild in many places, it must be included in

the Bombay Flora,

Herbs or rarely shrubs. Leaves entire or lobed, alternate; stipules 0.

Flowers hermaphrodite, actinomorphic, yellowish. Calyx tubular, 5-

toothed, teeth imbricate. Petals 5, inserted on the calyx-tube, free, clawed,

contorted in bud. Stamens 5, inserted at the base of the corolla-tube ;

filaments free; anthers 2-celled, opening lengthwise. Ovary superior, 1-

celled, with 3-parietal placentas; styles 3, terminal, slender; stigmas

fringed ; ovules numerous. Fruit a capsule opening loculicidally into 3

valves with the placenta in the middle of each. Seeds arillate, pitted;

endosperm horny or fleshy ; embryo straight, large.

Species 105.—Subtropical and tropical, chiefly American.

TURNERA, [.inn.

Shrubs or herbs. Leaves alternate, simple, usually 2-glandular at the

base ; stipules small or absent. Flowers regular, bisexual, axillary, solitary,

rarely fascicled or in racemes, yellow; peduncle sometimes adnate to the

petiole, bracteoles 2 or 0. Hypanthium short, usually swollen at the insertion of

the stamens. Sepals 5. Petals 5, hypogynous, inserted at the base of

the hypanthium. Stamens 5, more or less perigynous and often connate at the

base; anthers oblong with longitudinal dehiscence. Ovary free, 1-celled

with 3 parietal placentas; styles 3, simple or with flabellately divided

stigmas ; ovules numerous, anatropous, 2-seriate on the placentas. Fruit a

3-valved capsule bearing the seeds in the middle of the valves. Seeds

oblong, curved, with a membranous aril; albumen fleshy ; embryo terete.

Species 70.—Tropical American, only a few African and Asiatic.

1. Turnera ulmifolia, Linn. Sp. pi. 271.

Vern. name: Bhinijra.

Description: A herb or undershrub; shoots densely hairy. Leaves broad-

or narrow-lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, coarsely serrate, 7-10 cm. long, with

2 large glands at the end of the 10-25 mm. long petiole. Flowers yellow, 3°5-5

cm. in diameter; peduncle adnate to the petiole and bearing a pair of leaves

below the flower. Hypanthium funnel-shaped, hairy; sepals lanceolate, 8-10

mm.long. Capsule sub-globose oblong, 8 mm. long, hairy, minutely tubercled,

sometimes only 2-valved. Seeds elliptic-oblong, brown, rugose. (Haines).

Locality : Grown in gardens. Has become a common weed of waste ground

and roadsides in many places of the Presidency.

Distribution : West Indies.

36. CAPPARIDACE. (Cke. i, 35)

About 600 species.— Chiefly tropical.

+ The number in front of the family refers to the corresponding number in

Hutchinson, Zhe Families of Flowering Plants.

898. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL FIST SOCIETY Wool. Xd

1. (\CLEOME) Linn).,.(Cke;1, 36),

Hooker f. and Thompson, Cooke and others give under the general characters

of the genus the number of stamens 4-8. It should be 4-12-co.

Two species and two varieties not known from the Presidency before have to

be added.

Key to the Species—

I. Leaves simple—

1. Stamens 6 or less

(a) Leaves oblong—lanceolate penninerved,

bracts petiolate ota 1. C. monophylla.

(6) Leaves ovate, cordate, penninery ed. bracts

small, sessile

bracts leafy

(dz) Leaves fleshy, ovate. or obovate, 3- nerved,

2. C. papillosa.

bracts small us a ws 4. C.Stocksiana.

C. quinguenervia.

2, Stamens 10-12

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, bracts leafy

II. Leaves compound—

1. Stamens 6; capsule sessile or subsessile

C. simplicifolia.

(a) Leaflets filiform hs coe ONL eC ereneliar

(6) Leaflets linear-oblong to obovate

* Stem and leaves not asperous.. 7. OC. brachycarpa.

**Stem and leaves with minute scattered

prickles BS.) Couspera.

2. Stamens 6, capsule stalked 9. C. Burmanni.

3. Stamens indefinite

* Flowers yellow, capsule Siar eR Es

cent ae is wie Og . CUSCOSMs

* * Flowers rosy, capsule smooth .., co kl SCs 'Creizdonin.

«* * Hlowers purple Jor Post capsule glabrous,

Striate "a... ss aes ees ORCL ELei7e

1. Cleome monophylla, Linn. Sp. pl. (1753), 672; Cke. i, 36. :

Locality: Gujarat (Woodrow).—Deccan: Gadak (Woodrow).—S. 7,

Country : Belgaum (Ritchie, 24) ; Badami (Cooke! Herb. S.X.C., 18167 !).

Distribution : From Bihar and Orissa and the Konkan to Ceylon, in fields

and waste places ; tropical Africa.

Flowers : August (Badami).

fruits ; August (Badami).

Uses : According to Haines the leaves are eaten as a pot-herb. Campbell

says that the pounded root is put on the lips by the Santals to restore conscious-

ness when in a faint.

2. Cleome papiliosa, Steud. Nomencl. ed. 2, i (1840), 382; Cke. i, 36.

Locality : Sind: Thano-Bula-Khan Road, 34 miles from Karachi (Wood-

row!) ; Laki, foot of the hill (Sabnis 6111) ; Sibi (Herb..S.X%.C. 1817311).

Distribution : Rajputana, Arabia, Abyssinia, Nubia, Kordofan.

Flowers and fruits ; September (Sibi).

3. Cleome quinquenervia, DC. Prodr. I (1824), 239; Cke. i, 37.

Locality ; Sind: Laki (Woodrow, Herb. S.X.C. 18174!); hills in Sind

(Vicary).

Distribution : Persia, Afghanistan, Arabia.

Flowers - October (Laki).

4. Cleome Stocksiana, Boiss. Diagn. ser. 2, fasc. 1 (1853), 47 ; Cke. i, 37.

Locality: Sind: Boogta Hills (Vicary) ; Laki (Woodrow! Herb. S.X.C.

18175 !).

Distribution : Baluchistan.

5. Cleome simplicifolia, Hook. f. & Th. in F.B.I. i, 169; Cke. i, 37.

Locality : Konkan - Bombay (Law).—Deccan : near Poona (Dailzell) ; Poona

(Jacquemont, 813,814); Deolali (Blatter, 18182! bis); Igatpuri (Blatter, 18117 !).

—S. M. Country: Belgaum (Ritchie, 1018).

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 899

Distribution : Northern India, drier parts of the Deccan and Konkan.

Flowers and fruits : September 1917 (Deolali, Igatpuri).

6. Cleome tenella, Linn. f. Suppl. 300; DC. Prodr. i, 240; Wight and Arn.

Prodr. 21; Wall. Cat. 6966; F.B.I.i.169; Gamble 41.—C. angustifolia, A.

Rich. Bl Seneo..20.

Description ; An annual glabrous herb, up to 30 cm. high; branches many,

slender, spreading. Leaves 3-foliolate ; leaflets linear or filiform, as long as or

longer than the petiole. Flowers minute, in few-flowered racemes; bracts

simple or 3-foliolate. Stamens 6. Ovary glabrous. Capsule sessile or subsessile,

linear, glabrous, 2°5-3 cm. long. Seeds minute, smooth.

According to Gamble the flowers are. yellow, according to the F.B.I.

purplish. I have not seen fresh flowers, but judging from the dried specimens

they seem to be yellow.

Locality : Deccan; Bijapur (Talbot, 2751!).

Distribution : Dry places in the Carnatic Districts from Nellore to Tinnevelly

and 8. Travancore, Tropical Africa.

7. Cleome brachycarpa, Vahl, (zzed.) ex DC. Prodr. i (1824), 240; Cke. i, 38.

Locality : Sind: Hills in Sind (Stocks 456) ; Boogta Hills (Vicary) ; Karachi

(Woodrow ! Herb. S.X.C. 18171! Ticehurst 32281!) ; Sukkur (Cooke !); Laki,

Larkana, foot of hill (Sabnis B989!) ; Thar and Pakar: Mirpurkhas (Sabnis

B946 ! B1036 !).

Distribution : W. Rajputana, Punjab Plains, westward to Arabia, Abyssinia

and N. Africa.

Var. longepetiolata, Sabnis in Jour. Ind. Bot. Soc. (separatum) (1924), 4.--Leaves

3-5 foliolate ; petioles up to 3-5 cm. long. Seeds notched and reticulated.

Locality : Karachi (Ticehurst, 28141, !) ; Laki, foot of hill (Sabnis B621 !).

Var. glauca, Blatt. and Hall. in Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. xxvi (1918) ,221. —

Leaves 3-foliolate, above and below pale-glaucous, glabrous, except on the

margin which is glandular—pubescent, petiole longer than in the type, reach-

ing 13 mm. Branches glaucescent, slightly paler than the leaves. Seeds

minutely reticulate.

Locality: Indus Delta: (Blatter and McCann D6!); Ghulamallah, on

lime-stone (Blatter and McCann, D5!).

Vern. name: Kasturi.

8. Cleome aspera, Koen. (zzed.) ex DC. Prodr. i (1824), 241; F.B.I., i, 169;

Oke. 1,55 2 W., le... 287.

Locality: S. M. Country : Badami (Cooke! Herb. S.X.C. 18168 !).

Distribution ; N. Circars, Deccan and Carnatic, up to 600 m.

Flowers and fruits - August.

9. Cleome Burmanni, W. and A. Prodr. (1834), 22; F.B.I. i, 170; Cke. i, 39;

Burm. Thes. Zeyl. t. 100, f. 1 (not very good).

Locality > Sind: Hyderabad (W. Strachan, fide Woodrow).

Distribution : Fields and dry places in the Carnatic District, Ceylon.

Note: Trimen (FI. Ceyl. i, 56) thinks this species might be identical with

Cleome aspera. Cooke says that C. Burmanni differs from C. aspera chiefly by

the presence of a distinct gynophore. According to Gamble (p. 40 and 41)

C. Burmanni has the stem and leaves glabrous, and the flowers purple, whilst

C. aspera has stem and leaves asperous with minute scattered prickles and the

flowers pink. Cooke describes the stem of C. Burmanni (but not the leaves)

as rough with minute scattered prickles. My specimens, which are not of the

Bombay Presidency, exhibit the characters given by Gamble. I doubt the

occurrence of C. Burmanni in Sind.

10. Cleome viscosa, Linn. Sp. pl. (1753), 672; W. Ic. t.2; F.B.I. i, 170; Cke.

i, 39.—Polanisia viscosa, DC. ; Royle ll. 73.

Vern. name: Pioli-Tilwan (in Indus Delta).

Locality : Sind; Larkana, fields (Sabnis B92!); Nasarpur (Sabnis B1139 !);

Mirpurkhas (Sabnis B682! B947!); Sanghar (Sabnis B767!) ; Indus-Delta:

Tatta (Blatter and McCann D4!); Tatta, tombs (Blatter and McCann D2!

900 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX/

D3!); Gharo (Blatter and McCann D16!); Ghulamallah, lime-stone hill

(Blatter and McCann D15!).—Konkan : Vingorla (Nairne) ; Bhandup, Salsette

(Blatter and McCann 18180 !).—Khandesh: Bhusaval, bank of Tapti (Blatter

18176!).— Deccan : Poona (Cooke !).

Distribution : Throughout the tropics of the world.

Flowers ; July 1917 (Salsette) ; December 1916 (Khandesh).

Fruits : Jaly 1917 (Salsette).

Uses : According to Haines the seeds are said to have the same properties as

mustard, and are regarded as anthelmintic, carminative and stimulant. When

applied externally they act as a vesicant.

A fixed oil is extracted.

11. Cleome Chelidonii, Linn. f. Suppl. (1781), 300; F.B.I. i, 170; Cke. i, 39.—

Polantisia Cheladoni DC. AL W. ic: ti319 > Royle T1l.13:

Locality - Gujarat : Dang jungles (Woodrow !).—Konkan : Bombay

(Blatter !),— Deccan : Between Poona and Karla (Jacquemont 812); Lonavla

(Cooke!) ; near Poona (Woodrow !).—.S. 47. Country : Belgaum (Ritchie, 23).

Distribution : N. Circars and Deccan Districts of Madras Presidency, Java.

Uses : The seeds are said to be used in curries.

12. Cleome felina, Linn. f. Suppl. 300; Gamble 41.—FPolanisia felina, DC.

Prodr. i, 242 ; Wall. Cat. 6971; Wight and Arn. Prodr. 22’ (excl. syn. Rheede

Hort. Malab.).

Description : An annual erect herb, 30-60 cm. high, much branched ; stem

and leaves entirely clothed with stiff appressed scale-like hairs. Leaves

3-foliolate ; leaflets 10-25 mm. long, obovate, obtuse, equalling or shorter than

the petioles. Flowers axillary, solitary on long pedicels, 12-18 mm. long,

purple or pink. Calyx and corolla bristly outside. Stamens about 30 ; filaments

filiform. Capsule 8 times as long as broad, compressed, linear-oblong, acute at

both ends, striate, glabrous. Seeds large, glabrous, tubercled.

Locality : Dharwar (Talbot 1956 !).

Distribution : Deccan and Carnatic Districts of Madras Presidency.

2. GYNANDROPSIS, DC. (Cke. i, 40)

1. Gynandropsis pentaphylla, DC.; Cke. i, 40.—Cleome pentaphylla, Linn.; Roxb.

Fl. Ind. iii, 126.

Locality: Sind: Karachi (Ticehurst, 28151!) ; Pad Idan in Nawabshah

(Sabnis B508!) ; Khairpur, sandy plains (Sabnis B232!) ; Gharo (Blatter and

McCann D1!) ; Kullan Kote Lake near ‘atta (Blatter and McCann D7!).—

Khandesh: Umalla, sand-bank of Tapti (Blatter and Hallberg 18151! 18152!) ;

Bor, bank of Tapti (Blatter and Hallberg 18160!) ; Bhusaval (Blatter and Mc

Cann 18159!) ; Dangri, in fields (Blatter and Hallberg 18150!) ; Muravad, bank

of Tapti (Blatter and Hallberg 18149 !).— Konkan : Bombay Island (Blatter !).—

Deccan: Igatpuri, in damp grotnd (D’Almeida 17617!); Ahmednagar

(Cooke!) ; Poona, cultivated fields (Jacquemont 810) ; Panchgani (Blatter !).—

S. M. Country : Belgaum (Ritchie 1158).

Distribution - A common weed in all tropical countries.

Flowers : December 1916 (Khandesh).

Fruits : October 1917 (Igatpuri), December 1917 (Khandesh).

3. DIPTERYGIUM, Decaisne. (Cke. i, 40.)

1. Dipterygium glaucum, Decaisne ; Cke. i, 40.

Locality » Sind: Jacobabad (Herb. S.X.C. 18153!) ; Umerkot, sandy plains

(Sabnis B945'!), sand dunes (Sabnis B1012 !).

Flowers : September 1908 (Jacobabad).

4. Marua, Forsk. (1775) (Cke. i, 41)

Species about 20.—Tropical Africa, Asia, Arabia.

Merua ovalifolia should be called :

1. Merua arenaria, Hook. f. and Th. in F.B.I.i, 171; Brandis Ind. Trees, Fig.

13 ; Gamble 42.—M/. arenaria, var. glabra, Hook. f. and Th. in F.B.I. i, 171.—

M7. arenaria, var. scabra, Hook. f, and Th. 1.c.1i, 171.—Niebuhria arenaria

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 901

DC. Prodr. i, 244.—. oblongifolia, Royle 111. Bot. Himal. 73.—Meru ascabra

Cambess, in Jacquem. Voy. Bot (1844), 22, t. 23.—J/erua ovalifolia, Cambess.

l.c. 22, t. 24; Cke. i, 41.—Capparis heteroclita, Roxb. FI. Ind. ii, 570.

The above synonymy contains the two varieties of Hook. f. and Th. in the

F.B.1. which, in my opinion, cannot be retained as good varieties.

The stem is often as thick as a man’s arm.

Locality: Sind: Indus-Delta: Ghulamallah, lime-stone hill (Blatter and

McCann D 700-706 !), associated with Acacia sp. and Euphorbia neriifolia.—

Konkan : (Law).—Deccan: near Poona (Cooke! Woodrow!) ; between Wai

and Kamatki Ghat (Graham).—Gwujarat.: Deesa (Law), hedges (Dalzell and

Gibson).—S. MW. Country : Dharwar (Talbot !).

Distribution ; Punjab, Central and S. India, Ceylon.

Flowers : October 1922 (Indus Delta).

5. Cratz#va, Linn. (Cke. i, 41)

Species 10.—Tropics.

Of the one species foand in the Bombay Presidency viz. Cvrat@va religiosa.

Forst. Cooke retains two varieties : var. Wurvala, Hook. f. and Th. and var.

Roxburghi, Hook. f. and Th. and in this he follows the F.B.I. Hook. f. and

Th. call the plant very variable, adding that intermediates may be found

between the two varieties. They point out that the form of the ovary anf fruit

does not always correspond with that of the leaflets. I have never been able

to place Bombay specimens under the two varieties. The following synonymy

shows that I have dropped the varieties.

1. Crateva religiosa, Forst. f. Prodr, (1786), 35; F.B.I. i, 172, cum var. ; Cke;

i, 42, cum var.; Gamble 47; Troup Silvic. i, 10, Fig. 7; Bedd. FI. t. 116;

Haines 30.—C. Roxburghit, Br. in Denh. and Clapp. Travels, App. (1826), 224.

Hook. Ic. Pl. 178.—C. rveligiosa, var. Roxburghit, Hook. f.and Th. in F.B.I.

i, 172; Cke. i, 42.—C. Nurvala, Ham.in Trans. Linn. Soc. xv (1827), 121.—

C. religiosa, var. Nurvala, Hook. f. and Th. in F.B.I.i, 172; Cke. i, 42.—

Capparis trifoltata, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii, 571.—Rheede Hort. Malab. iii, t. 42.—

Vern. names ;: ‘ Barna, biliana’ (Hind.), ‘ nirvala’ (Mar.), ‘ Bitusi ’ (Kan.).

Description: Cke. i, 42.—Filaments white when young, lilac when old;

gynophore lilac ; petals whitish when young, yellowish when old ; sepals green

when young, yellow when old. (D’Almeida).

Locality : Konkan; Bombay (Blatter!) ; Salsette (Blatter!) ; Karanja Hills

(Dalzell and Gibson); Wari jungles (Dalzell and Gibson); Vehar Lake

(D’ Almeida 18178!).—Gujarat : Banks of Narbada, near Chandad (Dalzell and

Gibson).—Kanara ; Chandwar (Ritchie 29) ; Hulical (Woodrow !).

Distribution - Almost all over India and Burma, wild or cultivated. Often

found along streams, but sometimes almost gregariously on dry deep boulder

formations in the sub-Himalayan tract (Troup.}.

Flowers : November 1915 (Vehar Lake).

Uses . Wood used for combs. Fruit sometimes eaten (Haines).

6. CapaBa, Forsk. (1775) (Cke. I, 43)

I cannot discover any specific difference between Cudaba indica, Lam. and

C. farinosa, Forsk.

The only character to separate C. zmdica from C. farinosa, would be the

number of stamens. Hooker and Cooke give 4 stamens to C. zudica, and 5 to

C. farinosa, and Cocke uses this difference in his key. But considering that

flowers with 4 and 5 stamens may be seen on the same twig of C. indica, the

number of stamens cannot form a specific character. The mealiness of the

leaves which induced Forskal to give his plant the specific name ‘ farinosa’,

can also be observed in C. indica. Besides it could not be of any systematic

value. It may offer a basis for a form. In view of these facts I reduce

C. indica to C. farinosa.

1. Cadaba farinosa, Forsk. Fl. Aeg.—Arab. (1775), 68; Hook. f. and Th. in

F.B.1. i, 173 ; Deless. Ic. Sel. iii, t. 8; Cke.-i, 43 ; Parker 18.—Cadaba indica,

wami., Hncyel, 1. (1783), 544; Hook. f.-.and Th. in: F.B.1: i, 172 ;,Cke. i, 43:

Blatt. and Hall. Fl. Ind. Desert in Journ, Bomb. Nat Hist. Soc., vol. xxvi

902 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

(1918), 222. —Stremia tetrandra et farinosa, Vahl Symb. Bot. i, 20; Roxb. FI.

Ind. ii, 78.—Cleome fruticosa, Linn. Sp. pl. 671.

Descr iption: An unarmed, straggling, much-branched shrub, up to 3 mm.

high. Stems terete, the older smooth, purplish, the younger pubescent,

yellowish-brown. Leaves 12-35 mm., by 8-12 mm., simple, entire, elliptic-_

obiong, or ovate, or oblong, obtuse or retuse, mucronate, dull green, mealy

when young, glabrous when mature, reticulately veined, base rounded ; petioles

2°>5-4 mm. long. Flowers dirty-white, 15 mm. across, in few-flowered,

terminal, l-sided racemes, the upper flowers corymbose ; pedicels 9-18 mm.

long, pubescent; bracts minute, subulate. Sepals 8-13 mm. long, the two

outer boat-shaped, valvate, the two inner flat, ovate, acute, petaloid, all

pubescent outside. Petals 4, very pale-yellow, spatulate, equalling the

sepals ; claws long, slender. Disk prolonged into a tubular process, 8-9 mm.

long, mouth oblique, pale rose-coloured, toothed at apex. Stamens 4 or 5

inserted about half-way up the gynophore ; filaments long. Ovary oblong on

a gynophore 17-23 mm. long; style 0. Fruit 2-5-5 cm. by 3 mm., cylindric,

irregularly torulose, glabrous or pubescent. Seeds many, striate, surrounded

by an orange-red aril.

Locality: Sind: (Stocks, Dalzell); Indus Delta: Gharo (Blatter and

McCann D9!) ; Tatta (Blatter and McCann D10!) ; Tatta tombs (Blatter and

McCann D11 1) ; Mirpur Sakro (Blatter and McCann D12! D13 !); Ghulam-

allah, lime-stone hill (Blatter and McCann D14!).—Gujarat: Junaghad

(Cooke !) ; Porbundar (Cooke!) ; Surat (Woodrow !).— Konkan : Cross Island,

Bombay harbour (Stocks) ; Cumballa Boe Bombay (Blatter 18157!) ; Salsette

(Herb. S.X.C. 18155!) ; Sion (Hallberg!) ; Worli Drees ers —S. M. Coun-

try: Belgaum (Ritchie 980) ; Dharwar (Cooke !); Gadag (Herb. 8.X.C. 18179 !).

Distribution : Puniab, Indian Desert, Central India, Bombay Presidency,

dry Districts of the N. Cirears, Deccan and Carnatic from Vizagapatam sotith-

wards, Madura district.

Flowers: January 1891 (Gadag); February 1910 (Salsette) ; March 1917

(Bombay).

Fruits ; January 1891 (Gadag).

7. CAPPARIS, Linn. (Cke. i, 44)

Species about 170.—In all warm climates, except N. America.

In the following one species, C. diversifolza not known from the Presidency

before, has been added ; one variety, C. spinosa, var. galeata, has been raised

to the rank of a species, and another species, C pedunculosa, Wall., has been

excluded as not occurring in the Presidency. Some new varieties have been

described and several specific names and their synonymy had to be revised.

Key to the species, modified from Cooke.—

I. Flowers axillary, solitary, or in fascicles of 2-3—

1. Prostrate shrubs, leaves orbicular or ovate or-

bicular, thorns usually hooked

(a) Lower sepal not very saccate

(6) Lower sepal very saccate Be

2. Erect shrub, leaves ovate- lanceolate, thorns

straight a ae

3. Erect shrub, leaves elliptic- -lanceolate, thorns

C. spinosa.

C. galeata.

C. brevispina.

OME i oie ts

minute or ee et. C. Heyneana.

4" ‘Shrab or small tree, leaves narrow-oblong,

thorns straight BSA C. stylosa.

II. Flowers corymbose (sometimes racemose in

C. grandis)

1. Mature branches leafless... 6. C. decidua.

2. Mature branches leafy—

(a) Flowers 10-12 cm. across a be die i MLLLOONIO.

(6) Flowers 2°5-3°5 cm. across

* Leaves glabrous, linear or oblong-lanceolate. 8. C. diversifolia

** Leaves glabrous, oblong or obovate ws 9. Ci Cleghornit.

*«** Leaves olive-green, pubescent when young... 10. C. grandis.

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENC 903

III. Flowers in shortly peduncled or sessile umbels

1. Erect shrub A As, .. ll. C. longispina.,

2. Woody climber a ee we Dee seprarie:

IV. Flowers supra-axillary in a vertical line on the

branches

1. Young parts fuscous-tomentose w. 13: C. gevlanica,

2. Young parts glabrous he we dh. Corenera:

1. Capparis ees aoe Sp. ple 41753) 2503 Buk 1.4{1875), 173; Talbora,

52, fig. 32; Cke. i, 44.—C. Murrayana, Grah. Cat.9; Dalz. and Gibs. 9;

Wight Il t. 379. Le spinosa var. vulgaris, Hook. f. and Th. in F.B.I.

i (1875), 173.—C. leucophylla, DC. Prodr. i, 246; Collett. Fl.'Siml. 38.—C.

spinosa var. leuco-phylla, Hook. f. and Th. l. c. 173.

Collett retains C. leucophylla, DC. as a distinct species on account of the

larger leaves and more pronounced tomentum; but Upper Sind specimens

show similar variations, and intermediate forms are not wanting. It must,

therefore, be dropped, even as a variety.

Description ; Cooke’s description is sufficiently wide to comprise both

varieties.

Locality : Sind : Karachi, Soorjana Hills, 550m. (Ticehurst 30885 !) ; Larkana,

kalar soil (Sabnis B454! B463! ) ; Kirthar Range (Woodrow ! ) ; Ruk Junction

(Cooke!) ; Sukkar, kalar soil (Sabnis B542!).—Konkan - (Law ex Cooke) ;

Raighur (Dalzell).—Deccan : Lohagad (Blatter!) ; Mahableshwar (Cooke!

Herb. 8. X. C. 17121! ) ; Harishchandar (Gibson).

Distribution : Mediterranean region, N. Africa, Asia, Australia.

Uses: An interesting account of the Caper industry in France is given in

La Co-operation de Production dans Il Agriculture by the Comte de

Rocquigny. It is translated in the Journal of the Board of Agriculture, vol. iv,

221, and reprinted in the Kew Bulletin (1898), 31.

2. Capparis galeata, Fres. in Mus. Senckenb. ii, 111; Oliv. Fl. Trop. Af. i,

95.—Capparis spinosa var. galeata, Hook. f. and Th. in F.B.I. i (1875), 173;

Cke. i (1903), 44.

Distinguished from C. sfznosa by the lower sepal being very saccate.

This plant seems to be confined in the Presidency to the western coast of

Sind. I have not seen it in the Indus Delta.

Distribution ; Persian Baluchistan, Arabia, E. Africa near the sea.

3. Capparis brevispitia, DC. Prodr. i, 246; Wight and Arn. Prodr. i, 24;

ElOok., les.Plyt., 126; (Grah. Cat. 8+) Dalz. and Gibs. 9; Gamble 45 ; Haines

i? —C.. 2eylamca, Hooks f- and Th. in .F.B.I. i; 174 (non Linn., excl. SYN.

C. rotundifolia, Rottb.) ; Cke. i (1903), 45 (zo Linn.).

It will be seen from the references given above and from those under

C. zeylanica, Linn. below that there is a considerable amount of confusion

as to the correct names of the two plants. S.T. Dunn [Kew Bull. (1916), 62]

has cleared up all doubt on the subject. He says: ‘The first species of

Capparis to receive a binominal designation was the common hook-thorned

species of Ceylon and S. India which has two or more flowers in supra-

axillary rows and globular glabrous ovaries. It was collected by Hermann in

Ceylon and came with his herbarium into the hands of Linnaeus, after being

lost to the botanical world for about seventy years. This herbarium formed

the foundation of the Flora Zeylanica. The collection consists of fragments of

plants glued into 5 large volumes which now stand on the shelves of the

Botanical Department of the Natural History Museum (Cromwell Road). They

are the actual volumes referred to by Linneeus as ‘in forma atlantica’ (atlas

folio) in the preface to the flora, and the specimens are his types. Specimens

of the Caper named by him as above (Sp. Pl. ed. 2,720 (1763) ) occur twice in

the herbarium and although two and a half centuries old are still in quite

good condition and easily recognizable as the species afterwards known as

C. horrida, Linn. f. The younger Linnzus received specimens of the same

species from Koenig and presumably not having seen Hermann’s herbarium,

and there being no specimen in his father’s herbarium, published it again

under the latter binominal. This name was doubtless communicated for

Koenig and became the recognized appellation of the Caper among his friends

904 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

and their successors. Roxburgh reverted to the correct name, but Wallich,

Wight, Wight and Arnott and all recent writers have followed the mistake of

the younger Linnzus.

‘But not only did the early botanists of S. India fail to apply Linnzeus’s

name to the common plant intended by him, they used it to indicate a perfectly

distinct species. The mistake was followed by Wildenow, Wallich and most

modern authors. But De Candolle for the first time recognized that it realiy

was a distinct species and gave it the name of C. drevispina, and this name,

which was adopted by Wight and Arnott and other botanists must stand.’

Locality : Konkan: Bombay Island (Hallberg! ); Vingorla (Dalzell and

Gibson).—Deccan : W. Deccan (Dalzell and Gibson).—N. Kanara :

(Talbot !).—S.M. Country : Dharwar (Talbot !)

Distribution : N. Circars, Deccan, Carnatic, W. Peninsula, Ceylon.

Uses : Eaten after boiling (Haslett).

4. Capparis Heyneana, Wall. Cat. (1828), 6985; Cke. i (1903), 45.—Rheede

Hort. Malab. vi, t. 57.

Locality : Konkan : Bombay, Victoria Gardens, planted ? (Blatter!) ; Ghats

of S. Konkan (Talbot!).—WV. Kanara: (Ritchie 1614) ; evergreen forests

(Talbot ! ) ; Divimana (Woodrow! Herb. S.X.C. 18135! ).

Distribution - W. Peninsula, W. Ghats in Tinnevelly District, Ceylon.

5. Capparis stylosa, DC. Prodr. i, 246; Grah. Cat. 8; Dalz. and Gibbs. 10.—

C. divaricata, Wight and Arn. Prodr. i, 27 (zon Lam.) ; W. Ic. t. 889; Hook. f.

and Th. in F.B.I. i, 174; Cke. i (1903), 45.

‘ This is the Caper,’ says Dunn (Kew Bull. (1916), 61), with straight thorns,

flowers 2-5 in. across and large muricate fruit which was figured by Wight

(Ic. t. 889) under the name of C. divaricata, Lam. Subsequent writers have

followed this nomenclature. Lamarck had neither flowers nor fruit when

describing his species, and it so happened that there are two S. Indian

Capparis hardly distinguishable by their leaves and thorns but readily seen

when in flower or fruit to be quite distinct. Lamarck mentions that in

C. divaricata ‘ Les aiguillons sont geminés, court et crochus’ (Aucycl. i, 606)

which would tend to show that it did not belong to the species figured by

Wight and described by subsequent writers under that name. But, in any case,

it is only safe to designate these two allied species by the names given to them

afresh after flowers or fruit were known. ‘The first name which can definitely

be claimed for the large-flowered and rough-fruited kind is C. stylosa, DC.

(Prodr. i, 246). . . . Similarly the second may safely be cited as C. diversi-

folia, Wight and Arn.’

Colour of flowers : Greenish (Cooke), red (Graham, Gamble) ; I have seen

them red.

Locality: Deccan ; Common all over (Dalzell and Gibson). S. J7. Country:

Badam (Herb. 8.X.C. 17119 !).

Distribution : In the Madras Presidency in dry forests of the Deccan and

Carnatic from Kurnool to Tanjore up to 450 m. (Gamble).

6. Capparis decidua, Pax in Engl. and Prantl. Pflanzenf. iii, pt. 2, 230, 231;

Sabnis Fl. Sind in Journ. Bot. Soc. Ind. (reprint), 5.—Sodada decidua, Forsk.

Fl. Aegypt.—Arab. (1775), 81.—Cafparis Sodada, R. Br. in Denh. Clapp. and

Oudn. Trav. 225.—C. Aphylla Roth Nov. Pl. Sp. (1821), 238 ; Hook. f. and Th.

in F.B.1. i, 174; Brandis For, -Fl/t.33 "Royle Ill.-725\Cke: 1,46 ; Talbots

Fig. 36.

Locality : Sind: Karachi, Magho Pir (Sabnis B206!) ; Larkana, kalar soil

(Sabnis B443!) ; Sehwan, sand dunes (Sabnis B665 !), kalar soil (Sabnis B351 !

B592!) ; Laki, foot of the hill (Sabnis B11! B280!); Nawabshah, Pad Idan

(Sabnis B504! B571! B573!); Khairpur, Mir’s Forest (Sabnis B323!) ;

Hyderabad, Phuleli canal banks (Sabnis B188! B189!) ; Koari, Indus banks

(Sabnis B388!); Sukkur, kalar soil (Sabnis B543!); Thar and Parkar:

Nasarpur, sandy plains (Sabnis B1046!) ; Mirpurkhas, water course (Sabnis

B850! B874!); Sanghar (Sabnis B768!); Umerkot, sandy plains (Sabnis

B934 !) ; Indus Delta: Gharo to Mirpur Sakro (Blatter and McCann!) ; Gharo

(Blatter and McCann!) ; Ghulamallah (Blatter and McCann D8 !).—Cutch :

Bhuj (Blatter 18142!) ; Karee Roa (Blatter 18143 !).—Kathiawar - Bhavnagar

(Blatter 18133 !).—AKhandesh : Muravad, bank of Tapti (Blatter and Hallberg

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 905

18130 !) ; Umalla, bank of Tapti (Blatter and Hallberg 18145 !).—Deccan : Near

Poona (Woodrow!) ; island in Poona River (Cooke!) ; common on alluvium

along the banks of the Deccan rivers mixed with Acacia arabica and Zizyphus

jujuba (Talbot).

Distribution : Tinnevelly, W. Peninsula, C. India, Deccan, Rajputana,

Sind, Punjab, Baluchistan, Arabia, N. Tropical Africa, Egypt.

Flowers : February (Bhavnagar), October (Indus Delta), December (Cutch).

Uses : The flower-buds and ripe or unripe fruits are pickled (Parker). The

wood is very strong and durable. In W. Rajputana it is used to make the

pivots of the stone hand mills with which flour is ground. In sandy places

it is used to make the foundation of well-walls, the first layer being formed

with this wood, and the masonry built on the top of it. Branches used for

fences. The wood is valuable because it is not attacked by Termites. In

Baluchistan the tips of the fresh young twigs are crushed and soaked in water.

The water is strained off, sometimes two or three times. ‘The residuum is

dried and allowed to solidify. A tiny piece of it is eaten with butter and gives

relief from pain after a bruise or fall. Also makes a very strong plaster.

7. Capparis Moonii, Wight III. i (1840), 35; Cke. i (1903), 46; Gamble 45.

Locality: Konkan: Bombay Island (Blatter!).—W. Ghats: Khandalla

(Cooke! Loele 18140! Blatter 18149!).—Deccan: Satara (Herb. S.X.C.

17593 !).—S. M7. Country: Ramghat (Ritchie, 26).—. Kanara: Evergreen

forests along the Ghats (Talbot !).

Distribution : Occurs also south of the Presidency on the W. Ghats down to

Travancore and Tinnevelly up to 600 m. (Gamble).

Flowers : March 1917 (Khandalla), May 1917 (Satara).

Fruits : May 1899 (Khandalla).

Var. tomentosa, Blatt. and Hall. var. nov.-Ramulis folttsque tomentosis.

Locality - Sion Wood on Bombay Island (Herb. S.X.C. !).

8. Capparis diversifolia, Wight and Arn. Prodr. 27; Hook. Ic. Pl. t. 181;

F.B.I. i. 175 ; Gamble 45.—? C. divaricata, Lam. Encycl. i. 606.

Description : A glabrous shrub ; branches zigzag, when young puberulous ;

thorns recurved, base broad. Leaves glabrous, linear or oblong-lanceolate,

3°5-5 cm. by 6-18 mm., uppermost usually, rarely all, twice as long and ovate-

lanceolate, coriaceous, shining above; petiole up to 4mm.long. Flowers

about 3°5 cm., purple, in few-flowered terminal subsessile corymbs ; pedicels

stout, subclavate, puberulous, umbelled, 1-3-flowered, sessile at the ends of

leafy twigs. Sepals ovate, acute. Petals broad-obovate. Ovary narrow-

oblong, glabrous. Fruit 3°5 cm. long, ovoid or oblong, smooth, many-seeded.

Locality : Deccan : Diva Ghat (Blatter and McCann 17615 !).

Distribution ; Eastern slopes of the W. Ghats in the Bombay Presidency,

Coimbatore and Tinnevelly. ”

9. Capparis Cleghornii, Dunn in Kew Bull. (1916),61 (momen nudum prius

publicum factum aci. Gamble in Flora Madras, i (1915), 46.--C. Roxburghiz,

Cooke Fl. Bomb. i (1903), 46 (excl. syn.) ; Hook. f. and Th. in F.B.I. i, 175

(partim, non DC.). .

The nearest ally is C. Roxburghii, DC., but C. Cleghornii is distinguished

from it by the flower-buds being tomentose and the leaf-nerves divaricate.

In C. Moonii the flowers are 10-12 cm. across, the thorns short, stout,

hooked, and the young branches glabrous (except in var. tomentosa), whilst

C. Cleghornii has the flowers only 3-4 cm. across, few or no thorns, and the

young branches hoary.

Locality : In the Bombay Presidency this plant has been found in Kanara

only (Stocks ex Cooke). Cooke mentions also Kumpta and Ankola Ghat but

Talbot denies the occurrence of this species in N. Kanara.

Distribution : Forests of the W. Ghats in S. Kanara and Mysore.

10. Capparis grandis, Linn. f. Suppl. (1781), 263 ; Cke. i (1903), 47; Gamble

46.—C. bisperma, Roxb. FI. Ind. ii, 568.

Dunn points out that the type specimen originating from Ceylon has nearly

glabrous leaves. The usual form found in S. India has the leaves olive-green

velvety on both sides, in any case never quite glabrous. The same can be

said of the Bombay specimens,

9066 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Locality : Deccan: Forests of Sholapur and Miraj (Dalzell and Gibson) ;

Buleshwar Hill, 30 miles E. of Poona (Woodrow ! ) ; island in the Mutha-Mula

River, Poona (Kanitkar! Herb. S.X.C. 18128!) ; near Poona (Cooke! Moses

Ezechiel 17612!).—Kanara (Law ex Cooke). S. MW. Country: Forests of

Dharwar District (Talbot) ; Belgaum (Ritchie 979).

Distribution ; Outside the Presidency it occurs at Mt. Abu, in the hill

forests of the Deccan, Carnatic and eastern slopes of the W. Ghats from the

Godavari southwards (Gamble).

Flowers: April and May (Poona).

11. Capparis longispina, Hook. f. and Th. in F.B.I. i. 176.—C. pedunculosa,

Dalz. and Gibson 9 (mom Wall.).—C. pedunculosa var. longispina, Cooke in

Cke. i (1903), 48. ;

I restore Hook.f. and Th’s Capparts longispina to the rank of a species. It

had been reduced by Cooke (l. c.) to a variety of C. pedunculosa, Wall (see

below under Species excludenda).

I consider C. longispina to be a good species. The stipular spines are

straight, acicular, divaricate. The upper surface of the dark green leaves is

shining, the lower more or less pubescent. C. pedunculosa, however, has the

spines hooked and the leaves glabrous and not shining on the upper side.

Another reason why I wish to separate the two species is their peculiar

distribution. C. longispina is a plant of the W. Ghats of the Bombay Pre-

sidency and has not been found anywhere else. C. pedunculosa, on the other

hand, is a coast plant, having been noted in Nellore and at Point Calimere in

Tanjore.

Locality : Konkan: Dense woods of the Ghats (Stocks, Law) ; Matheran

(Cooke! D’Almeida 17613! 17620! 18127!).—Deccan: Mahableshwar

(Moses Ezechiel 17616! Cooke! ).—N. Kanara: Along the Ghats (Talbot).

Distribution : Endemic. ’

Flowers : March (Matheran, Mahableshwar).

12. Capparis sepiaria, Linn. Syst. ed. 10 (1759), 1071; Camb. in Jacque-

mont Voy. Bot. t. 22; Cke. i (1903), 48.—C. zucanescens, DC. Prodr. i, 247;

Hook lc. Pl.t.123.

Locality ; Sind (ex F.B.1.).—Konkan:; Bandra (Herb. S.X.C. 18147 !).—

Deccan : Lina Hill, Nasik District (Blatter 17618 !) ; Nasik (Cooke !)}.—Khan-

desh: Muravad, bank of Tapti (Blatter and Hallberg 18129!).—XKanara :

Halyal (Ritchie 1607).

Distribution : Dry parts of India and Ceylon, Philippines.

Flowers: February (Bandra).

Var. vulgaris Hook. f. and Ta. in F.B.I. i, 177.—Ramulis molliter tomen-

tosis ; foliis typo latioribus.

Locality : Bombay Isiand (Herb. S.X.C!). Further specimens must be

examined before we are able to say whether it is a good variety.

13. Capparis zeylanica, Linn. Sp. ed. 2 (1762), 720; DC. Prodr. i, 247; Roxb.

Fl. Ind. ii, 567; Gamble 46.—C. horrida, Linn. f. Suppl. (1781), 264; Wight

and Arn: Prodr.-1,°26%.W.le- t..1735"Grah. Cat. 9. Dalz. and. Gibstei0.

Brandis Ind. Trees, Fig. 14; Hook. f. and Th. in F.B.I. i, 178; Cke. i,:48 ;

Parker 21; Haines 31.

In spite of Dunn’s explanation cited above under C. bvevispina, Haines

considers it very ‘inadvisable to retain the name zeylanica, which has for so

long been used for another plant.’

I cannot share his view; it will pay in the end if we stick strictly to the laws

of nomenclature.x—That Prain in his Fl. Bengal, referring to the name

zeylanica, adds: ‘not of Linn,’ may be explained by saying that, with regard

to this detail, he followed the F.B.I. too closely.

Locality: Sind: Pad Idan in Nawabshah (Sabnis B561!).— Konkan :

Bandra (Blatter 18146!) ; Bhandup, Salsette (Blatter 18131!); Vehar

Lake (Blatter and McCann 17594!) ; Penn (Blatter and McCann 17600!) ;

Kampoli (Blatter and McCann 18136!).—Deccan : Ilgatpuri (McCann 17619 !);

Khandalla (Blatter and McCann 18148!) ; Poona (Cooke !) ; Diva Ghat (Blatter

and McCann 17623 !).—S. M7. Country : Belgaum (Ritchie 25).

Distribution: Throughout the greater part of India to Java and the

Philippines.

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 907

Flowers : November 1916 (Salsette) ; December 1917 (Diva Ghat) ; January

1917 (Salsette) ; February 1917 (Penn and Salsette) ; March 1917 (Kampoli and

Khandalla).

14. Capparis tenera, Dalz. in Hook. Kew Journ. Bot., ii, (1850), 41; Cke. i

(1903), 48.

Locality : See Cke. 1. c.

Distribution: All along the Ghats of Western India down to Malabar and

in Ceylon.

Var. Dalzellii, Hook.f. and Th. in F.B.I. i, 179.—Foliis ovato-lanceolatis,

permembranacets, floribus saepe solitarits.

Locality : North Kanara ; Siddapore (Talbot).

Species excludenda

. Capparis rotundifolia, Rotti. Gesellsch. Naturf. Fr. Neue Schr. iv (1803),

185.—C. pedunculosa, Wall. Cat. (1828), 6999; Hook. f. and Th. in F.B.I. i,

176 (emendato numero in C. Wallichit); Hook. Ic. Pl. t. 128; Bedd. Ic.

teas s2Cke.t (1903), 47,

According to Dunn (Kew Bull. (1916), 62, Rottler was the first to describe this

species. The type specimen in the Kew Herbarium is the same plant which

later on was labelled C. pedunculosa by Wallich.

This species seems to be endemic on the east coast of the Madras Presidency.

37. MORINGACEZ#

One genus and at least 4 species.—See Durin, E. Contributions a l’étude des

Moringés. Rev. gén. Bot. xxv (1923), 449-471.

MorinGa, Lamk.

The name of Moringa plerygosperma, Gaertn. (in Cke. i, 282) must be

changed into:

1. Moringa oleifera, Lamk. Encycl. i, 398; Gamble 269; Haines 225,—

M. plerygosperma, Gaertn, Fruct. 2 (1791), 314; W. Ill. t. 77; Bedd. Pl. t. 80;

Cke. i, 282 ; Talbot i, 364, Fig. 212 ; Troup Silvic. i, 249.

Vern. Names: Shevgi (Mar.) Nuggi-mara (Kan.), Shivga, Shegla,

Segata (vern.). (The generic name is taken from the Tamil name Moringa).

Localities : Cultivated all over the Presidency.

Distribution : ‘Indigenous in the sub-Himalayan tract from the Chenab to

the Sarda, and in Oudh, growing plantifully on recent alluvial land in or near

the sandy or shingly beds of rivers and streams.’ (Troup).

2. Moringa concanensis, Nimmo in Grah. Cat. Bomb. Pl. (1839), 43; Hook. Ic. t.

2596 ; Cke. i, 283; Talbot i, 365 ; Gamble 270.

Vern. names: Ran-shegat (Mar.), Mhua (Sind.).

Localities: Sind (Dalzell).—Konkan: Penn (Blatter and McCann !).—

Seems to be rare, but may have been overlooked on account of its resembl-

ance to the foregoing species.

Distribution: Baluchistan, Rajputana (Mount Abu, Barmer), N. Circars

and Deccan from Vizagapatam to Guntur, Kurnool and Coimbatore.

Uses; Fruit edible.

40. VIOLACEA. (Cke. i, 51)

Bentham and Hooker’s characters of the genus have been slightly changed

by Hutchinson, p. 115.

Herbaceous perennials or shrubs, rarely annuals. Leaves alternate, rarely

opposite, simple; stipules leafy or small. Flowers solitary or paniculate,

actinomorphic or zygomorphic, hermaphrodite, rarely polygamous, sometimes

cleistogamous ; sepals 5, persistent, imbricate. Petals 5, mostly unequal, the

lowermost often larger and spurred, imbricate or contorted. Stamens 5, mostly

hypogynous ; anthers erect, more or less connivent in a ring around the ovary,

introrse, opening lengthwise, the abaxial stamen often spurred at the base.

Ovary free, sessile, 1-celled with 3-5 parietal placentas ; style simple, rarely

408 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

split; ovules numerous, or 1-2 on each placenta, anatropous. Fruit an elastic

capsule or baccate ; seeds sometimes winged or tomentose ; endosperm fleshy ;

embryo straight.

Species about 450. —-Chiefly temperate, but also tropical.

One genus, Alsodeia, has to be added to Cke.’s Flora.

Key to geneva—

I. Flowers irregular

1. Sepals produced below their insertion bade ilies WICZOLG,

2. Sepals not produced below their insertion ... 2. /onidium.

II. Flowers regular ae ane dug) (Oa BAESOU ETE.

1.) VIOEA,. Linn (Cke. i551)

Species about 300.—Chiefly in the temperate regions of the N. Hemisphere

and in S. America.

For a detailed study of the Asiatic Violas, see W. Becker, Viole Asiatice

et Australenses, Beiheft Bot. Centralbl. 3611+ (1918), 15-59. Becker has made

Viola Stocksii, Boiss a variety of V. cinerea, Boiss. As a matter of fact the two

species of Boissier are so nearly related that Hooker f. and Thompson in F.B.1.

i, 185, were misled to put the Sind material under V. cinerea, and since then

nearly every Indian botanist has followed their example.

1. Viola cinerea, Boiss. Fl. Or. i (1867), 454, var. Stocksii W. Bckr.— V. Stockszi1,

Boiss. l.c. 453; Cke. i, 51; Sabnis Fl. Sind in Journ. Ind. Bot. Soc. (reprint)

(1924), 6.—V.. cinerea, Hook. f. and Th. in F.B.1. i, 185.

Description and localities : Cke. l.c.

Becker mentions a form from Kathiawar :

Forma kathiawarensis W. Bckr.—I have not seen it.

Two species are cultivated in gardens: Viola tricolor, Linn., the garden

pansy, throughout the Presidency, and V. odorata, Linn., the sweet violet.

This species is doing well at Panchgani and Mahableshwar.

2. IONIDIUM, Ventenat. (Cke. i, 52)

Species 50.—Chiefly tropical American, but also represented in Africa, Asia

and Australia.

Cooke calls the only species occurring in the Presidency J/ontditum

heterophyllum, Ventenat. This name must cede to /. suffruticosum, Ging, as is

evident from the following synonymy :

1. lonidium sufiruticosum, Ging in DC. Prodr. i, 311; W. Ill. t.19: W. Ic. t.

308 ; F.B.I. i, 185 ; Grah. Cat. 11; Gamble 49; Haines 33.—Viola suffruticosa

Linn. Sp. pl. 937 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 649.—Vzola enneasperma, Linn. 1|.c. 937.—

Viola heterophylla, Poir. Encycl. viii, 646.—/onidium heterophyllum, Ventenat

Jard. de la Malm. (1803) fol. 27 vers; Cke. i, 52.—lontdium enneaspermum,

DC. ; Dalz. and Gibs. 12.—lonidium hexaspermum, Dalz. in Hook. Kew Journ.

iv, 342; Dalz. and Gibs. 12.—/. leptorhizum, DC.; W. and A. Prodr., 33.

Dunn (in Kew Bull. (1916), 63) states that two forms of this variable plant

occur in the Hermann Herbarium. The bushy pubescent one was called by

Linneus Viola suffruticosa, the laxer and more glabrous specimen JV.

ennéas perma.

Locality: Gujarat: Broach (Woodrow!).-—-Khandesh (Blatter and

Hallberg !).—S. WW. Country : Belgaum (Ritchie 675) ; Badami (Woodrow !) ;

Dharwar (Cooke!).

Distribution: Bundelkhund, Agra, Bengal and southwards to Ceylon,

tropical Asia, Africa and Australia.

3. ALSODEIA, Thouars.

Shrubs or small trees. Leaves alternate or rarely opposite; transverse

nervules numerous, distinct and parallel; stipules rigid, deciduous. Flowers

small, axillary or terminal, solitary, fascicled, cymose or racemose, regular ;

peduncles with many bracts. Sepals 5, almost equal, rigid. Petals 5, sessile.

Stamens 5, on or within the annular disk ; connective produced into a broad

membranous appendage beyond the cells. Ovary l-celled, ovoid; ovules few

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 909

or many; style straight; stigma terminal. Capsule 3-valved, few-seeded.

Seeds glabrous. |

Species about 60.—Chiefly tropical American.

Alsodeia zeylanica, Thwaites. Enum. 21; F B.I. i. 187: Bedd. FI. Sylv. t.

229; Talbot i, 68; Gamble 49.—FPentaloba zeylanica, Arn. in Mag. Zool. and

Bot. ii, 543.

Description ; A large shrub or small tree ; young parts minutely puberulous.

Leaves ovate or obovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate or obtuse, shining,

reticulated, slightly crenate or serrate ; lateral nerves 5-9 pairs, rather prominent

beneath and with shallow depressed glands ciliated on their margins in the

axils; blade 5°5-15 cm. by 2°5-7'5 cm; petiole 1 cm. long, channelled

above ; stipules 2, broadly lanceolate, rigid, 12mm. long, deciduous. Flowers

small, 3-4 mm. across, white, polygamous, in small bracteolated fascicles ;

pedicels 2-5 mm. long, often crowded on stout, short, recurved, scaly peduncles.

Sepals ovate, acute. Petals twice as long as the sepals, recurved at the apex.

Disk 5-crenate-lobed. Stamensincluded ; filaments short, inserted on the inner

edge of the disk-lobes ; anthers small, yellow, sterile in the female, larger in

the male flower ; connective much produced and terminating in a broad-shovel-

shaped reddish petaloid lobe. Ovary 3-ovuled. Capsule 3-seeded, about the

Size of a pea, green, reticulate, pedicelled ; pedicel about6 mm. long. Seeds

white, glabrous.

This species is closely related to A. bengalensts, Wall., but can easily be

distinguished by the characters pointed out by Hooker f. and Thompson: The

branchlets are puberulous, the stipules broader, the leaves more obscurely

serrulate, the flowers on shorter pediceis, the peduncles are short, stout, scaly,

the petals more linear.

Locality : N. Kanara (Talbot 3809!) ‘ Found in the tropical evergreen rain-

forests near Katgalin the Kumpta Taluka, also on the Mulamune Ghat in

North Kanara.’ (Talbot).

Distribution : Forests of Malabar and Travancore up to 750 m. Ceylon.

Flowers and fruits at different times throughout the year (Talbot).

91. BIXACEA. (Hutchinson i, 159)

The family Bzxacee of Bentham and Hooker’s Genera Pl. i, 122, has been

split up into 3 families by Hutchinson, viz. Aixacee, Cochlospermacee and

Flacourtiacee. ‘This necessitates certain changes in the general characters of

the Bixacee :

Shrubs or small trees with coloured juice. Leaves alternate, simple, palmi-

nerved, stipulate. Flowers hermaphrodite, medium-sized, showy, paniculate.

Sepals 5, imbricate, deciduous. Petals 5, large, imbricate, without a scale at

the base; disk none. Stamens numerous, hypogynous; filaments free;

anthers horseshoe-shaped, opening by short slits at the top. Ovary superior,

l-celled, with 2 parietal placentas ; ovules numerous; style slender, recurved

in bud; stigma 2-lobed. Fruit a densely echinate-setose or smooth capsule,

2-valved, valves thick with the placentas in the middle. Seeds obovoid ; testa

rather fleshy, red; endosperm copious; emibryo large; cotyledons broad,

incurved at the apex.

Genus 1. Species 1.—N. American, cultivated and'run wild in all tropics.

1. Bixa Orellana, Linn. Sp. pl. (1753), 512; W. Ill. i, 17; Bedd. Fl. t. 79;

Cke. i, 53; Talbot i, 72, Fig. 46.

92. COCHLOSPERMACEZ£. (Hutchinson i, 169)

Trees, shrubs or rhizomatous undershrubs with coloured juice. Leaves

alternate, palmatilobed, stipulate. Flowers hermaphrodite, showy, paniculate

orracemose. Sepals 5, imbricate, deciduous. Petals 5, imbricate or subcontort-

ed. Staments numerous; filaments free, equal, or somelongerthan others ;

anthers 2-celled, linear, opening by terminal short, often confluent, pore-like

slits ; ovary 1-celled with parietal placentas projecting into the cell, or perfectly

3-celled ; ovules numerous; style simple with minutely denticulate stigma.

Fruit a 3-5-valved capsule. Seeds glabrous or covered with woolly hairs,

straight or cochleate-reniform ; endosperm copious; embryo conforming to

the shape of the seed, large; cotyledons broad. Species about 20.—Tropics.

910 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

1. COCHLOSPERMUM, Kunth. (Cke. i, 53)

Species 15.—Tropical regions of the world.

1. Cochlospermum Gossypium, DC. Prodr. i (1824), 527; Bedd. Fl. t.4171- Cke-

i, 53; Gamble 50; Haines 34; Troup Silvic. i, 12; Talbot i i, 70, Fig. 45.

Vern. names : Kumbi, Gabdi, Gejra (Hind. ne Ganglay, Galgal (Mar.),

Buruga, Bulauri (Kan.).

Description and localities : Cke. 1. c.

Distribution : Garwal, Bundelkhund, Bihar, Orissa, Bengal, Burma, C. India,

Deccan, W. Peninsula, Madras Presidency in dry forests, especially on stony

hills, in all districts, but less common on the W. Coast.

Uses : The wood soaked in water for about eight hours and the water strained

off, mixed with flour and fried, forms a nutritious food in the Sambalpur

Districz (ex Haines). The wood is also used for torches, but otherwise it is

considered to be useless for economic purposes.

The tree yields a clear white gum, called Kuteera gum. It is insoluble in

water and used in the book-binding and shoe-making trades. The gum is also

employed as a substitute for Tragacanth. For details see Ewing, C. O.

Karaya gum, a substitute for Tragacanth, in Journ. Amer. Pharm. Assoc.

vol. vii (1918), 787-90.

According to Talbot the floss from the seeds makes a good stuffing for

pillows, even better than that from Bombax. Gamble says that the cotton of

the seeds is but little used. See however Correa Mendes, F.C., A. panheira, in

Bol. Agric. Nova Goa 1 (1919), 37-44.

From the bark a cordage fibre is obtained. See Crevost, C. et C. Lemarie.

Plantes et produits filamenteux et textiles de 1’Indo-Chine, in Bull. Econ. Indo-

Chine 22(1919), 365-401, 553-591.

93. FLACOURTIACEA. (Hutchinson i, 161)

Trees or shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate ; stipules often soon falling off.

Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, often dioecious or polygamous, variously

arranged. Sepals sometimes not distinguishable from the petals, imbricate or

open in bud. Petals sometimes not arranged regularly in relation to the sepals,

large, small or absent, with or without an opposite scale inside the base,

imbricate. Stamens numerous, rarely few, hypogynous, free; anthers 2-

celled, often short, opening lengthwise by slits. Ovary 1-celled with 1 or more

parietal placentas or rarely the placentas meeting in the middle; ovules 2 or

more on each placenta; styles or stigmas as many as the placentas. Fruit

indehiscent, mostly a berry or drupe, very rarely a capsule, sometimes large.

Seeds with fleshy endosperm and medium-sized embryo; cotyledons often

broad.*

Species about 630.—Mainly tropical.

Key to genera—

I. Flowers bisexual a ve sees lets GSCOLODIA:

II. Flowers dioecious—

1. Petals 0 a “ee jee eo) LLACOUYTIG.

2. Petals 5 res aes .. 3. Hydnocarpus.

1. ScoLopia, Schreb. (Cke. i, 54)

Species 30.—Tropics of the Old World.?

Scolopia crenata, Clos. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 4, 8 (1857), 250; Bedd. Fl. t.

78; Cke. i, 54; Gambie 53 ; Talbot i, 73, Fig. 47. Phoberos crenatus, lanceolatus

et Wightianus, W. and A. Prodr. 29-30.

Description and localities: Cke. 1. c¢.

1 Cf. Gilg, E. Die bis jetzt aus Neu Guinea bekannt gewordenen Flacourti-

aceen. Bot. Jahrb. 55 (1918), 273-94.

Van Slooten, D.F. Bijdrage tot de Kennis der Combretaceen en Flacourtiacen

van. Nederlandsch Indie. Utrecht, 1919, p. 170.

Van Slooten, D.F. The Flacourtiacez: of the Dutch East Indies, Bull. Jard.

Bot. Buitenz, iii, 7 (1925), 291-421, Fig. 1-15.

2 Cf. Phillips, E.P. The thorn pears (Scolopia spp,). Bothalia, 1 (1922),

83-86.

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 911

Distribution : Yfound this tree at Mount Abu. It occurs in the W. Ghats

from the Konkan southwards, in the Nilgherry scholas, and Ceylon, the higher

hills of Cuddapah, Chingleput and Salem, China and Philippines.

Flowers ; March.

Fruit : Ripe in August.

Uses. The wood is reddish brown or white, and very hard.

2. FLACOURTIA, Commers. (Cke. i, 54)

I give a more comprehensive description of the genus: Trees or shrubs, often

thorny. Leaves shortly petioled, toothed or crenate, 3-5-nerved at the base.

Flowers small, dioecious, rarely bisexual. Sepals 4-5, imbricate. Petals 0.

Stamens many, sometimes surrounded by glands; anthers short, versatile.

Ovary 2-5-celled on an annulate or lobed disk, or disk represented by separate

glands; styles 2-11, separate or connate at the base or 0; stigmas notched,

2-lobed or, in the absence of styles, capitate ; ovules usually in pairs on each

placenta. Fruit indehiscent; endocarp hard, with as many cells as seeds, or

separating into 1-seeded stones. Seeds obovoid; testa thinly coriaceous ;

cotyledons orbicular.

Species 15.—Warmer parts of Africa and Asia and adjacent islands.

In the following I remove Flacourtia Cataphracta, Roxb. from the Bombay

Flora, raise the variety occidentalis of F. Ramontchi to the rank of a species,

and add F. inermis, Roxb. as a cultivated species.

The exclusion of /. Cataphracta scarcely requires an explanation. Cooke

included it on the authority of Dalzell and Gibson (Bomb. FI. 10) who state

that it had been found in the Wari country on the banks of rivers. Since then

it has not been found by any collector. ‘The distribution of the species does not

speak in favour of its presence in the Bombay Presidency. It spreads from

Assam and Lower Bengal to Chittagong, Malacca, Singapore, and eastwards,

and from Orissa to the E. Ghats of Vizagapatam District. It has, except by

Dalzell and Gibson, never been reported from the W. Peninsula.

F.. Ramontchihas andergone many vicissitudes since it was described in

1784. Hooker f. and Thomson (F.B.I. i, 193) confessed that they were ‘ quite

unable to define the various forms brought together under the names of

F.. Ramontchi and sapida, and which include either several species, or one that

spreads all over India, and varies much, presenting however the following

varieties or species.’ They mention vars. Ramonichi proper, sapida,

latifolia, occidentalis and racemulifera.— Cooke (i, 55-56) retained var. sapida,

and var. occidentalis and made var. latifolia a distinct species F. latifolia, T.

Cooke.—Talbot (i, 76-78) has the varieties sapzda, latifolia and occidentalis. _

Gamble (p. 54) identifies var. sapida (F. sapida, Roxb.) with the type, and so

does Troup (Silvic. i, 12).—Haines (p.37) drops all the varieties, but retains

the names of Kamontchi proper, sapida and occidentalis as indicating so many

forms. Haines follows Cooke in considering /. /atifolia as a distinct species,

but lam afraid that his F. Jatzfolza is a different plant. He himself is not

quite sure about the identity because the size of the fruit in Cooke’s species is

that of a pea, whilst the fruit of the Orissa plant measures 15 mm. in

diameter.

As will be seen below I have merged Roxburgh’s F. sapida in F. Ramontchi.

As to Ff. latifolia I follow Cooke and the variety occidentalis has been made a

species

Key to species—

I. Thorns present—

1. Thorns not bearing flowers—

(a) Fruit size of a cherry eee «- dL. Ff montana.

(6) Fruit size of a pea

*Branchlets and young parts not velvety-

tomentose

@ Stigmas 5-11 a - meta L. Leamonicht.

@@ Stigmas 3-4 ais eon i lanrolia.

** Branchlets and young parts velvety-

tomentose a2 4, F. occidentalis.

2. Thorns bearing flowers pee scene a SCPIATLA

II. Thorns absent ae Soin iden OFA Lee

912 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. IXXX

1. Flacourtia montana, Grah. Cat. Bomb. Pl. (1839) ; Cke. i, 55; Talbot i, 76,

Fig. 48 ; Gamble 54.

Vern. names: Han Sampige, Gudda (Kan.), Attack, Champer,

Champari (Mar.).

Description: A middle-sized or large tree; trunk and branches thorny,

thorns 5-8 cm. long. Leaves ovate, elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate or obtusely

abruptly acuminate, crenate, coriaceous, glabrous and shining above, glabrate

beneath (hairy when young), base acute or rounded, 3-5-nerved from the base,

and with a few pairs of lateral nerves ; midrib tomentose ; blade 10-19 cm. by

3°5-7°5 cm. ; petioles 8 mm. long. Flowers small, in short densely pubescent

racemes fascicled in the axils of the leaves. Male flowers: Sepals tomentose.

Stamens with filaments 5mm. long. Female flowers: Sepals rusty-tomentose.

Ovary urn-shaped, glabrous; styles 5, reflexed, notched at the apex. Fruit

globose, the size of a cherry, obtusely ribbed, red or purple (Talbot) or

scarlet (Cooke), about 6-seeded ; pedicels very short ; seeds compressed, hard,

woody, rough, in 2 distinct rows.

Localities : Konkan (Law, Stocks) ; Bombay (Dalzell) ; Matheran (Herb.

S.X.C. 18195 !).—Kanara: Deomun Ghat (Herb. S.X.C. 18194!) ; tropical

evergreen forests (Talbot).

Distribution: Konkan and N. Kanara; in the Madras Presidency in the

forests of the W. Coast and W. Ghats up to 900m. (Gamble). We found it

on the High Wavy Mountains, 1800 m.

Flowers : Cold season.

Fruits : February 1893 (Kanara).

Uses : The wood which weighs 50 lbs. to the cubic foot is used for building

purposes in N. Kanara (Talbot). The fruit is edible; it has an agreeable

flavour and makes good jelly.

2. Flacourtia Ramontchi, L’Hérit. Stirp. (1784), 59, tt. 30, 30B; W. Ic. t. 85;

F.B.1. i, 193 (partim) ; Brandis For. Fl. 18; Cooke i. 55 (partim) ; Talbot i.

76 (partim) ; Gamble 54; Parker 22; Haines 37 (partim). F. sapida, Roxb.

Cor. Pl. i. t. 69% FI. Ind: iii. 835:; W. and’ A. Prodr. 29.- Wallt-Cat.466751C)

Collett Fl. Siml. 41, Fig. 13.—F. Ramontchi, var. safida Hook. f. and Th. in

F.B.I. i, 193; Cke. i, 55.—F. Ramontchi forma sapida, Haines, in Haines 37.

F. Ramontchi var. Ramontchi proper, Hook. f. and Th. 1. c. 193.

I am aware that Merrill calls the above species Flacourtia indica. Owing to

the kindness of Mr. C. E. C. Fischer of the Kew Herbarium I am able to quote

the following extract from ‘An Interpretation of Rumphius’s Herbarium

Amboinense by G.E.D. Merrill’ (1917), p. 377:

Flacourtia indica (Burm. f.) comb. nov.

Gmelina indica, Burm. f. Fl. Ind. (1768), 132, t. 39, f. 5.

Mespilus sylvestris, Burm. Index Univ. Herb. Amb. 7 (1755) [15] (type!),

non Burm.1 c. [14].

Flacourtia sepiaria Roxb. Pl. Coromandel. 1 (1795), 48, t. 68.

Flacourtia ramontcht, L’ Hérit. Stirp. Nov. (1784-5), 59, t. 30, 31.

Spina spinarum, i, mas, Rumph. Herb. Amb. 7, 36, t. 18, f. 1, 2.

Spina spinarum, ii, femina, Rumph. 1. c. 37.

‘This species is not represented in our Amboina collections. Rumphius

states, however, that the plant was an introduced one there, originating in

Java, where it wascommon. Spina spinarum, Rumph. is the whole basis of

Mespilus sylvestris, Burm., as published on page 18 of his Index Universalis ;

it is not included in the Index Kewensis. The name is invalid, however,

because Burman published the same binomial on page 14 of the same work for

an entirely different species, Carissa carandas, Linn. (see p. 425). I consider

that the form figured and described by Rumphius is the same as Flacourtia

sepiaria, Roxb., from which I cannot distinguish /. ramontchi, L’ Hérit.

Linnzus cites the first figure as a synonym of Carissa spinarum, Linn., but the

plant actually described and hence the type of the species is a true Carissa

Figure 3 of the same plate, the type of Wespilus sylvestris, Burm., Index

Universalis [14] non [18], is apparently a true Carissa. Linnzeus, in his

erroneous reduction of SAimu spinarum, Rumph., was followed by Murray,

Lamarck, Wildenow, Roemer and Schultes, Dietrich and Pritzel. Loureiro,

Fl. Cochinch. (1790), 634, cites the Rumphian species under Stigmarota

jangomas, Lour = Flacourtia, jangomas (Lour.) Steud. By other authors it

has been referred to Damnacanthus indicus, Gertn., of the Aubsacee ; to

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 913

Flacourtia jangomas, Steud.; to Roumea sp. = Flacourtia ; and to Flacourtia

cataphracta, Roxb. It is possible that Spina spinarum, ii. femina, Rumph.

represents a species different from Spina spinarum, i, mas. Burman’s Gmelina

indica supplies the oldest valid specific name for the species and is here

adopted. Burman’s type was from Java, for which he cites the Javanese name

doery roekan.’

So far Merrill. I have not got the material and literature which he used at

my disposal ; Ican only consider his statements. Hesays: ‘ Spina spinarum,

Rumph., is the whole basis of Mespilus sylvestris, Burm., as published on

page 18,’ and later on: ‘Iconsider that the form figured and described by

Rumphius is the same as Flacourtia sepiaria, Roxb.’ From this it follows

that Spina spinarum, Rumph., Mespilus sylvestris, Burm. and Flacourtia

sepiaria, Roxb. are different names for the same plant. But here the all-

important question arises: What plant has Merrill in mind when he speaks of

Flacourtia sepiaria, Roxb.? It cannot be the real Flacourtia sepiaria, Roxb.,

because he cannot distinguish Flacourtia ramontchi, from it.

Now botanists may be divided in their opinion regarding a number of so-

called species of /lacourtia, but, as far as I know, nobody has ever affirmed

that /. sepzaria, is not a good species. Not even Hooker f. who took a wider

view of the species has made an attempt to combine /. ramontchi with

F.. sépiartia. Nobody who has seen specimens of the two species in their

natural habitats has thought for a moment that they belong to the same

species, whatever the delimitation of /. ramontcht may be.

The same difficulty is felt when Merrill says that Burman’s Gmelina indica,

supplies the oldest valid specific name for the species. ‘To which species of

Flacourtia, does the plant belong which he considered to be identical with

Gmelia indica ? To this we cannot receive a satisfactory answer because for

Merrill there is no specific difference between /. sepiaria, and F. ramontcht.

It is my impression that Merrill had no good specimen of /. ramontchi, at

hand and that this fact is to blame for the mistake.—Until this question is

cleared up I prefer to adhere to the names /. ramontchi and F. sepiarza.

Vern. names: Paker, Kaker, Bhekal (Mar.), Kanju (H.), Hunmunki,

Hanumanth, Bhably (Kan.), Bhokakai (Bhil).

Description » A shrub or smali tree, deciduous, armed with axillary thorns,

and often with tufts of branched thorns on the stem Leaves variable, 2-9 cm.

by 2-5 cm., ovate, broadly elliptic, obovate or suborbicular, crenate or serrate,

apex acute or acuminate or rounded, glabrous or pubescent above, more or

less pubescent beneath; petiole 5-8 mm. long. Flowers greenish yellow,

dioecious, in short simple or branched usually tomentose racemes. Sepals

4-5, about 2 mm. long, ovate or orbicular, hispid and ciliate, imbricate.

Petals 0. Stamens numerous; anthers small, versatile, opening by slits.

Ovary on a glandular disk ; stigmas 5-11, free or connate. Fruit 8-12 mm. in

diameter, globose, red or dark-brown or dark purple ; endocarp hard with as

many cells as seeds. Seeds 8-16.

Note.—‘ A shrub with small leaves in the scrub forests and on rock hills,

a small tree with rather large leaves in the larger forests.” (Gamble).

Localities: Khandesh: Turanmal (Blatter and McCann 27176! 27357 !).-

Konkan: (Law, Stocks); 18 miles south of Mahableshwar (Acland !).-

Deccan: Sakarpathar near Lonavla (Herb. S. X. C. 18201!); Igatpuri

(McCann 17656 !).—S. 17. Country : Belgaum (Ritchie 982).

Distribution : Sub-Himalayan tract and Outer Himalaya, ascending to

1200 m. from the Indus eastwards and in the adjacent plains, Upper Gangetic

Plain, common in the Peninsula, W. Ghats, forests of the N. Circars and

Deccan up to 900 m. Burma in indaing and in dry forests.

Uses: The fine-grained wood is used in turnery, for combs, etc. Fruit

edible, eaten by birds. The twigs and leaves are used as fodder.

3. Flacourtia latifolia, T. Cooke in Cke.i. 56. . Ramontchi var. latifolia

Hook.f. and Ph.in-F.B:1. 1, 193.

Description ; Cke. 1.c. ;

Localities: Deccan: Mahableshwar (Cooke! Acland! M. Ezechiel !);

Panchgani (Blatter 18199!); Purandhar (Blatter and McCann 17662!),

Igatpuri (Blatter and McCann 17657!) ; Khandalla (Blatter 18196! 18200 !).—

S. Mf. Country - Near Belgaum (Ritchie 189).

9144 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORAL HIST. SOGHELY, Vol. XVOR

Distribution : Mount Abu, W. Ghats, Carnatic, Nilgherries.

Flowers : March 1917 and April 1891 (Mahableshwar).

Fruits ;: May 1921 (Mahableshwar).

4, Flacourtia occidentalis, Blatter, sec. nova.—F. ramontchi, L’Hérit. var.

occidentalzs Took. f. and Th. in PF °B.'. 1,493); Cke? 1; S61) Talbott 77 bio.

51; Duthie Fl. Upp. Gang. Pl. i, 59.—/. ramontchi forma occidentalis Haines

in Haines 37.

Tota plania plus minusve velutina vel tomentosa. Spine tenues, non-

curvateé. Sepala ovata, ciliata.

Distinguitur a F. Ramontchi vamulis, folits, petiolis necnon inftlorescentia

permanenter plus minusve velutinis vel tomentosis, spinis tenuibus.

Description : A small tree ; whole plant more or less covered with permanent

grey velvety tomentum; bark grey, scaly, thin. Spines slender, straight.

Leaves 3-8 by 2-5 cm. , broadly oblong, oblong-elliptic, orbicular or obovate or

lanceolate, rarely elliptic or ovate, crenate or serrate, base rounded, cuneate or

cordate, rounded or acute at the apex, more or less tomentose 3) spetioles

tomentose or velvety. Racemes tomentose. Sepals ovate, ciliate. Styles

about 5, distinct, reflexed, and 2-divided at the apex.

Localities: Khandesh : Turanmal (Blatter and McCann 27283!).—Konkan -

(Gibson, Stocks).—Deccan - Khandalla (Blatter 18189 !).

Distribution : Baluchistan, Outer Himalaya up to 1200 m., Punjab, Upper

Gangetic Plain, Mount Abu, Central India, Chota Nagpur, Bihar, Deccan,

Khandesh, Konkan.

Flowers : November to March.

Fruits : February to August.

Uses : The wood is hard and durable, but splits. It is used for agricultural

implements. ‘The fruit is eaten, either raw or cooked. The leaves are cattle-

fodder. Native medicine makes use of the gum and powdered bark. (Talbot).

5. Flacourtia sepiaria, Roxb. Cor. Pl. i (1795), 48 t.68; Fl. Ind. iii, 835;

Royle III. 73 ; F.B.I. i, 194 ; Cke. i, 56; Talbot 78; Gamble 54; Haines 36.—

F’, obcordata, "Roxb. Fl. Ind. ss 835. —Sideroxylon 'spinosum, Willd. Spa Piva

109. Rheede Hort. Malab. Vv, 't, 39.

Description : A very thorny smali rigid bush ; thorns straight, sharp, up to

5 cm. long, sometimes branched, many of them bearing clusters of leaves and

flowers, and longer than the leaves; twigs pubescent. Leaves on the young

shoots alternate, on the older fascicled, small, 2-3°5 cm. by 12 mm., very rarely

2°5-7 cm. in luxuriant plants, elliptic, obovate or obcordate, or orbicular,

rarely oblong or oblanceolate, cuneate or narrowed at the base or cordate, more

or less crenate-serrate except at the base, glabrous, stiff ; secondary nerves 3-4,

reticulate between ; petioles 3-6 mm. long, often pubescent. Flowers dioecious,

small, axillary, greenish, solitary at the ends of the short shoots or in racemose

clusters shorter than the leaves. Male sepals ovate, obtuse. Female flowers

on pedicels up to5 mm. long, sepals orbicular. Styles 3-7, stigmas bilobed.

Berry globular, smooth, reddish, turning dark-coloured when ripe, with about

6-10 mm. in diameter; pyrenes angular, rugose; testa smooth. Cotyledons

broadly orbicular, base somewhat cordate ; radicle excluded, straight.

Localities : Khandesh : Bor, on sandy mud of Tapti River (Blatt er and Hall-

berg 18198! ).—Konkan - Hilly parts (Graham).—Deccan : Khandalla (Blatter

18197 !).—S. WM. Country : Dharwar (Cookef ).—N. Kanara: Stony ground

near coast (Talbot).

Distribution: Kumaon, dry jungles throughout Bengal, Bihar, Orissa,

Upper Burma, Andamans, the W. Peninsula, scrub forests in all districts of the

Madras Presidency, especially on the Coromandel Coast and in the Deccan.

Flowers : Cold season.

Fruits - Rainy season.

Uses : Leaves, root and bark used in medicine. The fruit is eaten. The

leaves are used as fodder.

var. integrifolia var. nov.—Folits integerrimis.

Locality : Igatpuri (McCann 17666! ).

6. Fiacourtia inermis, Roxb. Cor. Pl. iii, 16, t. 222; Fl. Ind. iii, 833.

Description: Unarmed, young branches puberulous. Leaves ovate or

oblong—lanceolate, acute or acuminate, base actite or rounded, 10-20 cm. by

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 915

5-9 em., obtusely serrate, shining, thin, coriaceous, glabrous, midrib below

pubescent ; petiole 8-12 mm. long. Flowers bisexual in fascicled pubescent

racemes. Stigmas 4-8, 2-lobed. Disk covered with fleshy orange glands.

Ovary 5-celled ; cells 2-ovuled. Fruit size of a cherry, red acid ; pyrenes 8-10.

Locality : Bombay Island (Blatter!). Introduced.

Distribution: Singapore, Penang, Sumatra. Cultivated in India.

3. HYDNOCARPUS, Gaertn. (Cke. i, 56)

Species 30.—Indo-Malayan,

1. Hydnocarpus Wightiana, Blume Rumph. iv (1848), 22 ; Cke. i, 57; Talbot i,

79, Fig. 53; Gamble 52 .—H. inebrians, Wall. Cat. 6670; W. Ill. t. 16

Vern. names: Kastel, Kantel, Kiti, Kabasale, Kawti(Mar.), Toratti, Surti

(Kan.), Kudre, Sulte.

Description ; Cke. 1c.

Localities; Konkan; Bombay (Blatter!) ; Vingorla (Ritchie), near Goa

(Stocks).—S. MW. Country : Castlerock (V. K. Vaidya 18203! ).—N. Kanara ;

Karwar (T. R. Bell 4074!) ; Yellapur, evergreen forests (Sedgwick 2434! ) ;

Sulgeri (T. R. Bell 3869!) ; Kadra (T. R. Bell 3910!); Gund (T. R. Bell

6009! ).

NMistribution : Endemic in tropical forests along the W. Ghats from the

Konkan southwards and below the Ghats in Kanara and Malabar in damp

Situations, especially near water. Common in Travancore up to 600 m.

Flowers - April 1918 (N. Kanara), May 1919 (N. Kanara).

Fruits > June 1918 (Karwar), May 1917 (Yellapur).

Uses : Used for beams and rafters in N. Kanara. The seeds yield a yellow

oil (chalmogra) used for burning and against skin diseases, also administered

internally. (Talbot).

94. SAMYDACEAL,

1. CASEARIA, Jacq.

Species 80.—Warmer parts of the world, chiefly in America.

1. Casearia graveoiens, Dalz. in Kew Journ. Bot. 4 (1852), 107; F.B.I. i, 592;

Cke. i, 520; Gamble 520; Parker 256 (fartim); Haines 39.—C. glomerata

Brandis, Ind. Trees 343 (partim, non Roxb.) ; Talbot i, 69 (Jartim) ; Troup ii,

611 (partim).

Clarke in F.B.I.1.c. keeps G. graveolens, Dalz. separate from C. glomerata

Roxb. It was Brandis in his Indian Trees l.c. who united them under

C. glomerata, and Talbot, Parker and Troup followed him. Gamble [Kew Bull.

(1920), 56] calls the Madras plant C. graveolens. ‘Icannot agree,’ he says,

‘with Sir Dietrich Brandis (dzdian Trees, p. 343) in combining C. glomerata,

Roxb. and C. graveolens, Dalz. ‘The latter is a very widespread small tree of

low levels in Northern India, deciduous and with its leaves turning red before

they fall, and is, I think, very distinct from the tall, apparently evergreen,

C. glomerata of the Sikkim forests, about 7,000 feet.’

Clarke had pointed out before that C. graveolens is to be separated from

C. glomerata by the pedicel glabrous above its articulation and by its geogra-

phic locality. C. glomerata has been collected in Sikkim, Bhotan and Khasia,

900-1,500 m. Gamble (Man. Ind. Timb.) describes C. glomerata as a large

evergreen tree of the Eastern Himalaya, Khasi Hills, Sylhet, and hills of Upper

Burma.

Vern. names : Bhokhara, Bokhada (Mar.).

Description ; Cke. 1.c.—At the time of flowering the tree is nearly or quite

leafless. Old leaves turn copper-coloured in the cold season.

Localities : Khandesh ; Jalgaon (Blatter!) ; Akrani (Blatter and Hallberg !).—

Konkan: Open hills of the S. Konkan (Dalzell); Matheran (Cooke!

D’ Almeida !)— Deccan - Mawal, Poona Distr. (Woodrow !) ; hills near Kadkala

(Kanitkar!); Panchgani (Blatter!); Fitzgerald Ghat below Mahableshwar

(Cooke !).

Distribution: Gurwhal, Kumaon, Sikkim, Bihar, Orissa, N. Circars, in

Ganjam, chiefly on old cultivated lands, Konkan and Deccan Ghats, in open

Situations.

916 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1I

Uses : The wood which is light-yellow, moderately hard and even grained,

is suitable for carving plates, etc. (Gamble). The fruit is used for poisoning

fish. (Talbot)

2. Casearia esculenta, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i (1832), 422; Cke. i, 520, but exclude

syn. Casearia varians, Thw. Enum. 19 and Bedd. FI. Sylv. t. 208. The same

applies to F.B.I., Talbot and others who followed the F.B.I.

I exclude C. varians, Thw. on account of the following remark made by

Gamble in Kew Bull. (1920), 56: ‘I have been much puzzled to identify the species

figured by Beddome (Flora Sylvatica, t. 208) as C. varians, Thw., and coming

from the ‘ dense moist forests of the W. Ghats at 2,000-3,000 ft. elevation.’ The

figure does not agree with C. esculenta, Roxb., as Clarke and Bourdillon have

identified it, nor entirely, though nearer, with C. rubescens, Dalz. ‘There are

two specimens in the Kew Herbarium, collected by Bourdillon (1) No. 181 from

evergreen forests at Peermeri, 3,500 ft., which I think, is a form of C. rubescens

with more lanceolate leaves than the Bombay plant; and (2). No. 104 from

evergreen forests near Colatoorpolay, which is, I believe, the plant of Beddome’s

figure. I have, therefore, assumed it to be so, and, pending the possibility of

examining more and better specimens, I am calling it C. varians, Bedd.

not of Thw.’

Vern. names: Mori, Modi, Kulkulta, Pate (Mar.).

Description : Cke. i, 520.—The tree is apparently evergreen.

Localities ; Cke. 1. c.

Distribution : W. Peninsula from Bombay to Coorg; throughout the moist

monsoon-forests of the Konkan and N. Kanara, common on the hills near

Karwar, S. Kanara to Cochin; E. Coast, in the Circars and southwards ;

Striharikota and similar forests of the Carnatic.

Flowers : May to June.

Fruits; Aagust to September.

Uses : Wood and leaves are used medicinally (Talbot).

3. Casearia tomentosa, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii (1832), 421; Brandis For. FI. t. 31;

Cke. i, 521; Talbot ii, 71, Fig. 330; Gamble 521; Haines 39.—C. elliptica

Willd.; W. Ic. t.—1849.

Vern. names: Chilla, Bheri (Hind.), Modi, Modgi (Mar.), Tordul (Bhil).

Bilioobina (Kan.).

Description : Cke. 1. c.

Localities : Konkan : Bassein (Blatter!) ; Vingorla (Stocks).— Deccan - Hills

near Poona (Bhiva ).—S.47. Country : Belgaum (Ritchie 1011).

Distribution : Sub-Himalayan tract in the Punjab from the Indus eastwards,

Oudh, Bihar, Orissa, Bengal, Central and S. India, W. India from Bombay

southwards in deciduous forests, Circars, Carnatic.

Flowers : January to May.

Fruits : Hot and rainy season.

Uses : Wood used for carving (Talbot), also for making combs (Brandis).

The bark is bitter and is sometimes mixed with ‘kamela’ powder. The

pounded fruit is used for poisoning fish (Talbot). In Bihar and Orissa the

fruits pounded with mud, are thrown into dammed-up streams for killing fish.

The pounded bark is applied externally in dropsy, fever and snake-bite.

(Haines).

4. Casearia rubescens, Dalz. in Kew Journ. Bot. 4 (1872), 108; F.B.I. i, 593;

Cke, i, 521 ; Talbot ii, 71; Gamble 520.

Iam retaining this species though Cooke himself was ‘ quite unable to

separate this from C. graveolens except by assuming Dalzell’s description to be

correct, viz. that it isa shrub 4-6 feet high.’ Even Dalzell who founded the

species was doubtful of its being a goodone. Talbot, l.c., remarks: ‘ A large

shrub or small tree scarcely more than a variety of C. glomerata, Roxb.’

In my opinion C. rudbescens is sufficiently distinguished from C. graveolens

so as to justify its being considered a separate species. C. rubescens has entire

leaves, minute scale-like stipules, pubescent pedicels, a glabrous calyx,

pubescent filaments and a style almost 0.

Description : Cke. and Talbot 11. cc.—Tabot calls it a large shrub or small

tree.—According to Gamble it is an apparently evergreen shrub, whilst Talbot

calls it deciduous.— The glabrous branchlets have large lenticels.

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 917

Localities > Cke. 1. c.

Distribution: W. Ghats, in the forests of Coorg, hills of Travancore,

1000 m.

Flowers > Cold season.

Fruits : Hot season.

2. HomMatium, Jacq. (Cke.1, 521)

Species 80.—Hot regions of nearly the whole world.

1. Homalium zeylanicum, Benth. in Journ. Linn. Soc. 4 (1860), 35; Cke. 1.

ae Talbot ii. 72, Fig. 331; Gamble 525.—Blackwellia tetrandra, W. Ic. t.

1851.

Description : Cke. 1.c.—The tree is evergreen, the young leaves are bright

red and the flowers fragrant.

“Localvizes : Cke. lic.

Distribution: W. Peninsula. From the Konkan southwards, rain-forests of

the northern ghats of N. Kanara, evergreen forests of Malabar up to 1200 m:

moister parts of Ceylon up to 900 m.

(Zo be continued).

IMPRESSIONS OF PACHMARHI BIRDS

BY |

CAPT. IR 19. bADES

(With 4 Plates)

From Victoria Terminus onwards the eye of the traveller is

attracted to large and glaring posters extolling the beauties of

Pachmarhi, and one gathers from these same monstrosities that

Pachmarhi is a golfers’ paradise alone. The park-like links are

undoubtedly beautiful, but not being a follower of the little white

ball I had perforce to look around for other attractions, and they

were indeed many—Bee-dam, Pathar-chatta, and Waters’ Meet for

the would-be channel swimmer; Monte Rosa, the crags of

Dhupgarh, and many other khuds for the climber; rides galore

and polo for the horseman; many miles of good roads for the

motorist ; and last, but not least, glorious walks through lovely

woods and dales for those with no means of transport but their own

feet.

The scenes and scenery conjured up in one’s mind by the contem-

plation of this galaxy of pursuits led one to hope that one had

struck a good spot for one’s own particular failing, namely the

photography of birds. Unfortunately not leave but the horrors of

a combined course at the Small Arms School had brought us to

this C. P. hill-station, and consequently from our arrival on

April 9th, till the end of June one enjoyed little leisure for the

indulgence of one’s hobby. I could therefore do little beyond make

daily notes of the birds I saw during the first three months of our

stay and this was unfortunate as many birds to be found on the

plateau were only breeding during those first days. ‘The rains also

commenced just at the end of the course—in these hills they are

very heavy too—so, even when I was indulging in six weeks’

privilege leave after my labours, I still had few opportunities of

using my hiding tent.

In vol. xxviii, No. 2 of this journal is a most excellent list of the

birds of Pachmarhi compiled by Mr. Osmaston, and this list I found

of the greatest help. It contains 131 names, of which I noted 99,

but of course a number of the remainder are purely winter visitors

with which I had no hope of meeting. I did however come across

nine other birds which are not down in his list. However I had

better start at the beginning.

To my mind as far as the birds are concerned, Pachmarhi may be

divided into three zones. There are of course no definite boun-

daries to these, though certain birds common in one zone are rare

and occasionally even wanting in the others. These zones are namely

the plateau and ridges on it, which are dry and waterless except in

the monsoon ; the ravines running down from the plateau which

contain the perennial streams; and thirdly the higher hills which

IMPRESSIONS OF PACHMARAI BIRDS 919

surround the plateau and have a somewhat different flora. I intend

to deal with the plateau birds to begin with, as these the visitor

will probably strike first.

I arrived in Pachmarhi on April 9th, and it was not long before it

struck me that, though the plateau undoubtedly teemed with bird-

life, the number of species was not very great. At that time five

birds, not counting house sparrows and mynas, were breeding

freely, namely the Yellow-throated Sparrow, the Chestnut-bellied

Nuthatch, the Common Indian Bee-eater, the Indian Purple Sun-

bird, and the Small Minivet; the first and third in very large

numbers. 7

The Yellow-throated Sparrows were in possession of the majority

of the holes and crevices to be found in many of the trees, but their

nesting is not of particular interest whereas that of the Nuthatch is.

The first nest of the latter species I remarked was some thirty feet

up in a cavity in a very large banyan tree. The cleft was more

or less diamond-shaped, four or five inches long, and about three

inches wide, and this the Nuthatch had cemented up until nothing

remained but a very neat round hole. I shared the discovery of

this nest with a tree-pie which had also been watching the antics

of the littie birds and flew to the hole to investigate just as one of

them ieft. There were young ones in the nest as I could hear their

shouts of hunger quite clearly from the ground. The Nuthatches’

excellent architecture saved their offspring, as the tree-pie was

quite unable to get even its head into the hole which I judged to

be little more than aninch in diameter. These magpies are excess-

ively common both on and below the plateau and must account for

large numbers of eggs and young birds. It was not until after the

end of June that I had time to search for tree-pies’ nests however,

and then I could only find abodes which were obviously finished with.

Nuthatches are not very shy birds and will allow of observation

at the nest. After the breeding season they are to be met:with

in parties, energetically flying from tree to tree searching trunk or

branches, clambering either upwards or downwards, first on one

side, then slithering round to the other. While feeding thus, they

will often allow one to approach to within two or three yards.

They are by no means silent, and one is always apprised of their

whereabouts by a series of squeaks. By the end of May nidification

is undoubtedly at an end.

Indian purple sunbirds are also very common and during April

and May nesting is in full swing. On my way to parade—]I had

about a mile to go to reach the school—I used to pass no fewer

than five nests. One was suspended from a rose-bush trained along

the edge of the verandah, three were hanging from strands of

lantana in deep ditches and one, about eight feet from the ground,

was in a prickly bush of some sort overhanging the road and

within a couple of feet of a not-at-home box. ‘Three of these nests

were destroyed while still holding eggs, in all probability by

tree pies.

When first spotted, the one on the verandah already contained

two eggs. This was April 10th. On the 21st I discovered that both

eggs were hatched, and the young ones left the nest fourteen days

920 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

afterwards, i.e. on May 5th; one before breakfast, the other some-

time during the course of the morning. The female was very

tame indeed and did not mind coming to the nest even when I was

leaning against the verandah rails but a yard distant, but the male’s

disposition was very different and I had to wait by the camera

for over an hour to get one photograph, and this did not turn out

as well as I hoped as just as I pressed the release he popped his

head into the entrance hole.

On May 26th, a Sunbird’s nest was started in a small tree opposite

my bedroom door, possibly by the pair I have just been talking

about. In vol. xxxi, No. 2, I described how a sunbird took no less

than twenty-one days in which to buiid. This one was amazingly

quick and though it built its nest in exactly the same way, that

is, by completing a flimsy outer casing first, within six days the

structure was finished. ‘The outer shell was made in three days;

i.e. the first day saw a stalk about two inches long; on the second

this was lengthened and shaped into the upper half complete with

the entrance hole; and the third saw it finished. On May 3rd,

the female was sitting in real earnest, but a coupie of days later

the whole nest had disappeared.

The nests or rather nest holes of the common little Indian Bee-

eaters are to be met with all over the plateau, in the sides of

ditches, borrow-pits, ruts by the sides of the roads, and even in the

level open glades, a mere raised clod of earth or slight hollow

sufficing to give a start to the often slightly downward trending

tunnel. They were nesting at any rate up to the beginning of the

rains, that is up to the end of June, and I found them at it when I

arrived in April, so their season is a fairly long one.

I had a peculiar experience with a nest of this species. I was

seated at the edge of a slightly convex glade and kept noticing a

bee-eater descending to the ground and disappearing from view

just beyond the crest. On going to investigate, I founda hole in

the side of a slight depression. In front of the hole and extending

back from it for about two feet was strewn a considerable amount

of freshly ejected sand. Amongst the sand were scattered three

eggs, one of them almost buried. They were not even close

together but lying about six inches apart. The only reason I can

adduce for this peculiar state of affairs is that the bird for some

reason or other, and probably a very good one too, was lengthening

its nest-hole and had carried out the eggs whilst so employed.

The Small Minivet is a very common little bird and is usually to

be seen in small flocks flying from tree-summit to tree-summit,

though occasionally they come nearer to the ground to search for

food in the lower bushes. As a rule the tiny camouflaged nest is

placed high up across a branch or on a horizontal fork. I say asa

rule, as of the five nests which I managed to spot, three were high

up in peepul trees, one about twenty feet up on an outer branch of

a mohwa, and the fifth not more than nine feet from the ground

near the leafy extremity of a branch ofa quite small tree at the

edge of the classification range. The branch had a number of

thickenings in it, which made the nest almost impossible to spot.

In fact I would never have realized that it was there had not the

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

THE INDIAN PURPLE SUNBIRD

(Leptocoma astatica astatica)

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

BARBET

THE NORTHERN GRE

( Thereiceryx zeylanicus can

ps)

(LaA

IMPRESSIONS OF PACHMARHI BIRDS 921

head and tail of the sitting female been easily visible sticking out

on either side of the bough. This nest was discovered on May

5th. I rather think the nidification of these birds was over by the

end of that month.

The other very common birds of the plateau are Indian House

and Jungle Crows, Smaller White Scavenger Vultures, which are

exceptionally tame and wander round about the bungalows as if they

owned them, White-bellied Drongos, Southern Jungle Babblers,

Hawk-Cuckoos, Grey Hornbills, Northern Green Barbets, Thick-

billed Flower-peckers, and Large Indian Cuckoo-shrikes, the latter

noisy blue-grey birds almost the size of a pigeon, with a rather

massive black bill and black face and a rather heavy flight. They

stick to the tops of the trees and seldom come near the ground.

They also possess somewhat loud screaming calls.

Indian Rollers, Indian White-breasted Kingfishers, Northern

Golden-backed Woodpeckers, Northern Indian Stone-chats, Central

Indian Red-vented Bulbuls, Tailor-birds and Indian Magpie

Robins are also pretty common, as are Indian Hoopoes, Crimson-

breasted Barbets, and three kinds of Paroquets, namely the Western

Blossom-headed and Rose-ringed Paroquets, and the Large Indian

Paroquet, the last-named appearing to me by far the commonest of the

three. Towards the end of our stay, i.e. in August, large numbers

of the two latter invaded the station in search of the food afforded

by the ripening of the fruit on certain of the large trees. The

Brown-backed Indian Robin appeared to me to be rather scarce.

There was. one nest near the R. C. Church which was robbed

of its young ones on May 20th, and one pair was always to be

seen in the gardens. Only once did I see one elsewhere. The

only really common dove is the Indian Spotted Dove, though the

Indian Turtle Dove is also to be met with in the forests around.

Indian Pipits are common in the open spaces and along the Wain-

gunga right down to the lake and breed certainly up to the com-

mencement of the rains.

I see I have mentioned neither Swallows nor Tits. Around the

bridge and the Government Gardens numbers of Syke’s Striated

Swallows, and Dusky Crag-Martins are always to be seen. Where

they breed I do not know, but there are of course hundreds of suit-

able sites in the rocks and cliffs around the plateau’s edge.

There are two kinds of tits, one of which, the Indian Grey Tit, is

fairly scarce. The other is the Southern Yellow-cheeked Tit

which is exceedingly numerous, and, with its large and rather

untidy black crest and somewhat speckly plumage together with its

oft repeated and distinctive notes, is sure to be very soon added

to one’s list of birds seen in Pachmarhi.

One Grey Tit’s nest with young ones in it was all I found, as

owing to the course I had not the time to hunt for them when the

majority would be breeding, i.e. in April and May. The pest in

question was in a hole in a very small sapling on the path to

Jumboo Dip, just opposite the point where the small stream one

strikes near the top turns through some boulders and falls into the

main valley. The sapling was only about four inches thick and the

entrance hole was so small that I would never have thought of its

holding a nest, had not I seen one of the birds go in. Before

popping out the little thing put its head out of the hole for a look

round, and the minuteness of the hole can be gauged by the fact

that the bird’s head appeared to fill it completely. The date

of this discovery, by the way, was July i3th. Both these tits

incidentally are birds both of the plateau and the ravines, possibly

belonging more to the latter division.

Another bird of the ravine zone, of all three zones as a matter of

fact, which is by no means uncommon in the woods on the plateau is

Tickell’s Blue Fly-catcher. This rather squat little fly-catcher, which

is dark blue above, ferruginous and white below, possesses a metallic

unmistakeable short song of about half a dozen notes, the first half

descending, the second half ascending, the scale, and to which it

frequently gives vent. As I have said, it is found wherever there

are trees, but perhaps its chief stronghold on the plateau is the

Hogsback, where it is very common at the edges in the little nullahs

which abound in that feature. This bird was breeding very freely in

July, but I will describe my experiences with it when I get on to the

ravine birds.

The Hogsback is a happy hunting ground, so I paid it a fair number

of visits, and two birds, besides most of those which I have already

mentioned, were nearly always to be seen along the summit of the

ridge; one, the Common Wood-shrike; the other, Jerdon’s

Chloropsis. This Chloropsis is probably much more common than

one would suspect, but they remain amongst the thick upper foliage

of the trees with which their bright green plumage blends only too

well. They are most excellent mimics however and this habit often

gives them away. I stood below a tree on the Hogsback one

morning listening to a pair practising. In subdued tones they were

taking off a number of birds to perfection, especially the tree-pie, and

really the only noticeable difference from the original was in the

smaller volume of sound.

Southern Jungle Babblers were of course common on the Hogs-

back and I found three nests there, one containing four eggs

including a Hawk-cuckoo’s. In Pachmarhi the Common Hawk-

cuckoo is a very common bird and its wild screaming crescendo call

is to be heard almost any time during day or night. It is parasitic

chiefly on the Jungle Babbler. The babbler’s nest in question was

in an outer fork of a small forest tree on the summit of the ridge. I

discovered it on July 14. The cuckoo’s egg was not difficult to

distinguish from the others, as it was slightly larger, almost oval

and of a slightly deeper shade of blue; in fact what I should call a deep

turquoise blue. It was also not quite so glossy. The eggs were

evidently quite fresh then as I visited the nest on two subsequent

occasions during the next ten days and found it still in the same

condition. On July 30th however the babbler was sitting over a

young cuckoo, hatched some three or four days by the look of it.

Of the bird’s own eggs of young there was no sign whatsoever, not

even on the ground beneath the nest. I searched the grass

thoroughly but could not find even the trace of,a broken egg or the

remains of a newly hatched chick, so how the young murderer had

disposed of its unwanted foster-brethren, I do not know. Of course

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

THE COMMON INDIAN HOUSE-CROW

(Corvus splendens splendens)

THE SMALLER WHITE SCAVENGER VULTURE

(Neophron percnoplerus ginginianus)

(szzpynvs Stanjnvs snyIdsgo7) (S722402 XAII0I0AALFTL)

NIdOU AIdDVW NVIGNI HHL OOM9ND-AMVH NOWWOD HHL

"20 ‘}I}] “3eN Aequiog ‘usnor

IMPRESSIONS OF PACHMARHI BIRDS 923

there are plenty of vermin and ants, etc., always moving about these

places, and all traces of the tragedy would soon be wiped out. On

August Ist, although the cuckoo’s body must have been about the

same size as that of its forest parent it was still decidedly naked,

though the feathers showed signs of sprouting, especially in a

peculiar manner down the back. Even when [I took the photos on

August 5th, the centre of its back under the folded wings was still

naked. I had no opportunity of seeing how long it actually remain-

ed in the nest—I put it back again after taking the photographs—

as I ieft for Saugor two days later.

I only used the hiding tent on two occasions on the plateau, in

order to obtain photos of the Northern Green Barbet and Indian

Magpie Robin. The Green Barbet’s nesting season seems to be

rather a long one. They were going strong when we first went up,

and even after I took the photographs of this bird I noticed others

still occupied with young ones. The nest which produced the

illustration here was found on July 3rd. I think the female was

sitting but whether on eggs or young, I don’t know. The hole was

in a decayed tree trunk about fifteen feet high. Fortunately it was

only about a quarter of a.mile, if that, from the house, so to get the

camera nearer to the level of the nest, I had a table carried out and

on this I rigged up the tent. Not knowing the temperament of

the birds I was to deal with, I took no risks—although the tree trunk

was quite close to some servants’ quarters—and camouflaged the

whole thing pretty thoroughly. The table of course did not get one

anything like up to the same level as the nest and the lens had still

to be tilted up to a most fearsome-looking angle somewhere in the

neighbourhood of 45°. Even so, I do not think the photos have

suffered to any appreciable extent thereby. I remained in the hide

for an hour and a half during which time the bird came on eight

occasions, to begin with at intervals of about eight minutes or so,

but later, I think owing to doubt as to the nature of the noise of the

shutter, the time just about doubled itself. On each occasion figs,

usually two, were brought from a peepul tree hard by. There were

light clouds about which were just sufficient to destroy the deep

shadows, but not to do away with the impression of sunlight, so I

used exposures. of ;) sec. at f 5-4, gt at 7. 8, and 5) sec. at f. 11,

All five plates turned out very well indeed, f 8 and 3) sec.

producing the best results. I was a bit late in pressing the

release on one occasion, resulting in blurred wings as the bird

spread them to take to flight.

The Magpie Robin’s nest was near the base of a smallish tree

quite close to the porch of another bungalow and consequently the

photography of the bird ought not to have presented any difficuities

as it was far from shy. As there were large young ones in the nest

I was not able to wait for a break in the rains however, and in con-

sequence the day I chase for operations was not quite as good as it

might have been. One moment the sun would be shining, the next

a pretty thick mist would be swirling by and occasionally a light

drizzle fell. I have always found it most difficult to judge the

condition of the light on such occasions, and consequently the nega-

tives I got this time were not up to standard. This matter of

924 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. .SOCIETY,. Vol. XXXI

judging the light presents a greater difficulty than one would

imagine. J remember on one occasion getting into the hide to try

my luck with an Ashy Wren-Warbler. The day was certainly dull

to start with, but when I left the hide I was amazed to find myseif

in a thick fog and a light so feeble that I knew, before i developed

the plates, that they would be hopelessly under exposed, and so of

course they were. For the Magpie Robin I used exposures of 5}, and

ge at f. 5°4. and 54 sec. at f 11, but all the negatives show signs of

under exposure.

I think I have now finished with the commoner birds of the

plateau. Perhaps it might be of use to others to know that I missed

an excellent opportunity of obtaining photographs of White-breasted

Kingfishers through looking for their nests too late. In the bank of

the nullah which runs between the Hogsback and Government House,

on July 8th, I found a nesting hole, which judging by its damp

condition and somewhat offensive odour, had only been vacated a

very short time indeed. In fact the whole family was kicking up

the most infernal noise in the trees close by. I was distinctly

annoyed about this, as eight days previously I had been following

this nullah down from its source and had turned off not fifty yards

above this nest in order to watch the antics of a Tickell’s Blue Fly-

catcher. After this I hunted about in other places on the plateau in

the hopes of finding a nest with young still in it, but I was unable to

do so.

Besides the Northern Golden-backed Woodpecker there is one

other bird of this family one is more than likely to fall in with,

and this is the Yellow-fronted Pied Woodpecker. It is a small

speckled bird not much bigger than a Copper-smith. Its nesting

hole is also about the size of that bird’s.

As regards birds of prey two are pretty common—leaving out

kites and scavenger vultures of course—these being the Shikra and

the White-eyed Buzzard-Eagle. The Buzzard-Eagle is a small

hawk-like bird not so very much larger than a pigeon. Its

colouration is rather patchy, the legs fairly long and yellow, but its

chief characteristic is its habit of sitting on the ground, when it will

often allow one to approach quite close before flying up into the

nearest tree, or, if Well in the open, flying off to alight again

probably but a hundred yards or so away. Vultures also visit the

plateau and of owls two are commonly heard, the second one being

also visible by day on occasions, i.e. the Collared Scops Owl and

the Jungle Owlet.

Wherever one goes one always finds a favourite and taaered

spot where birds of many kinds may always be found and where, if

one sits down quietly in a sheltered spot and merely looks around,

one is always sure of observing something of interest. One such

spot I discovered just above Bee-dam. ‘The stream forks about

a hundred yards or so above the pool, the main branch flowing from

under the circle of high cliffs another couple of hundred yards higher

up, which marks the exit of the strange underground portion of the

stream ; the other branch, which is almost waterless, coming from

a small side nullah running up to the eastern end of Langee Hill.

From the junction the stream should tumble over a small fall, but

IMPRESSIONS OF PACHMARHI BIRDS 925

the water has eaten its way into the soft sandstone and now goes

through the centre of the rocks. There are here some very large

trees and a considerable amount of overhanging cover, rendering

the junction and the small horseshoe-shaped fall somewhat sombre

though peaceful. It was here on a stone—not more than 15 yards

from the short cut to the bathing pool incidentally—that I sat on a

number of occasions and from where I watched many species typical

of the ravine avifauna.

On my first visit I noticed a beautiful little nest of the Northern

Indian Black-naped Fly-catcher stuck by its side to a single vertical

strand of creeper hanging directly over the stream. It was a lovely

little affair, not unlike that of the Fantail Fly-catcher in shape and

mode of attachment but made chiefly of green moss instead of grass.

It was empty when I found it and never contained eggs to my

knowledge, though it had probably been robbed before I ever

spotted it on July 8th. There was a pair of birds at the dam itself

which I think had made this nest and had moved down stream a bit

to try again. They were successful too, as on the 28th after an hour’s

search I found a young one which had obviously but recently left

the nest. I never found this second nest incidentally though I had

searched for it on three previous occasions. ‘The parents were

noisy and fussy, mobbing every crow which appeared anywhere

near the place. Nevertheless they were very wary and careful not

to give away the actual position of their home.

Three other fly-catchers were seen from my vantage point and

all on this same day, namely the Grey-headed, the White-spotted

Fantail, and Tickeil’s Blue Fly-catchers. On July 28th, a pair of the

first-named were engaged in feeding two young ones, which had

also been hatched out in the vicinity of the dam, the nest I think

being fairly high up against the high cliff between the pool and the

dhobi ghat. These energetic little birds have a few pieasant and

somewhat loud call notes.

The nest of the Grey-headed Fly-catcher is by no means easy to

find. It is a small structure of green moss often forming only half

a circle placed against the side of a moss-covered trunk or rock, and

is consequentiy almost indistinguishable from its surroundings.

The only one I succeeded in finding, was a very lately vacated one

on the path up Dhupgarh. I[had actually looked over the very rock

on asmall ledge of which it was placed amongst some living moss

which it watched perfectly. Every time I had gone up or down the

path my topi must have almost touched it. On the occasion on

which I did inspect this rock it had just been raining and everything

was dripping wet, so perhaps I did not examine it quite as closely as

I might have done. ‘The birds themselves drew my attention to

the locality by the way they fussed round about a tree on the

opposite side of the path to this projecting boulder. It must then

have contained young ones, as it was only a couple of days later

that I found it empty while I was looking for a Tickell’s Blue Fly-

catcher’s nest which turned out to be in a somewhat similar situation

some 15 yards further up.

~The Fantails, also a pair, did not, I think, possess a nest but were

merely hunting about for food in their usual jerky energetic manner,

926 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Of course as I had not got a camera with me one of them pirouetted

about a bit of creeper not 4 feet from my head evidently quite

unafraid of me. They are not uncommon ‘in all the ravines and a

pair had a nest on the path down to Waters’ Meet which contained

two eggs on July 16th. These eggs unfortunately were never

hatched as the nest was empty a couple of days later.

The third pair of fly-catchers—Tickell’s Blue Fly-catchers, was

building on a small ledge protected by the foliage overhanging the

left side of the fall. I could not get at the nest however, andit was

not in a good position for photography. A few days previously I

had tried conclusions with a pair of these birds a little higher up the

stream. Almost at the head of the nullah is a deep pit some 20 or 30

feet across, at the bottom of which the stream disappears down a

fissure in the rock to appear again from under the high cliff I have

already mentioned. About two-thirds down this pot hole under an

overhanging lip of earth and grass was a nest containing three half

grown young ones. Fortunately forme near by there was a pro-

jecting ledge about 24 feet wide down to which it was quite easy to

get the hiding tent, though to erect itand to camouflage the outside

was attended by considerable difficulty as the tent was as wide as

the ledge and only a foot shorter. This shelf was above the level

of the nesting site, so the immediate entrance to the nest was out

of view of the lens, but one long strand of creeper ran diagonally

across it, so on this I focussed the camera, confidently expecting

that the bird would occasionally alight on it on its way to its

young ones. However I was had on toast in exactly the same way

as I was previously by a Nilgiri Blue Fly-catcher. The bird,

in this instance the male, on most occasions flew straight into the

nest and so disappeared completely from view each time it came.

I therefore stuffed up the entrance with leaves and ferns and tried

again. The bird must have come to the nest at least a dozen times,

but only twice did it land on the creeper, the other times it hovered

outside close to the obstruction like an enormous but unsteady

bumble bee.

One of the two negatives is quite good but I am sorry to say quite

useless, as it gives one an altogether erroneous impression of the

bird’s colouration. I was using Ilford Iso-Zenith plates on account

of the darkness of the pot-hole. There was no sun, as it was

blotted out by a light mist, so I could not have used either slower

plates or light filters. The general colour of the upper parts of the

male is a pretty dark blue, though from the tent it appeared almost

black. Nevertheless the blue has affected the plates to such an ex-

tent that from the prints one would judge the bird to be dirty white.

On July 19th I found another nest, with three eggs in it.

As it was in an ideal situation, being not more than two feet from

the ground on a ledge of rock close to the bank of the other fork

of the Bee stream and in a well-lighted spot, I decided to make

another attempt using Ilford Auto-filter plates, but for some un-

accountable reason the bird deserted the very next day. Ido not

think the fault was mine, as I never touched the nest and in fact did

not even stop infront of i. Also on going away I saw both birds

fly to the rock. I rather think the female must have been killed, as

IMPRESSIONS OF PACHMARHI BIRDS — 927

I twice went to look at the site and saw the male alone on both

occasions. Including old ones, I found about a dozen nests of

this bird, only one of which was against a tree trunk, the remainder

being in somewhat similar situations on ledges of rocks.

From my vantage point I also saw the following birds :— White-

Eyes, Yellow-cheeked Tits, Green Barbets, and White-bellied

Drongos, all of which are common everywhere with the exception

perhaps of on the higher hill tops. On each occasion a pair of

Black-crested Yellow Bulbuls and a pair of Malabar Whistling

Thrushes came, and of course numbers of Tree-pies and Thick-billed

Flower-peckers. I also once sawa Southern Red-Whiskered Bulbul.

The Red-Whiskered Bulbul’s stronghold is however Dhupgarh and

they appear to be rare elsewhere. The Black-crested Yellow-Bulbulis

also a somewhat rare bird which occurs only in the ravines. This

handsome bulbul gives one the impression of being more a vivid

green bird with a black top knot rather than being mostly yellow.

The Malabar Whistling Thrush is quite the most striking bird of

the ravine avifauna. It does, it is true, frequently stray on to the

plateau, but it is essentialiy a ravine bird haunting all the perennial

streams. At the beginning of May its vocal powers develop and

its meandering, painfully human whistling is certain to attract one’s

attention. On the first occasion that we visited Pathar-Chatta,

just as we were dropping into the deep gorge near the bottom, a

loud whistling suddenly broke out. I stopped dead, and in an

aggrieved tone said to my wife ‘some one is down before us’ so

human were the first few notes. Of course it was only our friend

the whistling school-boy ; the first one I had heard in Pachmarhi

in full blast. In these hills the rocks and cliffs are seamed with

crevices and drilled with holes and inside these the thrushes place

their nests. The result is that they are hard to spot, and conse-

quently I could only mark down one—on the Jumboo Dip

stream—and this was inaccessible. I hunted the stream, the Bee-

stream I mean, and it appendages from the source to the bottom of

its exceptionally pretty falls about a mile below the dam but could

not find a nest, though I am perfectly certain that two pairs had

nests somewhere along its course. These falls incidentally

are not mentioned in the guide book, though to my mind they

are more worthy of a visit than all the others.

I nearly got a photo of one of these fine birds when I was

operating upon the Blue Fly-catcher, as one landed in the pit and

started feeding on a ledge in front of, but a little above, the tent.

I slowly raised the lens, but found I could not get it quite high

enough without moving the front flap of the tent. This of course

alarmed it and it flew off. I have since provided the camera with

a sort of tilting-table operated by a screw, which I find most useful.

There are of course a goodly number of other birds to be found

in these ravines including jungle and spur fowl and certain

members of the birds of prey, both diurnal and otherwise, and

there are three small birds which I certainly ought to mention.

One is the Common indian Kingfisher which is fairly often to be

met with, especially on the main Denwa river at such places as

Pansy Pool and the other bathing places, and after the rains have

928 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

broken occasionally on the plateau as well. The other two are the

Spotted Babbler and the Bombay Quaker Babbler. Both these

birds are possessed of distinctive songs, the former of a most

striking one consisting of a fairly loud and tuneful whistle. It is

a shy skulking babbler spending most of its time in pretty thick

cover, hunting about on the ground occasionally in small parties

but usually alone or in pairs, and consequent on these habits it is

more often heard than seen. The Quaker Babbler also prefers

quiet woods but is usually found near streams. It is a nondescript

brownish bird about the size of a robin and is also of rather

solitary habits. It is fairly shy too but can be watched if one goes

about it with care. Its song is not unlike that of Tickell’s Blue

Fly-catcher, consisting of about the same number of notes, but it is

louder, slower, and not so metallic.

Handikho by the way, the most striking, impressive, and in-

accessibie of the Pachmarhi ravines, is a great stronghold of

various species of vultures and of flocks of blue rock-pigeons.

I think I have now mentioned the commoner ravine birds and can

pass on to the birds of the third zone.

I am sorry to say I visited neither Mahadeo nor Chawragarh but

in Dhupgarh I found a very productive hunting ground indeed

which I visited whenever the thick mists and rain allowed me to,

which unfortunately was not very often. Once the rains break,

the hill is often invisibie for days on end, the thick mist covering

all but its base, and even when it does emerge, one is never

certain for how long it will remain clear. It obviously receives a

very much larger rainfali than the plateau and this of course affects

its flora and faunatono small degree. To digress, it also causes an

increase of rain over the neighbouring end of the plateau, and, as one

goes along the motor read towards it, from Keatinge Point onwards

one cannot help noticing that the undergrowth becomes ranker,

the grass longer and thicker and the ground more sodden-looking.

From the very moment one commences to ascend the path which

winds upwards beneath the western precipitious face of the mount,

one cannot help but realise the super-birdishness of the place.

From all sides avian voices are borne in upon one’s ears, those

birds chiefly responsible being Red-whiskered Bulbuls, White

bellied Drongos, Blue Fly-Catchers and Wren-warblers. Dhupgarh

is the home of a fine Blackbird which is undoubtedly one of the best

songsters in India. Its habitat is par excellence the oblong plateau

about 200 feet below the hill’s summit, but one or two are generally

to be seen or heard along the lower reaches. of the path.

Malabar Whistling Thrushes are also generally in evidence, and their

voices are not only wafted up from the ravines below but from the

vicinity of the cliff face itself and even the chotta plateau.

About two-thirds of the way up the main trend of this path

bends round to the right following the side of a nullah which

terminates in the said plateau behind the main cliff.

The upper reaches of this nullahare a mass of thick jungle, largely

bamboo, and on reaching this turning point new voices are at

once remarked. There are always a number of babblers here, but

I have only been able to identify two species definitely, namely

)

IMPRESSIONS OF PACHMARHI BIRDS 929

the Spotted Babbler, by its voice of course, and Hume’s Scimitar

Babbler. Whenever I went specially armed with the -410 to collect

specimens of other members of the family, I either failed to see any,

or, what is worse, failed to hit them. My luck was always dead out.

Hume’s Scimitar Babbler is another bird with a highly distinctive

voice. [ts one and only area inthe hills around Pachmarhi appears

to be in the thick cover on the far side of this nullah I have been

talking about. It is a brown bird about the size of, but slenderer

than, a myna with a white vest and abdomen, a white eye-stripe, a

long curved yellow beak and a voice which I can only describe as

a bubbling one.

At the opposite end of the Bachar plateau is a very narrow

deep gorge full of undergrowth and heavy jungle an eerie place

indeed in the fading light. Into this one has to descend to reach a

certain cave, by name Jata Shankar. I only once visited this

gloomy spot, and besides hearing a Panther in its depths I thought I

heard the call—unfortunately it was not repeated—of a Scimitar

Babbler. Had I been staying on I would certainly have gone again,

and I hope others on reading this, will pay the place a visit.

However to hark back to Dhupgarh: one is now on the fringe of

a considerable plateau in the centre of which there stands a well

built inspection bungalow. This plateau, one might say, is the

property of the Black-capped Blackbirds, Wren-warblers, and a

number of Babblers. It consists of stretches of open ground and

patches of jungle of varying heights and denseness. The open

spaces are covered either with rough grass in tufts and low straggling

bushes or with tall grass above one’s head through which it is diffi-

cult to force one’s way. Patches of bamboo also abound.

The Wren-warblers chiefly inhabiting the grass lands are the

Indian Wren-warbler, Stewarts’ Ashy Wren-warbler, and Franklin’s

Wren-warbler. All three are easy to identify, the first named being

very plain, and the second of a fairly rich colouration, dark ashy

above, and yellowish below. The third is also very soberly arrayed

but has a fairly distinct greyish collar. It is also a noisy bird and

more inclined to be found in the patches of jungle and in parties

that the others are. These Wren-warblers also occur sparingly on

the main plateau. I once heard an Ashy Wren-warbler near

Government House and saw on two or three occasions Franklin’s

Wren-warblers in the thinner woods bordering the base of the

Hogsback.

On July 23rd, I found a Stewart’s Ashy Wren-warbler’s nest in

a patch of short grass about one hundred yards from the inspection

bungalow. It was in a low large-leafed straggling bush and was a

perfect example of the Tailor-bird type, consisting of two leaves

stitched together containing a very scanty lining of grass and down.

It contained three newly hatched young ones. ‘The female flew off

the nest otherwise I would not have noticed it. The weather had

been kind for the last two days, therefore, as it looked as if the

break would hold, we decided to bring up the tent and our lunch and

spend the whole of the next day operating on this nest, and if time

permitted looking for others as well.

The weather seemed fairly alright when we started but before

930 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol XXXI

we even reached the hill the mist was to be seen wreathing around

its summit. Half way up we found ourselves in a thin drizzle, and

on emerging on to the small plateau a chilling blast and heavy rain

met us full in the face. By the time we reached the bungalow

we were half-frozen and pretty well soaked, and to add to our

discomfort the place was locked up. Luckily a window-pane was

missing, sO we were soon inside, but alas little better off as

Dhupgarh in wet weather is the dreariest, windiest most uninviting

spot I’ve ever struck, or so I felt then. Fortunately the kansamah

suddenly appeared out of the fog, opened up the godowns where

dry wood was to be found and soon had a goodly fire and some

hot tea going, which raised our spirits a bit. We waited in the

bungalow till after four o’clock when the fog lifted a little and the

tain ceased. We then made a dash for home leaving the half plate

camera and the tent in the bungalow in the hopes that the fine spell

had not really broken. I was doomed to be disappointed however,

as for three days it rained continuously. On the fourth day I tried

again, but as before as I went up the mist came down, and I might

just as well have saved myself the trouble for I found the nest

in pieces on the ground. It looked rather flimsy when I found it,

so I think the increasing weight of the young ones, and the soaking

it had received, had been too much for it.

The one redeeming feature of these expeditions was that I got a

nest of the Black-capped Blackbird. It was just behind the bungalow

in a fairly large rather moss covered tree, and placed on an outer

fork of a horizontal branch thereof, well screened by the leaves

of another branch just above it. From below it looked like a

pretty tidy bundle of living moss. It would be between 15 and 20

feet from the ground, and contained three eggs. In colouration

they were blue with well distributed and well defined blotches of

reddish and purplish brown. They are in fact indistinguishable

from many eggs of the Nilgiri Blackbird I have seen but a bit

smaller, the three eggs averaging 29:°1mm. by 20°2 mm. The

female was a light sitter—I would not have found the nest

otherwise—and she always leit whenever one approached the tree.

While we were waiting in the bungalow, I heard a Blackbird’s

strains floating in from the direction of the tree. I thought the

male bird must have appeared on the scene but on going to look

found it was emanating from the sitting female. It was raining in

bucket-fulls and a thick mist made it impossible to see anything

more than 50 yards distant, so perhaps she was singing to keep

warm or to keep up her spirits on such a depressing day.

I shall always regret that I did not spend a week end in the

bungalow before the rains began, especially as they did not break

for some days after the end of the course. Dhupgarh is an

interesting place and to explore it thoroughly would take some

days, and I am sure a protracted visit would result in considerable

additions to the list of Pachmarhi’s birds.

Before I close these notes I think a few remarks are indicated on

those birds I saw which Mr. Osmaston has got down in his list as

winter visitors. Dates on which migratory birds are seen in

different districts are always of use.

IMPRESSIONS OF PACHMARHI BIRDS Jol

On April 15th, I saw an Indian Blue Rock-Thrush on the roof

of an empty bungalow near the Malcolm Point path. I again saw

it two days later.

Up to April 16th, Indian Tree Pipits were not uncommon, but

no more were seen after that date.

On April 16th, a single Eastern Grey Wagtail and a Common

Sandpiper were also seen.

On July 27th, I saw a Bay-backed Shrike near the Government

gardens. As regards the Rufous-backed Shrike, I| think it might

better be described as an occasional, rather than a winter, visitor.

From the 11th up to the 25th April one haunted a date-palm at the

bend in the river by the Towers, and on the 12th June another was

seen in the Government Gardens. I saw one in between these

dates too but I find I have not recorded it in my diary.

One other statement in the list needs enlarging upon, i.e., the

fact that the Large Grey Babbler is said not to occur on the plateau

proper. From July 14th fill we left a party of six could always be

found between the race-course and the Hogsback. Another smaller

party also affected the open jungle just beyond the western end

of the Hogsback.

It only remains now to givethe names of those birds identified,

which are not down on Mr. Osmaston’s list at all. First and fore-

most comes the Black-capped Blackbird which I have already talked

about.

On May 2nd, there appeared over the lake a flock of twelve Night

Herons. They circled round once or twice but did not alight,

continuing their journey over the plateau and disappearing in the

direction of the southern end of Dhupgarh.

On the same day and also about a week later I saw an Indian

Oriole, near Government House.

On July 7th, a bird, which Iam as certain as one can be under the

circumstances was an Indian Rufous-tailed Finch-Lark, flew from

under my wife’s feet on the road running close to the railings over

looking Handikho.

On July llth, a flock of 5, and on August Ist a flock of 4, Madras

Black-headed Munias were seen in the gardens.

On July 14th, a Pied Crested Cuckoo was spotted near Foxrock,

and on the 21st a Wood Sandpiper was aisturbed feeding at a

muddy little pool on the golf links. Surely this is a very early

date for this bird’s arrival in the C.P., though perhaps it had never

trecked North at all.

Lastly a Green Munia was shot on Dhupgarh on July 29th. A

pair few out of a tuft of grass close to a clump of bamboo on the

Chota plateau. I hunted through the clump in the hopes that there

might be a nest, but could find no signs of one. I had never

struck this beautiful little bird before. Its bright colours are most

striking and I had no idea any Munia could be so exquisitely

dressed. The main characteristics, which strike one in the living

bird, are the velvety black tail, the feathers of which are rounded,

and not pointed, the brown and white striped flanks, and the

colourful bright green back and yeliow underparts.

ON A COLLECTION OF MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDAE

FROM UPPER BURMA MADE BY CAPTAIN A. E. SWANN

Louis B. PROUT, F.E.S.

ParRT IV

(Continued from page 799 of this Volume.)

* 243. LEctropis marmorata (Moore).

Arichanna marmorata Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 659, Pl. xxiii,

Fig. 3 (1867) (Bengal).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1 ¢.

* 244. Hctropis enormis (Warr.).

Myrioblephara enormis Warr., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 429 (1893)

(Nagas).

Htawgaw, March 1923, 1, April 4-10, 1923, 19, June 1923, 14, August

1923, 12; Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 21 ¢¢, early July 1923, 1 ¢, August 14-18,

L923; ae

A fine and somewhat variable series of this hitherto little-known species. The

August specimens are rather small and aberrant-looking. In addition to the

series registered above, | call particular attention to the following specimen :—

ab. Illota, ab. nov (? bon. sp.) ¢, 27 mm. Forewing heavily and almost

uniformly irrorated with blackish fuscous, so that the markings, excepting the

deeper black cell-mark and traces of the pale band beyond the postmedian. are

almost obsolete ; costal margin, sub-basal band, anterior half of the double

postmedian and some terminal cloudings also, on close attention, discernible by

reason of a thickening of the dark irrotation. MHinudwing more heavily suffused

than on typical exormzs, the cell-dot and postmedian line faint.

Underside of forewing more suffused, of hindwing more irrorated, than in

typical exormis, but with cell-dots end postmedian lines fairly clear.

Hpimaw Fort; June 1923, 1.

By the structure, the coloration of abdomen, etc., I have scarcely any doubt

that this is a remarkable aberration of exormis, but as, in addition to its small

Size, it has the forewing slightly narrower, the hindwing slightly less regularly

rounded (a little more flat, or sinuate, from SC? to R°, hence a little prominent

about R°-M7*) I think it desirable to name and describe it.

* 245. Lctropis duplexa (Moore).

Cleora duplexa, Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p..239 (1888) (Darjiling).

Htawgaw, March 1923, 1¢, April-May 1923, 1, June 1923, 3 gd, early

July 1923, 1 g, August 1923, 2 92; Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 6 ¢¢, early July

1923, 19, August 9-13, 1923, 3 gg, August 14-18, 1923, 1 Q.

* 246. Lctropis planaria Swinh.

Ectropis planaria, Swinh., Tr. Ent. Soc. Lond., p. 221 (1894) (Khasis).

Htawgaw, August 1923, 1 9.

A brightly coloured specimen. I havea similar 9 from Darjiling. Con-

ceivably a small form of conifera, Moore (Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 239) ; in any case’

I cannot unite it with ochrifasciata, as is done by Hampson (Faun. Ind., Moths.

vol. iii, p. 259).

* 247, LEclroptis ochrifasciata (Moore).

_ Cleora ochrifasciata Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 240 (1888) (Darjiling).

Htawgaw, June 1923, 1, early July 1923, 4 ¢¢,1@, August 1923, 3 3;

Hpare, August 1923, 12 (large form) ; Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1 g, August:

14-18, 1923, 1 2 (large form).

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDA 933

* 248. Lctropis ethregenes, sp.n. (Pl. ii, Fig. 18).

3, 25mm. Head white, suffused with light brown. Palpus 13, on outer side

light brownish, with a few darker scales. Antennal fascicles of cilia very

slender, long (3 or 4). Thorax and abdomen dirty white, above rather strongly

blotched with light brown ; anal segments rather elongate.

Forewing with SC*** coincident free; fovea strong; subtranslucent white,

as in murmorata, Moore ; some sparse black irroration and light tawny-brown

cloudings (much as in marmorata), which occupy most of the proximal area

except fovea, an ill-defined band beyond the postmedian and parts of the

terminal area; a black cell-dot, with traces of a brown median line bent just

outside it, then running inward very obliquely to M just proximal to base of

M? ; postmedian outbent at R?-R?, but not very strongly ; subterminal lunu-

late dentate, interrupted; terminal dots strong. Hindwing with termen

slightly less strongly crenulate than in marmorata; coloration, siniilar ;

markings more as in ochrifasciata Moore, the median line being strongly

oblique, the postmedian close beyond the cell-dot ; subterminal grey shades

rather weak ; terminal dots strong.

Underside feebly marked, except for the postmedian line, chiefly on hindwing ;

distinguishable at a glance from that of #armorata by the much more proximal

position of this line.

Hpimaw Fort, early July 1923, the type only.

Much smaller than marmorata, the only similarly coloured species of the

group ; more delicately built and with various differences in the markings.

* 249. Lctropis defervescens, sp. n.

6, 26 mm. Near ochrifasciata Moore. Antennal ciliation rather longer

(more ‘ Myrioblephara’-like). Abdomen on Ist and 2nd tergites with paired

biack spots, on 3rd-6th almost wholly infuscated. Colouring less warm than

in ochrifasciata.

Forewing with cell-dot rather elongate, oblique ; antemedian line excurved in

cell, the shade proximal to it almost wholly blackish-fuscous ; postmedian less

excurved behind R* than in ochrifascitata, not excurved behind M?, throughout

more broken into coarse vein-spots ; Gark terminal blotch restricted toa dash on

R? and a slighter one on R?.

Hindwing whiter; postmedian line and its distal shade almost equal in

strength and in the degree of their denticulations.

Underside paler than in ochrifasctata, less fleshy-tinged ; postmedian of both

wings less bent.

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 3 ¢¢.

250. Lctropis irrorata (Moore).

Cleora irrorata Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 240 (1888) (Darjiling).

Hpimaw Fort, early July 1923, 1 ¢.

251. Lctropis simplaria (Swinh).

Ectropis simplaria Swinh., Tr. Ent. Soc. Lond., p. 221 (1894) (Khasis).

Htawgaw, July 1923, 3 ¢¢ ; Hpimaw Fort, July 1923, 19.

This species has representatives, if not races, throughout a great part of the

Indo-Australian Region (compare &. doarmiodes Rothsch., Nov. Zool., vol. xxii,

p. 236, Ceram). At any rate it occurs with scarcely any appreciable modification

in the Malay Peninsula and adjacent islands.

* 252. Lctropis leucozona (Ampsn.).

Boarmia leucozona Hmpsn., Faun. Ind. Moths, vol. iii. p. 260 (1895) (Nagas).

Htawgaw, March 1923, 1 g; Blackrock, June 1923, 1 ¢; Hpimaw Fort,

August 1923, 19; Hparé, August 1923, 1 @.

With the exception of the short series on which this species was founded and

one or two specimens from the Khasis (where it must be quite rare), I know of

no captures prior to Capt. Swann’s. It is therefore interesting that he lighted

upon it in so many spots, though always singly.

* 253.. Ectropis lophomeris,.sp. a. (Pl. ii, Fig. 21).

3 2, 28-33 mm. Face pale brown. Palpus rather short, terminal joint

minute ; somewhat dark-mixed on outer side. Vertex whitish or very pale brown.

Antennal ciliation in ga little over 1. Body whitish brown, the wingtegulz

934 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

and especially the collar tippets browner. Pectus and coxe in ¢ roughly

hairy. Fore and midleg largely darkened, irregularly pale-banded.

Hind-femur in ¢ with tuft of long hair; hindtibia of ¢ with groove on innerside.

Abdominal spine wanting.

Forewing with termen almost smooth; fovea wanting; SC?” in both sexes

shortly stalked, SC? almost always anastomosing shortly or moderately with C,

in one @ free; white, with irregular dark irroration and in places with red-brown

shading ; antemedian line grey or blackish, rarely very distinct throughout, at

costa often blackened ; usually a browner, less definite line or shade proximally

to the antemedian ; cell-dot black ; median line nearly aiways redder, often

arising from a blackish spot on costa, excurved or usually angulated about R? ;

postmedian somewhat crenulate, with blacker vein-dots or minute teeth on a

browner foundation; faint suggestions of a duplicating line beyond ; sub-

terminal markedly dentate, somewhat receding from termen between the

outward tooth of cellule 4 and the inward one of R*; irregular proximal

shading to the subterminal, nearly always blackest between the radials, some-

times also at costa; apical region sometimes suffused with red-brown or with

dark grey; termen with more or less elongate interneural dots or spots ; fringe

rather pale, with weak indications of dark bisecting line and often dark spots

opposite the veins. Azmdwing with termen waved or weakly subcrenulate ;

nearly concolorous, Dut less suffused with red-brown ; cell-dot sharply black ;

lines continued, the median straightish, rather weak; postmedian slightly

incurved at both folds; dark shades of subterminal more uniform than on

forewing, rarely very strong.

Underside more yellowish ; forewing with minute costal dots, slightly larger

ones at position of antemedian and median lines, small black cell-dot and

black-brown distal border of about 3mm. width, sometimes nearly complete,

sometimes fading out gradually behind middle, always more or less mixed with

the ground-colour terminally at apex and about R*; hindwing with large

black cell-dot, weaker terminal marks and often some indications of dark

border, especially anteriorly and at its proximal edge.

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, type ¢gand1Q, July 1923,1¢, 8 99, August

1923, 1 4,12; Hpimaw Fort, 14-18, 1923, 1 @.

The later-brood specimens are nearly all smaller than the early pair. The

type gis mcre suffused with red-brown than most of the series, but its com-

panion Q is by no means so.

* 254, LEctropis zotica, sp.n. (Pl. ii, Fig. 20).

3, 30mm. Inshape, general coloration and pose of markings suggesting a

very vividly coloured aberration of the preceding, but on closer examination

abunduntly distinct. Head rather browner. Antennal ciliation longer (just

over 2). Abdomen spotted or broadiy belted dorsally with blackish fuscous.

Abdominal spine developed (hindlegs lost).

Forewing with fovea; SC* running into C; brown shade outside median

bright and strong reaching beyond postmedian ; antemedian stronger, more

proximal anteriorly, excurved about fold; median shade much thickened,

blackish, absorbing the cell-dot ; postmedian gently incurved between R* and

M*. Hindwing with a corresponding blackish median shade; duplicating

line of postmedian light and bright; distal area a good deal suffused with

brown ; proximal tooth of subterminal on M? rather elongate.

Underside, in addition to the costal and terminal markings of lophomeris,

with the lines and median shade of upperside largely reproduced ; cell-spots

large.

Htawgaw, July 1923, the type only.

* 255. Lctropis albibasis (Hmpsn.).

Boarmia albtbasis Hmpsn., Faun. Ind., Moths. vol. iii, p. 278 (1895) (Sikkim).

Htawgaw, August 1923, 19.

A rather broad-bordered form, the median shade also rather broad.

Hampson founded this species on a @ and assumed the ¢ antenna to be

pectinate, which is not the case; it has long ciliation; ¢ hindtibia with hair-

pencil. A further and less excusable error concerns the venation ; vein 10 is

not stalked with 7, 8, 9 but arises from the cell, anastomosing slightly with C

or remaining free.

Previously known only from Sikkim and Assam.

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDAE 935

*256. Ectropis hiuica, sp. n. (PI. ii, Fig. 17).

9, 31mm. Face dark fuscous (partly abraded). Palpus rather short, 2nd

joint moderately stout, 3rd joint very small, blunt. Antenna minutely ciliated.

Head and body whitish, irrorated with black, in places suffused with ochreous ;

some irregular maculation at base of abdomen above. Foreleg darkened on

upper and innerside, the tibial and tarsal joints with pale terminal spots ;

other legs only feebly dark-mottled.

Forewing rather broad and § Gunophos-like; SC*’? co-incident, free ;

white, irrorated with black and clouded with ochreous ; cell-dot strong, black ;

antemedian line outbent in cell, posteriorly fairly strong ; median thickened

from costa almost to R*?, then curving, posteriorly less black-mixed ; post-

median very gently curved, formed of spots on the veins; subterminal! line

forming a strong inward curve from just before R® to just behind M?, a blunt

angle outward in cellule 2, a weaker inward curve behind; broad dark

cloudings proximally to the subterminal; dark terminal shading strongest

between costa and R*:; terminal line slightly waved; fringe weakly mottled.

Hindwing with termen weakly and irregularly subcrenulate ; costal margin

pale and almost unmarked, the rest concolorous with forewing ; cell-dot large ;

median shade straight, rather weak ; postmedian scarcely beyond middle of

wing, faint anteriorly, punctiform posteriorly ; subterminal analogous to that

of forewing, the costal cloud thinner and weaker.

Underside duller, the forewing slightly suffused, the markings (except cell-

spots) weaker, but similarly formed.

Hpimaw Fort, August 14-18 1923, (type), June 1923, 1 2 (worn).

Affinities uncertain. The characteristic subterminal line is approached by that

of albibasis Ampsn. (especially the Htawgaw ab.), which also has a short

forewing and a few other point of contact with it. The ¢ must be awaited for

further structural clues.

* 257. Lctropis embolochroma, sp. 1. (Plate ii, Fig. 8).

3, 36mm. Head brown. Palpus shortish, stout, termina! joint very small.

Antennal shaft bright red-brown ; ciliation extremely long and slender (genus

Myvioblephara of Warren). ‘Thorax brown, above mixed with blackish.

Abdomen paler, the first segments dark-spotted above; anal tuft strong.

Fore and midleg partly infuscated. Hindtibia not dilated.

Forewing rather elongate ; fovea well developed ; retinaculum rather broad ;

SC1:? coincident, free; white, finely strigulated with red-brown; costa

irregularly spotted; basal area red-brown; antemedian Jine strong, black-brown,

preceded proximally by a broader, posteriorly tapering line or shade; cell-dot

blackish ; median shade only indicated by ared-brown costal spot ; postmedian

from little beyond midcosta, strong anteriorly, very gently curving to R°,

thence represented by vein-dots or small dashes ; subterminal line interrupted

by a white spot at R°—M}?, shaded with black-brown proximally, especially in

anterior half, between which and the postmedian stands a very characteristic

red-brown patch; terminal area interruptedly shaded with red-brown and

black-brown ; interneural terminal black dots; fringe very feebly bisected

moderately chequered. AHindwing with costa relatively rather short, termen

crenulate in middle ; white, the red-brown shading duller and less developed

than on forewing, chiefly showing in a band just outside the postmedian ; a

blackish spot at base of M and SM? a slightly elongate black cell-mark ;

lines blackish on the veins, not reaching costa ; postmedian close beyond cell,

forming a long outward projection between R* and M? and again oblique

outward between fold and SM? ; subterminal and terminal shades copious but

vague ; an ill-defined whitish terminal spot behind R”.

Underside more glossy, more blurred, especially the forewing, which is

predominantly somewhat smoky, only becoming whitish posteriorly, cell-

marks well developed ; forewing with the other markings vague, except a dark

pree-subterminal shade and the white spot behind R*; hindwing whiter, the

lines better expressed, the median reaching costa, angled outward in cell.

Hpimaw Fort, August 1923, the type only.

The black-brown scaling is laid on in the ‘ fluted’ manner well known in

the genus Glossotrophia.

936 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOGETY, Vol) XXXT

* 258. LEctropis conspicuata (Moore).

Menophra conspicuata Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 237 (1888) (Darjiling).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 1 9.

* 259. Ectropis bisinuata dignampta, subsp. n.

2 31-32 mm. Less ochreous than # 6. disinuataHmpsn. (Faun. Ind. Moths,

vol. iii, p. 261, Nepal to Assam), darker, the irroration being predominantly

blackish instead of brown. Median and postmedian lines of both wings slightly

more distally placed. Underside distinctly less ochreous than in 6. disinuata.

Htawgaw, June 1923, 3 QQ.

Hampson’s description is exceedingly bad, as the species has no connection

with scripturaria. Moreover, ‘as the ¢ hindtibia is dilated he ought to have

referred the species to his section Pyrorhinia. Compare Fut. Mitt., vol. iii,

pp. 267-8, on zzgriflexa Prout, which I now believe to be the Formosan race of

bisinuata.

* 260. ctropis insecura, sp. 0.

¢é,3lmm. Structure nearly as in 6istnwata Hmpsn., coloration and facies

more recalling zucepturta, Walk. Palpus on outerside blacker than in dzsznuata.

Antennal ciliation rather long, about as in that species. Hindtibia dilated with

hair-pencil.

Forewing with SC1*? anastomosing at a point with SC® # (free in all the

bisinuata 1 have examined); antemedian line less deeply curved than in

bisinuata ; median much as in 6. dignampta the space between it and cell-spot

conspicuously darkened ; postmedian rather less strongly excurved anteriorly

than in dzstnuata, at hindmargin almost vertical instead of oblique outward.

Underside paler grey, almost unmarked.

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, the type only.

It is just possible that this may be a seasonal form of the insect which I have

described as dzsinuata dignampta (supra), notwithstanding the great disparity in

the undersides ; but it is too unlikely to be assumed without further evidence.

261. LEctropis inceptaria (Walk.).

Tephrosia inceptaria Walk., List. Lep. Ins., vol. xxv, p. 1590 (1866) (Flores).

Narapa breta. Swinh., Proc. Zool. Soc Lond., p. (1889) (Nilgiris).

Laukhaung, July 1923, 1 3

Common and widely distributed in India, the Malay Peninsula and the Sunda

Islands.

262. EHectropis indistincta (Hmpsn.).

Cleora indistincta Hmpsn., ll. Het., viii, 106, Pl. cl, Fig. 3 (1891) (Nilgiris).

Htawgaw, August 1923, 1 7.

Worn, but apparently—from its structure and small size—referable here.

Hampson (Faun. Ind., Moths, vol. iii, p. 262) seems wrong in making this a

‘form’ of the preceding.

* 263. ctropis impos, sp. 0.

& 9, 25-26 mm. Smaller and paler than zuceptaria Walk, more like

indistincta, Hmpsn. Distinguished from both by the absence of the tufts from

hindcoxa and second abdominal sternite of the ¢, the larger black: cell-dot of

the hindwing, etc. Antennal ciliation of ¢ little over 1 (as in zu¢eptaria or

scarcely longer). Ground-colour white, the fine irroration grey, less brownish

than in zuceptaria; the shades of the subterminal, especially on-forewing,

rather strong, appearing to the naked eye more bluish black-grey than the

rest ; the subterminal itself much as in lophomeris Prout (supra), or with the

inward tooth at M? still longer; postmedian line of forewing not quite so

strongly incurved posteriorly as in zuceptaria, thus less approximated to the

median, the two here only blackened on SM? and without the dark shading

between them which is generally characteristic of zuceptaria; median of

hindwing a little more curved, running to abdominal mare more obliquely.

Htawegaw, April-May 1923, 2 ¢¢, 1 @.

I at first took these specimens to be a form of zudistincta, in 1 which species—

apart from the distinctions already noted—the antennal ciliation is appreciably

longer, almost 2.

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDZ 937

* 264. LEctropis pulvicopia, sp. n. (PI. ii, Fig. 6).

3,32 mm. Face white-grey, a dark brown band across middle. Palpus

blackish, the extreme end of the second joint and the small, pointed terminal

joint white-grey. Vertex white-grey. Antennal ciliation slightly over 1.

Thorax and abdomen concolorous with wings. Legs partly infuscated ;

hindtibia not dilated.

_ Forewing with termen smooth ; fovea moderate ; SC1°? very shortly stalked,

SC? anastomosing very strongly with C:; white, very finely but copiously and

evenly irrorated with grey; lines darker grey, slightly thickened at costal

margin, the antemedian also at hindmargin ; antemedian excurved in cell;

median weak, strongly excurved outside the weak cell-dot; postmedian at

about 7, with small outward teeth on the veins, the lunules between mostly

shallow ; pale subterminal line also crenulate, but very indistinct, chiefly indi-

cated by slight dark proximal snading; termen with weak interneural dots ;

fringe very slightly spotted opposite the veins.

Hindwing only weakly crenulate; antemedian line obsolete, otherwise

similar to forewing.

acsride almost unmarked, forewing slightly smoky, hindwing slightly

paler.

Htawgaw, early July 1923, the type only.

Near serratilinea Warr. (ov. Zool., vol. iii, p. 318), slightly smaller, rather

_colder grey, the crenulations of the postmedian less deep, the underside different.

* 265. Lctropis dentilineata (Moore).

Tephrosia dentilineata Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 631 (1867) (Darjiling).

Htawgaw, July 1923, 1 Q. .

Distributed in the Himalayas, where it represents dzstortata Goeze of the

Palearctic Region (crvepuscularia auctt., nec. Hb). Although the venational

difference given by Hampson (faun. Ind., Moths, vol. iii, p. 260) has proved

inconstant, it would be premature to merge the species. In the Htawgaw

specimen the coincident vein (SC**?) is just stalked and the ovipositor is

extremely elongate.

266. Lctropis, sp.

Htaweaw, 1923, undated, 1 ¢.

A rather narrow-winged dusky species, apparently new, but much too worn to

describe. Antinnal ciliation shortish, a long lateral pencil from base of

abdomen, fovea very strong and SC?*-? of forewing shortly stalked are the

principal structural characters and there seems to have been a conspicuous

white mid-subterminal spot as in some of the conspurcata group, intractabilis,

etc.

267. Ectropis intractabilis (Walk.) ab. ?

Homoptera intractabilis Walk. Journ. Linn. Soc. Zool., vol. vii, p. 83 (1864)

(Sarawak).

Hparé, September 1923, 1 @.

Rather broad-winged, hindwing perhaps rather too crenulate for this species,

postmedian rather more curved. Not in very fresh condition.

E. intractabilis, under its synonym of figlina Swinh. (Tr. Ent. Soc. Lond.,

1890, p. 205) is well known from the Khasi and Karen Hills.

* 268. Paradarisa chloauges, sp. n.

3, 4548 mm. Close to comparataria Walk. (List Lep. Ins., vol. xxxv, p.

1582). Abdomen with the hair of posterior sternites perhaps less dense. Wing

slightly longer, of a more greenish tone, the irroration being olive-buff to olive.

Forewing with similar venation ; the liver-brown suffusion about hindmargin

strong (noticeable in some comparataria, especially of the Formosan race

(rantaizanensis Wileman, The Entom , vol. xlv, p. 258), antemedian line much

less oblique inward posteriorly, its course not being changed at fold or SM? ;

cell-mark more elongate ; postmedian more deeply incurved at SC5-R?, much

less incurved at fold, running to hindmargin vertically instead of markedly

obliquely outward. H/indwing with cell-mark longer and stronger; median

line rathar less divergent from postmedian anteriorly than in comparataria,

938 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Underside much as in the more blurred examples of comparataria, the

subterminal dark shades fairly broad but weak (in the paratype fairly strong

anteriorly on forewing). :

Hparé, September 1923 (type); .Hpimaw Fort, August 14-16) - 1923

(paratype).

FP. vantaizanensis, which I regard as a race of comparataria (Wileman’s

type isarather dusky aberration, most Formosan examples nearer the Indian),

rather more approaches the tone of chloauges than does C. comparataria, but

the course of its lines is quite as in the last-named.

* 269. faradarisa azyx, sp. 0.

2, 43 mm. Apparently also close to comparataria, Walk., differing as

follows :—

Wing slightly broader. General coloration rather more reddish than in

the most highly coloured forms of comparataria and with the dark irroration

stronger. Abdomen dorsally more darkened.

Forewing with the bifurcation of C and SC* more proximal (about opposite

DC?; in comparataria generally opposite origin of SC5); antemedian line

strongly excurved, in cell reaching 7 mm. from base; cell-mark larger but much

weaker, suggesting an elongate ccellus ; postmedian with the outward bend at

R? much stronger, a slight additional outward bend at fold, the inward curve

small and only between fold and SM7?, the final course to hindmargin oblique

inward. Hindwing with median shade thicker and straighter than in com-

parataria ; cell-mark as in forewing; postmedian more acutely inbent at

fold.

Underside with the same distinctions in the cell-marks and lines; forewing

with the outer dark band different, reaching virtually to termen (only faintly

and narrowly pale-mixed at apex and midtermen), on the other hand separated

from the postmedian between R* and costa by a subtriangular patch of the

geround-colour.

Htawgaw, June 1923, the type only.

In the absence of the ¢ it is not quite certain that this will not prove a true

Medasina, i.e. with the ¢ antenna pectinate.

* 270. Diblurodes vestita Warr.

Diplurodes vesitta Warr., Nov. Zool., vol. iii, p. 132 (1896) (Khasis).

Htawgaw, June 1923, 1¢, July 1923, 1¢.

These specimens agree accurately with the typical Khasi forni, of which

I have seen eight ; whereas the other forms with which attempts have been

made to,unite it (Ceylon, Sarawak, etc.) are clearly distinguishable though

closely allied. I believe most of the species of Diplurodes have only a restricted

range.

271. Cleora alienaria (Walk.).

Boarmia alienaria Walk., List Lep. Ins., vol. Xxi, p. 370 (1860) (Sylhet).

Chogada fraterna, Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 245 (1888) (Darjiling).

Htawgaw, June 1923, at 3.

I believe this species, in different races, is distributed over a large part of the

Indo-Australian Region, but a nuniber of close allies have often been con-

fused with it. A good figure of true alienaria is given by Hampson (faun.

Ind. Moths, vol. iii, p. 265, Fig. 137) under the erroneous name of acaczaria.

* 272. Cleora variegate (Moore).

Pseudocoremia variegata Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 240 (1888) (Darjiling).

Htawgaw, June 1923, 2 99.

Possibly a race, as both have the blue-blackish scaling dominant, the

borders beneath rather broad, that of hindwing little weakened posteriorly.

* 273. Cleora latifasciata (Warr.).

Poecilalcis latifasciata Warr., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 427 (1893)

(Sikkim).

Boarmia eurydiscaria Hmpsn., Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. xiv,

p. 507 (1902) (Sikkim).

Hpimaw Fort, August 1923, 1¢.

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDZ 939

Hampson (Faun. Ind. Moths, vol. iii, p. 281) misidentified Warren’s datifas-

crata, sinking it to his own euryzona (Sect. Gasterocome). Consequently when the

British Museum acquired the true datifasciata he assumed that it was a new

species and redescribed it as eurydiscaria. I cannot find that the name /afi-

fasciata is pre-occupied, as Hampson (loc. cit.) indicates ; probably he thought

it too near his own /atifascia ; yet he has admitted both a pallida and a

pallidaria in the self same genus /!).

* 274. Cleora imbectlis (Moore).

Pseudocoremia imbecilis Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 241 (1888) (Darjiling).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923,1¢. _

* 275. Cleora venustularia Walk.

Cleora venustularia Walk., List. Lep. Ins.,vol. xxxv, p. 1579 (1866) (N. India).

: TE. August-September 1923, 1¢; Hpimaw Fort, August 1923, 3 ¢¢,

Capt. Swann also sent two specimens which I take to be diminutive dark

tata of this species: Htawgaw, August 1923, 192, August-September

23,124.

276. Cleora decussata Moore.

Cleora decussata Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 628, Pl. xxxiii, Fig. 4

(1867) (Darjiling).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 2 ¢¢.

2/7. Cleora, sp.

Htawgaw, August-September 1923, 1 ¢.

Too worn to make out. According to the structure it certainly belongs in

the vicinity of venustularia, but I do not think it can be a weakly marked form

(as diminutive as the dark ¢ noted above) of that species. Perhaps closer to

cincinna, Warr. (Nov. Zool., vol. xiii, p. 139) and pammicra, Prout (ov.

Zool., vol. xxxii, p. 57).

278. Cleora aagostigma, sp. n.

36, 22-23 mm. ; Q, 25-27. Near venustularia Walk., though smaller. Head

and thorax pale brownish grey, only the metathorax blackened ; the face

almost white. Antenna of ¢ with pectinations about 3 (much as in venustularia

or scarcely so long). Abdomen white, with some black-grey dorsal irroration

and ill-defined subdorsal spots. Legs about as in venustularia.

Forewing in all the known examples with SC**? shortly stalked (in venus-

tularia generally arising separate, but variable), SC? anastomosing shortly

with C (3 examples) or free (paratype ¢); fovea large in the @, slightly

indicated even in the 2; white, with the dark irroration rather weaker than in

venustularia, at least in the median area; Subbasal black mark much weaker ;

antemedian less oblique, with an appreciable brown line or shade proximally ;

cell-spot large, rather elongate, black, with the median shade either crossing it

or touching it distally, but so much less strong as never to fuse with it; post-

median with the two outward curves weak, though slightly variable ; shading

in distal area not so heavy and variegated as in venustularta (the bluish

element wanting) ; pale midterminal spot moderately developed ; sometimes a

rather strong dark cloud between the radials; termen as in venustularia ;

fringe more weakly chequered. AHindwing nearly as in venustularia, but with

the postmedian line slightly more sinuous, ending more obliquely at abdominal

margin.

Underside with the cell-spots strong, otherwise more weakly marked than in

venustularia, the forewing much more uniformly blurred, the hindwing wit

postmedian line sometimes almost absolete, never strong.

Hpimaw Fort, August 9-13, 1923, type ¢ and paratype ¢, August.1923, 2 99.

Evidently close to pammicra Prout (Nov. Zool., vol. Xxxii, p. 57, Pahang),

possibly a race, though the subcostal venation has not advanced so far in

specialization ; less smail, the hindwing whiter, the subterminal on both wings

less developed, etc.

90 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

*279. Cleora contozona, sp. n. (Pl. ii, Fig. 3).

3d, 28-30 mm. Structure about as in 7udata, Thnbg. Face white, irrorated

(especially on upper part) with black-grey. Palpus rather loose-haired, heavily

mixed on outerside with black. Head, body and legs white, irrorated with

black, the fore and midleg rather regularly banded.

Forewing with SC**? shortly to extremely shortly stalked ; white with black

irroration ; this irroration in the basal area moderately dense (except on fovea),

in places slightly confluent, in median area almost uniform, in distal area

rather more irregular ; cell-spot large ; lines indicated chiefly by costal marks

and by dots or dashes on the veins, their position, however, rendered very

distinct by non-irrorate bands of the white ground-colour on their reverse sides ;

median shade sometimes obsolete, sometimes indicated anteriorly, curved,

meeting the postmedian dots about R* ; subterminal line irregular, in middle

almost lost in a vague pale terminal patch some ill-defined black blotches

proximal to the subterminal ; interneural black terminal spots; fringe sharply

chequered. AHindwings white, the irroration slight, except basally and abdo-

minally ; cell-spot moderately large ; the beginning of an oblique line from

abdominal margin close to tornus.

Underside similar, the forewing more clouded in cell, more whitish behind.

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, type, August 9-13, 1923, 2 ¢g, August 14-18, 1923,

ld:

Variation slight, chiefly in the width of the median area.

* 280. Cleora semiclarata (Walk.).

Selidosema (?) semiclarata Walk., List Lep. fus., vol. xxiv, p. 1029 (1862)

(Bhutan).

Htawgaw, March 1923, 19, April 4-10, 1923, 1 ¢, 1, April-May 1923, 3 ¢¢,

Septem ber—October 1923, 1 ¢; Hpimaw Fort, August 1923, 19.

* 281. Cleora perspicuata (Moore).

Boarmia perspicuata Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 630 (1867) (Bengal).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 5 ¢¢, 2 QQ, early July 1923, 1 ¢; Hpimaw Fort,

June 1923, 13 g¢.

I am still very far from having completed my investigations into the species

of the admissaria group, even for India; but I believe the above is the oldest

name for the common moderately variable North Indian species. In addition

to the series registered above, Capt. Swann sent a rather small ¢ and @

(Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, ¢, Laukhaung March 10, 1923, 2) which may

represent another aberration, or very likely a closely allied species. They are

superficially extremely like plenzferata Walk. (List Lep. Ins., vol. xxvi,

p. 1538, Bhutan), having just the same blackish clouding between the antemedian

and the median line; but the underside is different and the antenna and hindleg

of the ¢ show structural divergence.

* 282. Cleora incongruaria (Leech).

Boarmia incongruaria Leech, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6), vol. xix, p. 425

(1897) (Omei-Shan), Hpimaw Fort, August 14-18, 1923, 2 ¢g, 19.

* 283. Cleora euphiles Prout.

Cleora euphiles Prout, Nov. Zool., vol. xxiii, p. 54 (1916) (Tibet).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 1 ¢, August 1923, 1 9.

* 284. Cleora trigrapta, sp. n.

, 31 mm. Face brown, mixed with black. Palpus about 14, rough scaled ;

brown, mixed on outerside with black ; underside greyer.

Forewing with apex not acute, termen not very oblique, straightish between

SC* and R%, curved and faintly waved behind ; SC? and SC? well free, M?

closely approximated to R®* at origin; proximal area russet, weakly irrorated

with blackish and with a very ill-defined subbasal stripe ; median area grey,

the three lines rather strong, black ; antemedian from costa at 4 mm. to hind-

margin at 3mm., very gently curved anteriorly, almost straight to SM2, then

rather oblique inward ; median from costa slightly before middle, excurved

(but weakened) where it crosses the elongate black cell-mark, gently incurved

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDZ: 941

posteriorly ; postmedian from costa at 9°5 mm. to hindmargin at 7 mm., bent

at or just behind R*; distal area russet, nearly clear proximally, much

irorrated and clouded with blackish distally; subterminal line ill-defined

except around R*%, where it forms a thickened white mark, a little inbent at

the vein, oblique outward behind it; terminal line somewhat thickened

between the veins ; fringe weakly mottled. Aindwing with termen weakly

subcrenulate, the inward curve between the radials more noticeable ; whitish

grey, suffused with darker grey, the general tone a little darker than in Hctvopis

duplexa Moore, only the costal area ,remaining pale; a median shade present,

but only distinct posteriorly ; cell-dot dark grey; postmedian line not strong,

weakly bent in middle; subterminal indicated in whitish, irregularly crenate ;

terminal line and fringe as on forewing.

Both wings beneath whitish grey, strongly irrorated with dark grey; cell-

mark of forewing reduced, of hindwing enlarged; lines of upperside re-

produced in dark grey; an ill-defined pale shade just outside the postmedian ;

hindwing with traces of the subterminal.

Hpimaw Fort, August 14-18, 1923, type; Hparé, September 1923, a worn

ab. (?), with the central band broadened anteriorly and narrowed posteriorly.

Probably related to mingpoaria Leech (Fut. Supp., 1891, p. 52; Prout in

Seitz Macrolep., vol. iv, p. 373, Pl. 21c), which is in a measure transitional

between the Cleora and Ectropis sections of the great Boarmia group.

* 285. Cleora vatia, sp. n.

9,30 mm. Inshape and coloration remarkably like the preceding species,

of which I at first thought it might be an extraordinary aberration.

Forewing with termen slightly more regularly curved and oblique; SC?-?

shortly stalked ; antemedian line much more excurved ; median less sinuous,

at hindmargin nearer to postmedian than to antemedian; postmedian not

outbent anteriorly, on the other hand incurved posteriorly, oblique outward to

hindmargin ; subterminal traceable throughout, enlarged into a roundish

white spot (just over 1mm. in diameter) in front of M? and a smaller one

behind it ; termen with black interneural spots. Mzudwing rather darker than

in trigrapta, not becoming whiter anteriorly; median shade obsolescent ;

postmedian thickened.

Underside also distinguishable by the course of the lines and by the sub-

terminal white spots of the forewing.

Htawgaw, June 1923, the type only.

* 286. Cleora cryptogonia, sp. n. (PI. ii, Fig. 7).

3, 32-33 mm. Face with moderately appressed scales ; blackish, upper and

lower edges whitish. Palpus little over 1, blackish, with the base and the

blunt distal extremity whitish. Vertex whitish, dark-irrorated ; antenna dark

grey, bipectinate to about $, the branches, except the first two and last few

pairs, long, rather slender, heavily ciliated, the distal segments very shortly

ciliated. Thorax grey ; abdomen rather slender; pale grey, with dark dorsal

belts, those of the first few segments broad and nearly black, sometimes almost

confluent. Legs largely clouded with dark fuscous ; hindtibia dilated, with

hair-pencil.

Forewing shaped like a Gnophos ; fovea strong, bounded distally on upper-

side by some black scaling ; SC*** rather long-stalked, the stalk connate with,

or arising from the base of SC%-5, connected by a backward bar with C;

whitish drab, with brown irroration ; cell-dot large; black costal spots at

beginning of lines ; the lines themselves rather weak ; median exangled round

cell-spot, then incurved ; postmedian denticulate or subpunctiform, excurved

about the radials, then oblique inward, angled inward at fold; an ill-defined

brownish line or shade beyond; subterminal lunulate, except behind SM?

(where it runs almost to tornus), filled in proximally with dark spots or

shading; termen with black interneural dashes; fringe weakly spotted.

Hindwing with cell-dot at least as large as on forewing ; median shade angled

outward in middle to coalesce with it, then incurved ; postmedian lunulate-

dentate, duplicated as on forewing.

Forewing beneath with large cell-spot, proximal suffusion, costal spots fairly

well developed, median shade apparently crossing the cell-spot, postmedian

punctiform, often weak, but developing into a rather broad shade between M?

and hindmargin, and a solid dark border of about 3 mm. width. Hindwing

942 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

with large cell-spot, the characteristic angled median shade as above, but

standing out more sharply, the postmedian shadowy, the terminal shade (here

rather subterminal) less strong than on forewing and only reaching radial fold.

Both wings with termen and fringe as above.

Hpimaw Fort, August 9-13, 1923, type dand another, August 14-18, 1923,

L 3:

Perhaps a form of ‘ Scotopteryx’ subnigrata, Warr. (Now. Zool., vol. viii, p.

34), founded on a single 9 from Cachar, but it seems better to make the species

known adequately, even at the risk of asynonym, than to make a premature

union. Larger, the cell-spots larger, the postmedian beneath more obsolete,

terminal band of hindwing beneath weaker ; venation different in that Warren’s

type has SC*? coincident, anastomosing at a point with C. Hampson’s sinking

(Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. xiv, p. 505) of subuzgrata to serratilinea,

Warr. (Ectropis) is absurdly wrong ; there i is no resemblance excepting a simila-

rity of colouring and of the shape of the postmedian line.

* 287. Cleora sericea (Warr.).

A pophyga sericea Warr., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 418 (1893) (Sikkim).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 3 ¢¢.

This very fine and apparently rare species is quite unlike any other in the

genus and should perhaps be transferred to Wedasina. In two of Capt. Swann’s

specimens SC? of the forewing arises from the cell and is free, in the other it

arises from C and does not touch SC?, i.e. is as in normal Wedasina.

* 288. Boarmia melanosticta catoteniaria (Pouj.).

Selidosema catotentaria Pouj., Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., ¢. 313 (—ata, p. 316, Pl.

vii, Figs. 15, 15 a) (1895) (Moupin).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 2 ¢¢.

Poujade’s species is evidently' the same as melanosticta, Hmpsn. (Faun.

Ind. Moths, vol. iii, p. 266, Sikkim), but the few specimens yet known appear to

show some racial difference and Capt. Swann’s specimens agree with them

rather than with the Sikkim form.

* 289. Boarmia retrahens (Moore).

Calicha retrahens Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 236 (1888) (Sikkim).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1 @.

* 290. Boarmia fimbriata (Moore).

Cleora fimbriata Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 628 (1867) (Bengal).

Htawegaw, early July 1923, 1 2.

A small and rather dull-coloured specimen, apparently referable here.

291. Boarmia, sp.

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 1 ¢; Hparé, September 1923, 1 ¢ (small).

Apparently a new species, but both—especially the Hpare specimen—too

worn to describe fully. Palpus short, pectinations long, reaching to near end

of shaft, build rather slender, abdominal spine rather short, fovea not strong,

colour rather pale, cell-dots small, median line (shade) fairly strong, postmedian

markedly crenulate, especially posteriorly, subterminal fairly broad, accom-

panied by browner shadings.

* 292. Boarmia virguncula, sp. n. (PI. ii, Fig. 4).

3, 22-24 mm.; 9, 26-27. Head whitish fuscous, irrorated with blackish ;

palpus less than 13, heavily scaled, on outerside predominantly blackish.

Antennal pectinations moderately robust (slightly thickening distally), not

long, the longest scarcely 3, the series shortening gradually, becoming mere

teeth before the 30th joint, about which they cease. Thorax above fuscous, in

front (with collar) more ochreous brown, beneath whitish ; abdomen whitish,

with: blackish irroration, which above tends to form anterior segmentai belts.

Foreleg dark, with ends of joints whitish; hindtibia in @ with slender

hair-pencil.

Forewing with SC*** coincident, almost always anastomosing ata point or

shortly with C, very rarely also with SC?-*; fovea developed ; dirty white,

sparsely irrorated with black and more copiously with brown, the latter colour

“2 <etES

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDAE 943

forming the markings ; antemedian line double, sometimes a good deal overlaid

with black, slightly sinuous, from cell-fold hindward strongly oblique ; median

shade generally weak except at costa, excurved round the small! black cell-dot ;

postmedian usually strengthened in places, chiefly on the veins, rather strongly

‘inbent at fold; an ill-defined brown shade-line just beyond; subterminal

crenulate, interrupted about R* and M? by a more or less developed whitish

‘patch ; proximal subterminal shades well developed (more or less mixed with

black) costally, radially and behind M?, the radia! shade especially strong, asa

pair of confluent spots; termen with subtriangular black interneural spots ;

fringe feebly chequered. Af/indwing with cell-dot and markings beyond much

as on forewing, the subterminal shades on an average less strong.

Forewing beneath, except at hindmargin, with smoky suffusion, which is

commonly so strong as to obscure the markings, leaving only the cell-mark,

a rather large black costal spot representing the median line and a smaller one

the postmedian ; when the smoky shade is less developed (chiefly in 99),

a dark band occupying the distal area. Hindwing dirty whitish, with sharply

black cell-dot and ill-defined wavy median and (double) postmedian lines ;

terminal black marks as above.

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 14 ¢¢,7 29, August-September 1923, 1 ¢ (rather

small) ; Laukhaung, April-May 1923, 1,9.

An inconspicuous little species, but not specially reminiscent of any one

hitherto known, unless possibly /atzfasc1a Hmpsn. (l/l. Het., vol. viii, p. 106,

Pl. cl, Fig. 4), which has larger cell-spots, rather proximally placed and more

S-shaped postmedian and quite different underside.

A damaged 2 from Hpimaw Fort, August 14-18, 1923, may possibly, accord-

ing to its structure and essential markings, be a giant form of virguncula,

more likely another allied species.

* 293. Prochasma dentilinea (Wartr.).

Psilalcis dentilinea Warr., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 431 (1893) (Sikkim).

Boarmia squalida, Wileman, The Entom., vol. xlviii, p. 292 (1915) (syn. n.)

(Formosa).

Htawgaw, early July 1923, 14; Hparé, September 1923, 2 g¢, 2 9°.

Range: North India, Pahang, Formosa.

Certainly congeneric with mzmica, Warr., the type of Prochasma, having the

same metallic metathoracic tuft, etc. ; but I do not think Hampson (Journ.,

Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. xi, p. 724) is right in actually sinking mimica.

* 294, Prochasma albimonilis, sp. n.

32, 26-27 mm. Head and body pale grey, densely irrorated with blackish

fuscous. Legs (especially the first two pairs) with pale rings on a dark ground.

Abdomen of ¢ without spine, but with a comb of bristles on the 3rd sternite

and hairy from the 4th to the 7th.

Forewing with termen slightly more curved than in average dentilinea ;

SC? arising from C, in the ¢ anastomosing with SC? ; pale drab, densely and

almost uniformly irrorated with blackish; cell-spot and some subterminal

maculation (most prominent at costa, radials and hindmargin) black ; a very

slender and indistinct sinuous whitish line (less deeply sinuate than in

dentilinéa) proximal to the almost imperceptible antemedian ; a row of white

interneural spots (the one at submedian fold crescentic) distally to the post-

median, which is otherwise hardly indicated except in the vein-teeth which

separate them; this line also a little more direct than in dentilinea, except

between fold and SM?, where it is strongly oblique outward ; subterminal

fine, indistinct and interrupted ; terminal line fine; fringe weakly mottled.

Hindwing with termen well rounded, looking slightly fuller than in den/z?¢nea ;

slightly less dark than forewing, marked. with cell-dot, weak median shade,

sinuous postmedian (very near the cell-spot, fairly strong posteriorly) and

subterminal shade (widened a little between the radials).

Underside with similar markings, the forewing, however, without the ante-

median and subterminal lines, the distal darkening more uniform throughout.

Htawgaw, July 1923, type 3, August 1923, allotype 9.

* 295. Lophobates ochreicostata Warr.

~ Lophobates ochretcostata Wair., Nov. Zool., vol. vii, p. 54 (1899) (Khasis).

Hpimaw Fort, August 14-18, 1923, Meee

944 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

296. Hemerophila retractaria Moore.

Hemerophila retractaria Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 27, Pl. xxxii,

Fig. 7 (1867) (Darjiling).

Hparé, August-September 1923, 1 9.

Probably belongs to this species, of which the eastern race, if tenable, should

be known as 7. dignata, Warr. (ov. Zool., vol. i, p. 680, Khasis). But the 2°

of this group of Hemerophila are confusingly similar and I do not yet know

that of svbptlosa, Warr.

* 297. Hemerophila cuprearia Moore.

Hemerophila cuprearia, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 626 (1867) (N.E.

Bengal).

Htawgaw, September-October 1923, 1 9.

Darker than the Sikkim pair in coll. Brit. Mus.

* 298. Hirasa scripturaria (Walk.).

Tephrosia scripturaria Walk., List Lep. Ins., vol. xxxv, p. 1590 (1866)

(‘Java,’ in err. [N. India] ).

Hpimaw Fort, September 18, 1922, 1 ¢, June 1923, 1 ¢, August 14-18, 1923,

lids

Only known from North India and Burma. Walker’s originals are labelled

‘N. India’, purchased from Janson, and the published data are due to some

unexplained muddle.

+299. Hivasa plagiochorda, sp. 0... (Plait, Fig. 3),

3d, 39mm. Near the preceding. Antennal structure the same. Face with

the dark upper part more extended. Body and wings slightly darker and

more uniform brown.

Forewing slightly narrower; antemedian line posteriorly more oblique

inward, very gently and almost regularly curved; cell-dot smaller; median

line almost touching the cell-dot, instead of taking the wide outward sweep

beyond it; postmedian anteriorly similar to that of scripturaria, the angle at

R? acute, the subsequent course almost straight and oblique to middle of

hindmargin ; an interrupted line or shade from angle of postmedian to termen

behind SC*®, meeting the dark fringe-spot (which is rarely so well developed

in scripturaria) opposite SC5. Mindwing with cell-dot minute, the weak

median line just proximal to it; postmedian line much straighter than in

scripturaria.

Haparé, September 1923, type. Khasis, September 1895, 1 gin coll. Tring

Mus.

H. scripturaria from Hpimaw Fort does not differ markedly from Darjiling

and Khasi specimens.

* 300. Hirasa contubernalis Moore.

Hirasa contubernalis Moore, Lep. Coll. Atk., p. 238 (1888) (Khasis).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 1 ¢; Hpimaw Fort, September 19, 1922, 1, June

1923, 2 é¢; Kangfang, June 1923, 1 J.

The Kangfang specimen is a dark aberration.

* 301. Blepharoctenucha virescens (Butl.).

Hemerophila virescens Butl., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) vi. 126 (1880)

(Darjiling).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, ¢.

* 302. Sysstema aulotis, sp. ne (Pl i, Fig. 19).

Q, 24-28 mm. Head and body whitish buff, mixed with dark fuscous.

Forewing whitish buff, so strongly irrorated and clouded with dark fuscous

as to make this appear as the ground colour, two clear bands of about 1 mm.

breadth remaining ; cell-spot large, black; first band anteriorly slightly ex-

curved or outbent; second between R*® and M?® very strongly excurved,

approaching termen; subterminal line very close to termen, slender and

imperfect, the area between it and the postmedian band slightly darkened; a

thick orange terminal line, with some irregular black interneural marks,

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDAE 945

especially anteriorly : fringe darker proximally than distally, slightly mottled.

Hindwing slightly less densely irrorated than forewing ; first band wanting ;

second shaped as on forewing, rather narrower and less sharply defined ;

subterminal with the dark shading chiefly developed between the radials and

from M? to tornus ; termen and fringe as on forewing.

Upperside similar.

Hparé, September 1923, 6 99; Kangfang, September-October 1923, 1 9.

Also occurs in the Naga Hills and (in a rather larger form) in Sikkim ;

treated by Hampson (Fawn. Ind. Moths, vol. iii, p. 278) as an aberrant

semicirculata Moore.

* 303. Sysstema semicirculata (Moore).

Luptithecia semicirculata Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 654 (1867).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 2 ¢¢, 12; Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 5 99.

* 304. Sysstema longipblaga Prout.

Sysstema longiplaga, Prout, Nov. Zool., vol. xxx, p. 211 (1923) (Sikkim).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 1 J, 2 99, August-September 1923, 2 99.

Previously known from Sikkim and Assam.

* 305. \Sysstema pauxilla, Sp. i.

3, 20mm. Head and body white-grey, irrorated (the abdomen and under-

side quite weakly) with brown; 7th sternite apparently black, covered with

dense hair, which arises from the posterior edge of the 6th sternite.

Forewing with cell 4; SC* arising further down the stalk of SC?°5 than in

the other Sysstema species, anastomosing with C; whitish, densely irrorated

with fuscous ; cell-dot black ; median shade just proximal to it, apparently as

in semicirculata Moore but very weak; an ill-defined band of the ground-

colour just beyond, on which is traceable (chiefly as spots at costa and hind-

margin and dots on the veins) a slightly sinuous postmedian line with a

marked projection inward at fold; terminal area with an ill-defined dark

cloud in front of R*, weakening to costa, and a slighter cloud near tornus ;

weak indications of the narrow orange terminal band which characterizes the

allies, the black interneural spots strong ; fringe mostly dark. Aindwing with

the same markings, the median shade a little stronger, well proximal to the

cell-dot, the pale band extending from median to postmedian ; an orange

abdominal-marginal streak.

Underside more weakly marked, but with the proximal and distal areas of

the forewing fairly strongly darkened.

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, the type only. A rubbed? from Darjiling,

without abdomen, is in the Tring Museum.

306. Medasina combustaria (Walk.).

Gnophos combustaria Walk., List Lep. Inms., vol. xxxv, p. 1597 { 1866)

(N. India).

Htawgaw, August-September 1923, 1 9.

Rather aberrant, but I think referable here.

* 307. Medasina objectarta (Walk.).

Boarmia objectaria Walk., List Lep. Ins., vol. xxxv, p. 1583 (1866)

(N. India).

Hparé, August-September 1923, 1 Q.

Perhaps confined to North India and Burma. Hampson’s citation of Poona

(Faun. Ind. Moths, vol. iii, p. 284) is due to his erroneous sinking of gleba,

Swinh.

* 308. Medasina tephrostaria (Warr.).

Lassaba tephrosiaria Warr., Nov. Zool., vol. iii, p. 135 (1896) (Khasis).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 1 @.

Previously only known to me from a few Khasi specimens. Certainly does

not sink to muczidaria, Walk. (cf. Hampson, Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist, SOC.,

vol. xi, p. 724, as fephrosiaria).

946 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

* 309. Medasina parallela, sp. n.

3, 65 mm. Quite near mucidaria Walk. (List Lep. Jns., vol. xxxv, p.

1581), differing as follows:

Abdomen more slender, the hair-tufts less strong.

Forewing slightly more elongate ; antemedian line more direct, without the

inward curve and acute angulation subcostally or the long tooth outward at

fold ; postmedian likewise less irregular than in most mucidaria; the bright

shades proximally to antemedian and distally to postmedian narrow but rather

strong, dotted with black on most of the veins. AMindwing with termen not

quite so deeply crenulate as in mucidaria; proximal markings weak ; post-

Neate line scarcely sinuous, the shade outside it rather well-defined and

regular.

Forewing beneath with cell-mark enlarged, slightly ocellated ; proximal part

more suffused with brown (especially anteriorly) and more irrorated with grey

than in mucidaria; subterminal band almost obsolete (usually strong in

mucidaria, but there very variable). Hindwing slightly more suffused with

brown than in mucidaria ; subterminal band almost obsolete.

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, the type only.

* 310. Wedasina basistrigaria (Moore).

Hemerophila basistrigaria Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 626 (1867)

(Darjiling).

Htawgaw, October 14, 1923, 19.

* 311. Medasina lasiochora sp. n. (Pl. ii, Fig. 11).

3b 8, 42-43 mm. Near dasistrigaria, Moore. Rather smaller ; much darker

and less reddish, even the median area—which, as in the allies, is the least

dark—being heavily strigulated ; hindtibia of ¢ less strongly dilated, the hair-

pencil slenderer.

Forewing with median shade developed from costa to M, bent outside the

cell-mark or more or less suffusing with it; postmedian rather more excurved

radially, straighter posteriorly. A/indwing with the prominence at R°-Mta

little broader, scarcely so long.

Underside with the dark borders more developed than in dasistrigaria (in

the 2 almost complete), but little noticeable against the general darkening ;

hindwing in the ¢ with a small scaleless patch between M and the proximal

part of M?, suberect sexual hair arising here in the vicinity of these veins.

Hpimaw Fort, August 9-13 1923, type ¢, August 14-18, 1923, allotype Q.

* 312. Medasina livida (Warr.).

Deinotrichia livida Warr., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 419 (1893) (Sikkim.).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1 ¢; Fenshuiling Pass (4 miles from), early

July 1923, 19.

313. Medasina albidaria (Walk.).

Boarmia albidaria Walk., List Lep. Ins., vol. xxxv, p. 1582 (1866) (N.

India).

Htawgaw, early July 1923, 1 ¢, July 17, 1923, 19.

The @ is an aberration with stronger grey irroration and heavier markings.

The British Museum has a similar specimen from Omei-shan,

Range : North-west India to China and Formosa.

* 314. Micrabraxas anisonoma, sp. n. (Plate ii, Fig. 9).

¢, 36 mm. Face whitish, with some loose fuscescent hair, which below forms

asmallcone. Palpus 14, slender, 2nd joint Somewhat tufted above; whitish,

tinged with brown, the terminal joint more fuscous. Vertex fuscous. Antenna

simple, Thorax whitish, above mixed with brown. Abdomen slender, the

genitalia elongate; beneath whitish, above browner and with ill-defined

fuscous belts at the ends of the segments. Legs more or less tinged with

brown ; hindtibia dilated with hair-pencil, abdominal spine short.

Forewing not broad ; SC? well free, SC? from stalk of SC®-* ; a small fovea

present; scaling smooth; brown, irrorated with dark fuscous; markings

consisting of white, fuscous-edged spots, those on costa tinged with buff; a

rather large one in cell near its end, confluent with a moderate costal ;

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDAE 947

another behind the base of M? ; irregular postmedian and subterminal series ;

a moderate apical; small paired sabbasal and median costal spots and an

ill-defined costal one between postmedian and subterminal. Aindwing with

termen slightly undulate ; anteriorly white, posteriorly brown, the colours not

sharply defined, the brown area somewhat mottled with white and cut by

incomplete white bands ; irregular subterminal white spots.

Underside similar, but with more white, especially at hindmargin of forewing ;

both wings with conspicuous black cell-spot.

Hpimaw Fort, August 9-13, 1923, the type only.

Affinities obscure. Neither of the three stnooth-scaled genera with similar

venation which might be taken into account—Micrabraxas, Loxasptlates,

Xenographia—normally develops a fovea, butit seems to have most points in

common with Micrabraxas. Lozogramma imitata Bastelb. (Fut. Zett.

Stuttg. xxiii, 34) may be related, though not closely, being broader-winged,

with rather shorter palpi, no tibial hair-pencil and I think no fovea.

315. Arichanna ramosa (Walk.).

Scotosta ramosa Walk., List Lep. Ins., vol. xxxv, p. 1688 (1866) (N.- India).

Htawgaw, June 1923, 1 7.

Inhabits North India, Tibet and West and Central China ; perhaps suscept-

ible of racial subdivision.

* 316. <Arvicharna plagifera (Walk.).

Scotosia plagitera Walk., List Lep. Ins., vol. xxxv, p. 1686 (1866) (N. India).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 3 gg.

* 317. Arichanna transectata (Walk).

Rhyparia transectata Walk., List Lep. /ns., vol. xxiv, p.1112 (1862) (Himalayas

[ Darjiling]).

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 19.

Hampson (Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. xviii, p. 43) has satisfactorily

cleared up the confusion into which he earlier fell regarding this apparently rare

species. He failed, however, to correct the statement (Faun. Ind. Moths, vol. iii,

p. 294) that Walker’s type had the head and thorax of a ¢ attached to the

abdomen of a Q; like Walker, who calls the specimen a ‘male’, he was presum-

ably misled by the pectinate 2 antenna of the species—a very exceptional

character in the genus —and he must have neglected to examine the retinaculum.

318. Jcterodes jaguarinaria (Oberth).

Rhyparia jaguarinaria Oberth., At. Ent., vi, p. 17, Pl. ix. Fig. 1 (1881)

(Kwei-chow).

Htawgaw, April-May 1923, 19, June 1923, 2 99.

Range: Nagas to West China. Hampson’s paragraph on ‘the typical

Japanese and Chinese form’ refers to zagwararta Guen. (Spec. Gén. Lép., vol. x,

p. 198) and its Japanese race gaschkevitchit Motch. (Bull. Mosc., vol. xxxix,

Part 1, page 197).

* 319. Abraxas aphorista, sp. n.

3, 52 mm. Head black. Antennal ciliation apparently about 1 (rather

mouldy). Collar and front of thorax orange; wing-tegula orange, with one or

two black spots and a few white scales. Thorax behind (with metathoracic

crest) blackish. Abdomen orange, the elongate dorsal black spots rather large,

broad behind, the subdorsal pairs also rather large, especially the posterior on

each segment ; the interrupted lateral line well developed as also the ventral

pairs of spots. Hindtibia moderately dilated.

Forewing more elongate than normal, almost as in true leopardina, Koll.

(Atigel’s Kaschmir, vol. iv, p. 490, Masuri, etc.), but with the termen a little less

straight (appreciably bent in middle); SC* running into C, SC? closely

approaching SC%:# at branching of SC*; white, with the essential markings of

the leopardina group ; basal patch not very light, tolerably uniform, its distal

edge not excavated behind middle; grey median shade (probably rather

variable) irregularly triangular, at hindmargin about 1°5 mm. wide, at costa

about 10 mm. (almost meeting basal patch and postmedian band), but with its

anterior part slightly broken by irregular white spots or dots, notably with one

4448 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCTETY, Vol, XXX/

in end of cell, partly isolating the cell-spot; postmedian band fairly broad,

resolvable on attention into a double row of almost entirely confluent spots, the

proximal row slightly the darker and more sharply bent at radials, so as to

separate slightly from the distal row anteriorly ; the hindmarginal patch slightly

longer and (anteriorly) narrower than in Hampson’s Fig. 141 (Faun. Ind. Moths,

vol. iii, p. 299) ; distal area rather more heavily spotted than in the cited figure.

Hindwing decidedly elongate; costa swollen at base, but less extreme than in

leopardina ; termen appreciably crenulate, specially through having a rather

noticeable concavity between R* and R* ; white, with grey spots; a small dark

mark in base of cell ; antemedian represented by small spots at costa, at furca-

tion of SC?-R? and (confluent) at fold and abdominal margin; postmedian

series normal, fairly large, accompanied distally (especially on left hindwing)

by some slight, asymmetrical dots or small spots ; posterior patch rather broad

(about 4 mm.) at abdominal margin, narrowing; terminal spots lunulate,

scarcely separated by the veins.

Underside with base and retinaculum pale orange; the grey markings slightly

darker than above; the ‘ olive-fulvous’ patches of upperside not differentiated

in colouring.

Kanegfang, June 1923, the type only.

Near to leopardina (vera), in which Hampson has merged a large number of

dissonant forms. Possibly a race—but with the exception of a single doubtful

example from Bhutan—I have not previously seen anything Jeopardina-like

outside the North-west Himalayas.

320. .4braxas martaria Guen.

Abraxas martaria Guen., Spec. Gén. Lép. x, vol. i, p. 205 (1858) (N. India).

Htawgaw, April-May, 1923, 14,19, June 1923, 1 4, 19, early July 1923, 1¢ ;

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 19, August 9-13, 1923, 1 Q.

The Htawgaw QQ are typical; the ¢, especially the first two have more

white on the forewing, approaching (f. ?) pancznotata, Warr. (Vov. Zool., vol. i,

p. 417). The Hpimaw Fort specimens, in particular the June one, are strongly

marked, the basal patch, subtornal patches, etc., having nearly the colotring

and in some measure the enlargement of the corresponding markings of zdlu-

minata Warr.

321. Abroxas tlluminata Warr.

Llbvaxas illuminata, Warr., Nov. Zool., vol. i, p. 417 (1894) (Sikkim).

Htawgaw, early July 1923, 19.

Range: Sikkim to Hainan and West China.

* 322. Abraxas suffusa, Warr. (form ?).

Abraxas suffusa Warr., Nov. Zool., vol. i, p. 417 (1894) (Tibet).

Hpimaw Fort, August 9-13, 1923, 19, August 14-18, 1923, 3 9°.

All the Hpimaw examples have the median shade of the forewing obsolete

from the fold hindward and further differ from all Warren’s species in the

group (ov. Zool., vol. i, pp. 419-419) in having the basal patch not at all

notched or indented at the fold. Probably an undescribed species, but until

Warren’s have been more thoroughly analysed I am loth to add to the number,

patticularly where the ¢ is wanting.

* 323. Abraxas pusilla Butl.

Abraxas pusilla Butl., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) vol. vi, p. 225 (1880) —

(Darjiling).

Htawgaw, April-May, 1923,1 ¢, July, 246,299; Hpimaw Fort, August

14-18, 1923, 1 ¢.

The species is common in Sikkim and is recorded also from Nepal, but does

not appear to be very widely distributed. The Burmese specimens may

represent a race, being on the average more sharply marked, the forewing with

developed mid-terminal spot, etc.

324. Abraxas metamorpha sinicaria Leech.

* Abraxas sinicaria, Leech, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) vol. xix, p. 446

(1897) (Central China).

NOTES ON MOTHS OF THE FAMILY GEOMETRIDAE 949

1923, 6 oo, 4 22; Hparé, early September 1923, 3 29.

This series is moderately variable, but quite homogeneous in all essentials

and tends to connect simicaria Leech (Central to West China) with the less

dark-marked Sikkim metamorpha Wart. (Proc. Zool. Soc, Land. 1893, p. 392)

= conterta Swinh. (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) vol. xii, p. 153, syn. nov.). The

latter remains scarce in our collections and it is not unlikely, considering the

known inconstancy of .4éraxas, that more adequate material will show even the

racial separation to be untenable. Swinhoe’s type is a more weakly marked

form than Warren’s and Hampson did not notice the specific identity. One or

two of the less inconstant characters may be here mentioned, in order to

elucidate the differentiation of the following species. Base of forewing a good

deal mixed with orange, the subbasal black dot on SM?* only 1 or 2mm. from

base, succeeded by a comparatively clean white submedian area, the central

maculation of the wing being chiefly anterior ; postmedian band rarely forking

anteriorly, the subapical costal spot being generally separated fromit by a

white line, or confluent with it at costa only; hindwing rarely with the

maculation copious, the curved postmedian series generally standing out

sharply, placed about. midway between cell and termen, only duplicated in

posterior part, often only (except for a costal dot) by a heavy mark at

abdominal margin ; median spot on abdominal margin about central.

* 325. Abraxas metabasts, sp. 0.

6, 44-46 mm. Distinguished from metamorpha as follows :—

Forewing in basal area with very little orange admixture; the black macu-

lation at end of this area formed into an irregular band which is about 2 mm.

wide at costa (3-5 mm. from base), runs obliquely outward to cell-fold, is here

acutely angled, becomes narrower and runs very obliquely inward to submedian

fold, nearly meeting an equally oblique mark on SM? about 3mm. from base ;

central area with the speckling pretty uniform anteriorly and posteriorly ;

postmedian double band more sinuate than in metamorpha or at least appearing

so in its posterior half, its outer element running more obliquely to hind-

margin, which it reaches quite near tornus; this double band divaricating

costally, so as to form a thick, rather irregular V ; subterminal region less

clouded, the terminal spots at radials well separated from the postmedian ;

terminal spot in cellule 7 minute, apical fringe clean white. A/imdwing more

copiously dotted than in metamorpha ; median spot of abdominal margin well

behind middle; postmedian spots nearer to termen, smaller, but (except

anteriorly) double or multiple, at hindmargin more oblique outward, scarcely

accompanied by any orange scaling ; apical end of termen immaculate.

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1 ¢@, early July 1923, I g, August 1923,1 ¢

(type), August 9-J3, 1923, 1 ¢ (more heavily black-marked).

In spite of the apparent agreement in structure (unless the antennal ciliation

be slightly shorter—scarcely over 1, as against 14-14), I think this can hardly

be a form of the preceding ; the facies is so distinctive that the eye rejects

the union.

* 326. Abraxas picaria Moore.

Abraxas picaria Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 652 (1867) ( Darjiling).

Hpimaw Fort, August 14-18 1924, 1 ¢.

Aberrant in having the hindwing above more uniformly speckled throughout

and the yellow band obsclete ; beneath typical.

Ab. semilugens, Warr., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1893, p. 393 (Sikkim) I am

inclined to agree with Hampson in referring here.

Hparé, September 1923, 1 2.

Capt. Swann’s specimen is aberrant in the hindwing in a similar manner to

the preceding, but also in having the cell-spot reduced and the yellow band

wanting on 60th surfaces. Two Tonglo specimens in coll. Tring Mus. of

otherwise typical pzcaria, have similarly reduced cell-spot of hindwing.

It is very doubtful whether the true pzcarza occurs in China, the variable

species recorded by Leech (dun. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6), vol. xix. pp. 446-447) being

probably different. It may be added that Moore’s own ‘ type 2’ (allotype) also

belonged to a different species, namely metamorpha.

950 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXII

327. Abraxas dichostata, sp.n.

J &, 44-48 mm. Also near mefamorpha, agreeing in structure. Differing as

follows :—

Forewing with costa slightly more shouldered at base, termen in ¢ slightly

less oblique anteriorly ; the dark markings in all the known examples copious,

but not very intense, rather black-grey than black ; basal area, as in metabasts,

with very little orange, but formed more as in metamorpha, commonly with a

similar, but more restricted, white area outside it posteriorly ; median shade

complete, anteriorly broad, just proximal to the cell-spot posteriorly parallel

with the postmedian, more or less connected with basal patch by longitudinal

dark shading which occupies most of the rest of the cell; postmedian band

almost complete, only macular or subinterrupted about the radials, anteriorly

rather regularly curved, posteriorly less incurved than in the allies, keeping

well removed from median; the orange line wanting ; distal area as in excep-

tionally heavily clouded examples of metamorpha. Hindwing rather variable

much as in metamorpha except for the absence of yellow postmedian mark at

abdominal margin; postmedian single throughout or duplicated anteriorly as

well as posteriorly, its spots at abdominal margin little expanded, terminal

marks longer than in metamorpha, between SC? and R® confluent.

Htawgaw, August 22 1922, 1%, September 16, 1972, 1¢ (type), August-

September, 1923; 1 4; 19.

328. Dilophodes elegans (Butl.)

Abraxas elegans Butl., lll. Het., vol. ii, p. 53, Pl. xxxvii, Fig. 6 (1878) (Japan).

Hpimaw Fort, August 14-18, 1923, 1 ¢, 2 92; Hparé, early September

1923; 1 Gi:

We have here perhaps a meeting-place between typical elegans and its Khasi

race khasitana Swinh. (Tyr. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1892, p. 17), which are not quite so

sharply delimited as Swinhoe (Aun. Mag. Nat. Hist. (8), vol. xviii, p. 220) assu-

mes. ‘The Hpimaw specimens all have the black markings heavy, more or less

confluent, recalling the Japanese name-type; the one from Hparé more

approaches e. khasiana, particularly on the hindwing, which has a very small

cell-spot, narrowed subterminal patch at abdominal margin and subterminal

spot at radial fold well detached from termen.

The species is also known from China and Formosa and another race (?)

from the Malay Peninsula.

* 329. Percnia felinaria Guen.

Percnia felinaria, Guca, Spec. Gén. Lép., vol. x., p. 216, Pl. 19, Gg. 1 (1858

(‘ Central India.’)

Hpimaw Fort, June 1923, 1 ¢.

Rather smaller than the normal Assamese form, with somewhat reduced

markings, perhaps a new race or closely related species. The loss of the

shadowy series of spots just outside the postmedian, together with the shape of

the subterminal, even suggests that it may be nearer to dellwaria, Guen, but the

Wings are not so narrow, the fovaa not exaggerated, the tone both above and

beneath virtually that of felinaria.

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA

(INCLUDING THOSE MET WITH IN THE HILL STATIONS

OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY)

Part XXXVIII

(Continued from page 686 of this Volume)

Genus 31.—GEGENES

Imago.—A single species-—see below.

Antenne.—Short, less than half the costa of forewing; club robust, with a

minute crook.

Palpi.—With the second joint densely scaled, the third joint short, porrect,

nearly hidden amongst the scaling.

Hind tibie.—With two pairs of spurs; quite naked in nostradamas.

Forewing.—With vein 12 very short, ending on costa much before end of

cell; the cell long, nearly two-thirds the length of costa; top discocellular

minute, barely distinguishable, outwardly-oblique; the middle and lower disco-

cellular in an inwardly-oblique line that is quite straight, the lower very short;

vein 5 from close to 4, vein 3 from close to lower end of cell, 2 from about

a fourth before the end; wing long and narrow; costa arched near base, then

almost straight to apex which is somewhat acute; outer margin somewhat

convex, oblique, shorter than hinder margin.

Hindwing.—Vein 7 emitted shortly before end of cell; discocellulars out-

wardly-oblique, faint; 5 absent; 3 from close to lower end of cell, 2 from

about twice as far from 3 as 3 is from end; lower margin of cell slightly bent

upwards at its end; costa highly arched at its base; apex rounded but well-

pronounced ; outer margin evenly convex and slightly emarginate between veins

2 and 1b.

Egg.—Not known.

Larva, pupa, habits.—See below as there is only a single species, any way

in India.

232. Gegenes nostradamas (F.).—Male. Upperside brown of a medium shade

with slight ochreous shade outwards or decidedly ochreous-brown with a slight

bronzy tint. Forewing with a darkish suffusion on a little more than the basal

half, merging into the paler outer portion of the wing that has a slight bronzy

tint. Hindwing with a paler dark suffusion on the basal portion. No markings

on either wing or a series of discal dots in interspaces 1 to 5 of which the

one in 2 is large, the others very small and a series of three subapical dots

in interspaces 6, 7, 8 of the usual type; that is, the subapical three are in

an outwardly-oblique, slightly curved line and the discal in an inwardly-oblique

more or less straight line from close to the lowest subapical spot. All of these

dots generally rather obscure, some of them often wanting or the whole

lot completely absent as the case may be. Underside pale greyish-brown

with the spots as on upperside on the forewing. Antenne black spotted

with white, that is the white exists as broad bases to the joints that get

quite narrow on the top of shaft and even disappear leaving the whole upperside

black; the club black above with the tip red and the base whitish, below the

club has the basal half white and the whole of the distal half including tip red.

Palpi white with the third joint the colour of wings. The head and body are

the same colour as the wings on the upperside; beneath pure-white or very

slightly ochreous, the legs slightly brownish-ochreous on the tarsi.—Female

with the upperside duller, paler-brown than the male, without darker basal

952 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

suffusion. Forewing with the spots much larger and more distinct than in the

male as a rule, there being an extra little dot present in the upper part of

interspace 1. Hindwing unmarked as in the male. Underside as in the male,

the spots as on upperside. Cilia of the forewing cinereous white with base

the colour of the upperside of wing, of the hindwing similar, the base rather

broader; on the undersides of both wings the cilia are concolorous with the

wings, that is even the bases are very pale. Expanse: 25mm. to 30mm. the

female always the larger.

Larva.—This is very similar to that of Chapra mathias in the shape and

general appearance; the body is thickest in the middle, with the ventrum

flattened, the dorsal line highest in middle sloping to both ends; the anal

end fiattened, segment 14 broadly semicircular in outline and set with a quite

visible fringe of hairs all along the free margin; the neck well marked, the

head being comparatively large and triangular in shape, higher than broad

with a slightly depressed dorsal line on the vertex, the colour of the head is

green with a brick-brown band dividing each cheek from the face bordered in-

side by an equally broad yellowish band, neither of them quite reaching the

vertex, the vertex itself is rather broadly brick-brown stretching down a short

way onto the face and, along the inside of the yellow bands a bit further and

the clypeus is outlined thinly black; the surface of the head is slightly rugose

and set with microscopical hairs, some about the mouth-opening being slightly

longer, the clypeus is triangular, its apex arched, acute; the mandibles are

black at the ends, the cutting-edges entire, the eyes are black. Surface of the

body is dull, transversely lined in the usual way, about six such lines to each

segment, very superficially impressed. Spiracles small, oval, body colour,

shining. Colour of body glaucous-green due to the darker-green ground colour

showing through a grey-whitish suifusion in minute dots, each dot bearing one

of the minute hairs; there is a white subspiracular, longitudinal band the whole

length of the body and also three pairs of dark-green, thin, similar lines, one

pair subdorsal on each side, one pair dorsolateral, one supraspiracular ; ventrum

and prolegs darker-green than the rest of the body. L: 25mm.; B: 4mm.

Pupa.—This is very similar to that of Chapra mathias in general shape and

colour. It was not separately carefully recorded.

Habits.—The eggs are laid in the same place as for Chapra

mathias and the habits of the larva and pupa are the same. The

foodplants of the caterpillar are hard grasses that grow in the

deserts, generally grasses of the larger sorts. The butterflies are

difficult to catch as they are quick on the wing and somewhat

difficult to see. They rest on the ground and on low herbage and

do not rise high. Swinhoe makes two species out of this calling

the other karsana, M. He says, however, that ‘it is undoubtedly

a desert form of nostvadamas.’ He says that the two are found in

Burma, Western India, Sind, Baluchistan and Afghanistan, ex-

tending west into South Europe and N. Africa and north into the

N. W. Himalayas and Central Asia. As the two forms are found

in Sind in the exact same localities, there does not seem any good

reason for separating them. He says, ‘Within our limits Butler

records it from Campbellpur; Attock Bridge, Kairabad, Kala Pani

and Hurripur; Leslie and Evans from Chitral; we have it from

Kulu’ for nostvadamas whereas, for the form karsana, he states

that ‘The types came from Rawalpindi, Punjab; we took it plenti-

fully at Karachi, Quetta, Kandahar and in many places in Sind

and in the Pisheen Valley; Nurse records it from Cutch; Doherty

from Kumaon; de Rhé-Philipe from Masuri and Wood-Mason and

de Nicéville record a variety from the Nicobars; these jast three

localities seem questionable, because it undoubtedly is a desert form

of nostradamas’. In a series bred near Karachi all larve were

eee 0:

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 953

identical but they produced both forms. Which appears to be sound

enough proof.

There appears to be a species, hainana, M. from Hainan and

another from Africa called hottentota, Latr. Synonyms of nostra-

damas are a fair number: pygmeus, Cyr. (nec F.); pumilio,

Hoffmann; lefebvrit, Rambur.

It might be worth stating that Gegenes nostradamas has some

ochreous scales above vein 12 on the upperside of the forewing

along the costa as well as a small number of decumbent, short

ochreous hairs in interspace 1 at the very base and a few at

base of inner-marginal interspace; there is hardly a sign of hair-

fringe along the inner margin. On the hindwing there is a similar

paucity of decumbent hairs which occupy the part of the wing

below the cell a short distance out and down to interspace la

where they are most numerous. There is no sex-mark on either

wing in any species known or named up to Watson’s time; but

he states in his paper ‘A _ proposed classification of the

Hesperiidae. . . .’ published in the Proceedings of the Zoological

Society of London, January 17, 1893, that there existed in the

British Museum an unidentified species from Victoria Nyanza in

Africa that had one.

Medium-sized butterflies that affect shady places in the jungles and, with

the exception perhaps of Hyarotis, avoiding open spaces. They are all good

fliers except, perhaps, Sancus that keeps to undergrowth and does not exert

itself much. They are very different in appearance as may be gathered from the

keys that have gone before; all are, however brown or blackish as general

ground-colour. Only Sancus is immaculate on the upperside.

Antenne.—More than half length of costa, reaching two-thirds in Hyarotis ;

Club gradual, long, the crook recurved at or near 90°, rather suddenly in some,

the crook mostly twice as long as thickness of club, this club ending rather

abruptly in Notocrypta, Hyarotts.

Palpi.—Second joint upturned and densely scaled; third slightly porrect, nearly

hidden by hair, except in Iambrix where it is long and naked.

Hind tibie.—With two pairs of spurs; fringed with hair, although only

slightly in Sancus.

Forewing.—-Vein 12 ending on costa before end of cell. 11 free, straight ;

except in Sancus where it and 12 are bent and touch. The cell less than two-

thirds costa, reaching two-thirds or nearly so in Sancus where the median vein

is curved, making the cell longer. Discocellulars with the lower shorter than

the middle, so that vein 5 is nearer to 4 than to 6; erect or suberect, slightly

inwardly oblique in Hyarotis. Vein 3 from close to end of cell; 2 from before

or after middle or trom middle, variable. Costa arched, equal to the hinder

margin or shorter.

Hindwing.—Vein 6 from close to end of cell; 6 also from fairly close to end;

discocellulars and 5 very faint; 3 from close to lower end of cell; 2 from one-

fourth to one-third before end except in Iambrix where it rises well before

middle. Outer margin rounded.

Egg.-—Limpet-shaped, a dome standing upon a narrow, sloped base. Surface

shining, minutely cellular with numerous very thin and inconspicuous meridional

ribs on basal band, reaching a short way up the dome. Colour from blood-red

to pale-brown ; or green blotched heavily with blood-red. The breadth to height

about 100 to 65.

Larva.—Subcylindrical, sitting in a ‘crouching’ attitude when at rest, mean-

ing pressed tightly against the surface, the head with occiput pressed back on

segment 2, the mouth directed forwards; the anal segment broadly-rounded,

flattened ; the head triangular except in Hyarotis where it is semicircular in out-

954 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

line and really more resembles that of the baorine caterpillars; colour olive-

green, naked; or whiter (Hyarotis) or yellowish-green (Iambrix); the head a

red-brown or black, unmarked or white (Hyarotis) or greenish (Iambrix) with

darker markins. Foodplants monocotyledonous.

Pupa.—This is the baorine type, naked, pupating more or less openly on the

underside of a leaf, with a long snout and a spatulate cremaster, the proboscis

prolonged beyond the ends of wings, free; of a light-green colour or old-bone

colour (Hyarotis) or of a rusty-brown, always with a certain amount of cover-

ing in the way of white, cereous powder. There is a cushion-like spiracular

expansion to spiracle of 2 in Hyarotis and a large, funnel-shaped one in

Iambrix ; the others having none. The pupa of Iambrix is abnormal, also,

in being in a grass-cylinder case, quite closed.

Habits.—All the butterflies rest with their wings closed over the

back ; Udaspes has rarely been seen basking with them half-opened.

None of them ‘beat’ in the jungles which means they don’t fly

backwards and forwards continually as do Tagiades, etc., some-

times; they sit upon the upperside of leaves low down near the

ground; Notocrypta and Udaspes, more rarely Sancus, visit flowers

and frequently, in the case of those of Costus speciosus, Smith, go

right down the tubes; Hyarotis, Iambrix also visit flowers of all

sorts. Jambrix lives much low down amongst undergrowth by the

sides of clearings and paths and behave much as do Taractrocera,

flying about over the vegetation and fighting with each other.

Sancus is only found in very damp places in forests, often round

swampy spaces and in the neighbourhood of running nallas; Noto-

crypta is not quite so particular but likes damp; Udaspes roves

much more widely; Iambrix is still more careless of shade;

Hyarotis presumably likes the sun but little is known about its

habits for it is more an insect of the upper air than the others, and

a much stronger flier. The eggs are always laid on the tops of

leaves, one at a time and rarely more than one on a single leaf.

The egg-larva makes a little tubular-oblong cell at side of leaf in

the case of Notocrypta, Udaspes and Sancus; in Hyarotis and

lambrix the cell is made at the tip of the leaf by joining ‘the edges.

In maturity the first three live in a simple triangular cell made of a

triangular piece turned cver onto the top of the leaf and lightly

fixed down by silks; Hyarotis places one leaf (pinna of palm) over

another, lies on the upper, back downwards and fixes the pinnze

laxly together; Iambrix makes any sort of cell, a blade of grass

on top of another or often just lies on the underside of a blade

quite openly. All except the last (Iambrix) pupate on the underside

ot a leaf (or pinna) half-openly like in the Baoris group; the last

makes a cell of a blade of grass or several blades formed into a

tube closed at both ends and attached by a thin strip of edge to the

petiole or stalk so that it hangs straight down, withers after a

time and often drops to the ground amongst the leaf-carpet under-

neath.

Nothing is known, apparentiy, about the early stages of the in-

sects of the genera Acerbas, Tamela, Astictopterus, Koruthaiolos

or. Watsoniella or 50 per cent exactly of those composing the sub-

family under consideration. Notocrypla, Udaspas and Sancus

show very close affinities in egg, larva and pupa as well as in

habits; Hyarotis has a similar egg and pupa and similar methad of

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 955

pupation, but has a larva more resembling those of Baoris (also,

it must be allowed, the imago is very like those of that genus in

style and build) while the only character that decided the fate of

Iambrix was the egg; that egg could not possibly be placed in any

other subfamily; if it had not been for that, the genus would un-

doubtedly have gone into the Erynnine where it may, in the end,

belong—-when the exiguous knowledge of the life histories of the

Skippers has been largely added to by further studies. The cater-

pillar of Iambrix feeds upon grasses (Graminew), that of Hyarotis

upon palms (Palmec) while those of the other three genera affect

Scitaminee, to which the Gingers belong (Zinziber, Adans.), Cur-

cuma, L., some species of which are used locally for making an

inferior saffron; Hitchenia caulina, Baker yields a kind of Arrow-

root; the Plantain, Musa, L. and the Cardamum, Elettaria Carda-

momum, Maton. well known to everyone.

Genus 32.—NoOTOCRYPTA

Imago.—All the butterflies are medium-sized insects with blackish uppersides,

immaculate hindwings and the forewing marked by a broad, pure-white, discal

band with or without from one to three much smailer, pure-white, subapical

spots. They are all shade-loving species, feeding upon flowers, resting low

down with their wings closed over their backs; with a powerful flight in a

jerky, up and down manner, never rising high above the ground; the flight

never long maintained: with the habit of often returning to the same perch on

the upper surface of a leaf in dense jungle. The Kanara species are fond of

flowers of Costus speciosus, Smith (Scitaminee) into the large-mouthed funnels

of which they creep to feed when they can be easily captured. They feed in the

earlier part of the mornings and evenings.

Antenne.—More than half the length of the costa of forewing; club moderate

with a short, abrupt, pointed crook that is double as long as the breadth of

club and recurved at about a right angle.

Palpi.—Porrect but with a tendency upwards; second joint densely scaled,

the scales fairly well appressed ; third joint small, conical-blunt, nearly concealed.

Hind tibie.—Slightly fringed with two pairs of spurs.

Forewing.—Vein 12 ends on the costa before the end of the cell a little; 11

straight with no tendency even to approach 12; cell less than two-thirds length

of costa; discocellulars suberect, the lower much shorter than the middle one;

5, therefore, well below the middle; 3 from quite close to the end of cell;

2 from before middle; costa arched slightly, the wing somewhat ‘apically pro-

duced in the male’ according to Swinhoe which is hardly the case; apex

blunt, outer margin convex, about as long as the hinder margin; in the female

the tornal angle is more broadly rounded and the hinder margin, consequently,

apparently longer.

Hindwing.—Vein 6 from close to upper end of cell; discocellulars and 5 very

faint; 3 from close to lower end of cell, practically from touching 4; the cell

conspicuously angled at origin of 2 which arises from less than one-third before

end of cell; costa and outer margin evenly rounded.

Egg.—Limpet-shaped, or dome-shaped standing on a narrow band-base with

the surface smooth, there being very thin meridions on the basal band continued

a short way onto the dome; the colour dark brown reddish or somewhat orange

with the band transparent-glassy. Height rather more than half the breadth.

Larva.—Of the shape of those of the baorine subfamily but with a much

smaller head and neck; the same broadly-rounded anal end, the body highest

in the middle; the surface naked except for extremely minute, invisible, light,

erect hairs, somewhat longer round anal margin; the skin very thin showing

the tracheal, white tubes through; the head thick and triangular with the

lobes very short rather sharply defined, covered with tiny, appressed, light hairs

thinly, cellular-rugose, shining.

956 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Pupa.—Of the same shape as those of the baorine group; with a similar

snout to head and a long, slightly down-bent cremaster and very long, free

proboscis that sometimes outreaches even the length of the body; quite naked

except for the invisible, erect hairs; always whitish-green in colour and generally

powdered over with the usual white, cereous powder exuded by the caterpillar

from glands just above the bases of the legs before pupation.

Habits.—The egg is laid on the underside of the leaves; the

first cell is an oblong piece from the edge turned over onto the

bottom, making a cylindrical cell well coated with silk inside,

fastened at one and, of course, along the inner side, open in front ;

later the caterpillar makes a cell by turning over a triangular piece

onto the top and fixing it down lightly. Pupation takes place on

the underside of a leaf of the foodplant in a channel made by

drawing the surface together to form a kind of channel or hollow

with a few ropes of white silk, the larva lying in the bottom of it

in powder, affixing the tail (cremaster) end to a rope of silk across

a pad of the same material and fastening a string over the

middle of the body fixed to a small pad on each side so that the

pupa lies close to the leaf-surface; the larva starts by lying with

its back to the ground of course but, when changed into the pupa,

this latter often squirms when touched and wriggles with the result

that it is found, as often as not, with its ventrum towards the

ground. The foodplants of the larve are always plants belonging

to the family of the Gingers, Scitaminee that come up plentifully

in the monsoon months in the wet, damp jungles of the hills where

the rainfall is heavy and the evergreen species of trees are common

or predominate over the deciduous kind.

In India, China and the Malaya Peninsula and Archipelago there

are twenty members of this genus, six only occurring in British

India and two in China. The six Indian species are N. basiflava,

de N.; monteithi,(W-.-M: and de |N.), the: former from S.india,

the other from Cachar, Borneo, Singapore and Sumatra; albi-

fascia, (M.‘' from Burma, Tonkin, Assam, Siam, Java, Borneo;

paralysos, (W.-M. and de N.) from the Andamans; and feisthamelit,

(Boisd.) from India, Burma, Ceylon, Andamans, China and the

Malay Peninsula. The only two species that interest these papers

are restricta and feisthamelit.

233. Notocrypta restricta, (M.)—Male. Upperside black fading very little,

most at base of wings. Forewing with a broad, nearly medial, pure-white,

transverse band of nearly 3mm. in width consisting of a spot filling the outer

third of the cell followed below by another conjoined (even the vein being white)

in interspace 2, its inner edge slightly outwardly-oblique and in a line with

the inner edge of the lower half of cell-spot, its outer end reaching outwards

much further than the cell-spot, its (outer) edge outwardly-oblique with a slight

prominence in the middle; the third and last in interspace 1, of the same length

as the cell-spot practically but connected across vein 2 (which is also white)

by a somewhat narrower neck with the spot in interspace 2 above, that is the

band is very slightly, sharply constricted there, this spot again narrowing very

slightly from middle downwards, the inner and outer edges somewhat irregular ;

besides this band there are three subapical white dots in interspaces 8, 7, 6

in a nearly straight, outwardly-oblique line, another, a good deal further out

(not far off submarginal), a tiny dot, in interspace 5 (may be absent), followed

downwards by a somewhat larger dot in 4 and another, linear-oblique, not

much larger, in interspace 3, these last three in an inwardly-oblique, straight

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 957

line. There are some decumbent, not very long, black hairs in the base of

interspace 1 reaching out to origin of vein 2 and the fringe along the inner

margin is slight but distinct. Hindwing: immaculate with decumbent, black, not

very short hairs on the base outwards to end of cell and, below the cell increasingly

further outwards to near the anal angle, densest in interspace la. Cilia brownish-

black with still darker base; paler from end of vein 8 on hindwing to vein 5.

Underside paler, browner; the outer margin of both wings again paler, some-

times somewhat greyish. ‘Forewing as on the upperside, the apex often with

blue-greyish scales at apex and rather broadly submarginally along outer margin

but this may be quite wanting. Hindwing may be entirely washed over with

blue-grey scales that make it quite ashy-light leaving the costa broadly and a

transverse antemedial and medial narrowish band or fascia across the wing;

on the other hand there may be hardly any of the scales present.—Female

exactly like the male in every way and subject to the same variations of grey

wash on the undersides of wings as the male. Antennz black with indications

of pale spots at bases of the joints; a white band round the upper end of shaft

and base of club with the rest of club black except the underside of the

terminal crook which is again white, the top of crook reddish-dusky. Palpi,

head, thorax, abdomen concolorous with wings above; beneath the palpi are

light-ochreous ; the thorax is ashy-brown, the abdomen soiled greyish-ochreous ;

the legs are light-brown. Expanse 42 mm.

The above is written from bred specimens, all from the N.

Kanara District of the Bombay Presidency. Swinhoe (Lepidoptera

Indica, vol. x) says that the expanse may be up to 50 mm. but the

largest in Kanara does not exceed 42 mm.

Egg.—Limpet-shaped, very similar to that of Udaspes folus, perhaps not so

broad at top; the basal, much-inclined ring or band present here also with

indications of meridional ribs running some little way onto the dome. Surface

shining, smooth, very obscurely frosted; the ring or band with about 48 ribs;

micropyle very minute, punctiform, in the very middle of apex; the top very

slightly flattened. Colour rather bright-green when first laid, blotched heavily

all over the upper half with blood-red; later on the green fades to a nondescript

wittishie sou Ub mm. ;- bbs 0.7 mm:

_ Larva.—The shape is more or less fusiform with the ventrum flattened, the

body highest in the middle, broadly rounded at anal end, with a very small

neck in the other direction bearing a comparatively large head, although this

head is small in comparison with those of the baorine group; the body fattest

in the middle and highest there, decreasing a lot to both ends; when the larva

is at rest it humps the segments 4 to 6, contracts segments 2 to 3 and lies with

the hinder part of vertex of head resting on segment 2 dorsum—segmient 6 is

then twice the height of segment 2, it is always thrice as broad as 2; head

triangular with a somewhat truncated apex, moderately and sharply triangularly

emarginate in the dorsal line of vertex dividing it into two lobes each with its

vertex comparatively broad; the surface of head only slightly shining, rather

coarsely cellular-rugose with many, minute hairs all over it that are hardly

visible to the naked eye; the colour of the head is dirty-whitish on the face

with the whole of the back portion to the hinder margin deep-black including

the gulz, cheeks, occiput, vertex and a broad dorsal line down to apex

of clypeus, then splitting down the sides of the true clypeus but including the

apex of false clypeus, continuing to base thinly; true clypeus not half the height

of the face, longer than broad, triangular, apex acute; false clypeus much

longer, a thin strip somewhat bowed out in the middle, apex acute; labrum

whitish, about one-third the true clypeus in length and only very slightly

transverse ; ligula whitish, as long as labrum, rather broader than long, kidney-

shaped, the sinus rather over a third depth with an angle of 90°, this sinus as

broad as it is deep; antennal, basal joint whitish-glassy as is also the third;

mandibles of the block type, deep red-brown with the cutting-edges quite entire ;

eyes: 1 to 4 in a slight curve, 3, 4, 6 in a straight line, 2, 3, 4 an eye-diameter

distant from each other, 6 two diameters from 4, number 5 behind and two

eye-diameters from 4, rather less from 6. Surface of larva smooth, dull, with

extremely minute, erect hairs, the skin translucent-thin; each segment with

958 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

the usual, parallel six, slightly-impressed, fine, transverse lines and the base

of prolegs has some folds; the true legs are simall; the length of the small

hairs round anal margin is 0.15 mm., those on the head are 0.05 mm.; an

eye-diameter is 0.15 mm. Colour a neutral tint washed with a whitish, thin

wash through which the neutral tint shows in minute, green spots or dots, the

bases of the minute hairs; segments 2, 3 yellowish-green; segment 12 yellowish

and slightly tumid at spiracles. Spiracles oval, slightly raised, small, white

connected all along by the thin, white, tracheal lines; those of 2, 12 much

farger. Es ° 40am. 5 Je: 1 Gumi. CEES 6: rrr,

Pupa.—Of the same shape as that of Udaspes folus; snout nearly as broad

at base as head, rather long, pointed, porrect; head somewhat square, eyes

not prominent, shoulders slight broader than hinder margin of segment 2;

body same breadth from shoulders to 10, narrowing then to the transparent,

dorsally-concave, triangular, broad, apically narrowly-rounded cremaster ; front

slope of 2 and thorax considerable; thorax only slightly humped, rather short,

very little higher than segment 4; cremaster 3mm. long by 2mm. wide at

front margin, occupying the whole of the dorsal aspect of 14, very thin and

concave, rather the shape. of a pointed gothic window, the edges thickened and

obscurely knobbed at front margin, the extremity also a slight knob set with

a bunch of suspensory, short-shafted hooklets; 13=a quarter 12; 13=one-fifth

of 14; segment 11=2x12; segment 10 slightly longer than 11 and equal to

9=8=7; segment 6 slightly shorter than 7; segment 5=half of 6 and 4 only

very slightly shorter than 5; thorax=4+5-+6 together, hinder margin between

a semicircle and quarter-circle curve meeting wings in a moderately shallow,

moderately broadly-rounded, right-angled angle; the front margin of thorax

straight, the dorsal line slightly convex, at first paraliel to the longitudinal

axis of the pupa, the anterior third inclined at 30° towards that axis; the

shoulders evenly rounded; 2 rather longer than 5, about one-fourth of thorax,

its front margin nearly straight, its dorsal line rather less steeply inclined

than thorax front; head with the vertex rather longer than 2 and even

less inclined, the front produced out porrectly into the long-conical beak becoming

cylindrical at extremity and twice as long as 2, pointing slightly up, otherwise

porrect; ventrally, at base of snout, is the semicircular clypeus; between the

basal halves of proboscis is the diamond-shaped ligula about as long as twice

the clypeus and nearly as broad in the middle—the clypeus is barely a couple

of spiracle-lengths broad; proboscis reaches quite free beyond ends of wings

and to end of cremaster and beyond even; antennz and midlegs reach three-

quarters length of wings, the forelegs about half the length of midlegs; eyes

hardly prominent, the crescent linear and very straight, cutting off the posterior

third of the eye-ball. Surface of the body shining; segments well-marked ;

covered with minute, erect, light hairs all over in the usual way, none longer

than 0.05 mm.; and _ transverse-corrugate confusedly, obscurely, superficially.

Spivacles of segment 2 oval, yeliowish, slightly convex, the hinder margin of 2

just in front of them slightly thickened; the rest whitish, slightly raised,

oval, each about one-eighth or one-tenth of a segment-length long and rather

more than half as wide as long. Colour clear grass-green with a thin, white,

tracheal line through spiracles; the cremaster practically transparent; a slightly-

darker, dorsal line and a dorsal, black dot at front margins of segments 7 to

-10; wings and snout whitish. L: 33mm.; B: 6mm. at middle of body; the

cremaster makes up 3mm. of the total length; B: 4mm. at head; proboscis

another 3mm. or even longer than the whole body including cremaster,

and rather stout.

Habits.—Those of the subfamily given above; the larva is slug-

gish at all times and feeds mostly at night. The pupa is much

more energetic and, if cut loose from its moorings, the tail-fixing

and body-string, it actually jumps, and rolls itseif round energeti-

cally when molested. It is covered with a slight powdering of

white as is the inside of the cell. The foodplant of the larva is

commonly Zingiber Cassumar, Roxb., a wild species of Ginger

growing in wet places in the Western Ghats, growing a leafing-

stem of 4 to 16 feet with alternate smooth, long leaves out on each

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 959

side, the fruit bright red at its foot. It has also been reared upon

Curcuma decipiens, Dalz. and probably feeds upon others of the

Scitaminee or Gingers on occasion. ‘The butterflies are fast fliers

with the habits of the subfamily and are not rare in the jungles of

the Western Ghats during monsoon months but not often seen

during the dry season. The habitat is given by Swinhoe as India,

Ceylon and Burma; he states ‘The types came from Ceylon; record-

ed by Elwes from Sikkim; by Manders from the Shan States; by

Hannyngton from Kumaon; by Evans from the Palni Hills; by

Fergusson from Travancore; by Watson from Chin Hills; by de

Rhé-Philipe from Masuri; we have both sexes from several Indian

localities and many examples from the Khasia Hills; Elwes and

Edwards, in their Revision of the Hesperide, sink it to feisthamelii

on account of the similarity of the genitalia but Davidson, Bell and

Aitken’s life history is sufficient proof of the distinctness of the

species.’ (Lepidoptera Indica, vol. x, p. 201. Figures are given

on plate 803 also in the book, 2 male, 2a female, 2b underside, 2c

the larva and pupa—these last very bad).

The flight of the butterfly is by no means weak as stated in the

quotation from Davidson, Bell and Aitken’s paper by Swinhoe. It

is powerful and fast.

234. Notocrypta feisthamelii (Boisd.).—Male. Upperside black. ‘Forewing

with a broad, postmedial, transverse, white band in a_ slight-outward curve,

composed of three conjoined, large spots, the upper one filling the end of cell,

its upper margin usually somewhat rounded, the two lower spots in interspaces

2 and 1 more or less quadrate; two or three subapical, white dots in a nearly

straight line from near the costa, another in interspace 4 towards the outer

margin and sometimes another inwards in interspace 3, all these dots small,

varying in numbers in different examples and somietimes entirely absent. Hind-

wing without markings. Cuilia of forewing brown, of hindwing paler and some-

what greyish. Underside paler than the upperside, the outer margins slightly

suffused with grey. Forawing with a whitish mark, somewhat suffused, attached

to the upper end of the discal band in continuation of it but not quite reaching

the costa; the dots as on the upperside. Antennz black, with a whitish under-

side to the basal half of club that goes onto the shaft and right round the

whole club and shaft at that place; underside of crook also whitish. Palpi

head and body concolorous with wings above and tbelow.—Female like the

male.’ (Swinhoe, Lepidoptera Indica, vol. x, pp. 100, 209).

Swinhoe gives pictures of the insect on plate 803 depicting 1,

male; la the female, 1b the underside and Ic the larva. The span

of the very large female picture is 42 mm. and not 50 mm. as he

savs in the letterpress; the male span is 32 mm.

Now, in a series of 9 males and 9 females bred in N. Kanara

District, the ordinary span is, at the most 35 mm.; never more.

In all these specimens—and dozens more were bred at different

times and discarded, thrown away, sent away and otherwise dis-

posed of—every specimen has the band on the forewing as described

and, in the huge majority of cases, only the outermost spot, which

is always situated in interspace 4, developed, a small, elongated

one; and there is rarely a sign of any other, absolutely none sub-

apical or otherwise; in a very few examples there is a small line-

spot spanning the interspace above it, interspace 5, just touching

the outside of the one in 4 on the outer, upper corner. On the

960 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

underside the grey markings is very similar to that of N. restricta,

always the larger insect of the two; but it may be even more pro-

nounced in some specimens than it is in that species. The decum-

bent hair of the upper surfaces of the forewing and the hindwing

is similar to that in restricta and the inner margin of hindwing is

similarly fringed with short hair. In the Kanara feisthamelii the

white, discal band of forewing is rather narrower and has always

more regular edges than that of rvestricla. The insect is really

more like the pictures of N. paralysos from the Andamans except

that there is never a spot in cell and another below it on underside

of hindwing.

Egg.—This somewhat the shape of a limpet, somewhat like that of the

Silver-spotted Skipper (Erynnis comma) at home but it rests on a narrow

inclined band or base; it is dome-shaped, the dome resting on a very thin,

inclined band-base, the top of the dome very slightly depressed. Surface shining,

slightly and obscurely frosted lookiny with an indication of very thin meridional

ribs upon the narrow basal band, continued very shortly up onto the dome;

the base is practically transparent-glassy. Colour rather light brownish-orange.

B220.8 mamss Hl 70:5 mm.

Larva.—This is of the same shape as that of Udaspes, similar to that of

Baoris farvi in a manner but with the head very much smaller than in this

last species, triangular in shape instead of semicircular and thick, the neck

being of course also thinner in proportion to the body for the head is large

compared to the neck as is the case in all skipper larve; the anal segment is

flattened and broadly-rounded at extremity, outreaching the short claspers by

a good deal; the ventrum is flattened, the middle of body is the highest point,

the prolegs and true legs are short; head obcordate, that is heart-shaped, the

vertex being narrowest and sharply, triangularly, very narrowly indented in

the dorsal line dividing it into two lobes with the vertex of each narrowly-

rounded, the surface shining cellular-rugose, with extremely minute, light, ap-

pressed hairs and some longer ones about mouth-opening; the colour of the

head is very dark reddish-brown including the mandibles; the true clypeus is

long-triangular, the false clypeus with the sides somewhat out-curved, the apex

acute, reaching three-quarters the height of head while the true clypeus reaches

half the height of head; the labrum is transversely oblong, short; ligula rather

longer than labrum, longly kidney-shaped with the sinus about one-third the

depth, triangular, the angle about 90°; eyes concolorous with face. Surface

of body hardly shining, and smooth except for extremely minute, hardly visible

hairs, erect all over the body, longer and just visible round free margin of

segment 14 and on leg-bases; there are also the usual impressed, thin, super-

ficial, transverse, six lines parallel to the segment-margins on every segment

except 13, 14 and 2, segment 2 whitish-green with a somewhat whiter, shining-

chitinized collar. Stiracles white, small, rather broadly-oval, flush, those of

segment 2, 12 twice the size of the rest. Colour a washy, rather light, olive-

green all over, the neck of segment 2 whitish, the ventrum lighter than above;

in one larva there were two-oval, yellow bodies dorsally immediately behind

front margin of segment 10, one on each side of dorsal line (the testes?) and

side by side, one slightly in advance of the other, subcutaneous, that sway

towards and away from each other mostly, each about one-third the length of

the segments and about two-thirds as wide as long; the skin is very thin and

all the little, thin, tracheal, white tubes show plainly through it. When about

to pupate the larva develops a white,-cereous patch of powder between and

just above the legs on segments 3, 4. L: 81mm.; B: 4mm.; head 2mm. wide

and the neck much less; anal segment at front margin 2.5 mm. wide.

Pupa.—This is exactly the same in shape as the pupa of Notocrypta restricta,

(M.); so similar indeed as to need no separate description. L: 25 mm.; B

5 mm.

Both these species of Notocrypia (restricta and feisthamelii) were

bred in the year 1891 in the N. Kanara District; the one at“a

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 961

place called Dandeli on the Kalinaddi River above the Ghats, the

other at Potoli not very far away. The difference in the larve was

noted in a very short time and kas never since, in ail these thirty

years during which caterpillars have been collected and bred out,

been doubted as an absolutely reliable way of distinguishing the

two species and has never led to a single disappointment. Why

the two species have been ever confused it is difficult to say for,

as may be gathered from what has gone before above, the bred

butterflies are easily distinguished in Kanara. It may _ possibly

be that, elsewhere, restricta may occasionally want some of the

apical spots, or a few of the discal small cnes; and that fezsthamelii

may possibly, develop an apical dot or two which it never has in

Kanara. Swinhoe says that this latter species has three subapical

dots which, however, in the picture on the plate, are absolutely

wanting in the male though just indicated by two obscure ones in

the female (this looks extraordinarily like restricta from the size).

Altogether it is difficult to get away from a strong suspicion that

the two species have constantly been mixed up in collections in the

past and probably are so still. Elwes and Edwards (already men-

tioned under restricta above) considered them one because the

genitalia did not differ.

Habits.—These do not differ in any way from those of N. restricta

except that, perhaps, the imago is not quite such a strong flier as

that of restricta. Both species are found above 1,000! in the

Western Ghats but not below that height. They are both, of

course, altogether insects of the forests and hills and heavy rain-

fall, never entering the plains, by which is meant open spaces of

large extent that are bare of forest and have a rainfall too low

to grow the foodplants of the caterpillars.

Genus 33.—Sancus

Imago.—This is a peculiar insect that sits with its wings upright over the

back but each wing, or, at least, the forewing, is always very slightly concave

on the underside so that the tips never meet; it is fond of shade, frequents

ground. The wings are uniformly very dark-brown, nearly black above, slightly

flowers busily, flies weakly and never rises much above the surface of the

lighter below and the male has a sex-mark on the forewing. There are three

species known from the Malay Archipelago, two of them from Celebes Islands ;

only one, a fourth, exists in British India.

Antenne.—A little more than half the length of costa of forewing; club

elongate, gradually wide-curved and acuminate.

Palpi.—Suberect ; second joint densely scaled but the scales long and laxly

parted at the ends; third joint concealed.

Hind tibie.—-Nearly naked and with two pairs of spurs.

Forewing.—Vein 12 ends on the costa before end of cell; 11 curves upwards

shortly after its origin (and 12 down towards it) to touch 12, then separating

from it again; cell about two-thirds the length of costa; discocellulars erect,

the middle slightly longer than lower; 5 from below middle, median vein curved

making the cell somewhat broad; 3 from about one-fifth before lower end; 2

from about the middle; costa highly arched; apex subacute; outer margin

convex, oblique, shorter than hinder; the wing long for its breadth; the male

with a curious, furred-looking, somewhat-impressed, rather large, oval sex-

mark with its upperside touching the median vein and extending from near

the middle of the cell to beyond the origin of vein 2 which it touches.

rindwing.—Vein 7 from close before upper end of cell; discocellulars faint :

5 very weak; 3 from a little before lower end of cell; 2 from one-third before

end; wing rounded.

962 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Egg, larva, pupa, habits—Only known for the single species described

below—

235. Sancus subfasciatus (M.).—Male and Female. Upperside: uniform dark

vinous-brown, nearly black when quite fresh. Forewing with no hair at base,

nor a fringe along the inner margin. Hindwing with practically no hair on

the surface. Underside paler brown with a pale spot in each of the inter-

spaces 4 to 9, those in 4, 5 beyond the middle of interspace, those in 6, 7 at

middle and base respectively, those in 8, 9 at middle end respectively of

their interspaces, these last four subapical, the first two discal, the upper of

these latter the further out and in continuation of these last two a white-

flushed smudge runs to the apex on the forewing. Hindwing with two paie,

transverse fasciz, the one discal, tiie other submarginal, broad, the submarginal

one bordered on the inside by small lines, one in each interspace, of ochreous

scales against the dark of the ground colour; and there is a similar short line

or band of similar ochreous scales in the upper half of cell towards its end and

one across the middle of interspace 7 as well as a spot towards base of inter-

space 6—all these ochreous scale-spots may be very obscure in specimens that

are any way worn; finally the inner margin of forewing below the median

vein is much paler than the rest; on the hindwing the abdominal margin,

that is the whole of interspace la, the margin itself and the outer bit of

interspace 1b is also pale. Cilia uniform dark-brown becoming slightly pale

at anai angle of hindwing. Antennz black, the underside of shaft spotted

ochreous, the club ochreous beneath with the tip very dull reddish-brown.

Palpi, head, thorax and abdomen concolorous with wings, the palpi having

a few ochreous hairs; legs somewhat paler brown. Expanse up to 35 mm. for

Kanara specimens, the female always being somewhat larger than the male.

Swinhoe gives up to 45mm. but his figures on the plate 789 of Lepidoptera

Indica, vol. x, do not measure more than 37 mm.

Egg.—This has not been particularly noted but is not likely to differ much

from that of Udaspes, Notocrypta.

Larva.—This is very similar to that of Notocrypta in shape: it is fat and

spindle-shaped with the greatest diameter in the middle, the ventrum flat, the

claspers and prolegs short, the true legs similarly short, the feet of the prolegs

are circular and clasp longitudinally, having the appearance ventrally of a very

long, thin oval of hooklets from the outside, regarded laterally, they appear

to be one-lobed; the anal end is broadly rounded, somewhat thickened round

the margin; the neck is very thin compared to the middle of the body and

the head is large compared to it but, even then, small for the diameter of

body even at segment 3, let alone in the middle; this head is heart-shaped,

the sinus on vertex moderately deep, narrowly triangular dividing the head into

two lobes with rather narrowly-rounded vertex to each, the face is convex, the

surface cellular-rugose, slightly shining with tiny appressed hairs and some

rather longer about mouth-opening; the colour of the head is chocolate-brown

all over; segment 2 is whitish or yellowish and has a shining chitinized collar ,

the usual transverse six depressed, thin lines or folds are present on the hinder

half of segments 4 to 11; when resting the larva humps the body in segments

4, 5, contracting the head and 2, 3 a good deal, the head then lying with the

mouth well stretched forwards, the vertex lying back on segment 2, 3. Surface

naked to the eye, smooth; segments quite well defined, the skin thin showing the

tracheal lines through; the whole covered with the minutest of erect, whitish

hairs only visible under a lens, those on anal margin a little longer. Spiracles

somewhat prominent, oval, situated on slight tumidities of the body, yellow in

colour. Colour a translucent bluish-green of an olive shade with segment 2

yellowish and a yellow shade on 3, 4, 5 when contracted. L: 35mm.; B:

5 mm.

Pupa.—Of exactly the same shape as that of Notocrypta and very similar in

every way to it; body cylindrical in shape from shoulders to 13, decreasing

in diameter from middle; head and 2 quadrate more or less in outline, the

dorsal line inclined slightly to longitudinal axis of body, the frons of head

produced into a 1.5 mm.-long beak or snout not as broad as head at base with

the distal half cylindrical; thorax very slightly humped or convex; hardly

any dorsal constriction at segment 5; abdomen from end of wings to end of

cremaster is exactly half the length of the whole body, the cremaster triangular

in outline, thin, long, the extremity narrowly-rounded, curved down somewhat ;

proboscis free from ends of wings and reaching to extremity of cremaster ; eyes

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 963

not prominent; shoulders evenly-rounded. Surface of body smooth, shining,

naked except that, under a strong lens, it is covered sparsely with tiny, erect,

light hairs; segments quite distinct. Spiracles small, prominent, oval, white.

Colour green with the wings whitish, the cremaster nearly ae whitish.

L: 33mm. over all; snout 1.5 mm.; cremaster nearly 3mm.; B: 6 mm.

Habits.—‘The egg-larva makes the usual little cylindrical cell by

turning over an oblong bit of leaf from the edge. Later on the

caterpillar turns over a triangular bit from the edge onto the

bottom or top, fixing the edges down laxly with a few silks and lies

humped up inside, always straight, never with the head back on

the side; it does not clothe the inside with silk or does so very little.

Wanders eventually, when full grown and changes to a pupa on

the underside of a leaf in a hollow or channel, quite open, with

the back to the ground, in the orthodox manner for this subfamily.

The larval cells are conspicuous in the jungle when made on the

upperside of leaves because the underside of the foodplant leaf is

pale, (Phrynium spicatum, Roxburgh) the upperside very much

darker and all the plants are only a foot at most over the surface of

the ground, each leaf single on a long, thin stalk. The plant grows

gregariously, plentifully, luxuriously in very damp places in the

evergreen jungles of the Western Ghats during the rains but dies

down completely when the monsoon is over except in swampy

ground. The pupa will le over this off-season when there is no

food for the caterpillar as, in cages, bred in a bungalow, this

happens constantly with pupa of the subfamily. They lie for

months without producing butterflies. There is generally a little

white powder on the pupa but never much. The butterflies are

quite plentiful in the monsoon months in Kanara where the food-

plants grow and is a weak-winged insect, keeping much to the

underwood where it sits on the tops of leaves with the wings

closed over the back, their tips (the forewings) always appearing

to be damaged because they bend strongly outwards and never

quite meet. During the dry season very few are ever seen. Swin-

hoe gives the habitat as Burma, Assam and S. India; saying ‘The

types are from Tenasserim; de Nicéville records it from Sibsaghor

in Upper Assam, Akyab, Rangoon and the Donat Kange, Elwes

from the Karen Hills; Watson from the Chin Hills; Ferguson

from Travancore; it is in our collection from Rangoon, Silchar in

Cachar, Sibsaghor, Karwar where Davidson, Bell and Aitken bred

it; and we have received many examples from the Khasia Hills;

it is very like A. pulligo, Mabille from the Malay Archipelago but

that species is more uniformly coloured above and below and,

apparently, never has any indication of spots or fasciae on the

underside. Our figures of the larva and pupa are from Davidson’s

original drawings.’ (Swinhoe in Lepidoptera Indica, vol. x, p.

138; the figures are on plate 789, No. 1 male, la female, 1b under-

side, lc larva and pupa which are rather like sausages).

The foodplant in Kanara, Phrynium, belongs to the Scitaminec

which contains the Gingers. It is more than probable that the

larva may feed upon other plants of the family as well but it has

never been found on any other as far as is known.

964 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

Sancus contains three other species besides the above one; but

they are found in the Malay Archipelago and never in British India

if S. pulligo is, indeed, a different species to the above one.

Genus 34.—UDaASPES

Imago.—See below. There is but one species, a medium-sized skipper of a

black colour with large white markings on both wings; of strong flight, keeping

much near the ground, feeding freely at flowers, sitting with the wings closed

over the back, fond of shade and to be located generally amongst the Gingers

that grow up in forests of heavy rainfall at the beginning of the monsoon; it

lays eggs upon those plants whose flowers come up from the bare ground after

the very first showers, thick little spikes of large, lipped flowers that are

generally white with yellow throats (may be yellow or even pink or brown-red)

which, when looked into, show a curious little cow’s head, very perfectly shaped

with short, sharp, curved horns—these are flowers of Curcuma of various

species, a sort of Wild Turmeric.

Antenne.—More than half the length of the costa of forewing; club moderate,

with a pointed crook that is at least double as long as the width of club.

Palpi.—Porrect; second joint inclining a little upwards, densely scaled; third

joint minute, bluntly-conical.

Hind tibie.—Fringed moderately lightly and with two pairs of spurs.

Forewing.—Vein 12 reaches costa before end of cell; cell long, but less

than two-thirds costa; vein 11 quite straight, quite free; discocellulars suberect,

the lower considerably the shorter; 5 therefore much nearer 4 than to 6;

vein 3 from close to lower end of cell; 2 from about one-third from base; costa

fairly well-arched ; outer margin evenly rounded, shorter than the inner margin.

Hindwing.—-Vein 7 emitted close to upper end of cell; discocellulars and

vein 5 very faint; 3 from close to lower end; 2 from one-fourth before end ;

lower margin of cell slightly angled at origin of vein 2; costa and outer margin

evenly rounded.

Egg, larva, pupa, habits.—See below.

236. Udaspes folus, (Cramer).—(Pl. M, figs. 78 male, 78a female).—Male

Upperside black, the basal portion of both wings covered with minute yellowish

scales; markings pure-white, semihyaline. Forewing with a large, white spot

filling up the end of cell but not quite reaching that end; two similar, con-

joined spots outwardly in interspaces 1, 2, below it, extending from vein 3

to vein 1, sometimes linearly separated by vein 2; four conjugated subapical

spots, the uppermost minute or wanting, in interspaces 9, 8, 7, 6, the lowest

the longest; and two similar to them further out and below them in_inter-

spaces 4, 5 with, finally, another, somewhat linear, spanning interspace 3

between the last and the large discal one of interspace 2 beyond it and well

separated on both sides from the others. Some ochreous scales at base above

vein 12 on the costa; some decumbent, grey hairs below the cell in interspace 1

from base of wing outwards and very few more below vein 1 at base; there

is a slight fringe of blackish hairs along inner margin. Hindwing with a

large, medial, white patch from vein 7 to 2, its margin sinuous all round; some

short, decumbent, blackish hairs above vein 6 on basal half of wing and

some longer, decumbent, grey hairs in base of cell and beneath it reaching out

to end of white patch and thence to near anal angle, densest in interspace la.

Underside paler with a chocolate shade. Forewing with the markings as on

upperside and a grey-scaled fascia from costa near apex down to vein 3 making

a submarginal band. Hindwing with the white, medial patch extending ‘to

base of wing and abdominal margin as a densely grey-scaled area leaving a

chocolate short band across interspaces 1b and 2 near the base of 2 and

about the middle of 1b; only the costa from cell and vein 6 upwards is

black-chocolate except for the spur from middle of the white patch; all the

rest is white and grey; the white patch has elongate, reddish scales on it often

below vein 6. Cilia blackish alternating with white spaces between the veins,

the apex and anal angle of hindwing without black interspaces. Antennz

black, the shaft ringed white beneath; the club with the basal half and upper

part of shaft white all round, the crook white below, dull-red above. Palpi,

head and body concolorous with wings above; below whitish; the legs ochreous

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA - 965

beneath, brown above,—Female like the male in every way and only to be

distinguished by the slightly more convex outer margin to forewing and by

the end of the body where the genital openings are situated. Expanse up to

45 mm.

In the dry season the reddish scales on the white spot on the underside of

hindwing are nearly always present, in the rains these may be entirely wanting ;

the chocolate shade is also most strong in dry weather specimens.

Egg.—This is in the shape of a dome, depressed, the height being a good

deal less than half the width; standing on a very narrow inclined band of

about 0.05 mm. that slopes outwards. Surface shining, obsoletely, minutely

cellular under a high-power lens from the base up to near summit which is

somewhat flattened; immediately round the apical micropyle the surface is

quite smooth and sprinkled with very minute, sparse, pointed tubercles; the

basal band or foundation is very regularly, longitudinally 48-ribbed with ribs that

run up for a short distance onto the dome. Colour blood-red, the rim glassy-

transparent, the ribs whitish. B: 1.8mm. without basal rim, 1.4mm. with

i}; t+ /0.6 mim:. of: even’ a Shade léss.

Larva.—This is of exactly the same style and shape as those of Notocrypta,

Sancus; that is it is fat, highest in the middle. as well as broadest, the

ventrum flattened, the prolegs and claspers and true legs short; the anal end

flattened and broadly semicircular sloping up dorsally from the very slightly

thickened free margin to 138 and 12; the neck is very much narrower than the

anal end, the head broad and high in comparison to it although small for the

body as is usual in the subfamily; when hunched up, as the larva is when

at rest, the body is highest at segment 5 and even broadest there then; segment

3 very much shortened, 2 drawn into it slightly, the head with its vertex laid

back on 2 and 3, the mouth stretched out, the face directed upwards; head

triangular, somewhere about 38mm. broad by 4mm. in height, narrowly

hilobed, the lobes rather narrowly-rounded on vertex with the face convex

somewhat, the surface coarsely cellular-rugose and covered with the minutest

of hairs that are hardly visible even under a lens although there are some about

the mouth-opening that are longer and quite easily seen; the colour of the

head is black, somewhat shining; the true clypeus is less than half the height of

the head, triangular, nearly equilateral, the apex acute; the false clypeus also

with acute apex, reaching a bit higher up, the sides somewhat curved out,

width narrow; labrum very slightly curved with the concavity of the curve

forwards, transverse-oblong, one-third as long as true clypeus, the same colour

as face, the -frontal curve filled up with membranous tissue, three times as

broad as long, ligula very slightly longer than labrum and as broad as labrum,

broadly kidney-shaped, the frontal sinus one-third depth, rounded one-third

width of the whole, the lobes broadly rounded on each side of it; antennal

joints whitish-green; mandibles strong, the colour of head, the cutting-edges

entire; the eyes are arranged with 1 to 4 equispaced and equal in size, separated

by an eye-diameter from each other, 1, 2 practically at right angles to 2, 3;

numbers 3, 4, 6 in a straight line, 4 quite two diameters from 6, number 5

behind making a perfectly equilateral triangle with: 4 and 6. Surface of the

larva with segment 2 with a_ yellowish-chitinized collar; segments all well

defined, shining and with the transverse, impressed, superficial, thin six lines

as usual to each; also covered with the minutest of erect, light hairs only

visible under a lens, those round the free margin of anal segment longer and

visible ; the skin very thin, showing the tracheal tubes through. Spiracles small,

whitish, oval, slightly prominent situated on very slight swellings. Colcur a

translucent-looking kind of olive-tinted green with a dark, pulsating, dorsal

line; anal segment whitish with segments 2, 3 yellowish as well as the margins

ot 4, 5 when the body is at rest. Le: 37mm. at rest; over 40 mm. otherwise ;

B: slightly over 6mm. at middle.

Pupa.—Exactly in shape as that of Baoris farri depicted on plate II, Fig. 3a

accompanying these papers. That it is the same as those of the baorines in

general and of Notocrypta or Sancus. Shape cylindrical from evenly-rounded

shoulders to end of wings, then becoming conical to end of 13, this cone being

nearly half the length of the whole; the head more or less quadrate, the

shoulders a bit rather suddenly broader; the cremaster -a longish, triangular,

thin piece, narrowly rounded at extremity, hollowed out dorsally leaving a

rather narrow edge on each side that becomes still narrower backwards, the

bunch of short suspensory hooklets at the extremity; head with the vertex

966 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1/

prolonged into a snout; conical at base, cylindrical in distal half and bluntly

pointed; the clypeus ventral at base of snout, triangular, the ligula diamond-

shaped, smaller, beyond between the basal halves of proboscis; the proboscis

prolonged free to end of cremaster, midlegs and antennz reaching just beyond

middle of the wings, the former slightly the longer, the forelegs hardly reaching

half the length of wings; eyes not prominent with the crescent linear a little

behind the middle of eye-ball. Surface of pupa very superficially transversely-

wrinkeld, the snout rather more coarsely; shining; segments well-marked ;

covered with the minutest hairs that are only just visible under a lens.

Spiracles of segment 2 represented by a light-yellow, slightly-convex, broadly-

oval surface on the front margin uf thorax; this oval is as long as the adjacent

antenna is broad; other spiracles oval, about as long as one-eighth a segment-

length, slightly-prominent, thin discs, rather broader than one half their own

length, with a central-longitudinal slit; light-yellow or nearly white. Colour

a translucent, bright grass-green, with the wings lighter; shining and with

the cremaster transparent-whitis!. L: 33mm.; B: 6mm. or less.

Habits.—The eggs are laid on the undersides of ieaves in the

shade. The little larva makes a cell by turning over a trianguar

bit from the edge onto the under-surface and fastening it down

lightly but making very little lining. This method goes on to the

end. The larva is sluggish, lies full-length in the cell all day but

hunched somewhat as described; comes out to feed at night and in

the evening and morning. Pupation takes place in a fold on the

underside as is characteristic of the subfamily; the pupa lying ex-

posed, covered with a slight white powder exuded from the larval

body befcre turning into the chrysalis. In the dry season this

pupa may lie over for some months before giving birth to the

butterfly. Some that changed in October did not bring forth

butterflies until March of the next year. The foodplant of the

larva is ordinarily Curcuma decipiens, Dalz. in Kanara but it has

been found on various other Scitaminee occasionally. The butter-

fly is a fast flier, feeding greedily at flowers at times; it keeps

close to the ground over the herbage and settles with the wings

closed over the back on the top of a leaf or on the underside. It

basks with them half open however, in a patch of sunlight, on

occasions. It never flies for any length of time at a stretch and

never rises any great height. The insect is found in India, Ceylon,

Burma, China, the Malay Peninsula, Java, Siam, Sambawa and

Bali. ‘A very common species recorded from many localities within

our limits. The larva and pupa are from Davidson’s original draw-

ings not previously published.’ (Lepidoptera Indica, vol. x, p. 207.

Plate 805 of the book showed figure 1, a male; la, a female; 1b

an underside and lc the larva and pupa).

The figures of the male, 78 and of the female 78a on the coloured

plate M accompanying these papers are too pink, otherwise very

good and both show, on the underside of the hindwings, a detached

white spot in interspace 6 middle that sometimes exists, not men-

tioned in the description above.

Genus 35.—-HyYAROTIS

Imago.—A single species with an upperside marked something like a Baoris

on the forewing and, like one also, with the hindwing immaculate; a fast

flier frequenting the hills and jungles in the opener situations where palms

grow; the larva feeding upon Phoenix or Date Palm.

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA _ 967

Antenne.—Long, more than two-thirds the length of costa of forewing; club

slender, elongate with a short, curved crook and pointed tip bent at a right-

angle and more than twice as long as the width of the club.

Palpi.—Obliquely erect; second joint densely scaled, the third minute.

Hind tibie.—-Fringed with long hair and with two pairs of spurs.

Forewing.—Vein 12 ends on the costa before end of cell; cell less than

two-thirds length of costa; discocellulars inwardly oblique, the middle one the

longer; 5 from below the middle; 3 from close to lower end of cell; 2 from

before the middle; costa gently, evenly arched, apex produced, more in the

male than in the female; cuter margin very slightly convex in male, more

rounded in the female; outer and hinder margins about equal in length.

Hindwing.—Vein 7 emitted about one-fourth before upper end of cell; disco-

cellulars faint and concave; 5 not traceable; 3 from very close to lower end

of cell; 2 from about one-third before end; wing rather longer than broad in

the maie, more rounded in the female; outer margin even. No sexual characters

in the male.

Egg, larva, pupa, habits.—See below, there being only the one species.

237. Hyarotis adrastus, (Cramer).—Male.—Upperside dark olive-brown that

is nearly black, with semihyaline, white spots on the forewing. Forewing with

three subapical dots in interspaces 6, 7, 8 in an outwardly-oblique curve; a sub-

quadrate spot constricted at its middle, sometimes not, crossing the end of

cell but not reaching the end with another below it in interspace 2 of about

the same size, half of it moved out beyond the outer margin of the cell spot ;

a small dot outside them near the base of interspace 3 and another just touching

the upper edge of vein 1 a little after the middle of the interspace 1. Hind-

wing immaculate. There is very little decumbent hair on base of forewing and

hardly any fringe to inner margin; on hindwing the decumbent hair below cell

in interspaces la, 1b rather sparser than is usual. Underside with the base

black-chocolate. Forewing with this dark base continued out to the discal band

of white spots and beyond in interspaces 2, 3 and thence upwards as a_ sub-

marginal band narrowing upwards and breaking into spots 6, 7 to apex; the

discal band of white is continued to costa as a white suffusion that stretches

outwards to the submarginal dark spots just menticned (and slightly, beyond to

very apex) and downwards into the end of cell and interspaces 4, 5 leaving the

subapical spots dark-bordered, somewhat suffusecdly so inwards; as a matter

of fact all the white marking is bordered thinly dark; there is large suffused-

white spot above vein 1 below the end of the discal band but disconnected from

it. Hindwing with the dark base only extending to a third of the length of

wing, there bordered by a transverse band of pure-white from costa to vein 1b

consisting of a spot filling the end of the cell, transversely elongate, straight

on the inner margin and emarginate-curved on the outer margin with a similar

spot in interspace 1b connected with it by a very small, similar one in the

very base of interspace 2, above the continuation to costa is wanting in the

base of interspace 6 which is, however, suffused with white scales instead

but present between veins 5, 7 in interspace 7 as another inwardly straight-

edged, outwardly emarginate white spot which is again continued to costa by

white suffusion; the white spot of this transverse, white band in interspace 6

is dislocated right out to just beyond the outer edge of spot in 7; this band

is edged dark-brown on the outer side thinly followed by a rather broader,

transverse band of the white suffusion that is again edged thinly brown

beyond which the wing is brownish-white with a more semicircular outwardly-

curved fascia of dark-brown that might be called submarginal from interspace 1b

to costa before apex. Antennz black above, the shaft greyish beneath, the top

end of club with a white, wide band right round it, the crook dull-red. Palpi

below ochreous becoming darker upwards because mixed with brown hairs;

pectus ochreous much mixed with similar hairs: legs brown-ochreous. Head

and body concolorous with wings above; beneath greyish-ochreous.—Female.

slightly paler than the male; the spots decidedly larger; otherwise nearly

exactly similar. Expanse up to 42 mm.

Swinhoe gives 52 mm. as the expanse of the female which he

says is ‘usually much larger’ than the male (Lepidoptera Indcia,

vol. x, p. 170. The insect is figured on plate 796 of the book, 3

968 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

representing the male, 3a the female and 3b the underside). The

measurement of the pictured female is 42 mm. and, therefore, does

not agree with the text statement. In N. Kanara where many

individuals have been bred the largest female measures 42 mm. in

expanse; the males somewhat less, though not very much.

Egg.—The shape of a very high dome, widest at base because standing upon

a narrow, sloping flange or foundation. Surface moderately shining, satiny-

looking and frosted; sculptured with 32 extremely fine, meridional ribs that

extend from, and including, the base to about two-thirds of the way to apex ,

the upper third remaining quite smooth-frosted. Colour a light, rather soiled

brown, “Bs 4 mma cele ani

Larva.—Is the same shape as those of Baoris farri, etc.; the body is long-

stretched and _ parallel-sided, flattened on ventrum, convex transversely over

dorsum, narrowing to head in segments 3, 2; segment 12 somewhat tumid

laterally in the spiracular region; segment 13 less than half of 12 in length,

longer dorsally than spiracularly; 14 very slightly narrower at front margin

than 13 at hinder margin—the margin slightly constricted that is—and broadly

more or less semicircularly rounded (slightly longer), the free margin or end

slightly overreaching the. anal claspers and lying practically close against the

resting-surface because the claspers are so short as are also the prolegs and

true legs; head rather large, semicircular-elliptica) in shape, the vertex with a

very slight sinus dividing the lobes which are consequently very broad, the

face convex, the surface rather cellular-rugose and covered with. the tiniest of

semidecumbent, light, fine hairs with some longer ones about the mouth-opening

as usual; the colour of the head is very light, somewhat soiled whitish-yellow

with a narrow black hinder margin widening into, often, a broad black band

onto the cheeks that does not include the eyes, with a broad dorsal band over

vertex to clypeus-apex that may often include the false and true clypeus and,

sometimes, there even may be an extra, black or brown band from middle of

clypeus side running upwards parallel to the dcrsal one to beyond the apex

of clypeus; in some specimens there is hardly any marking at all except the

narrow line along hinder margin by neck and a bit of the dorsal band down

face; true clypeus triangular with an acute apex, reaching middle of face,

often outlined thinly blackish-brown, it and the false clypeus together twice as long

as the width at base, the false clypeus reaching beyond middle of face with the

sides slightly bowed out, the apex acute ; labrum as long as, rather more than one-

third of the true clypeus and twice as broad as long, the hinder margin straight,

the front strongly curved-emarginate, the emargination filled with membraneous

tissue ; ligula as long as labruin, somewhat longly, semicircularly kidney-shaped,

the sinus rather broader than the somewhat incurved lateral lobes, rounded and

only about a third the depth of the whole organ; antennal, basal joint whitish,

third stained light-rusty; mandibles of the block type, shining-rusty, with the

ends narrowly black, the cutting-edges quite entire; the eyes arranged: 2 to 6

in a straight line with 1 behind and at right angles to 2 or very nearly so,

1 to 4 about one eye-diameter one from the other, 6 very close on five eye-

diameters from 4, number 5 behind and nearly four diameters from 4 and

two from 6. Surface of body is dull, smooth, covered all over with minute,

short, erect, light hairs that are hardly visible, with much longer ones round

the somewhat thickened free margin of .anal segment which are quite as long

as a spiracle and very visible and consist of a fringe of about twenty strongish

ones with a supplementary fringe of shorter, weaker ones below them; there

is a small, central, dorsolateral, circular, disc-like lenticed on 7 to 11, segments

all well marked with the usual six impressed, perallel, transverse lines parallel

to hinder margin of each segment. Sphiracles broadly oval, moderately large,

one-twelfth of a segment long, light yellow, more or less convex, brown border ;

those of 2, 12 much larger than the rest. Colour a chalky-looking bluish-white

all over, the segment-margins showing dark; a broad, darkish-green, dorsal

line not reaching the anal flap nor segment 2; vestiges of a whiter and

narrower, subdorsal and dorsolateral band as well as a spiracular, white line;

on the anal segment the dorsolateral band is always somewhat conspicuous

though not very prominent. Before the larva pupztes it becomes pinkish trans-

lucent-white with a broad dorsal line of dark-brown specks reaching to the very

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 69

end of 14 as a brown line not existing on segment 2; also there is then a dorso-

lateral, brown band of speckling most intense in the middle of each segment

and a similar, somewhat narrower, lateral band. L: 383mm.; B: 4mm. but

the larva was a small one. Head: 3mm. in diameter.

Pupa.—Similar to that of Baoris farri in shape with similar long snout to

head and spatulate cremaster, the pupa fixed in the same way by tail and

body-band in a iongitudinally half-open cell made on the underside of a leaf;

the head-piece, consisting of head and 2, is square, the frons or front being

prolonged into a conical, long snout about 38mm. in length, its base occupy-

ing the breadth between the eyes to quickly thin from an original 2.25 mm. to

1mm. diameter; the clypeus is on the proximal, ventral side of this snout ;

dorsal line of snout together with vertex of head is extremely little inclined

to longitudinal axis of body: segment 2 and anterior moiety of thorax are

inclined in the same line at about 30° to that axis; 2=rather more than one-

quarter length of thorax or about length of head-vertex or about 4+half of 5;

head-vertex-+snout rather longer than thorax; thorax=4+5+6; segment 4=5

and 6=4+45; thorax with dorsal line parallel to axis in posterior third, in even

continuation with 4 and 5, the hinder margin a short, wide parabolic curve

meeting the wings in a very widely-rounded, somewhat-entrant angle of 70°

or so and the shoulders are evenly rounded and very sloping; 7 a bit longer

than 6 and @ than 6 with 9 about equal to 10; segment 11 a bit shorter than

10 and very nearly equal to 12 which is, perhaps a bit shorter than 11; segment

19 about one-third of 12, not very conspicuous; 14 consists altogether of the

spatulate cremaster which equals 12+13 together and is nearly twice as long

as its base (front margin) is broad with rather-broad, very slightly raised,

superficially corrugated extensor ridges bordering the smooth, hardly-depressed,

central-dorsal space; ventrally the cremaster is hollowed out somewhat with

strong-prominent extensor ridges bordering the hollowing and continued to meet

in front of anal-clasper scars in a curve; the suspensory hooklets are bunched

ventrally at extreme point of cremaster and are very short and fairly numerous.

Head with the front of eyes somewhat prominent making the squareness of

head, the crescent a broad, smooth band with front and hinder margins depressed

lines, anterior margin slightly postmedial; clypeus triangular, proximal side

convex fronted, point formed. by the encroaching eye-covers that come into

contact, broadly-rounded, in front of it leaving a small, triangular piece which

may be the base of palpi, just before proboscis commences; proboscis in a

female reached to hinder margin of 11, being free after end of wings; midlegs

and antennz reach two-thirds length of wings, the antennze very slightly

shorter than midlegs; forelegs reach well beyond one-third length of wings ;

there is no coxal piece. Surface slightly shining, nearly quite smooth, perfectly

naked ; slight wrinkles following contours of spiracles of 6 and 7; dorsal line of

thorax with a line of slight tooth-like roughness, for about one-third its

length in middle, down each side of actual line. Spiracles of 2 large, disc-

like, slightly-raised, more or less semicircular-oval, cushion-like, as broad as

half length of segment 2 and half as long as broad, light-yellow, about five

times as long as one of the other spiracles, situated on front of thorax at

margin; others about one-seventh of segment 6, oval, disc-like light-yellow,

whitish, over twice as long as broad. Colour that of a dead bone with a very

slight pinkish shade from 4 to 11 dorsally; a subdorsal, broad, irregularly-

bordered, black-speckled, greyish band with quadrate extension out sideways

behind middle of each of segment to just above imaginary-lateral line of body,

this band from front margin of 2 to 12, the extension of hinder part of thorax

ink-like, much blacker than on other segments; ventrum practically without

any marking, dorsum with sparse, freckle-coloured dots besides, snout often

with a few black spots, transversely corrugated. L: 35mm.; B: 5.5 mm.;

the snout 5mm. and cremaster nearly 3mm. oi the length; H at thorax:

Ae(5> mimi, *) at 9 2.4mm,

The snout in the pupa contains only the frontal tufts of heads of imago and

is otherwise hollow as is easily observed just before the butterfly emerges.

The proboscis often reaches front margin of 14, irrespective of sex; the antennz

also are very slightly variable in length, sometimes reaching as far as midlegs

also irrespective of sex.

Habits.—The egg is laid, always single, on the underside of a

leaf, sometimes on the upperside, The young larva, emerging,

970 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

makes a semitube from the point of the leaf by joining the edges

with silken threads but does not draw them together completely.

When larger it fastens one leaf on top of the other—one pinna

of a leaf, that is, onto the top of another pinna and lives between

them on the underside of the upper, often joining the edges of

the one beneath to make it semi-tubular. The larva turns pinkish

before changing to a pupa which it does in due time, after wander-

ing a bit as a rule, on the underside of a leaf-pinna, sometimes

quite openly, sometimes with another pinna as covering below.

The pupa is fixed to the leaf by the tail and a body-band. The

larva, before changing, also develops bands of dark spots which

subsist in the pupa. Ali the nests, cells, houses or shelters, by

whatever names we choose to call them, are somewhat thickly

and evenly lined or carpeted with silk. The pup are quite fre-

quently found on dead leaves round the base of the palms (Pheaenix)

on which the larva feeds—these ieaves are generally still attached

to the palm.

The butterfly is a fast flier, as far as as the writer has observed,

is rarely seen. Why this is, is not known. Perhaps because it

keeps to the taller trees. It is rarely seen at flowers and is

generally in ragged condition when caught. Its habitat in the

Kanara District of Bombay is the opener ghat jungles from sea-

level upwards to somewhere in the neighbourhood of 3000’. Its

distribution is said to be: India generally; Burma; Andamans;

Ceylon; Siam; Malay Peninsula; Malay Archipelago. It is proba-

ble that it does not inhabit the plains at all and that it is confined

to the damper hill ranges throughout its habitat. The flight is

strong and rapid and, as far as has been observed, fairly straight

though it is difficult to follow. It is there on a flower or leaf and

next moment it is gone—that is the usual experience. The food-

plant of the larva is Phoenix acaulis, Roxb., the Wild Date that

grows on the Western Ghats in Bombay in the opener places where

the soil is dry and porous, very dry in the hot weather. It is

more than probable that it feeds also on other palms though it

has never been bred but on the one by the writer of these papers.

Note in 1925.—Some dozens of larvae were obtained at Balemani,

up the Kalinaddi River from Karwar (Kanara), in September of

this year. They were of all sizes and a few pupe were likewise

found. Originally, when first discovered in identically the same

locality, caterpillars were collected in December, over twenty years

ago. Each time, now and then and on several occasions between,

some dozens were found and each time not more than 20 per cent

of the caterpillars produced butterflies. They died; some parasi-

tized,:.others apparently out of mere ~cussedness’. « Thescoasvare

always much ichneumoned and, if left for any time before being

gathered, are nearly invariably thus damaged, as are most of the

eges of Gangara thyrsis and Suastus gramius observed on the

same palms. The land where the palms grow 1s flat at the foot

of high hills, widths of half a mile or so between them and the

Kalinaddi River; a park-like country with grassy spaces and often

very open forest with small deciduous trees in groups or forming

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 971i

patches of real forest. It is near the hills that the palms grow

amongst undergrowth and grass, often at the root of some tree

and under its shade. A very pleasant country in the months of

September-October, but very hot and rather bare when the under-

growth is gone and the trees are losing their leaves.

Genus 36.—IAMBRIX

Imago.—Small insects of low, weakish flight, fond of sitting on foliage near

the ground, practically on it often; frequenting forests and hills with a fairly

heavy rainfall—probably not below 40 inches; both the wings of dark-brown

hue above and below with a curve of equal-sized, discal dot-spots on the fore-

wing upperside but the hindwing immaculate or nearly so; resting with the

wings closed over the back, taking short flight to return to the same perch;

quite fond of flowers; eschewing too bright sunlight. There are two species

only in India, the one, J. stellifer, (Butl.) inhabiting Burma, the Malay Peninsula

and Annam; the other, I. salsala (M.), much more widely distributed as shown

below. There are six other species known from the Malayan Archipelago.

Antenne.—More than half the length of the costa of forewing with the club

gradual, moderately thick, the crook widely-curved back not reaching a right

angle, pointed.

Palpi.—Erect ; second joint densely scaled, the scales rather inclined to stick

out; third joint slender, long, pointed, scaled.

Hind tibie.—Rather longly, fringed, with two pairs of spurs.

Forewing.—Vein 12 reaches costa before end of cell; 11 from well beyond

middle of cell; straight; cell somewhat short but more than half the length

of the costa; discocellulars in an erect Jine, the lower the shorter so that vein 5

is nearer to 4 than to 6 by very little—but the cell is bent up a good deal at

end between 3 and 4; vein 3 from close to end; 2 from a little beyond middle ;

costa evenly arched; apex blunt; wing short and comparatively broad; outer

margin rather strongly rounded-convex, a little shorter than hinder (inner)

margin.

Hindwing.—Vein 7 from close to upper end of cell; discocellulars faint,

outwardly-oblique; 5 hardly traceable; 3 from close to lower end, practically

against 4 at origin; 2 from well beyond the middle.

Egg, larva, pupa, habits.—See below as there is only one species of which

they are known.

238. Iambrix salsala (M.).—Male. Upperside dark olive-brown with an orange

tint because of bright red-orange, long scales that are most thickly distributed

above vein 12 on the costa; in the cell, especially in its base; in interspace 1

as far out as half length of cell and below vein 1 along inner margin on forewing ;

and because of long, decumbent, orange hairs in the same places on hindwing,

as far down as vein la. Forewing with a series of discal spots of orange

scales in interspaces 1 (in which there are two, one above the other) to 8,

this band of spots at first obliquely outwards from just beyond middle of vein

1 to interspace 5, the recurved to costa with the three lowest ones by far the

largest, decreasing in size somewhat upwards. There is only a very slight

fringe of hairs along the inner margin. Hindwing immaculate. Underside

rather paler and duller. Forewing with, generally, a white dot towards upper

end of cell and one or more of the discai spots of the uppersides, pure white,

represented in interspaces 3, 4 and upwards; the orange scaling is more or

less confined to a broad band along the costa cccupying the whole apex and

continued, narrowing, downwards to vein 2, the area below vein 2 generally

paler to inner margin and often with a paie indication of the two spots on

the upperside in interspace 1; the white dot-spots, if present, are generally

surrounded by a brown-blackish margin without orange scaling; and, if absent,

by brown spots denuded of that scaling. Hindwing with the base covered

with yellower scaling than the rest; and with a series of postdiscal white spots

in a curve from vein 1b to costa, one in each interspace, each one surrounded

by a denuded brown border; any and all of these white spots may be absent

and the orange scaling may be very bright or exceedingly dark-brownish.—

Female. Upperside paler, duller. Forewing with all the spots in interspaces 1

972 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

to 8 always developed and pure-white with the exception of the two in inter-

space 1 which are yellow, the upper end of the two often very minute. Hind-

wing as in the male. Underside exactly as in the male except that all the spots

are present on the forewing, pure-white except those in interspace 1 of fore-

wing where they are very pale besides being yellowish. Cilia alternately brown

and ochreous with brown base; on the underside often with extreme tips orange.

Antenne black; club and shaft ochreous on the underside, the former with

black tips at joints, the crook dark dull-red. Palpi above black, below bright

ochreous including the third, slender joint which, however, has a black tip.

Head, thorax bright ochreous-yellow above, the abdomen more orange over a

brown ground-colour, chiefly due to the segmental bands being orange with a

few orange scales elsewhere; below, thorax and abdomen are light-orange in

the male, yellower in the female. Expanse up to 27 mm.; the female not

being any larger than the male as a rule.

The above is taken from a long series of specimens bred and

(very few) caught in N. Kanara District, Bombay. Long ago

these Kanara insects were called sonietimes salsala, sometimes stel-

lifer by such experts as Lionel de Nicéville and E. Y. Watson who

both, at different times, visited the District and saw the specimens.

Iambrix salsala is a very variable insect in the presence or absence

of the white or yellow spots and it would not be difficult to choose

a male and female to fit stellifer to.a nicety. The genitalia have

not been noticed in publications, they are not mentioned by Elwes

and Edwards in their Revision of the Oriental Hesperiide in the

Transactions of the Zool. Society, vol. xiv, part iv, No. 11.—Oct.,

1897; who, however, state that stellifer is a good and distinct

species. Watson, also, in his Proposed Classification of the

Hespertide published in the Proceedings of the Zool. Society of

London, January 17, 1893, says it is quite distinct from salsaia.

Egg.—The shape is that of a depressed limpet or dome, rather more than

one-third as high as broad, standing on a narrow or low, shelving rim.

Surface only slightly shining, covered with obscure, fine-walled, 4 .to 6-sided

cells of irregular size that are at most 0.025mm. in diameter except the

depressed micropyle-surface on the top which is obscured to a certain extent

py a scale-iike skin and is 0.185 mm. across; the shelving rim is diaphanous-

glassy, 0.05 mm. high and divided into sections by 42 meridional, thin ridges,

all very fine and low but not extending onto the dome-surface. Colour dark

blood-red except the glassy, shelving rim. B: 0.95mm.; B: 0.35 mm.

Larva.—This is rather the shape of the rest of the subfamily larvae with

the broadly long-semicircular segment 14, the body thickest at middle, narrow-

ing much less to hinder end than to the small neck but to that chiefly in

segments 3, 2, the head being large compared to that neck; anal segment

sloping to end dorsally with 13, the end slightly thickened round the free

margin and set with much longer hairs than the rest of the body (the margin

is); prolegs and true legs short, the ventrum flattened; head triangular, 2.5 mm.

broad by about the same height, thick, the surface coarsely cellular-rugose,

covered with minute, light-rusty coloured, erect or semierect hairs over the

whole area which are, perhaps, 0.05 mm. long or less and not in the least

obscure the surface or colouring; some longer hairs about mouth-opening as

usual; the colour of the head is very light-yellow with the hinder margin

bordered next the neck diffused-narrowly rusty-brown or blackish with a broad,

similarly coloured stripe including the eyes separating cheeks from face up to

vertex of each lobe—there is a very slight triangular sinus on vertex ot head

dividing it into two lobes—and the two stripes or bands may or may not be

joined across vertex of head: a similar band, usually much lighter in colour,

starts at base of clypeus on each side and runs up each lobe-face to about

middle of head or higher; the false clypeus is thinly outlined with brown from

apex to half way down, the true clypeus is completely outlined brown or

blackish; the true clypeus is triangular, rather higher than broad with an

THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA 973

acute apex and reaches half way up the face; the false clypeus reaches a little

further, a not extremely narrow strip on each side, with the apex also acute;

labrum rather more than a third of the true clypeus in length by rather less

than twice that width, rusty in colour and with the hinder margin straight ;

the ligula is translucent-whitish, kidney-shaped, as long as labrum and very

nearly as broad as labrum with the sinus one-third depth, rounded taking up

one-third the whole width, the lobes on each side broadly rounded; antennal,

basal member as well as third joint whitish; mandibles of the block type, rusty-

coloured with black-rusty borders, the cutting edges quite entire; eyes arranged

1 to 4 in a very gentle curve, equispaced, about one eye-diameter apart (3 and 4

perhaps a bit further apart), 3, 4, 6 in a straight line but 4 and 6 three eye-

diameters apart, 5 behind making a nearly perfect-equilateral triangle with 4,

6. Surface of body with segment-margins well marked; with the usual im-

pressed, very fine, transverse six lines parallel to hinder margin of segments

and occupying their hinder halves or more; the whole body covered with

extremely minute, erect, light hairs not visible except under a high-power glass,

those on the anal margin much longer though still short, quite visible to the

naked eye. Spiracles very light-brown, rather small, broadly-oval, flush; those

of 2 and 12 much larger. Colour of body is green-yellow, plentifully sprinkled

with small, more or less pure-green dots (the bases of the minute hairs) ;

segment 2 whitish-colourless; ventrum darker-green; prolegs and true legs

rather lighter green; there is generally a dorsal, dorsolateral and supraspiracular,

darker green, longitudinal line. L: 25mm.; B: 3mm.

Pupa.—This is in shape rather like that of Telicota bambuse, with the eyes

prominent, the front square, the shoulders to end of wings broadest, very

slightly thickest in middle, the cremaster triangular, strong, large, basally

wedge-shaped, distally thin, dorsally flat with thin, lateral extensor ridges

limiting the flat dorsum, rather pointed at extremity where is situated a bunch

of short, robust, nearly shaftless hooklets of a rusty colour; segment 13 very

short, hardly one-third of 12 in length, about as long as the very anterior-

marginal portion of 14 before the cremaster proper begins with 14 itself longer

than 12+18 together, indeed very nearly equal in length to 11+12 together ;

11=12-+-13 together; 10 a bit longer=9=8; segment 2==-12, with front and

hinder margin parallel, straight, an oblong-transverse piece coming to points

laterally in front of the very large spiracular expansions; thorax not very

much humped, the hinder margin a quarter-circle more approaching a parabola

as it is somewhat narrowed at apex of curve, meeting the wings in a broadly-

rounded, rather deep angle of 90°; head broad, eyes prominent with the

crescent linear; vertex dorsal, slightly ascending towards 2 and with the frons

perpendicular to longitudinal axis of the body; the clypeus triangular or hexa-

gonal (the distal side very minute, the proximal side really a curve instead of

three sides); the ligula diamond-shaped; the proboscis reaching free to end of

segment 9; the forelegs not quite attaining the middle of wings; the midlegs

and antennz nearly three-quarters. Surface cf pupa dull, covered with

comparatively long, nearly decumbent, soft hairs that are quite a_ spiracle-

length long and very fine, not hiding the surface; on the head-frons, segment 2

and thorax they arise from tiny, rather prominent tubercles; on the eyes they

are a trifle longer and erect; on segment 14 along the edges ventrally they

are much longer, nearly double the length and thicker, inclined to hooks at the

ends; segments well-defined; abdomen slightly wrinkled minutely and also

having some small hair-tubercles. Spiracles of segment 2 with enormous ex-

pansions that are semicircularly funnel-shaped, the base of the semicircle along

front margin, the funnel on thorax behind it, quite as broad as the length of

segment 2 with a perforation at the bottom; other spiracles about one-ninth of

a segment-length, oval, prominent, nearly twice as long as wide, red-brown ;

the funnel of spiracle of segment 2 also brown. Colour rusty-brownish, deepest

on head and thorax and segment 2, paler a good deal elsewhere, covered generally

with a white, cereous powder exuded by the larva before changing with which

the celi is also covered insideek L: 16mm.; B: 4mm.; H: 4mm. at

thorax.

Habits.—The eggs are laid on the undersides of blades of grass;

even on the top occasionally; the little larva makes a cell at the

974 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

tip of the leaf by joining the edges; but, later on, lives free as

often as not, making a lax cell of the same sort to retire to when

it feels inclined; the pupal cell is made of a few—as often as not

dry, dead—leaves which are rather tightly closed into a cylindrical

tube, the inside of which is often full of a white powder, this tube

fitting closely to the pupa; the pupa attached by the tail inside it.

The butterfly is found all over the N. Kanara District in jungles,

keeps close to the ground and is fond of sitting on the upper sur-

faces of leaves near the ground; ilies quickly but somewhat weakly,

often returning to the same perch. It is easy to capture on its leaf.

It is fond of flowers but does not like the hot sun and keeps to the

shadier places. It is often seen by the sides of paths and on the

edges of open-spaces. The food of its larva is a particularly long-

leafed, soft grass that grows in the damper parts of the District

from sea-level upwards and inwards to the top of the Western

Ghats. The distribution of Iambrix salsala is given by Swinhoe

as Sikkim, Assam, S. India, Ceylon, Burma and Perak and Java;

further states that it is ‘In our collection from Sikkim, Rangoon,

Kandy, Khandala, Poona, Calcutta, Ranikut and the Khasia Hills;

recorded by Manders from the Shan States; by Aitken and Comber

from the Konkan; by Watson from the Chin Hilis and Chin

Lushai; by Wood-Mason from the Palni Hills; by Aitken from

Bombay; by de Nicéville from Calcutta and Sikkim; by Hampson

from the Nilgiris; by Elwes from the Karen Hills, Naga Hills,

East Pegu, Gangam, Perak and W. Java; by Davidson, Bell and

Aitken from Karwar; our figures of the larva and pupa are from

Davidson’s original drawings.’ (Lepidoptera Indica, vol.x, p. 147.

The figures are on plate 791 of the same book, 2 the male, 2a the

female, 2b the underside male, 2c the underside female and 2d the

larva and pupa).

PP ere rn a RR NS es SS

aot Siac al oA T SERN FET SBS IT]

UINAHSVaA AO VIVAVHVNW HHL 4O SNOINIWOG

ceil ee

A dt) mn) r

ay : Mp O

lao!’ SSY¥UDy, O

l ee

bys,

WY Y/UUDID G ‘

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Mies Pwog

‘DCG ‘sIP] ‘yey Aequiog ‘uzmor

UINHSVA dO Saula

NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR

B. B. OSMASTON, M.B.O.U.

Part I

(With a Plate and a Map)

The Dominions of the Maharaja of Kashmir cover an area of about 90,000

square miles of mountainous country which is bounded on the north by the

Karakoram Mountains, on the east by Chinese Tibet, on the south by the

Punjab, on the west by Frontier Tribal Territory, the North-West Frontier

Province and the Punjab.

It comprises the folowing main Divisions :—

(1) The Kashmir Valley.

(2) The Kishenganga Valley

(3) Gilgit.

(4) Astor.

(5) Baltistan.

(6) Ladakh (including Rupshu.)

(7) Jammu (including Punch.)

(8) Kishtwar.

(9) Bhadarwa.

The area included in the State extends from points on the southern boundary

which are only 1,000’ above sea level up to many peaks in the Karakoram

Mountains which exceed 25,000’ and one of which, Mount Godwin-Austen,

is over 28,000’ and probably the second highest mountain in the world.

As a result of such differences in altitude the climate varies from semi-

tropical to arctic, and from a moderately moist country, in the Valley of

Kashmir to extreme dryness with desert conditions, in Ladakh.

An idea of the altitudes to be met with in the various parts of the State may

be obtained from the following figures :—

Kashmir Valley, 5,000’. Side valleys up to 15,000’.

Kishenganea Valley, 2,000’ up to 12,000’.

Gilgit, 4,300’ upwards.

Astore, 7,800’ __,,

Baltistan, Skardu, 7,500’ Mountains up to 24,000’ and higher.

Ladakh, 9,000’ to 18,000’. Mountains up to 22,000’.

Jummu, 1,000’ to 14,000’.

Kishtwar, 3,000’ to 16,000’.

Bhadarwa, 3,000’ to 12,000’.

With such wide differences in climate and elevation there are corresponding

changes in the fauna and flora. The outer hill slopes of Jammu support a

forest of mixed deciduous species, as well as the Long-leafed Pine, and a number

_of birds which do not penetrate into the Valley of Kashmir. Similarly a certain

number of Eastern Himalayan forms are found in Kishtwar or Bhadarwa

which do not enter the Kashmir Valley.

The Valley of Kashmir is nearly level and contains much cultivation, rice,

maize, etc., and includes several lakes and many extensive swamps which are a

paradise for aquatic birds.

The chief trees found in the valley are Poplars, Willows, Mulberries and the

Plane (Chenar). The side valleys are well forested, the lower slopes with

Walnut, Hazel, Perrottia, Elm, etc., passing up into Blue pine, Silver and

Spruce firs, Deodar (local), Yew, Cherry, Maple, Birch and Juniper. Rhodo-

dendrons are local and rather scarce. The total absence of oaks is a marked

feature of the forests of Kashmir.

In Ladakh and Baltistan, the rainfall is very small and in the former tree

growth is altogether absent except in very restricted areas where irrigation from

snow-fed streams has permitted plantations to be made. Here we find Poplars

and Willows.

Thorny scrub is also found in the vicinity of streams and low thorny bushes,

e.g., Caragana spp. on the most favourable slopes not far from streams,

976 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX]

The birds found in Ladakh are largely distinct from those occurring in

Kashmir proper.

The birds described below comprise those met with by the writer in the course

of a number of tours undertaken during the four years 1922 to 1925 inclusive,

the areas visited being :—

(1) The main Valley of Kashmir.

(2) Gulmarg and Tosha Maidan in the Pir Panjal Range.

(3) The Sind and Lidar Valleys.

(4) Haramukh Mountain and the surrounding country.

(5) Ladakh, including Rupshu, Nubra and the Pangong Lake.

(6) The Suru and Dras Valleys.

(7) Nunkun and the head waters of the Wardwan Valley.

Birds recorded as occurring in areas not visited by me viz. (1) Jummu, (2)

Kishtwar, (3) Bhadarwah, (4) Baltistan, (5) Gilgit and (6) the Kishanganga Valley

have not been included. Of these Jammu would add a large number of species

found in the western submontane hills. The other areas would not probably

add many species.

In the following notes the measurements of eggs are given in millimetres.

‘L’ stands for the longest egg, ‘S’ for the shortest, ‘B’ the broadest, and

‘N’ the narrowest.

1. Corvus corax tibetanus. The Himalayan Raven.

This species is not found in Kashmir proper, but is fairly common

throughout Ladakh in dry rocky country from about 10,000’ altitude up to the

snow line at about 16,000’ or 17,000’. They are chiefly seen in the neighbour-

hood of villages but they are also found in rocky desolate country far from

habitations. ‘They are very common in and around Leh (elevation 11,600’ )

where I have seen as many as a‘dozen at a time feeding in the cornfields.

They eat grain as wellas flesh. The note is a hoarse croak. They are very

early breeders, nidification commencing about the middle of February, fresh

egos being obtainable in March and April.

Nests are usually placed in very inaccessible positions on cliffs. Only rarely

can they be reached without a rope. A nest found by me near the Tsokar

Lake at 15,000 ft. was composed of sticks, densely lined with yak’s hair.

Two eggs obtained are bluish-green in ground marked with sepia and grey.

They are rather broad ovals. They measure 50°0 X 35°3 and 47°3 XK 34:3

respectively. é

2. Corvus coronoides intermedius. The Himalayan Jungle Crow.

Fairly common in Kashmir, especially in the side valleys and nearx ‘ margs’

(open grassy glades) where sheep and goats congregate. They are not very

common in the main valley, but are much more numerous as one ascends the

hills, and they are found up to the limits of sheep grazing i.e., up to about

12,000’. They are usually seen in pairs but where food is plentiful, e.g. near

large villages or where sheep collect, they may be seen in parties of a dozen or so.

They are bold and at the same time extremely wary. They destroy many

sma!l birds’ nests, devouring both eggs and young.

They build large nests of sticks in trees from 20’ to 40’ up, which are

lined with a dense layer of wool and hair. Four or five eggs are laid towards

the end of April or early in May, of the usual crow type.

14 eggs, taken in the Sind Valley at about 7,000’, average 42°5 by 29°7.

3. Corvus corone orientalis. The Eastern Carrion Crow.

This species is not common in Kashmir but on crossing the Great Himalayan

Range into Ladakh it is at once seen, and is found, together with the Raven,

in the Indus Valley, and side valleys (Dras, Suru, etc.) from 9,000’ to about

12,000’. It isnot numerous anywhere, but a few pairs are to be found at

intervals all along the Treaty Road from Dras to Leh.

The note of the bird is distinct from that of the Jungle Crow, being hoarser

and more like that of the Raven. Several nests were found in willow trees

early in May, some empty, cthers with eggs in various stages of incubation.

The eggs are indistinguishable from those of the Jungle Crow. The nests are

also quite similar to those of the latter bird.

Eggs vary in length from 47°53 to 39:4 and in breadth from 30°5 to 27°8, the

average of 21 eggs being 42°5 by 28°1,

NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR 977

4, Corvus splendens zugmayeri. The Sind House Crow.

This is the common house crow of Srinagar, where it is found in very large

numbers. It is also found in Baramula, at the entrance of the valley and in

the villages between Srinagar and Baramula, but not elsewhere in the Kashinir

Valley. Passing down the Jhelum Valley it is not found until one reaches

Garhi, at 2,600’ elevation, 60 miles from Baramula. The Kashmir Valley

community would therefore appear to be quite isolated and may eventually

become a distinct local race. The crow is resident throughout the winter and

does not seein to mind the snow. They breed in and around Srinagar in willow

and poplar trees. Five is the full complement of eggs laid, which vary consider-

ably in size and colour. Longest egg, 43'°2 X 27:4. Shortest, 37°0 & 26:1.

Broadest, 40°5 x 27°7. Narrowest, 40.5 X 26:0. Average of 17 eggs,

390 by 26°6.

5. Corvus monedula scemmeringii. The Eastern Jackdaw.

This species is exceedingly common throughout the Valley of Kashmir, where

it is a resident species. They extend up the side valleys to about 7,000’ but

they are not common out of the valley. They are most numerous in and around

Srinagar. Their ordinary call note is similar to that of the European Jackdaw.

In the winter they leave Srinagar before sunrise in enormous flocks composed

of tnousands of birds which fly south along the Jhelum River to feed in the

cultivated fields along the river often many miles away and they return after

sunset in similar flocks.

In February they pair and select nesting sites, generally holes in chenar or

willow trees or in banks. Building does not commence till April and eggs are

laid in the first week of May. Nests are composed of sticks, lined with wool

and hair, or sticks may be dispensed with, 4, 5 or 6 eggs are laid, which

resemble those of its European cousin.

After breeding, early in August, flocks of birds repair to the open grassy

slopes above tree level at from 9,000’ to 12,000’ returning to the valley when

driven down by snow in September or October.

The following egg measurements were taken :—ZL. 39°12 XK 25°6. S. 30:0 X

240. 2B. doit < 20°53. Nz 30°76 x 2376.5 Average of 55 esos: 35:1 Xx 248,

This species is not found in Ladakh except as a very rare straggler.

6. Pica pica bactriana. The Kashmir Magpie.

This species is common throughout the desert, treeless country of Ladakh,

from 9,000’ up to 12,000’ and rarely as high as 13,000’. It is not found in

Kashmir proper, and the trivial name ‘the Kashmir Magpie’ is therefore

misleading.

Unlike its European relative it avoids forest country and is found chiefly

near villages, provided there is a tree or a bush in which to build its nest.

The only trees found in Ladakh are willows or poplars, which are planted

singly or in small plantations on irrigated land near villages, and such trees

afford nesting sites for the magpie. In the absence of trees the magpie will

build in a thorn bush only 5 or 6 feet from the ground.

Nests are composed of sticks, roofed over with thorns. Inside isa solid cup

of mud which is lined with fine roots. Often several nests may be found

superimposed, of several consecutive years, the uppermost only being

occupied. 5, 6 and even 7 eggs are laid which are similar in colour to those of

the English Magpie. They measure :—

In length from 43:1 to 32°4. In breadth from 27'1 to 23:1. The average of

112 eggs is 36°5 by 24°9.

7. Urocissa flavirostris cucullata. The Western Yellow-billed Magpie.

This is not a very common bird but is found generally distributed in fir anal

mixed forest from 4,000’ in the Jhelum Valley up to about 8,000’ in the silver

fir forest. They are generally met with in pairs or in small family parties.

They breed in May. The nest is rather small, cupshaped, and made of

small sticks lined with roots.

8. Nucifraga multipunctata. The Larger-spotted Nutcracker.

This bird is generally distributed throughout the fir and pine forests of

Kashmir at from 7,000’ to 9,000’, but is only locally at all common, in forests

te,

978 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX]

of blue pine. They feed chiefly on the seeds of the blue pine. They have a

hoarse grating call.

Nests are difficult to locate. They are built in pine and fir trees at a

considerable height from the ground. Eggs are laid chiefly early in May.

9. Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax. The Red-billed Chough.

This is acommon species both in Kashmir and in Ladakh, at high elevations.

They are inclined to be gregarious, and are found in summer at high

elevations only from about 10,000’ upto 17,000’. They are generally most

numerous in Ladakh in the vicinity of villages where they feed in the fields

in company with Ravens and the Blue Rock and Blue Hill pigeons.

In the winter, especially in January, they descend to about 5,000’ or 6,000’

and may then be seen in the valley near Srinagar.

They also frequent wild rocky precipitous country far from human habitations.

Their nests are often solitary, placed on inaccessible cliffs, but occasionally

also they breed in communities, as near Leh where a sandy cliff contained

upwards of 40 nests all more or less accessible with a rope or aladder. In this

case the nesting holes in the soft sandstone had evidently been excavated by

the birds themselves.

Nests are composed of wool and hair with or without a foundation of sticks.

Eggs are laid early in May, three or four constituting a full clutch.

The eggs are whitish in ground colour, marked all over with yellowish brown

and «rey. Ly and’ B.; -43°9°% 28°6.-S. and NY 936:38.X 26.3") Thejvaverage

of 36 eggs is 39°2 by 27°6.

10. Pyrrhocorax graculus. The Alpine Chough.

This species is found generally distributed at high elevations 10,000’ to

16,000’ in Kashmir and also, though much less common than the red-billed

variety, in Ladakh. I found it nowhere so common as the red-billed chough,

with which it frequently associates.

Nests are built on precipices at high elevations and are usually quite

inaccessible.

11. Parus major kaschmiriensis. The Kashmir Grey-Tit.

This tit is common in the Valley of Kashmir extending up the side valleys

and into the hills up to an elevation of about 7,000’ and rarely higher. A

very similar tit, probably the same species, occurs also in the Indus Valley from

9,000’ to 11,000’ and also at Leh, and in the Shyok and Nubra Valleys.

They remain in the Kashmir Valley throughout the year. Breeding

commences early in May. A common site for the nest is a deserted nest hole of

the little Blue King-fisher. More rarely they build in holes in trees.

The nest is the usual pad of hair, and 6 to 9 eggs are laid resembling those

of the British Great Tit but smaller. lb..° 20-7) x 13°579)S.,7, 6:41 oG) Mew:

B., 18°5 x 73°9. N., 16°4 X 22:2. Average of 31 eggs 17°5 XK 13°4.

12. Parus monticolus. The Green-backed Tit.

This species, so common in the Western Himalayas generally, is rather

searce in Kashmir,

It was observed on 2 or 3 occasions only near Gulmarg at about 9,000’

elevation.

13. A€githaliscus concinnus iredalei. The Red-headed Tit.

This little tit does not occur in the Valley of Kashmir. It was only observed

in the Jhelum Valley at about 3,000’ in March. It is doubtless common in

the hills of Jammu south of the Pir Panjal Range.

14. Agithaliscus niveogularis. The White-throated Tit.

This species is rare in Kashmir. A single specimen only was observed

feeding with other tits and Phylloscopi near Gulmarg at 9,500’. This was on

September 20.

15. Lophophanes melanolophus. The Crested Black Tit.

This little tit is exceedingly common in the pine and fir forests on the hills

surrounding the main and side valleys from about 6,500’ up to 11,000’. In

NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR 979

the winter months they descend to lower elevations and are common around

Srinagar.

They hunt trees for insects in company with Phylloscopi and other small

birds.

They breed in holes in trees in May and June generally in fir forest, the

nest being the usual pad of wool and hair, on a substratum of moss.

5 or 6 eggs are generally laid, which are white, richly marked with chestnut.

Eggs give the following measurements :—

Vay die OA a, 140 OX IG Br a O17 9 NG a9 OGIO 9:

The average of 11 eggs is 15°8 by 11°5.

16. Lophophanes rufonuchalis rufonuchalis. The Simla Black Tit.

This bird is not uncommon in the silver fir forests where it is found along

with the preceding species, than which however it is much lesscommon. They

are also found in the Valley of Kashmir in the winter months.

This bird is superficially very similar in appearance to L. melanolophus from

which however it may be readily distinguished by (1) its larger size, (2) its

general darker colour and (3) the absence of wing-bars.

17. Sylviparus modestus simlaensis. The Simla Yellow-browed Tit.

This bird is only to be seen in Kashmir on the autumn migration, small

flocks occurring in Srinagar towards the end of September or early in October,

hunting over trees after the manner of tits.

Nothing is known about the breeding of this species.

18. Sitia kashmiriensis. Brooks’s Nuthatch.

Fairly common in mixed forest from about 7,000’ to 9,000’. It is a quiet

bird resembling in its habits and appearance the British Nuthatch.

A nest was found in the nest hoie of a Pied Woodpecker in a dead birch tree,

the hole being about 20’ from the ground. This was at 9,000’ elevation

On June 29, it contained 3 unfledged young, The nest hole had been reduced

in size by the construction of a ring of very hard mud masonry.

19. Sitta leucopsis leucopsis. The White-cheeked Nuthatch.

This is a fairly common bird in the silver fir forests from about 8,000’ to

10,000’.

It is readily recognized by its harsh call, generally uttered from near the top

of a lofty tree. The birds keep very much to the crowns of the taller trees.

Nidification commences in May, and natural holes in coniferous trees are

utilized as nesting sites. Nests are usually at some 20’ or more from the

ground. Noattempt is made to reduce the size of the entrance hole with mud

as in some other species.

20. Trochalopterum variegatum simile. The Western Variegated Laughing-

Thrush.

This is a fairly common species in the upper hill forests from about

9,000’ to 11,000’. Open forests of silver fir and birch, where there is plenty of

young growth, rhododendron, etc., are preferred. It is commoner on the Pir

Panjal Range than on the mountains east of the Kashmir Valley.

21. Trochalopterum lineatum griseicentior. The Simla Streaked Laughing Thrush.

Common in the hiil forests, especially in miscellaneous scrub jungle,

from 6,000’ up to about 9,000’, both on the Pir Panjal and lower slopes of the

Himaiayan Range. About the last week in September many birds leave their

breeding grounds, descending to the main valley. They may be seen in and

around Srinagar throughout the winter months.

Breeding commences in June, nests being placed in low bushes or on the

ground, in grass, on steep banks. From 2 to 4 eggs (generally 3) are laid, the

measurements of which are as follows:—L. and B. 27°4 K 19°9, S., 24:1 X

18°3. N., 247 X 17°7. Average of 16 eggs 25°8 by 18°7.

22. Molpastes leucogenys leucogenys. ‘The White-cheeked Bulbul.

This bird is exceedingly common throughout themain Valley of Kashmir,

where it is resident. It is also found, for ashort distance only, up the side valleys

980 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

up to an elevation of about 6,000’ only. They are numerous in the gardens and

wooded compounds in and around Srinagar where they frequently become very

tame, entering houses and house-boats in quest of food. In the winter months

they live to a great extent on house-boats. They breed in April and May, the

nest being placed in any low bush, or in fruit trees, etc. Three, more rarely

four, is the full complement of eggs. Egg measurements are as follows :—

Li, 24°2>417'1... (Si) 22S 5616°6. Bs, 22°5>¢975.. NN. 226X160. | Averaaeor

33 eggs, 22°8 by 16°7.

23. Microscelis psaroides psaroides. The Himalayan Black Bulbul.

A very common bird in the early spring in and around Srinagar where they

feed in flocks, largely on the fruit of the Persian Lilac tree (Melia azedarach).

By April or early May they move up to their breeding haunts in the lower

mixed forests at about 7,009’.

24. Certhia himalayana. The ‘Himalayan and Turkestan Tree-Creepers.

Kashmir is the meeting ground of two races of this species viz. (1) C. 4.

himalayana and (2) C. h. teniura. They are both common birds in Kashmir.

In the summer months they are found chiefly in the fir forests from 7,000’ to

10,000’. In winter they descend to the Valley of Kashmir and many go still lower

to the foot hills and even as far as Rawalpindi and Peshawar. ‘They breed in

the fir forests chiefly between 8,000’ and 9,000’, a favourite nest site is behind

the semi-detached bark of a big spruce or silver fir. Nests are from 5 feet from

the ground upwards. The bird is an early breeder, eggs being obtainable

throughout May. Both nests and eggs resemble those of the English bird.

25. Certhia familiaris hodgsoni. Hodgson’s Tree-Creeper.

This species is not nearly so common in Kashmir as the preceding from which

it may be recognized at close quarters by the absence of cross barring on the

tail. I observed it on several occasions in the silver fir forest above Gulmarg

and shot one specimen late in July in the Lidar Valley in open birch forest at

12,000’.

26. Tichodroma muraria. ‘The Wall-Creeper.

This species is fairly common in the Valley of Kashmir from October to

March, frequenting precipitous rocky and sandy cliffs on warm sunny aspects

at this time of the year. Many birds migrate even further in winter, to the foot

hills and plains of the Punjab and they may always be seen at this season on

the sandstone cliffs along the Soan river near Rawalpindi. Early in April

they leave their winter quarters resorting to much higher altitudes, the majority

crossing the Himalayan barrier into Ladakh, where they breed between 11,000’

and 13,000’. Breeding birds were observed in June and July in the Gya

Valley, also near Tankse and Khardong, all at about 12,000’. Nests are built

in holes in precipitous rocky ground often near streams. Some birds also

breed on the Kashmir side of the Himalayan Range, a pair having been observ-:

ed in July at 12,000’ near the headwaters of the Lidar.

27. Troglodytes troglodytes neglectus. The Kashmir Wren.

This little wren is a common bird throughout the silver fir forests of

Kashmir on the Pir Panjal as well as on the Himalayas. In summer they are

found from about 8,600’ upwards throughout the silver fir and birch zones and

even above the forest limit up to about 12,000’ in boulder-strewn and rocky

ground.

In the winter these birds move down to the valley and may be seen in and

around Srinagar. They probably go still lower down the Jhelum Valley but

apparently never extend their migration to the plains.

In their habits they resemble the British wren. They have the same loud,

rapid, cheery song. Nests and eggs also resemble those of its western relative.

They are usually placed in sheltered places, in the upturned roots of a_ big

fallen tree, in acrack in a leaning tree, or in the roof of a deserted Gujars’ hut.

Four or five eggs are laid in June which measure as follows :—L., 78‘3X11°9.

rer naa te B., 16°9 X 23°3.N., 16°3 X /2°0. Average of 35 eggs, 17°0 by

12°5.

NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR 981

28. Larvivora brunnea. ‘The Indian Blue Chat.

This is a fairly common bird from about 7,000’ to 9,000’ in rather open fir

and mixed forest. The bird frequents brushwood in open parts of the forest

and isagreat skulker. Its loud clear notes are often heard, but the bird is

rarely seen. Nests resemble those of the English robin but they often havea

few feathers incorporated in the lining of the nest. They are built on the

ground, eitherin steep banks or at the foot of a big fir tree, in the angle between

two buttresses. The eggs are unspotted pale blue.

Nidification commences early in June. The Asiatic cuckoo often places her

egg in the nest of this bird.

This species is equally common in the valleys of the Himalayas and on the

Pir Panjal Range. lit is migratory, disappearing altogether in October for

Southern India.

Five eggs average 20°4 by 14°8.

29. Hodgsonius pheenicuroides pheenicuroides. Hodgson’s Shortwing.

This species is locally commoner than the preceding which it somewhat

resembles inits habits. It isequally shy and retiring. They are found at

rather higher altitudes, from about 8,500’ up to 10,000’. They frequent dense

scrub jungle of viburnum, juniper, etc., and avoid tree forest. The call of

three notes is melancholy and characteristic.

The nest is placed about a foot from the ground in dense bushes, grass and

tall weeds.

Eggs, generally 3 in number, are deep spotless blue. The bird is migratory,

disappearing from Kashmir in October. Where they spend the winter months

is not known.

Egg measurements are as follows :—L. and B., 23°9X/6°9. S., 20°6*157

Ni 20°8Xi7-7.. Average of 31 eggs. 22°2 by 161.

30. Saxicola torquata indica. The Indian Bush-Chat.

This is one of the commonest birds in Kashmir on the lower, more open,

rocky and bush covered slopes of the surrounding hills.

They are most numerous at about 6,000’ elevation, but are found up to about

8,000’ and occasionally higher.

They are migratory, arriving about the middle of March and denparting early

in October.

The male has a short little song in the spring. Breeding commences in May,

nests being well concealed in holes under stones or at the foot of small bushes

on steep, rocky hillsides.

Four or five eggs are laid which are pale blue, marked with faint chestnut

spots in a zone at the large end. The Asiatic cuckoo frequently selects the nest

of this bird in which to deposit its egg.

Egg measurements are as follows:—L., 79°0X14°0. S., 15°6%K13'4. B.,

189X747. N., 17°3K13'1. Average of 93 eggs, 17°3 X 13°5.

31. Oreicola ferrea ferrea. The Dark-grey Bush-Chat.

This bird frequents similar open bushy hillsides to the last, but is much

less common.

It is found rather sparingly both on the Pir Panjal and Himalayan ranges,

generally at about 7,000’ tc 8,000’.

Nests and nesting sites are similar to those of the Indian Bush-Chat. Eggs,

too, are similar to those of the last named species, but larger and generally

paler.” They measure :—L., /8°5X14'5. 5., sO-SX13'‘S. By, Y7-9X745. N.,

18°5< 13").

They disappear from Kashmir in the winter.

32. (Enanthe deserti oreophila. ‘The Tibetan Desert-Chat.

This bird is found at high elevations only, in Ladakh. They frequent rocky,

sandy, desert country, both plateaux and steep hillsides, from about 10,000’

up to 17,000’, where they are often the only birds to be seen. They are nowhere

numerous.

They are early breeders, nidification commencing in May. Nests are placed

under rocks or stones or in the ‘ mane’ walls, and are composed of small sticks

and dry grass, lined with hair and feathers.

982. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST.-SOGIETY, Volo XXX]

Four or five eggs are laid, which are pale blue lightly spotted or speckled

with pinkish-brown. ‘They measure in length from 24°2 to 20°8 and in breadth

from 17°2 to 156. The average of 11 eggs bring 22°3 by 16°6.

These birds are occasionally seen in the Valley of Kashmir on the spring

migration.

33. Enicurus maculatus maculatus. The Western Spotted Forktail.

Not uncommon in the side valleys of the Himalaya and Pir Panjal Ranges

between 6,000’ and 7,000’. They frequent shady streamlets, where they breed

in May-June, the nest being placed up against a mossy rock or overhanging

bank close to the water.

34. Microcichla scouleri scouleri. : The Little Forktail.

This is a rare bird in Kashmir, being found at about 8,000’ by rocky hill

streams and torrents. I only came across this species on two or three occasions,

so it is evidently not common.

35. Phoenicurus frontalis. ‘The Blue-fronted Redstart.

This species is found widely distributed, but at high elevations only, both on

the Pir Panjal and on the Western slopes of the Himalayan Range. They

frequent open rocky slopes above the forest limit at from 11,000’ to 13,000’.

They are not nearly so common in Kashmir as further east in Garhwal. They

breed in May, the nest being placed on the ground on a steep rocky slope under

a rock or stone.

The eggs are pale cafe-au-lait faintly marked with pinkish-brown.

One nest was found in the Lidar Valley at 11,500’ on July 27, containing a

half-fledged young cuckoo (C. canorus telephonus).

36. Pheesicurus erythronotus. Eversmann’s Redstart.

A regular cold weather visitor to the Kashmir Valley, where it is found singly

or in pairs in orchards, gardens, etc., from November to January. It is not

very common.

37. Phoenicurus ochrurus pheenicuroides. The Kashmir Redstart.

This bird, which winters in the plains of India, is found on the spring and

autumn migration in the Valley of Kashmir. Towards the end of April they all

retire to their breeding haunts at high altitudes. The great majority cross

the Himalayan barrier into Ladakh, but a few remain to breed on the Kashmir

side of that range.

They breed at all elevations from about 10,000’ up to the snowline at 17,000’.

Male birds are not infrequently seen breeding in female plumage. They are

one of the commonest birds in Ladakh, being found in and around villages

and cultivation as well as in desert tracts. The nest is built very frequently in

a stone wall, or under a rock or stone on a mountain slope The bird has a

pleasant little short song of 4 or 5 notes in the breeding season. The alarm

call is a note resembling u-tick . .. hence the Ladaki name—‘ sin-tick’ for

the bird.

Eggs are 4, more rarely 5 in number, pale or very pale spotless blue and

sometimes almost white. Some eggs have a few pinkish spots on them.

A bird of this species was observed in July in the Suru Valley feeding a fully

fledged young Asiatic cuckoo, though how the mother cuckoo obtained access

to the nest of this redstart for purposes of oviposition is a mystery, as nests

are placed in holes among stones.

38. Phoenicurus erythrogaster grandis. Guldenstadt’s Redstart.

This bird occurs rather sparingly in Ladakh at considerable elevations only.

In the winter months they appear to move down to 10,000’ or perhaps lower

in the Indus Valley. In May they move up to their breeding haunts at from

13,000’ to 16,000’. They frequent streams and mountain torrents. Superficially

they strongly resemble Chaitmarrhornts, tiie White-capped Water Redstart, from

which they may however be at once distinguished by the white wing patch.

Nidification commences early, fresh eggs being obtainable in the first week in

June. Nests are rather bulky affairs, composed of wood and dried grass

matted together and lined with hair and a few feathers.

NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR 983

The eggs, four in number, are white marked with pale rufous or chesnut and

resemble well marked eggs of the English robin.

Seven eggs average 22°4 by 17:0.

39. Chaimarrhornis leucocephala. The White-capped Redstart.

This is a common bird in Kashmir on all hill streams from about 8,000’ to

12,000.’ In winter they descend tolow levels and even to the plains, e.g.

Rawalpindi. They breed chiefly at from 9,000’ to 10,000’ from May to July.

Nests are well concealed in holes in steep banks over a river or stream, in

a cavity in the face of a rock or even in a hole in a tree.

The bird has no song but acharacteristic very shrill call note. The colouring

of the two sexes is identical.

Eggs are very pale blue marked with some shade of rufous brown. The

average of 4 eggs is 23°] by 16°3.

49. Rhyacornis fuliginosa fuliginosa. The Plumbeous Redstart.

This bird is found along all hill streams in Kashmir in company with the

last species, but it does not ascend to such high altitudes, being rarely seen

above 9,000’. The colour of the two sexes is quite different, the cock bird

having a bright chestnut tail, whereas the tail of the hen bird is chiefly white.

They breed in May and June. The nest is generally well concealed in a hole

in a rock, stump or tree overhanging the water, less frequently in a hole in a

tree at some distance from the stream.

The eggs, usually four in number, are very pale greenish-white spotted with

chestnut-brown. L., 20-9 X 14°9., S.and N., /7°3 X 13°5. B., 20°4 X 75:2.

Average of 14 eggs, 19°8 by 14°6.

41. Cyanosylvia suecica pallidogularis. The Eastern Red-spotted Blue-throat.

This species is not known to breed either in Kashmir or in Ladakh. It occurs

in large numbers in the Valley of Kashmir in September and October on the

autumn migration, frequenting the thick cover of maize fields and reed-beds.

As soon as the maize is cut the birds leave for the plains of India where they

spend the winter months,

42. Cyanosylvia cyanecula abbotti. The Eastern White-spotted Blue-throat.

This species is fairly common in summer in Ladakh in the Indus Valley and

its tributaries between 9,000’ and 11,500’. ‘They are found chiefly along river

beds and streams, and they are very partial to wet ground covered with a low

thorny shrub, Lonicera spinosa, in fact they are rarely or never seen except in

or near this thorny scrub, and wherever a decent-sized patch of this scrub

occurs one may be almost certain of finding one or more pairs of this species.

They feed mostly on the ground near the patches of thorns, in which, at

the least alarm, they speedily take cover. The male bird has a very fine song

of loud, clear notes. Nidification commences in May, fresh eggs being available

from the last week of May throughout June. The nest is a most difficult one

to locate, being placed on the ground well concealed in grass at the hase of

athorn bush. Except for the exit of the parent bird the nest would generally

escape detection. The nest is composec of dry grass only. The eggs, 3 or 4

in number, are of a uniform pale sage green colour more or less suffused with

very pale reddish brown.

The cock bird has a pure shining white or red spot on a deep glistening blue

ground, or more rarely there may be no spot at all. The hen bird has also the

blue-throat with a spot which is usually very pale rufous.

A number of nests were found with eggs in various stages of incubation and

with young in the Indus-Suru Valleys from May 26, to the end of July.

Measurements of eggs give the following figures:— L. and B., 20:0 X& 15 0.

S., 28°5 & 14°6: N., 19°3 X 13°6.. Average of 20 eggs, 19'1 ‘by 14°3.

Where these birds go in winter is not known to me.

43. Calliope pectoralis pectoralis. The Himalayan Ruby-throat.

This beautiful bird is quite common on the steep rocky and grassy mountain

slopes above the forest level, especially where there is much juniper scrub.

They are found on the Pir Panjal as well as on the Himalayan slopes, but are far

more numerous on the latter. They are commonest at from 11,000’ to 12,000’.

The cock has a fine loud song. Nidification commences in June and eggs are

obtainable throughout June and July. Nests are well concealed on the ground,

984 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

among rocks and grass or in low juniper scrub. The nest is composed of

dry grass and is domed, with a large lateral entrance. Four eggs are laid,

rather dark bluish-green with pale rufous markings. This species is largely

parasitized by the Asiatic Cuckoo. Of five nests found this year one contained

a young cuckoo and another a cuckoo’s egg.

This species is found on the Ladakh side of the Himalayan Range as well as

on the Kashmir side.

Measurements of eggs are as follows:—L., 22-4 & 15°2. S. and N.,

19°7 X 15°0. B., 23 K 15°38. Average of'9 eros, 21°0 by 153!

44, Calliope tschbaiewi. The Tibetan Ruby-throat.

This bird, which resembles the preceding species, but differs from it in

having a white cheek stripe, is local and rather rare in Ladakh.

It was only observed by me in one locality, viz. near Ralma, between

Shushal and the Indus River, between 14,000’ and 15,000’. Here they were

fairly numerous in the wide stretches of thorny furze (caragana) intersected

with small streams. In their habits and song they resemble the Himalayan

species. Two nests were found at the base of furze bushes both of which

contained young (three and two respectively). This was on June 30. Nests

were quite similar to those of the Himalyan Ruby-throat.

45. lanthia cyanura rufilata. The Red-flanked Bush Robin.

This is a very common bird in summer in the silver fir and birch zone in

Kashmir between 9,000’ and 11,000’. They are. found in the forest, chiefly on

northern aspects. They have no song, only a 3-noted call in which the middle

note is a tone lower than the first and third. They are shy birds and very

wary when their nest is anywhere in the vicinity.

The nest is placed on the ground, generally in a hole in a bank or fallen log.

It is nearly always lined with musk deer hair.

The eggs are laid in May and are very pale greenish-white, faintly speckled

with rufous. Eggs measure as follows :—L. 78°8 KX 13:2. S. and N., 169 X

12:9 B., 177 X de 4. Average of. 9'eces 17:9 by 13777

I have never seen this species in winter.

46. Adelura ceeruleocephala. The Blue-headed Robin.

This bird occurs sparingly on steep, rocky hillsides on the Himalayan Range

between 9,000’ and 11,000’. ‘They avoid tree forest, preferring open rocky

country. Thecock bird isa fine songster. The bird is not common anywhere

in Kashmir and so far I have failed to find its nest, but they undoubtedly

breed in rocks at about 10,000’.

47, Turdus merula maximus. ‘The Central Asian. Black-bird.

This is nowhere a common bird in Kashmir, but is found widely distributed

at high elevations above the tree limit between 11,000’ and 13,500’. They

prefer open steep rocky country especially where there is thick low cover of

dwarf juniper or dwarf rhododendron. The song of the male is very poor and

monotonous. They are wild, wary birds, very difficult toapproach. They are

found equally on the Pir Panjaland Himalayan Ranges. On June 23, Ilsawa

pair with young able to fly on the mountain slope above Gulmarg at 11,000’.

Subsequently on July 11, I observed a pair hopping about on the ice on the

surface of Sona Sar lake (Lidar Valley) at 12,500’. This was before sunrise,

They were busy collecting hymenopterous insects, lying numbed by cold on the

ice, and carrying them up to their young concealed up above on a precipitous

rocky juniper-covered slope. I have never seen these birds in the Kashmir

Valley in winter and they probably do not descend in winter below about 8,000’.

48. Turdus castaneus castaneus. The Grey-headed Thrush.

This is a moderately common bird in the big dense forests of silver fir from

about 8,000’ to 10,000’, both on the Pir Panjal and on the Himalayas. They

are shy, quiet, unobtrusive birds asa rule. The cock bird is a really fine

songster, perhaps the best of the thrush family in India, not excepting 7urdus

boulboul.

They breed in June, the nest being quite low down against a tree stump or

rock or even on the ground.

NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR | 985

Eggs are of the blackbird type but rather richly marked. A nest was found

on June 19, in the Lidar Valley in dense fir forest on a large mass of rock,

two feet from the ground. It contained three eggs, the average measurements

of which are 30°1 by 21°9.

49. Turdus atrogularis. The Black-throated Thrush.

This is only a winter visitor to the Valley of Kashmir where they are mode-

rately common. They may be seen feeding among the willows in and around

Srivagar from October to March. They do not breed in Kashmir territory.

50. Turdus unicolor. Tickell’s Thrush.

This is one of the commonest birds in the Kashmir Valley in summer.

They are restricted to the valley proper, being only found to a limited extent

in the side valleys up to about 6,000’ elevation. They frequent orchards and

gardens and are especially numerous in and around Srinagar.

They arrive in March, leaving again in October, after the reaping of the

apple crop. From the end of March throughout April and May these birds

unite in a chorus of song in the very early morning, before dawn and again to

a less extent in the evening. The song is rather poor and monotonous as

compared with that of the English thrush or blackbird. They are fairly

tame and confidential, feeding early and late on grassy lawns and in the

autumn on appies (chiefly windfalls).

They breed from early May throughout June. The nest is like that of the

English blackbird, but rather less massive. The eggs too, are like small

editions of those of the blackbird, but eggs with a marked rufous colouration

are commoner than is the case with those of the English blackbird.

The dimensions of eggs are:—L., 28:9X20°5. S.and N., 25°2X138° 2.B.,

28:3X21'/. The average of 89 eggs is 27:1 by 19°3.

51. Arceuthornis viscivorus bonapartei. The Himalayan Missel Thrush.

This bird is found, but is not very numerous, on the hills in rather open fir

and birch forest, at from 9,000’ to 11,000’ both on the Pir Panjal and Hima-

layan Ranges. They have similar habits and song and a similar alarm call to

that of the English missel thrush. ‘Two nests only were observed, one on June

23 at 9,000’ was on the lower branch of a silver fir tree some 6’ from the

ground. It contained 3 eggs. A second nest 5’ from the ground in a young

silver fir contained 3 young on July 15.

The eggs taken seem rather large and elongate but are similar in colouration

to those of the home bird. They average 34°5 by 21°8.

52. Monticola solitaria pandoo. The Indian Blue Rock Thrush.

These birds are migratory, arriving in Kashmir and Ladakh in April and

May leaving in the autumn for the plains. They are not uncommon on rocky,

precipitous hillsides from 5,500’ to about 15,000’. They frequent open hill-

sides and do not enter the forest.

The cock bird has a fine song in the spring uttered from the top of a rock as

wellas on the wing. At this time of the year when courting, the male bird

indulges in slow vol-planing flights in the sunshine, thereby exhibiting to the

best effect his blue plumage.

Nests are placed in holes and clefts in steep rocky precipitous ground and

are generally difficult to reach and not infrequently quite inaccessible. They

are made of roots and lined with fine roots. ‘The eggs, four are five in number

are either pale spotless blue, or blue with faint pinkish brown specks. They

measure :—L., 27°3X19°7. S. and N., 26°2X/8°5. B., 27°0X20°9, the average

of 14 eggs being 26°7 by 19°7.

53. Monticola cinclorkyncha. The Blue-neaded Rock Thrush.

This is not acommon bird in Kashmir, but is found widely distributed both

on the Pir Panjal and Himalayan slopes in rather open forest between 6,000’

and 9,000’. I have occasionally seen it as high as 10,000’. The song is loud

and clear but rather monotonous.

A single nest only was found in the Lidar Valley on a steep bank in forest at

6,500’ containing 3 fresh eggs on June 12, which average 23°7 by 17:9,

986 JOURNAL, BOMBAY. NATURAL. AIST. SOCIETY: Vol. XXX1I

54. Myiophoneus temminckii temminckii. The Himalayan Whistling Thrush.

Common in summer, along all big hill streams from about 6,000’ up to 11,000’

and occasionally even higher. In winter they descend to the lower valleys and

even to the plains. ‘The song of the bird is fine and loud with considerable

variation, but is not to be compared with that of his southern relative in the

Central Provinces and Madras. Breeding commences in May and June accord-

ing to elevation. The nest of moss, lined with roots, is placed in a niche in

a rock or boulder often in mid-stream and quite inaccessible, more rarely on a

tree:

The eggs, generally 3 in number, are long ovals, pale greenish or cream

coloured faintly mottled or freckled with pinkish markings ; they measure as

follows :—L., 40°2 X 25°7. S. and B., 34°7 X 27°0. N., 40°2 X 24:6. Average

of 10 eggs, 36°9 by 25°6.

55. Laiscopus collaris whymperi. The Turkestan Hedge-Sparrow.

This species is found at high elevations in Kashmir in summer, breeding

on rocky precipitous ground above the tree limit at altitudes of 12,000’ and

upwards. It is also found in Ladakh at even higher elevations.

A pair were seen at 12,500’ above the Gangabal Lake near Hara Mukh

Mountain on August 13. They had a brood of well fledged young, fully a

month old. Another pair were seen below the Khardong Pass above Leh on

July 23 at 16,500’. They were evidently breeding. A third pair was secured

in winter on the Takht-i-Suliman (elevation 6,000’) near Srinagar on

December 14.

56. Laiscopus himalayanus. The Altai Hedge-Sparrow.

Found occasionally in flocks in the lower hills in Kashmir on the spring

migration. Two birds shot from a large flock on the Takht (Srinagar), 5,500’ ,

on March 17. Not seen in summer.

57. Prunella rubeculoides. The Robin Hedge Sparrow.

One of the common birds of Ladakh between 13,000’ and 16,000’ elevation.

They are found chiefly in low scrub, the Tibetan furze (caragana, sp.) dwarf

willow, etc. and also in stony, rocky ground. ‘They are tame and confiding.

The cock bird has rather a sweet, short song. Nidification commences

towards the end of May. Nests are composed of dry grass and weed stems,

profusely lined with wool or hair, and are placed very low down, almost on

the ground, at the base of furze bushes more rarely under stones. Three

or four eggs are laid of a uniform pale turqoise blue.

Eggs vary in length from 23°4 to 19°7 and in breadth from 15°7 to 14:9, the

average of 41 eggs bring 21'1 by 15°3.

58. Prunella fulvescens fulvescens. The Brown Hedge-Sparrow.

This is a comparatively rare bird in Ladakh. They frequent similar

ground to that in which the previous species is found, but fifty of the Robin

Hedge Sparrow are seen to every one of this species. Nests are placed in

low bushes about 2’ from the ground. Both nest and eggs are similar to

those above described, but the few eggs (7) taken average, a little smaller viz.,

20°9' by -15'0.

59. Prunella atrogularis. The Black-throated Hedge-Sparrow.

Occasionally seen in the Valley of Kashmir on the spring migration. A

bird was shot at Pari Mahal (Srinagar), at 6,000’, on March 14.

60. Prunella strophiata jerdoni. Jerdon’s Hedge-Sparrow.

This is a common bird in the silver fir and birch forest from 9,000’ to

11,000’, both on the Himalayan Range and on the Pir Panjal. It has a

short, rather pretty song interspersed by occasional harsher notes. Nidifica-

tion commences early in June. Nests are usually placed in low bushes, also

not infrequently in the foliage of the lower branch of a silver fir and

sometimes as high as 10’ from the ground.

The nest is composed of sticks, moss and weed stems and is lined with fine

grass, hair and feathers.

Three or four eggs, spotless blue, are laid, which vary in length from 19°7 to

17°5 and in breadth from 14°5 to 13°2, the average of 19 eggs being 18°6 by 13°8,

NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR 987

61. Hemichelidon sibirica guimergi. The Kashmir Sooty Flycatcher.

This is quite the commonest flycatcher in Kashmir. They are found

throughout the silver fir and birch forests from about 8,000’ to the limit of tree

growth (11,000’). They hawk flies from a fixed perch and are not at all shy.

They may be seen feeding near the tops of the highest fir trees as well as

close to the ground. The subspecific name of this bird is a happy one, as

nowhere is the bird found more numerous than in the vicinity of Gulmarg.

Breeding commences early in June, nests being placed in the leafy portion of

silver fir boughs at any height from the ground, from about 7’ upwards,

or in birch trees. The nest is a neat compact cup composed of grey lichens and

moss consolidated with spiders’ web, and lined with fine strips of grass or inner

bark with a few hairs or feathers.

Three eggs, more rarely four or only two, are laid of a pale greenish stone

colour with a tinge of pale rufous suffused around the broad end of the egg.

Eggs give the following measurements :—L., 75°6 & 11°7. B., 16:1 X& 12°8.

s.and Ni} /5°/ X i75. Ihe average of ll esesis 16:0 X 12:1:

62. Siphia parva parva. The European Red-breasted Flycatcher.

This species is fairly common in the Kashmir Valley in the spring and autumn

migration and a good many may usually be seen in and around Srinagar in

September-October. I have never, however, come across a bird in the breed-

ing season either in Kashmir or in Ladakh.

63. Siphia parva hyperythra. The Indian Red-breasted Flycatcher.

This is a very common species in Kashmir in the summer, breeding in June,

in the side valleys, e.g. Sind and Lidar, at from 6,500’ to 7,500’. They are

very partial to mixed forest of hazel, walnut, cherry, willow, etc., especially

where there is a dense growth of perrottia.

The nest is placed in a hole in a small tree at a height of from 5’ to 20’ from

the ground. It is usually invisible from the outside and can only be obtained

by enlarging the small entrance hole. It is composed of skeleton leaves, moss,

strips of bark, etc., and is lined either with finer strips of bark or with hair.

The eggs 4 or 5 in number are very pale green in ground marked chiefly

at the broad end with pale pinkish brown.

They pass through the valley, including Srinagar, in.September and early

October on their way to Ceylon, where they spend the winter.

Eggs measure as follows:—L., /7°9X13°0. B., 17°5XJ3'7. S., and N.,

15°4X12°4. Average of 36 eggs, 16°6X12°5.

64. Cyornis superciliaris superciliaris. The White-browed Blue-Flycatcher.

This bird, so common in the hill forests in Garhwal and Kumaon, is not very

common in Kashmir. It is found in the mixed forests of blue pine, silver fir

and broad-leafed species at from about 6,300’ to 9,000’, and here they breed.

The nest is usually in a hole or rift in the trunk of atree from 10’ to 20’

from the ground. It is composed of moss and dry grass and is lined with fine

strips of bast and a little hair.

The eggs, 3to5in number, are similar to those of Szphia parva described

above, but the markings are less distinct in this species than is the case with

eggs of Szphza.

Eggs measure (average) 15°1 by 11°9.

65. Cyornis tricolor tricolor. The Slaty-blue Flycatcher.

This is a very common bird in the silver fir forests of Kashmir breeding from

about 8,000’ to 10,000’ in June and July. The cock has a pretty little short

song, not often heard. This species frequents the undergrowth and lower

branches of trees in the forest. The nest is placed in a shallow hole or rift in

the bark of a tree generally well within each of the hand. The alarm call of

the bird is ‘ Ee-tick.’ Nests are composed of fine moss consolidated with

cobwebs and lined with still finer moss and a little hair. Four or three eggs are

laid which are a beautiful pale buff with a pale rufous cap or ring at the broad

end... They measure :—L., 164X121. S., 13°9X 11-4. B., 16°2 X 12:5. N.,

13'9X11:4. Average of 52 eggs, 15°6 by 12:1.

988 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

66. Alseonax ruficaudus. The Rufous-tailed Flycatcher.

This species is not uncommon in Kashmir both on the Himalayan and Pir

Panjal Ranges in mixed as well as silver fir forest from 7,000’ up to 9,000’.

They are restless little birds wandering about in the crowns of trees, from

tree to tree, the male giving utterance to his short rather loud song of three or

four notes only, repeated at short intervals. They are solitary in their habits

and resemble arboreal chats rather than typical flycatchers. The nest

resembles that of Hemichelidon sibirica described above, and is placed on a

side branch of a silver fir or other tree generally over 20’ from the ground.

The nest is a very difficult one to find as the cock bird feeds at a considerable

distance from the nest which he very rarely visits.

The eggs, usually 3 in number, are laid in June or July and are similar in

colour to those of Szpza, being very pale greenish in ground, freckled with pale

rufous chiefly at the broad end. The average of 3 eggs is 17°5 by 13°9.

67. Culicicapa ceylonensis ceylonensis. The Grey-headed Flycatcher.

This bird was not met with in the Kashmir Valley. A single bird was seen

near Domel in the Jhelum Valley at about 2,000’. This was on October 31.

The call-note of this bird is so loud and characteristic that it would be impos-

sible to overlook its presence, and it is certainly very rare in Kashmir.

68. Terpsiphone paradisi leucogaster. ‘Che Himalayan Paradise Flycatcher.

This beautiful bird is common in the Valley of Kashmir during the summer

months, ascending the hills and side valleys up to about 6,000’ only

They begin to arrive about the middle of April and they have all gone by the

middle of October. They have a rather pretty song ofa few notes, quite

distinct from the harsh call note.

They breed in May and June, nests being constructed chiefly in willows and

Chenar trees, at various heights from the ground. Four or three eggs are laid,

the ground colour of which is creamy or pinkish white with spots of bright

reddish brown. They measure as follows:—L., 22°>7X15°5. S., 19°4X16 0.

B., 19°5XJ6°l N., 20°9X/4'7. Average of 10 eggs, 20°8 by 15°4.

69. Lanuis vittatus. The Bay-backed Shrike.

This species appears to be only avery rare and occasional visitor to the

Kashmir Valley. A single bird was observed in Srinagar in May. It is probably

not rare in Jammu.

70. Lanius schach erythronotus. The Rufous-backed Shrike.

This is quite one of the commonest birds of the Kashmir Valley, extending up

the side valleys to about 7,000’ and occasionally higher. A pair was observed

in Kargil (Ladakh) at 8,900’ which were breeding there. ‘They are summer

visitors to Kashmir arriving in April and leaving in September-October.

This species is an extraordinary good mimic and it may be heard repeating

the notes of many and various birds in rapid succession and the reproductions

are so perfect as frequently to mislead one into imagining that the bird mimick-

ed is actually there. Perfect imitations of the following birds’ notes have been

heard produced by this shrike :—Common kite, myna, sparrow, swallow, swift,

paroquet, red-vented bulbul, common babbler, red-wattled lapwing, black

partridge, common sandpiper, jungle babbler, and green bee-eater.

Breeding commences in May. Nests are rather bulky cups of twigs, grass,

bark and roots, etc., lined with roots, and a little wool or hair. They are placed

at various heights from 6’ upwards in fruit trees (apples, pears, quinces etc.)

willows, poplars, etc. Five is the usual full complement of eggs laid, sometimes

only four and less frequently six may be found. They vary a good deal in

colour, shape and size but the majority are dull white in ground, fairly heavily

marked with sepia or dark grey or yellowish brown in a zone at the big end.

Erythristic varieties are rather rare. Measurements of eggs are as follows :—

L., 25°6X18. S:, 27 5X16°4. B., 22°1X19°'O. Average of 95 eges, 23°0) by 17°9.

71. Lanius cristatus isabellinus. ‘The Pale Brown Shrike.

This bird is not found in Kashmir proper, but occurs in Ladakh, where

however it is rare. Two specimens only were observed in May and June in

the Indus Valley between 11,000’ and 12,000’. It probably breeds in this

locality. Oe Ed

NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR : 989

72. Pericrocotus brevirostris brevirostris. The Indian Short-billed Minivet.

Fairly common up the side valleys and on the lower well-wooded slopes of

the Himalayas, and Pir Panjal, in summer between 6,000’ and 8,500’ : in

winter iower. ‘They breed chiefly between 7,000’ and 8,000’ in the blue pine

* forest. The nest is usually in a'blue pine. often between 50’ and 80’ from the

ground. Many nests of this bird are destrcyed by the jungle crow.

73. Dicrurus leucopheus longicaudatus. The Indian Grey Drongo.

Widely distributed but not very common in Kashmir, it is found in summer

in the main and side valleys up to about 6,000’. Nests were observed in June,

under construction, in chenar trees.

Eggs are 4 or only 3 in number, pinkish white marked with dark red

brown. They average 5 eggs, 23°2 by 17°9.

74. Acrocephalus stentoreus.brunnescens, The Indian Great Reed-Warbler.

Very common in the big jhils and lakes in the valley wherever there is a

dense growth of the big bulrushes. They are particularly numerous in the

Dal Lake close to Srinagar, arriving in April and disappearing towards the end

of September.

They are extremely noisy birds, their harsh notes being constantly heard

in the dense beds of rushes in May and June.

Nests are woven into 3 or 4 rush stems 2’ or so above the water and

3 or 4 eggs are laid, which are white, more or less heavily marked all over with

different shades of brown, grey and sepia. They measure :—L., 24:0 X 16:2.

S.and Ni, 270 X 15°47. B..23'3 XK i771. Avetage (29 eges), 22°6 by 15'S,

75. Acrocephalus concinens concinens. ‘She Chinese Paddy-field Warbler.

This is a common bird in the swamps of the Kashmir Valley, frequenting

chiefly grassy, marshy swamps and avoiding the beds of bulrushes over water

which are the home of the previous species.

They are not very shy, and the cock has rather a pretty little short song

which has none of the harsh notes of the song of the Great Reed-Warbler.

Contrary to the statement in the Fauna vf British India (Birds), revised

edition, this bird breeds in swamps and not on hillsides far from water. The

nests are placed generally rather low down in the long dense grass found in

swampy ground. The nest is woven into several blades or stems of grass and

consists of dry grass, dry rush leaves and occasionally some moss neatly woven

together with a little animal wool or vegetable cotton, lined with fine flowering

grass stems and in one case with red moss fruitingstems. Most nests are

within a foot of the wet ground, but one was 2’ 6” up.

Eggs arerather broad ovals, without gloss, fair miniatures of those of the

Great Reed-Warbler. Ground very pale green, almost pure white spotted

yellowish-brown and pale purplish-grey, more or less all over, but chiefly at

the broad end: There are also sometimes a black streak or two.

Kees umeasure —IL.,, 18°F 5€ 12°90, S., J5°% K 12°7. B., W7 XX 13°2. N.,

17°8X12°2. Average of 47 eggs, 17°1 by 12°7.

76. Tribura major.—The Large-billed Bush-Warbler.

This is a fairly common bird in suitable places between 8,000’ and 12,000’

both in Kashmir and in Ladakh. Irrigated grass lands, cultivated fields and

low thorny scrub (Lomicera spinosa), interspersed with grass, are its favourite

haunts. It is a great skulker. Its call is persistent and monotonous, resembling

the syllables ‘ chipi-chipi-chipi’ repeated indefinitely at the rate of about 3

to a second, generally from the topmost twig of some bush or small tree.

The nest is a deep cup of grass placed on or very near the ground concealed

in grass at the base of some low thorny scrub. It isa most difficult nest to

discover, as the location of the nest is not as a rule given away by the parent

bird when leaving the nest, owing to the fact that she usually runs like a rat

for some distance through the grass, on leaving the nest, before taking flight.

Egg-laying commences in the end of June or early July. Three or four

eggs is the usual full complement, but 2 and even 1 hard set eggs were found.

Eges are pale pinkish in ground spotted all over but specially at the broad

end with bright terra cotta markings and a few faint grey underlying markings

as well as occasionally very thin black lines. Eggs give the following

measurements :—L., 20°6 KX 14°8. S. and N., 27°4 X& 13'3. B., 18:5 X& 15°0.

Average (34 eggs), 18°9 by 14°3.

990 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

77. Sylvia curruca affinis.—Indian Lesser White-throat.

This White-throat is common in the main and side valleys of Kashmir on

stony bush-covered hillsides at from 5,000’ to about 7,000’. It is also fairly

common in J.adakh in the Indus, Shyok, Nubra, Dras and Suru Valleys at

from 9,000’ to 12,000.’ In Kashmir they frequent low scrub consisting of

Berberis, Rubus, Cotoneaster, and wild briar, and in Ladakh the thorny patches

of Lonicera spinosa.

It is however very strange that this bird is found breeding in Kashmir

between 5,000’ and 7,000’ and in Ladakh between 9,000’ and 12,000’.

Nests are of fine dry grass and weed stems, thin and almost transparent,

placed in thorn bushes especially Berberis and Lonicera spinosa about a

couple of feet from the ground—more rarely nests are built on the lower

branches of trees, e.g., the blue pine and are then 8’ or 10’ from the

ground.

Eggs are usually 4, sometimes 3, in number. Kashmir eggs are on the

average a little smaller than Ladakh eggs as is shown by the following

figures :—

Ladakh. Kashmir.

9,000’ to 12,000’. 5,000’ to 7,000’

Longest 19°8 KX 14:1. 19-0 DOA Sly

Shortest L722 ASE: 156 XC A2:0:

Broadest 17°6 X 14-4. 17°3 XK 14:0.

Narrowest 17°8 X J/8°0. 15°6 <.72°0:

Average (41 eggs), 18°5 & 13°7. Average (86 eggs), 17'°5 & 13:0

This looks very much as if the Ladakh and Kashmir White-throats were in-

cipient species or subspecies.

The song of this white-throat is bright—with occasional harsh notes, and on

the whole the effect is pleasing.

78. Phylloscopus affinis. Tickell’s Willow-Warbler.

This little warbler is exceedingly common at high elevations, above the

tree limit, both in Kashmir and Ladakh. Itis found breeding in the low

scrub Caragana and Berberis, in Ladakh—juniper, dwarf rhododendron,

dwarf willow and berberis in Kashmir at from 10,500’ to 16,000’. No other bird

approaching this one in smallness is found at these high altitudes, at any

rate in Ladakh, and it is indeed strange how such minute birds can survive

the low temperatures experienced regularly at night and occasionally also

during blizzards, by day.

Nests are of dry grass, domed and copiously lined with feathers, placed in

the low thorny scrub from 1’ to2’ from the ground. The eggs, four in

number, are either pure white or white scantily spotted with pale rufous.

These two varieties of eggs are about equally common and both are sometimes

found in the same nest or all the eggs in a clutch may be of one kind. Eggs

measure as follows :—Length, from 17°1 to 13:0. Breadth, from 14:2 to 11°6.

Average (43 eggs), 16°2 by 12°3.

79. Phylloscopus tytileri. Tytler’s Willow Warbler.

This species is found in the silver fir forests of Kashmir between about

8,000’ and 10,000’, especially where there are small sunny openings in such

forest with shrubby undergrowth of viburnum, etc.

It is not generally a very common bird and I found it rather scarce on

the Himalayan Range, but is much commoner on the Pir Panjal above

Gulmarg.

The note orsong of this species, if it can be called a song, resembles the

words ‘ Let’s kiss him’ repeated at frequent intervals.

This species feeds a good deal in the forest undergrowth near the ground.

Nidification commences early in June. Nests are small and globular, re-

sembling those of P. proregulus and are constructed of lichens, moss, etc., and

lined with feathers. ‘They are well concealed in the leafy boughs of silver firs,

generally at some considerable height above the ground (it is rare to find a

nest within 20’ of the ground). The writer never succeeded in finding the

eggs.

BIRDS OF KASHMIR

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

ESS

Peshawar

EE, Holmes,

Photo R.

E DAL LAKE

ON TH

Photo R, EE. Holmes, Peshawar

IN CAMP—SIND VALLEY

(Hates:

> ers

‘eal

NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR 991

80. Phylloscopus collybitus sindianus. The Sind Chiff-Chaff.

This species is found in the Kashmir Valley on the spring aud autumn

migrations i.e. during April and October. During the summer months they

are found in Ladakh where they breed in large numbers between 10,000’ and

14,000’.

They are found between these limits wherever there are willows and low

scrub (either or both). The song of the bird is very like, if not identical with,

that of the English Chiff-Chaff, and is just as persistent.

Breeding commences in the third week of May. Nests are domed with a

fairly large lateral entrance, of grass and weedstems, lined first with a layer of

very fine vegetable down—and then with feathers—more rarely with willow

cotton and no feathers.

Eggs are four—very rarely five—in numbers white spotted chiefly at the large

end with chestnut spots and specks.

The nest is usually placed in low thorny scrub but not infrequently also in

the cut thorns which are placed in and near villages on the tops of stone walls

and buildings. Where no low thorny scrub exists as in the Puga Valley, many

nests were observed in large shrubs of Myricaria elegans, several feet from

the ground and in onecase in a willow 10’ up. Eggs measure as follows :—

Ne 10 Xu he ON: Or X12 5 a, 27 2 dN, IS SX 20-7. Average

(140 eggs), 15°8 X 12°0.

81. Phylloscopus collybitus tristis. The Brown Chiff-Chaff.

This race is found in the Kashmir Valley on migration.

82. Phylloscopus griseolus. The Olivaceous Tree-Warbler.

This bird was observed in April and early May on the Takht-i-Suliman,

Srinagar, at 5,500’, climbing about on mossy rocks. It is also not uncommon

in the Indus Valley near Leh in summer, where it was watched climbing

about on the trunks of willow trees.

83. Phylloscopus humii humii. Hume’s Willow-Warbler.

This is one of the commonest of the willow-warblers in Kashmir. In the

summer it is found throughout the silver fir forest, more especially near

the outskirts or in sunny blanksor glades. Itscommon call note is ‘ Tissip.’

The nest is domed and lined with fine grass, pine needles and a little hair.

It is placed on the ground, usually on a steep bank, ina situation such as

might be chosen by the English Willow- Warbler. Four eggs—rarely five—are

laid, white well spotted with reddish brown.

dihey measiite:—L.," 15:6 17. S., 12:2 X 10'S. 1B, 15°5 x 77-92 Nw

13°5 X 10°4. Average (50 eggs), 14°0 by 10°9.

84. Phylloscopus proregulus simlaensis. Ticehurst’s Willow-Warbler.

This bird is widely distributed, but not very common, in the fir forests of

Kashmir between 7,500’ and 10,000’. Nests were found on low silver fir

branches above Pahlgam at 7,500’ and above Gulmarg at 9,000’ in early July.

Eggs were on the point of hatching.

85. Acanthopneuste magnirostris. The Large-billed Willow-Warbler.

This species which is nowhere very numerous, is at the same time not rare

and is widely distributed throughout Kashmir. It is found in the summer in

practically every well-wooded ravine provided there is also a stream or tor doth

between 6,000’ and 10,000’.

The call of the bird is remarkable and characteristic, consisting of five notes,

with a drop from the first to the second and third, which are the same note, and

a further drop from the third to the fourth and fifth which are again the same

note, but lower than the second and third. The birds spend most of their time

in the crowns of trees.

Breeding commences towards the end of June. Nests are roughly domed, of

grass, moss, dead leaves and maidenhair fern, lined with fine grass flowering

stems and are placed ina hole or crevice in a fallen log or tree or rock often

overhanging a stream.

Eggs, four or three in number, are pure white and very fragile.

They measure :—L.,. 79°4 &K 13°9. S, and B., 77°9 K 14:1. N., 184 & J73°J,

Average (9 eggs), 18°5 by 13°6.

9922 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

86. Acanthopneuste occipitalis occipitalis. The Large Crowned Willow-Warbler.

This is perhaps the commonest of all the Willow-Warblers in Kashmir,

being found throughout the mixed forest, Fir forest and Fir mixed with Birch,

from 6,000’, up to the limit of tree growth at 10,500’ or even higer. The alarm

call of these birds resembles the word ‘ Chick-Wee.’ The song of seven notes

is high pitched and monotonous—repeated all day and every day from the

crowns of the silver fir trees and resembles the syllables Tee—Tsee tsee—Tsee

tsee—Tsee tsee.

Nesting commences in June. Nests are composed of moss, with an attempt

at a dome, and are either unlined or lined with a little hair.

The eggs, four in number, are pure white and fragile, measuring :—

Li. 27°75: X 12°5. B.7.45°9 KX 13°02. 9s, 7a" 7 aN Lom nuit ea Vielacien

36 eggs, 16°0 by 12°53. ;

87. Seicercus xanthoschistus albosuperciliaris. The Kashmir Grey-headed

Warbler.

This bird, in spite of its name, is not at all common in any part of

Kashmir with which the writer is acquainted. It was observed in early spring

at about 6,500’ both in the Sind and Dachigam valleys. It doubtless breeds

in both these localities.

88. Horornis pallidus pallidus. The Pale Bush- Warbler.

This is a common bird in Kashmir, frequenting the lower and middle

slopes of the main and side valleys in summer between 5,500’ and 8,000’.

They frequent bush-covered hill slopes, avoiding tree forest, and they are

apt skulkers.

The call of this bird is remarkably loud and very peculiar. It consists of

two ‘phrases.’ The first, consisting of five notes, commences with a long

drawn-out whistle. The second of three notes also commences with a long-

drawn note, ina minor key. The two parts or phrases may be expressed by

the words

VOU danse ce sex dcanteeeeahas mixed-it-so-quick.

SLO Saastnes tepasnese pines beat you.

The first words ‘ you’ and ‘he’ll’ being drawn out to nearly two seconds

in length each.

The nest is rather untidy, domed, with a large side entrance, composed of

dry grass and lined with feathers. It is placed low down in a bush or

bramble or in a tuft of long dead grass.

The eggs, 3 or 4 in number, are deep chocolate or purple-brown and

measure :—L., /8°3 X 13°5. BB, 17°07’ X73 Sie Se, 10728 14:0; 20 Ne, 164 72-0:

Average, 26 eggs, 17°5 by 13:2.

In winter this bird descends to the foot-hills and is even found commonly

at that season on the bush-covered slopes along the Soan and Leh Rivers, near

Rawalpindi.

89. Regulus regulus himalayensis. The Himalayan Gold-Crest.

Not very common but generaily distributed in the Silver fir forests at from

9,000’ to 10,000’. Seen near Gulmarg—also up Lidar Valley above Tanin.

90. Cephalopyrus flammiceps. The *ire-capped Tit-Warbler.

Not uncommon in mixed forest of hazel, elm, walnut, etc., just below the

silver fir zone in June and July. Also seen early in August at 11,500’ in the

Lidar Valley near Astormarg, feeding in the dwarf willows.

91. Oriolus oriolus kundoo. The Indian Oriole.

Very common in the Kashmir Valley throughout the summer, arriving in

April and leaving towards end of September. They are specially numerous

in and around Srinagar. ‘Their fine flute-like notes may be heard in chorus

every ‘morning in May at dawn, together with the song of 7urdus unicolor.

They ascend the side valleys to about 7,000’ only. They are also found in

the Indus Valley in Ladakh even as high as Leh at 11,500’, but here they are

somewhat rare.

They breed in June and July the nest being woven cradle-like into branches

of the Chenar, fruit trees and willows.

NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR 993

The eggs, usually three in number, more rarely four or only two, are white

with a few very dark reddish-brown spots in which the colour often seems to

‘run’ into the white ground. They measure :—L., 32°5 X 20°7. B., 31:0 X

214, S., 23°6: XK 19°77... (Na, 26°5 X 18'9. Average (17:eges), 29:3 by 20°3.

92. Sturnus vulgaris humii. ‘The Kashmir Starling.

Exceedingly common in the Valley of Kashmir, but not found to any

extent up the side valleys or on the surrounding hills. They arrive in the last

week in February and early March and leave in October. The F.B.I. says this

species is also found in Garhwal and Nepal. I very much doubt this and

believe that this starling is not found in the Himalayas south or east of Kashmir

except as a rare straggler.

Breeding commences in May, nests being built of grass and lined with

feathers in holes in trees (willows, chenars, mulberries, etc.) as well as in

banks and in houses. Five, and rarely six eggs are laid which are uniform

very pale blue in-colour. They measure :—L., 30°7 X 20°9. B., 26°6 X 2°16.

S., 26-4 K 19°8. N., 27°77 19:2. Average, 92 eggs, 28°8 by 20°7.

93. Acridotheres tristis tristis. The Common Myna.

Common in the Valley of Kashmir, especially in and around Srinagar and

in all the big villages. Extending up the larger side valleys to about 7,000’.

They are resident in Kashmir throughout the year.

Breeding commences in May, nests being placed in holes in buildings, in

trees and in steep banks.

Five eggs are laid which are of a deeper blue than those of the Starling.

They measure -—l., 37°6 X 22°38. B., 33°9 X 23°00 S.4.29°7 X 21°2: N.,. 32°3

X 20°5. Average, (15 eggs), 32°3 by 21:9.

94. Cinclus cinclus kashmiriensis. ‘The White-breasted Asiatic Dipper.

This species is not rare on the mountain streams and torrents descending from

the Himalayan Range especially at elevations above 10,000’, near the snow beds

and glaciers. It is still commoner in Ladakh from 11,000’ upto at least

16,000’. They seem to prefer clear, swift-flowing torrents interspersed with

stones and boulders and they are constantly plunging into the ice cold water

remaining below often for 3 a minute, in search of food. They have a bright

rather loud song, heard chiefly in May and June.

They breed from May to July according to elevation, the nest being a large

oven-shaped mass of moss lined with fine dry grass, which is placed in a crevice

in arock or hole in a bank overhanging swift flowing water. Three or four eggs

are laid long pyriform ovals, pure white, varying in length from 27°2 to 25:0 and

in breadth from 19:2 to 18'4. Average of 8 eggs, 26°1 by 18°8.

95. Cinclus pallasii tenuirostris. The Brown Dipper.

This is much commoner than thelast in Kashmir, but is found at lower eleva-

tions, chiefly from 3,000’ up to 9,000’ and occasionally higher. In their habits

they resemble the White-breasted Dipper. They are very early breeders, com-

mencing in February and continuing on till May. Nests and eggs resemble

those of the last species. Eggs measure about 25°4 by 18°3.

96. Perrisospiza icteroides icteroides. ‘The Black-and-Yellow Grosbeak.

Fairly common in the silver fir and mixed forests on the Himalayan slopes, as

well as on the Pir Panjal from 8,000’ to 10,000’. They are found only in high

forest. They feed largely on the fruits of shrubs and undergrowth in these

forests. They have no song, only a call of three clear notes, uttered at frequent

intervals. They construct their nests high up in fir trees, in June.

97. Pyrrhula aurantiaca. The Orange Bullfinch.

This handsome bird is a resident species in Kashmir being found in the lower

mixed forest, in the side valleys, in winter at from 5,500’ to 6,500’ and in summer

between 9,000’ and 11,000’. They are not very common anywhere, and are

rather solitary, quiet, unobtrusive birds, their presence being usually first

detected by their soft, clear, low call note.

In the breeding season they are to be found in openings in the silver fir and

birch forest, especially where there is plenty of young tree growth and herba-

ceous weeds.

994 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

They commence building earlyin July. Nests are usuallyin silver fir or

yew trees, either in a patch of young trees or on the lower branch of a big tree.

A nest found on August 4at 9,000’ inthe Lidar Valley exactly resembled that

of the English bullfinch being composed of thin twigs and sticks and lined

with fine roots. The young had just left the nest, which was placed on the

horizontal branch of a silver fir sapling, sheltered above by asecond branch

and four feet from the ground. It wasin a thick patch of similar young trees.

A few days later in another locality in open silver fir forest at the same alti-

tude a young bird was observed only just able to fly. All the birds seen were

in the firor birch and fir forest and they certainly do not breed above the

forest limit. I saw no bulfinches on the Pir Panjal Range.

98. Pyrrhospiza punicea humii. The Western Red-breasted Rose-Finch.

This large Rose-finch is widely distributed, but not common, at high eleva-

tions both on the Himalayan and Pir Panjal Ranges. They are always

found wellabove the limit of tree growth generally between 12,000’ and 16,000’,

they frequent steep, rocky ground near or above the snow line.

They undoubtedly breed in such roeky ground but no nests were discovered.

99. Propasser thurus blythi. The Kashmir White-browed Rose-Finch.

This Rose-finch is found in suminer above the tree limit froni about 10,500’ to

12,000’ elevation. They frequent the large dense patches of dwarf juniper so

common at these altitudes. They are usually met within pairs and are not

common or numerous anywhere.

The call of this bird consists of a rather loud harsh whistle repeated from 6

to 8 times, somewhat reminiscent of the call note of the White-faced Nuthatch.

These birds were met with towards the head of the Lidar and Wardwan

Valleys. They were evidently about to breed when seen, early in August, and

they undoubtedly nest in thedwarf juniper but no nests were found. It is

probable they breed about the third week in August.

100. Propasser rhodochrous. The Pink-browed Rose-Finch.

This bird is found generally distributed both on the Himalayas and Pir Panja!

at from 9,500’ to about 11,500’. ‘They are decidedly more numerous than the

previous species. ‘They frequent cpen fir and birch forests as well as Willow

bushes and dwarf Juniper. Nidification commences in the third week of July

and fresh eggs are obtainable till the middle of August.

Nests are built in low bushes, willow, Lonzcera, etc., as wellas in small fir

trees and are usually from 2’ to 4’ from the ground. ‘They are of rather solid

construction, composed of fine twigs, birch paper and moss followed by fine

weed and grass stems and lined with hair.

The eggs 5 or 6 in number are rather deep greenish-blue scantily spotted at

the broad end with black spots. Occasionally the eggs are spotless blue.

They measure :—L., 19°6 X 14°5. B. 19°2 XK 14°6.S.i17°4 X 13°9. N.176X

13*7. Average 12 eggs, 18°5 by 14°1.

This species was not met with in Ladakh or in Suru.

101. Carpodacus erythrinus roseatus. Hodgson’s Rose-Finch.

This is by far the commonest Rose-finch both in Ladakh and in Kashmir,

but especially in Ladakh where it is exceedingly numerous wherever there is

bush cover between 9,000’ and 12,000’.

These birds pass through Kashmir on their way to their breeding haunts in

the higher mountains in the end of May and in June. They were first seen in

the Indus Valley on the Ist June.

Nidification commences in the first week of June and fresh eggs are obtainable

from about the middle of June to the end of July. Nests are composed of

dry grass and weed stems, lined with fine roots or hair or with both. They

2re placed in low bushes, in Ladakh mostly in Lonicera spinosa—also in wiid

briar and dwarf willow. They are generally from 1’ to 3’ from the ground

but occasionally as high as 7’.

The eggs are usually four, very rarely five in number. They are generally

rather long ovals, inclined to be pyriform, of a beautiful blue, spotted chiefly

at the broad end, with spots or streaks of black or red brown.

It isnot uncommon to find a clutch spotless blue or with very minute specks,

NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR 995

The song, during the breeding season, is a bright, cheery refrain of from 5

to 8 notes, repeated at intervals by the cock bird, usually from a tree or bush

not far from the nest. Each individual has his own particular combination of

notes, which is invariable, and this is often shared by the other birds in his

immediate vicinity, but in different localities there is considerable variation.

These different songs do not, however, differ in character and are always

easily recognizable as belonging to this finch.

The vast majority of these birds retire to breed beyond the Himalayan Range

into Ladakh (including the Dras and Suru Valleys) and comparatively few breed

in the Kashmir side of this range towards the head of the Sind, Lidar and

Wardwan Valleys.

Eggs measure as follows :—L., 23°27 X 15°3. B. 21:4 & 15°8. S., 18°8 K% 15:2.

N., 20°0 X /3°6. Average of 202 eggs, 20°8 by 14°9.

102. Carpodacus rubicilla severtzovi. Severtzov’s Rose-Finch.

A few birds'of this species were seen and specimens secured, in the first week

of June in the Indus Valley near Upshi at 11,000’ and again a few days later

in the Gya Valley at 12,000’. They were seen in bare rocky ground. They were

not seen subsequently and it is not known if they breed in Ladakh or not.

103. Carpodacus rubiciiloides. ‘This species, very similar to the last, differs

from it chiefly in that the back is streaked with brown and not uniformly grey

as in the former.

It is a very common bird in the breeding season throughout Eastern and

Southern Ladakh. They are found between 12,500’ and 15,000’ wherever

Tama bushes (caragana sp.) or any other shrubs are found.

They were found common near the Tsomoriri Lake and near Puga in Rupshu

towards the end of June. They were then building. At Shushal (14,200’)

and all along the southern border of the Pangong Lake they were breeding in

large numbers early in July.

The song of the bird, if song it can be called, is very poor—consisting of two

notes only, the first higher in the scale than the second. The song may be

syllabified as follows :—

Tsee-soo-soo-soo or Tsee-Tsee-soo-soo-soo-soo. The alarm call is a loud

‘ Twink’ like that of the English chaffinch.

The nest is a large massive cup composed of sticks and twigs followed by a

layer of dry grass, and lastly a lining of wool and hair.

The full complement of eggs is usually 5 but 4 and even 3 incubated eggs

may be found. They are a rather deep blue, sparingly marked with a few

large black spots.

The eggs vary in length from 27°2 to 22°2 and in breadth from 19:0 to 16:2.

The average of 90 eggs is 24°1 ‘by 17°6.

104. Carduelis caniceps caniceps. ‘The Himalayan Goldfinch.

This a very cominon bird in Kashmir, and is a resident species. In the winter

months they are seen in larger or smaller flocks in the valley, and are then com-

mon around the base of the Takht near Srinagar. They do not, however, all

remain in Kashmir in winter as they are also met with in the plains below

the foothills as far out as Rawalpindi where however they are not common.

By the end of February they begin to sing, often in chorus, and towards

the end of May they begin nesting in blue pine trees as well as in small trees

and large shrubs on the lower hills between 5,500’ and 7,000’.

After rearing the first brood at this comparatively low altitude they leave

early in July for higher altitudes and have second nests at from 9,500’ to

11,000’, nesting in blue pine, willows and birches. Second nests are to be

found during July and August in the high country on both sides of the

Himalayan Range, including the Dras and Suru Valleys and also in the

Indus Valley in Ladakh proper.

The song of the Himalayan goldfinch is of a high order and resembles that

of the European goldfinch.

The nest also resembles that of its western relation being a beautiful neat

‘little cup composed of fine vegetable materials compactly woven together and

lined with fine vegetable cotton, chiefly willow down, with a little hair. The

nest is placed in a tree or bush at heights of from 6’ to 60’ or 70’,

996 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

The eggs, five or four in number, are pale skim-milk blue marked in various

ways but never very heavily with spots or streaks of reddish-brown or greyish-

brown. Sometimes the eggs are without markings.

Egg measurements are as follows :—-l.., /9°6 X 13°5, B., 190 X /40.

S.,76°% X 129. N., 173: Xad2'7.. Averace (38 iecos)) 180 by 1372:

105. Callacanthis burtoni. The Red-browed Finch.

This is a common bird in the silver fir forests of Kashmir both on the

Himalayan and Pir Panjal Ranges. In the summer they are found at from

8,500’ to 10,000’. They are tame and confiding birds and may be watched at

very close quarters. They feed chiefly on ground, from which snow has recently

melted, or on low shrubs, the undergrowth in the Fir forests. They are esser-

tially birds of the forest, being rarely seen in the open.

They undoubtedly breed in the fir forest but no nests were found in spite cf

much search. They are, it is believed, early breeders as young birds, strong

in the wing were seen early in June near Gulmarg. The bird has no song,

only a cail note something resembling that of the bullfinch.

106. Acanthis flavirostris ladacensis. The Ladakh Twite.

This species is exceedingly common in Central, Southern and Eastern Ladakh

at elevations of from 13,500’ to 16,000’, where they breed. They frequent

areas of Tama scrub, the Tibetan furze (Caragana sp.). ;

They were first observed in Rupshu near the T'sokar Lake at 15,000’ in the

first week: in June. They had not then commenced breeding. At Puga,

(14,000’) around Shushal (14,200’) and along the Pangong Lake (14,000’)

they were found breeding early in July. Nests were composed of fine dry

grass, lined with bair and were usually placed in low Tama bushes a foot or

two above the ground. One nest was found actually on the ground, and others

in dwarf willow, several feet up, a single nest being 12’ from the ground.

Four and very rarely 5 eggs are laid which are very pale skim-milk blue

in ground, marked chiefly in a zone at the broad end with pink, pinkish

purple or reddish brown spots and with sometimes a few streaks of very

dark brown,

‘The eggs vary in length from 19:3 to 16°3 andin breadth from 14°] to 12:9,

the average of 46 eggs being 18:0 by 13°2. ,

107. Metaponia pusilla. The Gold-fronted Finch,

This is a very common bird in Western Ladakh (the Dras and Suru Valleys)

less common in the Indus valley. They are also found in Kashmir proper

especially in the spring and autumn, but they appear to retire for breeding

purposes to tne dry rainless country beyond the Himalayan Range.

The cock bird has rather a sweet little song, not often heard.

Breeding commences in the end of June and fresh eggs are obtainable

throughout July well on into August. Nests resemble those of the goldfinch but

are not quite so neat or compact. They seem to be invariably lined with fine

willow down. Five or 4 eggs are laid, very pale blue or white in ground

marked chiefly at the broad end with pinkish-brown or claret. some dark

spots and some light. Spotless eggs also occur.

Nests are placed almost always. in low bushes of the wild rose, from 2’ to

4’ from the ground, less frequently in willow bushes or trees 5’ to 7’

from: the ground. One nest was observed in a cleft in a steep rocky cliff

7’ up, and another in an umbelliferous plant growing out of acliff, but these

were exceptional nesting sites. Eggs measure as follows :— L., 15°6 & 12°8

B., 165 X 12°3. 8. x10 OX W240 Ne 1s OX Tie Averase of Sa egos le?

by 12°6.

108. Hypacanthis spinoides spinoides. The Himalayan Greenfinch.

This is a fairly common bird in summer at moderate elevations in Kasimir,

both on the Himalayan and Pir Panjal Ranges.

They frequent the more open portions of mixed forest, both pine, and fir,

chiefly between 6.500’ and 8,000’, but they ere also found higher, occasionally

up to 11,000’.

The male has a pretty little song. The ca!l note much resembles that of the

goldfinch. Breeding coiimences in July and continues throughout August

into September. Nests are placed rather high up in fir or pine trees.

NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR 997

109. Passer domesticus parkini. The Kashmir House-Sparrow.

This is an exceedingly common bird throughout Kashmir and Ladakh.

In Kashmir it is a resident species, found throughout the main valley and up

the side valleys to about 7,000’. On crossing the Zoji La into Ladakh the

bird is found at much higher elevations, viz. from 9,000’ up to 15,000’

wherever there is permanent cultivation.

The number of birds in Ladakh as well asin Kashmir, in the vicinity of

villages and cultivation is almost incredible, and it is probable that many

migrate to the plains in winter, but a very substantial residue are permanent

residents in Kashmir as well as in Leh (Ladakh).

Breeding cominences in Kashmir early in May and in Ladakh fully a month

later. Nests are the usual untidy domed affairs, of dry grass lined with hair

and feathers.

Four, 5 or 6 eggs are laid which vary considerably in colour but resemble

generally those of the European house-sparrow. As is the case with the

latter bird, one egg in each clutch is usually much lighter in colour than

the rest, with more decided and less blotchy markings.

Eggs measure as follows :—L., 23°5 KX 15°7. B., 20°9X& 15°9. S., 20:2 X 15°4.

N., 205X148 Average (78 eggs), 21°7 by 15-4.

110. Passer rutilans debilis.s The Kashmir Cinnamon Sparrow.

Common near villages and cultivation in Kashmir from about 6,000’ to

9,000’. It is more of a forest sparrow than P. domesticus parkini and where

these two species overlap, as at Pahlgam, 7,000’ in the Lidar Valley the House-

Sparrow is found inthe village and the Cinnamon Sparrow in the outskirts of

the neighbouring forest.

It is acommon bird in and around Gulmarg and here the House-Sparrow is

not found. The Cinnamon Sparrow does not cross the Himalayan Range and is

not found in Ladakh.

Breeding commences in June, nests being placed usually in holes in trees at

various heights from the ground up to 30’ also in houses, under the eaves,

asin Gulmarg. The nest is composed of dry grass and is lined with hair and

feathers.

Four or 5 eggs are laid smaller and more darkly marked than the eggs of

the house-sparrow but as with that bird one egg is usually much lighter in

colour than the rest.

Eggs measure :—L., 2/'‘0X14'0. B., 192XK14°5. S., 17°4X13°1. N., 17°4X

I3*1, Average (40 eggs), 19°1 by 13°9.

lit. Montifringilla nivalis adamsi. Adam’s Mountain-Finch.

This Finch is fairly common in Central, Southern and Eastern Ladakh

between about 12,500’ and the snow line. It is not found in West Ladakh (the

Dras and Suru Valleys) nor in Kashmir proper.

They frequent bare rocky ground but are often to be seen feeding on moist

ground near streams. The song is poor and very monotonous. The usual

mode of progression is by running, not hopping. They have a peculiar way

of flying, especially in the neighbourhood of their nests, a slow sort of hover-

ing flight with the wings raised above the back and with tail spread, displaying

the white of the wings and tail which is largely concealed when the bird is at

rest. They are tame and fearless of man.

Breeding commences early, about the middle of May. Nests are plaaed

under, or in narrow crevices in, rocks and are offen very difficult to obtain

without a crowbar, being often fully 2’ from the surface.

Nests are composed of fine yellow flowering stems of grass lined copiously

with hair (of the yak, marmot, etc.) and with feathers.

The eggs are pure white. Four is the full complement. They vary in

length from 24°6 to 20°7 and in breadth from 17°8 to 16°2.

The average of 21 eggs is 22°9 by 16°9.

112. Fringilauda nemoricola altaica. Stoliczka’s Mountain-Finch.

This is a very common bird at high elevations in Kashmir, being found on both

sides of the Himalayan Range and on the Pir Panjal but not in Ladakh proper.

Its distribution does not overlap that of Adam’s Mountain Finch. ‘They are

found in summer at elevations of from 11,000’, to 13,000’ above the limit of

tree growth, and are generally more or less gregarious. They frequent open

998 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

mountain sides, especially those which are strewn with rocks and boulders and

they feed on the wet ground from which snow has just melted.

They have no song, only a sparrow-like call note.

Nesting commences in July, the nest of dry grass and weedstems, lined with

hair, being placed well under a rock or large flat stone on the hill-side.

Eggs, 4 in number, are pure white, a beautiful pink when fresh and

unblown ; they measure about 20°9 by 15:4.

113. Fringilauda brandti hematopyga. Tibetan Mountain-Finch.

This species is very common at high altitudes in Southern and Eastern

Ladakh, rare in the upper portion of the Suru Valley, and not occurring in

Kashmir proper. They frequent open rocky ground from 13,000’ to 17,000’.

They are commoner and more gregarious than Adam’s Mountain Finch, but

they are sometimes seen with the latter. They are also very partial to wet ground

where they may often be found feeding. They were kept under close observa-

tion from June 5 to July 23, but they did not appear to have nests. They

probably breed a little later. This finch appears to have no song.

114. Emberiza fucata arcuata. The Indian Grey-headed Bunting.

This species is found on bush-covered hillsides in Kashmir, both main and

side valleys, at from 6,000’ to 7,500’, but isnowhere common. They feed on the

ground among bushes and dense scrub of Aerberis, wild rose, Cotoneaster,

indigofera and juniper. The cock has a bright short song, the best of all the

buntings with which I am acquainted. It may be expressed in words as

follows :—‘ Chick-chick-he’!] get used to you-chick ’.

Nesting commences about the middle of May. The nest is placed on the

ground at the foot of some dense low bush on a steepish slope and is well con -

cealed in grass. It is a very difficult nest to find. It is composed of dry grass

and weed stems, lined with hair. Three or 4 eggs are laid which are pale

green marked more cr less all over with pale ashy-brown markings, and with

none of the characteristic bunting lines.

They: measure :—L., -20°5 \X 14:7: .B.,; 20°3. X 25:8. SS. -19 3. Kk lo,

N..19°7 X 149. Average (10.eggs), 19°9 by 15°6.

115. Emberiza leucocephala. The Pine Bunting.

An occasional winter visitor to the Valley of Kashmir, as well as to the

submontane tract. A small flock were seen at Pandrethan near Srinagar

during the last week in Novernber.

116. Emberiza stewarti. The White-capped Bunting.

Common in the submontane tract and around Rawlpindi in the winter,

migrating up the Jhelum Valley into Kashmir in the end of March. They

are very common on all the lower hills around the Valley of Kashmir from

April to August. They frequent rocky hillsides, with or without bushes,

between 5,500’ and 6,500’. ‘They are specially partial to bare rocky slopes

whereas £. fucata is only found where there is plenty of bush and scrub.

They are early breeders, nidification commencing about the middle of April.

Fresh eggs are obtainable throughout May.

. Nests of dry grass and weedstems, lined with hair, are placed in crevices in

rocks or under stones on steep, often precipitous, rocky hillsides. Eggs,

usually 4, more rarely 5, in number are dul! white marked with dark reddish

and purplish-brown, with sometimes a few streaks of the same colour.

They measure :—ib:, 27767 14GB” 20:5 sxe oe7 17a exe O:

N., 18°6 X Z3'4. Average (98 eggs), 19°5 by 14°6.

The song of this bunting resembles the song of the yellow hammer, omitting

the last long drawn note of the latter.

117. Emberiza cia stracheyi. The Eastern Meadow Bunting.

This is the commonest bunting in Kashmir, being found in summer on the

Himalayan Range as well as on the Pir Panial between 6,000’ and 12’000 and

occasionally even higher. They are also found in Western Ladakh, in the

upper portions of the Dras and Suru valleys, but not in the Indus Valley or

beyond.

They frequent bush-covered hillsides, especially in the vicinity of cultivation.

Breeding commences early in June, and fresh eggs are obtainable through-

out July and even in August.

NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KASHMIR 999

The nest is placed on a steepish slope on the ground generally at the base

of a low bush, indigofera, etc.

Three is the full complement of eggs laid. The eggs are often very hand-

somely marked with an intricate scrawl of fine dark purplish or brownish lines

on a greyish-white ground.

They measure:—L. B., 23°*8 X i7'l. S. N., 20°2 K 15°0. Average (102

eogs), Zleorby 15'7.

The song of this bunting is short but pleasing.

118. Emberiza rutila. The Chestnut Bunting.

As single specimen of this bird was obtained on June 10 at the Tsokar

Lake in Ladakh—elevation 15,000’. It would appear to be only a straggler.

119. Delichon urbica urbica. The House-Martin.

This is the common Martin of Ladakh including the Suru and Dras Valleys.

From the middle of May they are fairly common along the Indus and Shyok rivers

and their tributaries at from 10,000’ to 12,000’. Breeding commences early in

June. Nests are composed of pellets of mud, lined with fine grass and feathers,

with a small opening near the top and are placed on the face of cliffs under

shelter of an overhanging rock. They are usually inaccessible but occasionally

they can be reached. Nests are usually solitary or in small groups. Four

eggs are laid, which measure about 19°0 & 13°6.

120. Delichon urbica cashmeriensis. The Kashmir, Martin.

Common at high elevations on the Kashmir side of the Himalayan Range.

A big breeding colony was noticed near Astormarg at 12,000’ in the Lidar

Valley. There were perhaps 100 nests in this colony, built up against the rock

surface on an overhanging cliff some 40’ or 50’ from the ground and all

quite inaccessible. Many nests contained fully fledged young in the middle

of July.

121. Ptynoprogne rupestris. The Crag Martin.

A common bird throughout Ladakh—less common in Kashmir.

They arrive in the spring from the plains and are found throughout the

summer months among rocky cliffs, especially in valleys and in the vicinity of

water. They were observed at all elevations from 9,500’ to 15,500’.

Breeding commences in May in the Indus Valley, later at higher elevations.

Nests resemble those of the English swallow being open half-saucers of mud

built up against a rock surface under shelter of an overhanging ledge. The

nest is lined with dry grass and feathers. Most nests are quite inaccessible but

occasionally nests are found in places easy of access.

Four eggs are laid much resembling those of the swallow being white boldly

marked with pale chocolate and with a few underlying purplish-grey markings.

Three eggs obtained averaged 21°1 by 14:2.

122. Hirundo rustica rustica. The Swallow.

This is an exceedingly common bird in the Valley of Kashmir where they are

found in thousands throughout thesummer. They begin to arrive from the

plains of India in the first week of March and not infrequently they come in

for a fall of snow after their arrival.

They begin nesting operations almost at once and by the third week in April

most nests contain eggs.

Nests are built chiefly in native shops and verandahs. The main post office

in Srinagar always contains many nests. They also build under the hulls of

house-boats—just above the waterline. Four, 5 and 6 eggs are laid which

resemble those of the English swallow.

They measure :—L., 22°37 X 14:0. B., 20°0 K 14°6. S., 17°4 K 13°6. N., 22°0 X

I3*1. Average (78 eggs), 19°6 by 13°7.

Swallows leave Kashmir early in October.

(Zo be continued)

FURTHER NOTES ON

THE BIRDS OF THE AMBALA DISTRICT

A. E. JONES, M.B.O.U.

In vols. xxv and xxvi of the Journal Mr. Hugh Whistler published some

very interesting notes on the avifauna of the above district. His stayin those

parts was of six months only, very inadequate indeed for working out anything

like an exhaustive list for so large a tract of country.

Later, vol. xxix, p. 675, I gavea small additional list to that of Mr. Whistler’s.

I deem myself very fortunate in having spent ten cold seasons in the district.

The avifauna is rich and varied. Being on the eastern edge of the Punjab

many species otherwise not occurring in our province just come into a narrow

strip aligning the Western Jumna Canal. Some of these are winter visitors,

a few resident, while several are strictly monsoon visitors.

In particular Jagadhri and Kalka were fairly well worked and fully repaid

the time expended, exploring, as I did, al! types of country.

In these notes I have amplified some of Mr. Whistler’s observations where I

have thought additional information advantageous, and recorded all species

which do not appear in former lists.

Two flying visits were paid to Jagadhri, during the monsoon, one in July 1922,

the other in July 1926.

The nomenclature and serial numbers are in most cases those of Mr. Stuart

Baker’s Hand List.

In conclusion I wish to thank Messrs. C. B. Ticehurst and Hugh Whistler

for their encouragement and for identifying many of my specimens.

114. Garrulax leucolophus feucolophus, Hardwicke. The Himalayan White-

crested Laughing Thrush.

While exploring the deep nullah just north-east of Kalka I heard at intervals

avian sounds quite new to myear. After scrambling about in the dense under-

growth for some considerable time I came on the originators of these strange

sounds. There was a party of six or seven of this species feeding after the family

habit among the dead leaves on the ground and J secured two without much

trouble. It was a pleasing sight to see these beautiful birds against the dull

drab leaf-strewn background. I afterwards found it very common higher up

this same nullah between 2,500 ft. and 3,500 ft. It keeps to the heavy forest,

is a great skulker but its cries betray its whereabouts. Also seen in Suket

Territory on the right bank of the Sutlej River.

204. Pomatorhinus erythrogenys erythrogenys, Vigors. The Rusty-cheeked

Scimitar-Babbler.

Not uncommon in the dense jungles between Kalka and Kasauli. More often

heard than seen.

219. Pyctorhis sinensis sinensis, Gruelin. The Indian Yellow-eyed Babbler.

Quite common about the canal area at Jagadhri. Goes about in small

parties of five to eight or nine during the cold season. In July they were in

pairs and evidently breeding.

228a. Pellorneum: ruficeps ionesi, Stuart Baker. The Western Spotted

Babbler.

In the bamboo jungles just west of Kalka Station I first came across this

species. It was usually seen near the small nullahs where there was abundance

of undergrowth. First observed on December 26, 1919, when I secured one of

a pair seen. Subsequently found to be not uncommon, though a great skulker.

328. Ixulus flavicollis flavicollis, Hodg. The Yellow-naped Ixulus.

Occasionally met with in the more open jungle in the vicinity of Kalka.

Apparently it does not enter the plains.

FURTHER NOTES ON BIRDS OF AMBALA DISTRICT 1001

344. Agithina tiphia tiphia, Linn. The,Common Iora.

One obtained at Chandigarh on February 20, 1921. In the same locality I

saw this on one other occasion.

347. A€githina nigrolutea, Marshall. Marshall’s lora.

About Jagadhri this species was seen on very few occasions, Two specimens

taken, February 11, 1917 and February 22, 1920.

384. Molpastes hemorrhous pallidus, Blyth. The Central Indian Red-vented

Bulbul.

Mr. Whistler (/.B.N.A/.S., vol. xxv, p. 669) preserved no specimens of this

species. I collected a small series and found two sub-species present in the

district. The Ghaggar River roughiy was the dividing line of this and the next

sub-species, pallidus being on the Ambala side while zztermedius occupies

the territory on the Kasauli side. I could detect no intergradation between the

two races.

385. Molpastes hemorrhous intermedius, Jerdon. The Punjab Red-vented

Bulbul. :

Very common on the Kasauli side of the Ghaggar River and ascending the

hills to an elevation of 5,000 ft. or more.

452. Chibia hottentotta hottentotta, Linn. The Indian Hair-crested Drongo.

One specimen was obtained two miles from Kalka, December 13, 1919.

Subsequently seen in March when two or three individuals were seen to be

paying attention to the Bombax (sp.) then in flower. A pair seen ona bare

tree low down in the nullah below the cart-road at Koti on April 3, 1926. All

at about 2,500 ft.

474. Tichodroma muraria (Linn). The Wall-Creeper.

Not uncommon among the earthen cliffs of the Ghaggar River about

Chandigarh. One was obtained at Jagadhri on March 13, 1921, while it was

climbing about the brick road-bridge over the canal.

501. Acrocephalus stentoreus brunonescens, Jerdon. The Indian Great Reed-

Warbler.

A single specimen obtained at the Jagadhri Jheel on February 27, 1921.

505. Acrocephalus agricola agricola, Jerdon. The Paddy-field Warbler.

This species was noted about the Jagadhri Jheel on March 13, 1921, when I

secured a single specimen.

536. Hippolais rama, Sykes. Sykes’ Tree-Warbler.

Always on the look-out for this species I only succeeded in meeting it on one

occasion, i.e., beside the race-course on March 13, 1920. Mr. Hugh Whistler

kindly identified it for me.

546. Sylvia curruca minula, Hume. The Small Whitethroat.

One obtained at Ambala on January 15, 1921. It would appear to bea

scarce visitor to the District as this was the only ore obtained among a good

series of Lesser Whitethroats.

573. Acanthopneuste occipitalis occipitalis, Blyth. The Large Crowned Willow-

Warbler.

One was calling in the dak bungalow compound, Ambala, September 1915.

582a. Seicerus burkii whistleri, Ticehurst.

Common Winter visitor to the foothills about Kalka 2,500 ft.

601. Hororins pallidus, Brooks. The Pale Bush-Warbler.

At Chandigarh one was obtained on November 13, 1921, from the self-same

clump of Sarpatta grass from which one eluded me the previous year.

621. Prinia sylvatica sylvatica, Jerdon. The Jungle Wren-Warbler.

Capricious in its choice of habitat. I found this sprightly Wren-Warbler.

common in the foothills about Kalka and Chandigarh. Again at Darazpur and

Jagadhri I found it right away from the hills. Males were in full sony at the

latter locality in July.

1002 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

667. Pericrocotus erythropygius, Jerdon. ‘The White-bellied Minivet.

I found this species somewhat scarce in the district. On two occasions I came

across a small party frequenting the Keekur trees at the eastern corner of the

race-course. Their behaviour on one of these visits was interesting ; they would

hover just above and then drop into the grass. One specimen obtained had

the mandibles coated with a sticky substance like poilen. Adult 3 ¢ were seen

on no occasion which fact is rather interesting, as my friend the late S. Basil-

Edwardes told me he found at Delhi a great predomination of this sex. From

this it would appear that the sexes separate for the most part out of the

breeding season. A juvenile ¢ obtained on March 5, 1921, had the testes quite

normal whereas peregrinus at this date had commenced to breed.

678. Graucalus macei, Less. The Large Cuckoo Shrike.

Status rather obscure. My records are Kalka, March 7, 1920, and Ambala,

three or four seen on January 14, 1923. These last appeared to be working

towards the hills. The cali-note is parrot-like and far-reaching. T’wo females

examined, wing measurements 170, 178 m.m.

689. Oriolus oriolus kundoo, Sykes. The Indian Oriole.

Common summer visitor, widely spread over the district on both monsoon

visits.

734. Sturnopastor contra contra, Linn. The Pied Mynah.

Very common about the canal area at Jagadhri where it is resident. In July

several nests still contained young.

740. Siphia strophiata, Hodgson. The Orange-gorgeted Flycatcher.

Only one record, January 25, 1920 when one was obtained in the foothills at

Kalka.

810. Saxicola insignis, Blyth. Hodgson’s Bush-Chat.

Although always on the lookout for this species Isawit but once, December

17, 1922, when I noticed among a number of Bush-Chats frequenting the

mowing-grass at the eastern corner of the race-course one bird considerably

larger than the others. On collecting this bird I found it to be an adult 9 of

the above species.

894. Turdus boulboul, Lath. ‘The Grey-winged Ouzel.

A winter visitor to the foothills, wandering at times a good distance into the

plains. Noted at Chandigarh on one occasion where a small party was

observed, an adult 2 in the Cathedral compound at Ambala, and an adult Jat

Jagadhri City, January 1, 1922.

908. Monticola erythrogaster, Vigors. ‘The Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrush.

During the cold season not uncommon in the foothills about Kalka. On one

occasion an adult 2 was seen in the Cathedral compound at Ambala when its

jay-like alarm note attracted my attention.

919. Oreocincla dauma dauma, Lath. The Small-billed Mountain-Thrush.

Besides the one I obtained at Jagadhri on February 17, 1918 (J. B.N.AS.,

vol xxvi, p. 676) my friend A. H. Berriff obtained one at Rupar, November

1924.

$57. Ploceus manyar flaviceps, Less. The Indian Striated Weaver-Bird.

Resident in the canal area at Jagadhri. Observed on many occasions _

(specimens obtained) during the cold weather. In July the birds were busily

engaged with nesting operations. Bill of both sexes when in winter plumage,

is pale yellowish horn.

961. Munia atricapilla, Vieill. The Chestnut-bellied Munia.

Possibly a regular monsoon visitor to the canal area at Jagadhri. On my

first visit in July 1922 I saw two pairs engaged in nesting operations. On the

second monsoon visit July 1926 two or three pairs were seen besides a party of

four.

1024. Metoponia pusilla, Pall. The Gold-fronted Finch.

A pair seen flying over the nullah beside the Grass-Farm at Kalkaon March

5, 1922. Elevation 2,500 ft,

FURTHER NOTES ON BIRDS OF AMBALA DISTRICT 1003

Passer domesticus parkini, Whistler. The Kashmir House Sparrow.

One adult ¢ obtained from a large flock at Jagadhri on March 12, 1925. When

I found them roosting in the reeds beside the canal. Mr. Whistler to whom I

submitted the specimen tells me the wing measurement (84 mm.) exceeded

any he had previously examined.

1059. Emberiza cia par, Hartert. The T'ranscaspian Meadow-Bunting.

Mr. Whistler records stracheyt at Kasauli, so that this race would appear to

be strictly confined to the hills. The Transcaspian Meadow Bunting however

is the bird commonly found in the district during the winter. I obtained it at

Chandigarh and found it extended to the eastern limits of the District where

conditions suited its requirments.

1063. Emberiza aureola, Pall. ‘The Yellow-breasted Bunting.

At Jagadhri among a flock of Z. leucocephala frequenting a threshing floor I

saw an adult male Yellow-breasted Bunting which I obtained on February 22,

1920.

1069. Emberiza striolata striolata, Licht. ‘The Striolated Bunting.

_Inthe broken country about Chandigarh I frequently came across this curious

little Bunting during the cold weather. None of the specimens obtained

exhibited any trace of breeding activity.

1072. Melophus melanicterus, Gruel. The Crested Bunting.

Only once noted i.e., on the Handresra road six miles from Ambala, March

17, 1918, when an adult 2 was obtained from a party of three or four.

1078. Riparia riparia dituta, Sharpe and Wyatt. The Pale Sand-Martin.

A single specimen was obtained on March 12, 1922, from a congregation of

Sand-Martins and Swallows (#7. rustica) on telegraph-wires at Jagadhri. It is

interesting to note that the genital organs of this adult ¢ were quite normal,

while from this same assemblage a fully-fledged juv. dvevicaudata was obtained

with the next shot. Another fact in relation to dzluwta is that a specimen

obtained on June 6, 1921, close to Simla exhibited breeding activity, the testes

being the sizeofa No.4 shot. The wing of the Jagadhri specimen is 103 m.m.

1091. Hirundo daurica nepalensis, Hodgson. Hodgson’s Striated Swallow.

Probably a regular winter visitor, breeding in the adjacent hills from about

6,000 ft. to possibly 9,000 ft. Three specimens which Mr. Hugh Whistler

kindly identified for me were obtained on November 27, 1921, from a flock of 200

or 300 near Jagadhri. Wings 115,115, 114mm. _ All are in deep moult.

1092. Hirundo daurica erythropyga, Sykes. Sykes’ Striated Swallow.

Three specimens of this race, in beautiful fresh plumage, were obtained on

various dates and at different spots during December. Wing measurements,

TO; dS mn.

1099. Motacilla alba hodgsoni, Gray. Hodgson’s Pied Wagtail.

During the cold weather I used to find this sub-species not uncommon along

the Gaggar River at Chandigarh and Mubarikpur. Once at Jagadhri.

1102. Motacilla flava thunbergi, Billberg. The Grey-headed Wagtail.

Dr. C. B. Ticehurst was kind enough to identify my small series of Yellow

Wagtails. ‘Their status is somewhat obscure owing to the fact that full

plumaged birds are comparatively scarce during the cold season. In fact most

birds were in deep moult even in March when I used to leave for the Hills. My

series include this and the following races :—-

1103. Motacilla flava melanogriseus, Homeyer. The Blue-headed Wagtail.

1104. Motacilla flava beema, Sykes. The Indian Blue-headed Wagtail.

1108. Motacilla citreola citreola, Pall. The Yellow-headed Wagtail.

1109. Motacilla citreola citreoloides, Gould. Hodgson’s Yellow-headed Wag-

tail.

Both these Yellow-headed Wagtails were fairly common about the district

during the cold weather, but whereas I was able during March to obtain the

former in full breeding-dress, cztreoloides was at this time only about half-way

through the moult.

1004 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

1125. Anthus roseatus, Hodgson. The Rosy Pipit‘or Hcdgson’s Pipit.

A bird of the marshes and jheels in winter. Very common about Jagadhri

at this season.

1137. Melanocorypha bimaculata, Menetries. The Eastern Calandra Lark.

A common winter visitor. Flocks varied from fifty to several hundred

individuals. Very noticeable is the constant warbling which goes on while the

birds are running about the ground. Specimens obtained in March were very

fat.

1138. Alauda arvensis cinerascens, Ehucke. ‘The Eastern Sky-Lark.

In the neighbourhood of Cantonments I used to see a few birds about the race

course and Grass-farm. Smali flocks were the usual order of things. Larger

flocks seen passing over at considerable heights.

1142. Alauda guigula gulguia, Franklin. The Small Indian Sky-Lark.

Common on the grazing-grounds near the canal at Jagadhri and paired off

in March. None were seen on either of my July visits.

1143. Alauda gulgula guttata, Brooks. The Small Kashmir Sky-Lark.

Only one specimen of this race was obtained. This was at Darazpur on

December 1], 1921, when a number were seen in the wheat fields. Probably a

' regular winter visitor.

1149. Calandrella brachydactyla longipennis, Evers. The Yarkand Short-toed

Lark.

Some attention was paid to the Short-toed Larks. Mr. Hugh Whistler was

good enough to look through my small series and identify them for me. I

found this a very common bird in the more highly cultivated tracts, feeding

generally about the stubble or recently ploughed flelds, the flocks sometimes

comprising several hundred birds.

1152. Calandrelia acutirostris tibetana, Brooks. Brooks’s Short-toed Lark.

A single specimen obtained which Mr. Whistler kindly identified for

me. This was at Darazpur on December1l1, 1921. It was squatting on a

small foot-path through tall grass. My shot disturbed other similar birds

from the immediate vicinity which were in all probability of the same sub-

species.

1159. Mirafra assamica, McCleli. The Bengal Bush-Lark.

Resident in the canal area at Jagadhri. I found it in no other part of the

District.

1184. AEthopyga siparaja seherie, Tickell. The Himalayan Yellow-backed

Sun-bird.

Found not uncommonly in the low jungle at Kalka where it is resident, from

2,500 ft. to 3,500 ft. 2 in first plumage have red throats, probably 3 ¢ are

the same.

1244. Pitta brachyura, Linn. ‘The Indian Pitta.

A common summer visitor to the foothills where its melodious disyllabic

note attracts immediate attention. Ascends the hills to about 3,500ft. I

attribute several old stick nests found in the cold season to this species.

1260. Picus striolatus, Blyth. The Little Scaly-bellied Green Woodpecker.

Only a single specimen obtained strictly within the Ambala District boun-

dary, on February 26, 1922, at Jagadhri. In the adjoining Karnal District, at

Ladwa I found it by no means rare. Probably a winter visitor wandering

into the plains at this season.

1283. Drysbates macei macei, Vieill. The Fulvous-breasted Pied Wood-

pecker:

Sparsely distributed in the lower hills from 2,500 ft. upwards.

1290. lyngipicus pygmeus, Vigors. The Himalayan Pigmy Woodpecker.

Not uncommon in the better forested parts of the foothills up to 4,000 ft.

Young out of nest seen at Koti (3,500 ft.) on June 3, 1922.

FURTHER NOTES ON BIRDS OF AMBALA DISTRICT 1005

1292. lyngipicus hatdwickii, Jerdon. he Indian Pigmy Woodpecker.

Thinly distributed over the district and probably much overlooked. ‘Two

eggs were taken from a hole in a ‘ Kikur’ tree on March 27, 1915.

1335. Megalema virens marshallorum, Swinhoe. The Great Himalayan Barbet.

Descends to the foothills just above Kalka (2,590 ft.), during cold weather.

1365. Merops superciliosus javanicus, Horsf. ‘The Blue-tailed Bee-eater.

Abundant on both monsoon visits to Jagadhri where I found it breeding in

the banks of the canal. Two specimens taken. Leaves the district before

November.

1374. Alcedo atthis pallasii, Reichn. The Central Asian Kingfisher.

The small series of these kingfishers collected by me during the cold seasons

were identified by Mr. Hugh Whistler as pertaining to this race.

1418. Upupa epops epops, Linn. The European Hoopoe.

This is the race that occurs so commonly throughout the district during the

cold weather.

1420. Upupa epops orientalis, Stuart Baker. The Indian Hoopoe.

Ambala is the type locality of this race. It is probably the breeding bird of

this district; I took one on March 10, 1921, which I attribute to this sub-species.

1423. Micropus melba melba, Linn. The Alpine Swift.

While waiting for a train at Ghaggar Station on the evening of July 31, 1926,

I was surprised to see two large swifts. Bats were out in some numbers and

the light anything but good and their identity was obscure till 1 shot one,

which proves to be an adult ¢ of this species. Testes small. Primaries

much abraided. Traces of moult on body and wing-coverts. The gizzard

contained a mass of Coleoptera.

1454. Caprimulgus monticolus, Franklin. Franklin’s Nightjar.

A summer visitor to the submontane tracts. One heard at Chandigarh on

March 19, 1922. Common about the barer hills near Kalka up to 4,000 ft.

Eggs (fresh) taken on June 3, 1922 at 3,500 ft.

1457. Caprimulgus macrurus nipalensis (Hartert). The Nepal Long-tailed

Nightjar.

Common summer visitor to the lower hills up to 5,500 ft. Arrives about

first week in March when its characteristic note may be heard at dusk. A speci-

men taken at Kalka on July 16, 1922, wasin deep moult. Its favourite haunts

are the deep-wooded nullahs.

1461. Caprimuigus indicus jotaka (Temm.) The Himalayan Jungle Nightjar.

Probably winters in the foothills. One was seen at very close quarters at

Kalka, 2,500 ft. on December 26, 1919.

1472. Cuculus canorus telephonus (Hein). The Asiatic Cuckoo.

It was somewhat surprising to find this species quite common at Jagadhri on

both monsoon visits. Both sexes were heard.

1493. Clamator jacobinus (Bodd.) The Pied Crested Cuckoo.

During July this species is widely and commonly distributed over the

district.

1524. Psittacula schisticeps schisticeps (Hodg.) The Slaty-headed Paroquet.

Occasionally descends to the foot of the hills. A small flock observed close

to the grass-farm at Kalka on March 5, 1922, when two specimens were taken.

1535. Tyto alba javanica (Gmel.). The Indian Barn Owl.

Two or three pairs annually breed about the barracks ; another pair in the

Sudder Bazaar near the R. C. School. Young were out of the nests carly in

November.

1541. Asio flammeus flammeus, Pontoppidan. The Short-eared Owl.

A fairly common winter visitor ; frequently put up when partridge-shooting.

One taken on the Dairy Farm on March 16, 1922.

1006 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX/

1547, Strix ocellata ocellata, Less. The Mottled Wood-Owl.

A pair had their quarters in some enormous banyan trees at the western

corner of the Artillery Maidan.

1556. Bubo bubo bengaiensis, Frankl. The Indian Great Horned-Owl.

Fairly common about Jagadhri where I found four hard-set eggs on March 12,

1922, from which one of the parent birds flew. The ‘nest’ was a small saucer-

shaped depression in the earthen bank of the canal, the eggs simply resting

on the bare earth. The situation was exposed to the full glare of the sun at

midday !

1557. Bubo coromandus (Lath.) The Dusky Horned-Owl.

As Mr. Whistler supposes it is common and resident. I found many eggs of

this species. T’wo would appear to be the full clutch. Nests were usually high

up and are probably the ancient domains of Honey-Buzzards, Tawny Eagles

or Neophrons. One nest besides the two chicks contained a leveret, another

contained a decapitated Lobivanellus indicus / ‘The laying season is the latter

half of December and first half of January.

1586. Glaucidium brodiei, Burton. The Collared Piginy Owlet.

One seen and wounded close to the grass-farm at Kalka. Elevation

3,000 it. :

1611. Hierauetus pennatus,Gmel. The Booted Eagle.

Not uncommon in the cold season, when afew take up their abode in the

neighbourhood of Cantonments. One dark bird used to frequent the vicinity

of the Station Hospital, its presence being proclaimed by its sharp clanging

cries. Two specimens obtained (¢ and Q), were both of the pale phase. Their

gizzards contained remains of the Palm Squirrel.

1653. Buteo buteo rufiventer (Jerd.) The Common Buzzard.

I attribute a female (wing 368 m.m.) to this sub-species Mr. Whistler men-

tions Buteo ferox in his list (.B.N.A.S., vol. xxvi, p. 181) and a male with a

wing of 406 m.m. must, I think, belong to this latter species. Both those

obtained are in the pale phase of plumage.

1677. Falco peregrinus peregrinator (Sund.) The Indian Peregrine Falcon.

A pair of this species took up their abode at the Cathedral in January and

February 1923. The pair of Luggars (/. jwgger), which hitherto had bred

annually on the steeple, in face of the invasion, quite deserted the locality.

1695. Crocopus phoenicepterus pheenicopterus (Lath.). The Bengal Green

Pigeon.

Both this and chlorogaster were obtained close to Cantonments. I found the

former race very common at one locality (3,500 ft.) in the low hills below

Kasauli. This was in April 1922 when some of them were seen pairing.

1727. Palumbus palumbus casiotus (Bonap.) ‘The Eastern Wood-Pigeon.

Observed at Kalka on two or three occasions. They appeared to be

straggling back to the hills to roost.

1783. Genneus hamiltoni (Griff.) The White-crested Kalij Pheasant.

I can vouch for this pheasant being found in the district from 2,500 ft. up-

wards. .

1860. Turnix javanica taijoor (Sykes.) The Common Bustard-Quail,

Obtained at Darazpur on December 11, 1921, and again at Kalka on March

Dy O22.

1863. Turnix tanki tanki, Blyth. The Indian Button-Quail.

On the last-mentioned date (March 5, 1922) also at Kalka, a pair of this

Button-Quail was obtained. They were frequenting rather heavy bamboo

jungle.

1872. Porzana pusilla (Pallas.) The Eastern Baillon’s Crake.

One specimen obtained on March 12, 1922, at Jagadhri.

FURTHER NOTES ON BIRDS OF AMBALA DISTRICT: 1007. -

1874. Porzana porzana, Linn. The Spotted Crake.

Hearing a Rail-like note issuing from a patch of swamp I had it beaten out

and was rewarded by getting a specimen of the above. Jagadhri, February 22,

1920.

1879. Amaurornis fuscus bakeri, Hartert. The Northern Ruddy Crake.

Two specimens taken on February 27, 1921 and January 1, 1922, both at

Jagadhri where I found them frequenting the reed-grown banks of the canal-

spill.

1882. Amaurornis akool (Sykes.) The Brown Crake.

At Chandigarh one was shot on asmall irrigation canal on November 13,

1921. Another was obtained December 4, 1921, at Jagadhri when my dog routed

one out of asmall damp nullah. Several seen at Jagadhri July 30, 1926.

1884. Amaurornis phoenicura (Pennant.) The White-breasted Water-hen.

A specimen was brought to me inthe flesh. It had been shot by a friend

between Chandigarh and the Ghaggar River on February 4, 1922. Another

was flushed by me from the margin of a small wet nullah on July 16, 1922, at

Jagadhri.

1887. Gallicrex cinerea, Gmel. The Kora or Water-Cock.

In the early morning of July 31, 1926, one, a male, flew across the canal.

With my glasses I had an excellent view of it the frontal horn making identifi-

cation unmistakable.

1901. Chlamydotis undulata macqueeni, Gray. Macqueen’s Bustard or Houbara.

In December 1919 Lt. C. S. Murray of the Physical Training School shot

three or four between Barara and Kesri. During the same winter Col. A. K.

Appelby’s falcons caught others at Rajpura.

1916. Hydrophasianus chirurgus (Scop.) The Pheasant-tailed Jacana.

A pair or two seen at Jagadhri on July 16, 1922. One bird was seen to

pursue a kite (47. govinda) as if the latter had ventured too near its nest.

Several were seen July 30 and 31, 1926, when one was seen standing over its

nest.

1920. Sarciophorus malabaricus, Bodd. The Yellow-Wattled Lapwing.

Definitely identified at Darazpur, February 15, 1922. It is very rare in the

district. A few pairs annually seen on some fallow land near Ladwa, Karnal

District, where they breed.

1964. Philomachus pugnax, Linn. The Ruff and Reeve.

At Jagadhri on February 26, 1922, I obtained a¢ from a flock of about

fifteen birds. Again at the same place March 12, 1922, three females were shot

from a large flock. The tarsi of these latter varied from olive-green to dusky

shrimp-pink.

1989. Rostratula benghalensis benghalensis, Linn. ‘The Painted Snipe.

Only observed about Darazpur and Jagadhri. At thelatter place on March

26, 1922, I think the birds had only just arrived for it was the only occasion on

which I met with it here. Four specimens preserved showed the yenital

organs were becoming active. Apparently a summer visitor.

2062. Pseudotantalus leucocephaltus leucecephalus, Penn. ‘The Painted Stork.

In March 1921 I noted three birds perched on the topmost branches of some

Pipal (F. veligiosa) trees in the village of Mustafabad. Probably common

about Jagadhri during the monsoon as several were noted July 30, 1926.

2063. Anastomus oscitans, Bodd. The Open-bill.

Common monsoon visitor. Many seen at Jagadhri on both my July visits to

that place.

2079. Butorides striatus javanicus, Horsf. The Indian Little Green Heron.

One specimen obtained at Chandigarh on November 15, 1921. It was flushed

from a small irrigation canal. Others were seen at Jagadhri, July 30, 1926,

1008 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

2081. Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax, Linn. The Night Heron.

I used to hear (and occasionally see) a few of these birds winging their way

to their feeding grounds. Their line of flight usually took them across the

north-east corner of cantonments, their direction was almost due east.

2083. Ixobrychus minutus minutus, Linn. The Little Bittern.

Very common about the jheel and canal at Jagadhri. By no means shy of

observation.

2085. Ixobrychus cinnamomeus, Gmel. ‘The Chestnut Bittern.

On July 31, 1926. Three were observed at daybreak flying about over the

tall bullrushes at the northern end of the jheel at Jagadhri.

2097. Nettopus coromandelianus, Gmel. The Cotton Teal.

Apparently a summer visitor to Jagadhri. A few pairs were seen on both my

monsoon visits to that place.

2107. Dendrocygna javanica, Horsf. ‘The Lesser or Common Whistling Teal.

Three or four pairs were seen at Jagadhri on July 16, 1922 and one pair on

July 30, 1926, by which, I think, it is a regular monsoon visitor to the locality.

Years ago l remember shooting some during the cold season near Kasur,

Punjab.

Colymbus arcticus, The Black-throated Diver.

This I have already reported (/.B.NV.4.S., vol. xxviii, p. 1134).

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF SIR J. C. BOSE’S

‘NERVOUS MECHANISM OF PLANTS’

R. H. DASTUR

(Communicated by E. Blatter, S. J., Ph. D., F.L.S.)

In his recent publication Sir J. C. Bose has tried to show that the nervous

mechanism of plants is similar to that of animals. His conclusions are based

on the experimental evidence he has gathered on working with sensitive plants,

especially Mimosa pudica. He first tries to show. that the conduction of

excitation is purely a physiological phenomenon and not a physical one as was

supposed by Pfeffer, Haberlandt and others. He has attempted to show that

the hydro-mechanical theory of Haberlandt is inadequate as the transmission

of excitation to a distance can be affected by a scratch, by superficial friction

and by an electric shock of feeble intensity, and a deep wound or an escape

of a drop of water are not necessary as, according to Bose, was put forward

by Haberlandt. Similarly he has tried to disprove the theory of transpiration

current conduction.

In order to obtain evidence to support his view that the nervous mechanism

of plants is similar to that of the animals he has studied the polar action of

an electric current in A/zmosa and other plants just as it has been done on

animal nerves and finds that the same kinds of reactions are obtained with

plants also. He shows that, as in the case of animal nerves, the excitation

under a feeble current, is produced at kathode make, and under a stronger

current it is produced both at kathode make and anode break. From these

experiments he concludes that the conduction takes place through the physio-

logical propagation of protoplasmic excitation.

He has determined the velocity of transmission of excitation by his resonant

recorder and has found that in summer in the thick petioles of A/zmosa it varies

from 30 to 55 mm. per second and in thin petioles it is as high as 400 mm. per

second. But in winter it is very much lower on account of the physiclogical

condition of the plant.

In case of animals, the nervous impulse is arrested when an electrotonic

block is interposed in the path of conduction. Bose has shown that the same

holds good for plants thus showing the similar nature of nervous mechanism

in both. He has also shown that application of ice brings about a temporary

loss of conduction power and poisonous solutions completely destroy it.

He assigns the task of conducting the impulse in the case of Wimosa to

certain tubular cells in the phloem region. He thinks that the sieve tubes do

not conduct the impulse. According to him protoplasmic continuity is not

necessary through the perforations of the transverse cell walls of the

sieve tubes as the unperforated transverse wall of the tubular cells do

not hinder the transmission and act like the synapsoidal membranes of the

nerves of animals. The transverse walls behave as synapsoidal membranes

is supported by the fact that on account of their presence the conduction of the

impulse is irreciprocal. He shows that the excitation passes from the tubular

cells to the motor cells of the pulvinus and brings about its contraction but the

contraction of the pulvinus does not excite the tubular cells,

It is further maintained by him that besides the sensitive plants other non-

sensitive plants are also excitable. In the case of the sensitive plants the

excitatory process is externally made visible by the contraction of the motor

organs but in non-sensitive plants there are no such motor organs which can

show the excitations. In such plants the transmission of excitation is detected

by him by an electric change of galvanometric negativity. By this method he

has obtained electric positive and negative responses from the stems, roots

1010 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX]

and petioles, of non-sensitive plants. He therefore concludes that nervous

conduction is not only confined to the sensitive plants but is alsc present in the

non-sensitive plants.

By the help of the above method he has localized the nervous tissue of

Mimosa by means of an electric probe. He pushes the electric probe in the

vetiole of Mimosa and when it reaches the external and internal phloem

regions, the strongest galvanometric negativity is obtained though some posi-

tive and negative responses are obtained when the probe reaches the epidermal

and cortical tissues.

After showing that the phloem region constitutes the nervous tissue of plants

he isolates the steles which contain the phloem from the petiole of fern and

repeats the characteristic reactions with them carried out with the nerve of the

frog in animal physiology. He finds that the characteristic responses

of the plant and animal nerves are in every way similar, in both the normal

and modified conditions. He therefore concludes that the physiological

mechanism of the excitatory condition is the same in both.

The fovr sub-petioles bearing the leaflets have a definite nerve connection

with the pulvinus of the main petiole of the compound leaf. The vascular ring

of the pulvinus is divided into four quadrants, each quadrant, has a nerve

connection with each of the sub-petioles. When a sub-petiole is feebly

stimulated, excitation is transmitted to the corresponding quadrant of the

pulvinus which responds to the stimulus. When the intensity of the stimulus

is increased the ingoing or the afferent impulse on reaching the corresponding

quadrant of the pulvinus does not remain localized as it doesin the case of the

feeble stimulus but is reflected along a new path as an efferent impulse and

thus a reflex are is formed at the centre. The efferent impulse travels in the

reverse direction and causes the fall of another sub-petiole. In order to cause

the fall of another sub-petiole the afferent impulse, as he suggests, passes from

the outer phloem to the inner phloem after crossing the xylem and from the

inner phloem tothe inner phloem of the opposite quadrant in nerve connection

with the other sub-petiole after crossing the pith.

He then measures the velocity of conduction of the impulse in the outer and

inner phloem regions of the vascular bundles and finds that the velocity of the

impulse is seven times greater in the inner phloem than in the outer phloem.

He also measures the velocity of the afferent impulse and also of the efferent

impulse and finds that the velocity of the efferent impulse is seven times greater

than the velocity of the afferent impulse. He therefore concludes that the

efferent impulse is the motor impulse and travels through the inner phloem

and the afferent impulse is the sensory impulse and it travels through the outer

phloem. Consequently he comes to the conclusion that the outer phloem

constitutes the sensory nerve and the inner phloem the motor nerve.

In trying to disprove the hydromechanical theory of Haberlandt, Bose has

made some incorrect statements. He states that according to the hydro-

mechanical theory, a deep wound or an escape of a drop of water from the

stem or petiole is essential for the transmission of the impulse. Bose by his

experiments Nos. 2 and 4 shows that transmission takes place in complete

absence of any wound or without the escape of water under the stimulus of

superficial! friction or by an electric shock. According to Haberlandt an escape

of water outside is not essential for the conduction of the impulse. Hein order

to show that the stimulus conducting cells described by him are highly

turgescent tubes, makes an incision in the petiole to lay them open and the

escape of water from these cells when they are cut across, indicates that they

are really turgid, and he shows by microchemical tests that the escape of water

takes place through these turgid cells and is not derived from the woody

cylinder as the sap that exudes out is not pure water. So the escape of water

was shown to demonstrate the turgid nature of the stimulus conducting cells

and had no relation to the transmission of the impulse. ‘The hydromechanical

theory of Haberlandt is different from what is represented by Bose in his book.

According to the hydromechanical theory there are certain turgid tubular cells

in the phloem region and they form a continuous system. When a shock

stimulus produces a contraction of the pulvinus, a pressure is exerted on the

highly turgescent stimulus transmitting cells. ‘The rise of pressure is trans-

mitted in these cells as a pressure wave. The wave of compression or positive

tension acts like a shock stimulus upon the motor tissue of the next near

pulvinus and causes the curvature of the latter. In the case of the traumatic

REVIEW OF ‘ NERVOUS MECHANISM OF PLANTS’ 1011

stimulus (wound stimulus) there is a fall of the pressure in the stimulus trans-

mitting cells owing to the escape of water due to wounding and the fall in

pressure is transmitted as a wave of relaxation which produces a disturbance

in the adjacent pulvinus and causes its curvature.

As it is clear from the above that the experiments of Bose in no way affect

the hydromechanical theory and his contention that transmission of impulse in

Mimosa isnot hydromechanical remains unsupported. It may be true that the

previous workers may have failed to see that the impulse is conducted to a long

distance even when the stimulus applied is very feeble and their failure to

notice this feature may be due to the fact that the sensivity of A/zmosa varies

according to the season or the age of the plants.

His experiments on the polar action of electric current to demonstrate the

similarity of reactions between plant and animal nerves are not above criticism.

In the experiments on the animal tissues the two electrodes are placed

at two different points on the muscles. At the make of a feeble current the

excitation is produced at the kathode and at the break it is not produced at

either electrode. In the case of a strong current the excitation is produced at

the kathode at the make of the current and at the anode at the break of the

current. In his experiments on the plant tissues Bose makes use of a monopolar

method in which the pulvinus is made both the anode and the kathode

alternately, by means of a special device, the second electrode being applied

to some indifferent point on the stem. Bose does not state any reasons for

having used this monopolar method. In order to show the similarity of

reactions if two separate points had been made the anode and the kathode the

experiments would have carried more conviction.

From the above experiments he argues that the excitation is produced on

account of physiological causes and not to any physical disturbance, but it is

very likely that a certain amount of physical disturbance is produced in the

form of vibrations when an electric current is passed.

Pfeffer in order to show that the transmission of stimuli can take place

without the help of the living protoplasm anezesthetized the petiole by means of

chloroform or ether and he found that the traumatic or shock stimuli traversed

the narcctized regions. Bose evidently suspects the correctness of the statement

of Pfeffer when he says, ‘It is extremely doubtful whether the conducting

tissue in the interior can be effectually narcotized by the external application

of an anesthetic.’ Similarly he suspects the scalding experiments of

Haberlandt when he says, ‘ The conducting tissue was supposed to have been

killed by scalding’ and ‘If this really had been the case.’

Preffer has clearly stated that he had anesthetized the mzddle portions of

petioles by means of chloroform or ether and so there is no reason to suspect

the narcotization of the conducting tissue. Haberlandt has also equally clearly

stated that the petiole was killed outright by scalding.

Bose has shown that when unilateral stimulus is applied to a stem the

propagation of the impulse takes place, up or down, in the same vertical line

and the course of the impulse is restricted to the stimulated side only, the other

side of the stem showing no excitation. Inthe case of a strong stimulus the

impulse is transmitted on the other side of the stem after crossing over the

apex. From this he concludes that there are twe main conducting strands

which meet at or near the apex.

The unilateral conduction of the stimulus appears to be due to the course of

the vascular bundles entering the stem from the leaves. The leaf trace

bundles travel inside the stem through two internodes and fuse with the leaf

trace bundles entering from the second node below. It is well known that the

conduction of water and food substances occurs more rapidly in a longitudinal

direction than in a radial direction asin the latter case many walls have to be

passed through. If the impulse is conducted through the phloem region it

would certainly be conducted more rapidly in the longitudinal direction than

in a radial direction and on account of the course of leaf trace bundles, as the

phloem regions of the second and fourth leaves are connected with one another,

the impulse will be received by the second and the fourth leaves and not by

the third leaf on the stem. For radial conduction of the stimulus a stronger

stimulus will be necessary. So the experiments of Bose prove nothing new.

His contention that the stimulus conducting strands meet at the apex where

the impulse crosses from one side to the other is not well supported. He

considers some tubular cells in the phloem region to be the conducting tissue

1112 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

and he distinguishes them by staining. They are stained purplish blue by

hemetoxylin while safranin has no effect on them. The tubular cells form

two independent strands on the two opposite sides of the stem and they meet

near the apex as Bose finds that the tissue at the apex is also stained purplish

blue. It may be pointed out that at the apex the different tissues are not

differentiated and the cell walls of all the cells at the apex are made of

cellulose and consequently they all take up the heme toxylin stain. Since the

morphogenetic differentiation of the cells does not occur near the apex the

conclusion of Bose that the strands of the tubular cells meet at the apex

cannot becorrect. If the impulse on one side of the stem produced on account

of unilateral stimulation crosses over the apex to reach the other side of the

stem it clearly means that the impulse is conducted through the cells which are

entirely undifferentiated and it is not conducted through the tubular cells

which according to Bose form the nervous tissue. When Bose puts forward

that the tubular cells in the phloem region are the conducting elements, no

mention is made by him of the stimulus transmitting cells so fully described

by Haberlandt in the phloem region of //imosa and other plants. Bose has

neither described the histological nature of the tubular cells nor does he say

how to distinguish them. He also does not say how his tubular cells differ

from the tubular stimulus transmitting cells of Haberlandt. In absence of

any description the tubular cells of Bose from the photographs appear to be

ordinary phloem parenchymatous cells.

Bose does not seem to be definite about the tissue which actually conducts

the impulses. At one place he assigns the task of conduction to the tububkar

cells and at other places he speaks of the phloem as the conducting tissue.

Evidently he has no evidence to show that the tubular cells form the nervous

tissue.

It follows from the above that his statement that the sieve tubes do not

conduct the stimulus is quite unwarranted. Even granting that the presence

of perforations in the septa is not necessary for the conduction of the impulse

it does not follow that their presence in any way hinders the propagation of the

impulse.

His comparison of the transverse septa of the tubular cells with the synap-

soidal membranes appears to be very far-fetched. He wants to show that

on account of the presence of the septa the conduction of the impulse is

irreciprocal at the junction of the plant nerve with the motor tissue of the

pulvinus, as it isin the case of neuro-muscular junction. In the case of animals

the excitatory impulse cannot pass from the muscle to the nerve on account

of the valve action of the synaptic membrane between the nerve ending and

the muscle fibre. Bose wants to show that the excitation of the motor cells

of the pulvinus does not pass to the nerves. When he stimulates the pulvinus

of a petiole held in the jaws of a clamp by scratching with a pin he finds that

the contraction of the pulvinus takes place but the impulse is not transmitted

to the sub-petioles showing that the excitation is not conducted. From this

experiment he concludes that the excitation of the motor tissue is not passed to

the nerves. In his experiments Nos. 2 and 4 Bose has shown that by superficial

scratching of the stem the stimulus is transmitted to along distance. He does

not say then how the stimulus is transmitted to the nervous tissue embedded in

the inside of the stem. If the stimulus can pass through the epidermal and

cortical parenchymatous cells there is no reason why it should not pass through

the parenchymatous cells of the pulvinus.

He proves that the phloem region is the nervous tissue of plants by showing

that the greatest negative response is given by the plant when the electric probe

reaches the phloem tissue. On account ot the maximum induced electric

change produced when the phloem tissue is reached by the probe he concludes

that it is the conducting tissue of plants. But as it is clear from his own

experiments that the conduction of the impulses takes place through other

tissues also. (1) The conduction of the stimulus takes place through

undifferentiated cells at the apex, if according to Bose the impulse crosses over

the apex. (2) In his experiments with the electric probe he has found that the-

positive and negative electric responses are given by the epidermal and cortical

cells and it shows that these tissues can conduct the stimulus to a certain

extent. (3) As will be shown later on, Bose calls the outer phloem as the

sensory nerve and the inner phloem as the motor nerve and when a sensory

impulse is changed into a motor impulse it must pass from the outer phloem

REVIEW OF ‘ NERVOUS MECHANISM OF PLANTS.” 1013

to the inner phloem and consequently it passes through the intervening xylem

tissue. Similarly he shows that the impulse in order to reach another nerve

it in addition passes through the pith.

Finally Bose has tried to show that the differentiation of sensory and motor

nerves has occurred in the nervous tissue of J/zmosa. He has put forward the -

view that the outer phloem of the bicollateral bundle in J/zmosa is the sensory

nerve and the inner phloem as the motor nerve, and the formation of the reflex

arc takes place at the pulvinus of each petiole.

It was pointed out above in his experiment to show irreciprocal conduction

that by superficial scratching of the pulvinus of a petiole held in a clamp the

contraction of the motor tissue takes place but the excitation is not transmitted

to the nerve ends. Now in order to show that each quadrant of the pulvinus

has a2 nerve connection with the corresponding sub-petiole he rightly excites the

nerve ends (not by scratching) by thrusting a pin. He clearly says on page

173, ‘ These can be separately stimulated by thrusting a sharp pointed pin into

each of the four quadrants till the nerve end is reached.’ And he shows that

the corresponding sub-petiole is affected. But in his experiments to show that

the outer phloem forms the sensory nerve he excites the outer phloem by

superficial scratching (page 189) which is in direct contradiction to the method

adopted to show irreciprocal conduction and the method used in his experi-

ment No. 85 (page 173-174). The experiments are performed under identical

conditions and the contractile tissues are found in both the pulvinus of the

main petiole and in those of the sub-petioles. So at one place he maintains

that the outer phloem is not affected by superficial scratching (pages 45 and

173-174) and a thrust of the pin to excite it is necessary while at other place

(page 189) he employs a scratch stimulus to excite the outer phloem when also

the impulsive fall of the leaf is avoided as in the experiment 19.

Bose has got very slender evidence to show that the outer and inner phloems

constitute the sensory and motor nerves of Mimosa. Among animals the

sensory nerve carries the stimulus to the reflex centre and the impulse is

reflected back as the motor impulse along the motor fibres, which bring about

the contraction of the muscle. But in J/zmosa when a sub-petiole is stimulated

the stimulus is transmitted to the pulvinus of the main petiole and before it is

reflected back as the motor impulse it gives rise to an impulse which is

responsible for the responsive movement of the main pulvinus due to the con-

traction of the motor tissue. Therefore the outer phloem does not merely carry

the sensation to the reflex centre but it also causes the contraction of the main

pulvinus and so it discharges the function of a motor nerve. Again in

figure 79a he shows that the outer phloem carries an out-going impulse while

asensory nerve always carries an ingoing impulse. For the reasons shown

above there is no justification in calling the outer phloem a sensory nerve.

In his experiment No. 94 he stimulates the outer phloem by scratching

the pulvinus and the inner phloem by thrusting a pin. It is difficult

to understand how one can be sure of stimulating the outer phicem

alone by external scratching and the inner phloem alone by thrusting a pin

when the pin has to pass through the outer phloem first in order to reach the

inner phloem. So it would not be right to assume that the outer phloem carries

the slower impulse or the inner phloem the more rapid one. It is evident that

the longer time taken for conduction of the impulse when the pulvinus is

excited by a scratch stimulus and the shorter time when a wound stimulus is

applied are due to the difference in the intensities of the stimuli applied.

It isclear from the above that the experiments of Bose do not prove that

the differentiation of the sensory and motor nerves has taken place in A/zmosa.

There are many such misstatements, errors and discrepancies in this book

by Bose and they can be dealt with if one has more time and greater stock of

patience.

It was long suspected that the vascular system on account of its ramifications

into every part of a plant was the channel for the transmission of stimuli.

The xylem part of the bundle was first thought to be the conducting part and

it was later shown that the phloem region was the path of transmission. So

beyond obtaining a few curves of electric responses, Bose, by his very delicate

and artfully devised apparatus, has not made any addition to the existing

knowledge on the subject. And so long as we possess no information about

the electrical conditions in the interior of a plant the positive and negative

responses cannot be correctly interpreted. It appears that Bose started his

1014 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

investigation with a preconceived notion that the plants had a nervous system

similar to animals and consequently did not follow it with a free mind. If he

had not sought to prove that the nervous system of W/zmosa was similar to that

of the animals and had only tried to study the mode of transmission of stimuli

in plants he would surely have given to the botanical world some va

facts on the subject.

The animals are very sensitive organisms and their great sensitivity is has

to the very highly developed nervous system. But owing to their habit and

mode of life the construction of the bodies of the plants is very simple in

comparision to that of the bodies of the animals, and there was no occasion in

the evolutionary process to develop such a complex nervous systern as Bose

supposes. Whenever on account of cecological conditions a need arose for the

perception and conduction of an external stimulus to meet certain requirements

no special tissue was set apart to meet the demand but that task was performed

as an additional or subsidiary function by some tissue in addition to the

principal functions discharged by it. The epidermis normally has a protective

‘function but it is weli known that in certain plants the epidermal cells

perceive the external stimuli and in some plants the cells are structurally

modified. while in other .cases',no such. structural (changes Masiitakes

place. Such specialization of a tisstiie which can perform only its normal

function or functions, and no other, has not occurred in plants as it is the case

in higher animals. The tissues in higher plants as it is observed in the case of

injury are many a time called upon to discharge quite a different function than

their normal ones. Soto term the phloem or the tubular parenchymatous

cells of the phloem as the mervous tissue is quite incorrect and misleading

because the cells of the phloem perform mainly the function of the conduction

of food materials.

REVIEWS

BIRD STUDY IN INDIA. By Miss M. R. N. Holmer (Oxford University

Press, 1926," Rs.+3)i

On p. 541 of vol. xxix of the Journa! we welcomed the appearance of a small

book by Miss Holmer entitled /udian Lird Life. Under the more appropriate

title of Azrd Study in India Miss Holmer has now brought out a revised and

enlarged edition of her book, with an introduction by Lt.-Col. John

Stephenson, formerly Principal of the Government College, Lahore.

The book before us consists of 148 well printed pages of which however

23 are taken up with introductory matter. The body of the work consists

of two parts, Birds of the Plains and Birds of the Hills. Each of these parts

is divided into 7 chapters dealing with special aspects of the bird life of their

respective areas, though the Chapters of the first part are largely general and

introductory in character.

Finally there are three appendices of a systematic nature, culled from the

Fauna of British India Birds, a short bibliography, and an index.

Miss Holmer says that her aim is twofold, to provide the new arrival in India

with an introduction to Indian bird life and a stepping stone to scientific

ornithology, and ‘to share with others the naturalist’s joy in living and

beautiful fellow-creatures.’

With regard to her first aim Miss Holmer is at her best when she is painting

word pictures of common birds for the beginner. She describes actual

experiences and familiar birds with an apt and pleasant pen, and we would

gladly have exchanged for more of these chapters the appendices on classifi-

cation and the pages where she endeavours to explain the various orders. For

when’ she strays into more scientific realms her pen loses its clearness and the

gaps in her knowledge become more apparent. Those who desire to study

scientific ornithology will not start with Miss Holmer’s book; they will

probably be beyond the reach of its help before they arrive in India. But there

is a vast army of nature-lovers who desire the pleasant easy introductions that

Miss Holmer is well able to impart. To them she will impart her joy in

nature, for the study of birds is pre-eminently one of delight, and it is on this

theme that Colonel Stephenson bases his engaging preface; and it is on this

aspect of the book that we dwell with the more satisfaction. Readable nature

books are badly needed in India.

A special word of praise is due to Miss Nixon’s sympathetic illustrations.

Some of them are amongst the best of their kind that we have seen in the

success with which they characterize common Indian birds. The Spotted

Owlets and the House Crows for instance are excellent. Occasionally however

Miss Nixon loses character in a straining after artistic effect and the result then

is not so happy. We look forward to seeing more of her work, which might

well have been acknowledged on the title page.

Ghe WVe,

IN UNKNOWN ARABIA. By Major R. E. CHEESMAN. With a Foreword

by Sir Percy Z. Cox. (Macmillan. 25s. net.)

Reprinted fromthe London ‘ Times’, November 28, 1926

The general reader knows enough of the climatic conditions of Arabia to

feel no surprise that names on the map between the Red Sea and the Persian

Gulf should be few and unfamiliar: the most recognizable word is ‘ desert,’

and that occurs more often than any other; the word Mecca suggests that

something in the nature of a religious passport may be demanded of the

explorer; and that there are other difficulties may be gathered from ‘the

meaning smile’ accompanying the good wishes of two young Americans who

had been told by Major Cheesman that he was leaving Basra for the west to

1016 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL GIST. SOCIETY, Vol XXXT

collect birds: ‘ We hope you’l! catch a lot of sparrs’ ; the smile implied that

political complications would arise if the true purpose of the journey were

stated.

But Major Cheesman had told them the truth; ‘sparrs’ is not alone the

Arabian bird; there is also Lusciniola melanopogon mimica Mad, and that is

among the birds he did catch. He was adventuring into unknown Arabia

primaririly as an ornithologist ; and, while he was equipped to assimilate such

historical, archeological, and geographical information as he could obtain, he

had no political or commercial object. He could not have undertaken his

journey without the authority of the Sultan of Najd, His Highness Abdul Aziz

Ibn Saud, G.C.1.E. ; this he obtained through the good offices of Sir Percy Cox,

to whom he had commended himself during the war. Accepted as the Sultan’s

guest, he travelled without molestation, and asa guest he refrains from all

comments that might give offence. There is no discussion of the political

matters to which the attention of the world has been attracted in recent years.

It is, however, permissible for him to describe the normal life of the Sultan’s

subjects, and in his pages they are shown as submitting to laws suited to the

conditions, and as alive to the peculiarities of other systems. One of them, who

had travelled, illustrated to the rest how a London policeman controlled traffic ;

students of Shaikh literature will be gratified to learn that a Shaikh is obeyed

£s promptly as a London policeman.

Major Cheesman made his way from Oquair, on the west coast of the Gulf of

Bahrain, to the Hasa Oasis and Hufuf—which do not rank as unknown—and

then south to Jabrin through ‘a country which is mostly uninhabited and

featureless and where no boundaries can or do exist.’ In asense, his geogra-

phical discoveries were negative ; he might be said to have flattened out such

few features as characterized conjectural maps. Two immense rivers or

drainage channels which, under the names Wadi Jabrin and Wadi Aftan, have

figured in Arabian taps from the earliest times would have been crossed by

him had they existed, and must now be dismissed as mythical. The oasis of

Jabrin does exist, for Major Cheesman did reach it—first, apparently, of

Europeans to do so—but henceforward ‘t will be no longer what it has been

among geographers ‘for generations,’ a name to conjure with. ‘If the

northern part may be called ‘ God-forsaken,’ the rest may be called ‘ God-

ACCUTSeG. {——

Gone were the running streams and the plains teeming with houbara and

gazelle. Stripped of all its imaginary glories, Jabrin presented only the

remains of an ancient civilization carrying on an unequal struggle against the

sand desiccation that was enveloping it on all sides.

It would seem, then, that there may have been a time when the glories were

not imaginary. Travellers tell of dead cities in the Sahara, and itis to be

inferred that deserts are able to kill because they themselves are alive—and

growing. Incidentally, in Major Cheesman’s account of his journey we learn

how this life is manifested. He says little of his hardships, but he mentions

sandstorms repeatedly. One of many genuinely illustrative photographs shows

a chalky sandstone hill so ereded by sand that the top looks like a crown on a

big cushion ; we read of dunes that move and advance on wells.

Yet there is other life in the desert—a life pallid but vigorous—and it is that

with which Major Cheesman, as a field naturalist, was concerned. In the

appendices to this book, in addition to geological and meteorological records,

there are given lists of mammals, birds, fish, insects, and plants that Major

Cheesman noted, and eitner classified himself or had classified by experts, a

considerable proportion of species and sub-species being new. In this connexion

it may be added that there are, too, a list of stores required for such an

expedition anda large-scale map based on Major Cheesman’s conscientious

surveys.

For there to be life there must be water, and it is explained both how much

and how little there is. We read of wet fogs ; and Major Cheesman expresses

his surprise to find below eight inches of dry sand layers of damp sand round

the roots of typical desert plants; in the photographs some of these look

luxuriant. One of many enthralling animal stories goes to show that desert

creatures possess a specially developed capacity for smelling water; a wolf

knew that it was to be found in a skin bag ina tent. For the layman who will

be content to leave Hasa, and Hufuf, and Jabrin as names there is much

interesting reading in what Major Cheesman has to tell of the stalking of bats

REVIEWS 1017

and lizards, and of the daily round of birds, and reptiles, and insects, as well

as of his hosts, the men of the desert. The hare would have its form under

tbick branches that protected it from attack from above ; when the party were

hunting one harea fine black eagle joined in the chase—missing its prey, which

took cover in bushes at the swoop.

Behind the eagle came a raven, giving a clownlike imitation of all its turns

and evolutions, only much slower and getting left far behind.

The desert man spends much of his time looking for lost camels, for he

cannot bring himself to take the precautions that would save him the trouble.

Hence the quandary of having to send all the force of which he can dispose in

search of camels at the moment when the female date-palms are all bursting

into flower at once and requiring artificial fertilization. In the desert gratuities

are no less a problem than ina town. Major Cheesman mentioned publicly

the amount which he had given to an attendant for distribution in order to

make sure that it reached the people for whom it was destined.

‘On hearing the amount, the Amir gave a gasp, andto this day I do not

know whether he was choking at the munificence or snorting with indignation

at the meanness of the sum, or merely had hiccough.’

NOMOGENESIS OR EVOLUTION DETERMINED BY LAW. By Lz&oS.

BERG. Translated from the Russian by J. N. Rostovtsow, London, Constable

& Co., Ltd. (xviii + 477).

Berg says in his preface: ‘I would remind those who may feel indignant

at the ‘heretical’ opinions set forth in these pages, that science should be

averse to dogmatism and to a blind reverence to authority.’ This is the spirit

in which the volume before us was written. No hypothesis is evolved. The

author allows the facts to speak for themselves, and all hypothesis inconsistent .

with them, however precious they may seem, must give way before their force.

Berg follows Berthelot’s maxim: ‘The chief duty of a scientist ought to

consist, not in endeavouring to prove the infallibility of his opinions, but in

being ever ready to reject an idea that cannot be proved, or an experiment

that is unconvincing.’

Berg’s book is an original and refreshing production. There is no humbug

in his conception of the subject or in its treatment. Plain, uncompromising

language, and clear logical deductions characterize every page. The author

is a man of vast reading coupled with philosophical training, who is quite

capable of utilizing facts of the various domains of natural science and

conclusions by old and recent philosophers.

It is impossible in the short compass of a review to give an adequate picture

of the variety of conclusions the author has arrived at. ‘To him the struggle

for life is a fact that cannot be controverted. But it is not connected, as was

thought by Darwin, with the selection of single, best adapted individuals.

The struggle for existence is not a progressive, it is a conservative agency ;

it maintains the standard and restricts variation. ‘The theory of natural

selection is generally inadmissible from the point of view of the present

doctrine of heredity which shows that individual as well as fluctuational

variability possesses no hereditary value, Selectionism would have to prove

that the faculty of producing an infinite number of hereditary variations is

inherent in living beings. But every biologist knows that this cannot be

proved. He rightly concludes: ‘ Since the struggle for existence does not

lead to the preservation of single favoured individuals, but, on the contrary,

tends to maintain the standard, all theories of evolution based on natural

selection fall to the ground : to such belong not only the theory of Darwin, but

also Ay mutation theory of de Vries and the hybridization theory of Lotsy

(1914).’

For Berg the process of evolution is not ruled by chance. This can be

judged from the interesting phenomenon of phylogenetic acceleration. Evolu-

tion, therefore, is to a considerable degree an unfolding or manifestation of

pre-existing rudiments, In addition to such an unfolding of pre-existing

rudiments, the formation of new characters takes place. This is due to the

effects of the geographical landscape which also transfigures the forms in a

determined direction.

Berg finds one of the best proofs of the dependence of evolution upon law,

and one of the most convincing refutations of selectionism, in the phenomenon

1018 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

of convergence. Whilst Darwin considers evolution as a process of divergence

of characters, Berg ascribes predominative importance to the convergence of

characters. He imagines the process of evolution in the following way:

‘A considerable quantity, possibly tens of thousands, of primitive organisms

have developed on parallel lines, convergently experiencing approximately

the same transformations and effecting that process at various rates, some

more rapidly, others more slowly. Thus, mammals consist of several branches,

every one of which independently passed through the (assumed) worm-,

fish-, amphibian-, reptile-like stages. The organic world thus develops

polyphyletically.’

From these considerations Berg concludes that evolution proceeds in accord-

ance with laws, that it is based upon nomogenesis (in opposition to chance

or tychogenesis). He is convinced of the manifestaticns of such an accordance

with law, but why they should be effected in such a manner and not in

another, is concealed from us, and he confesses equal ignorance of the causes

by which organisms in genera! progress in their structure.

We are grateful to Berg not only for having given us a book of profound

interest, but also for having acquainted his readers with so much of valuable

work done by recent Russian biologists.

E.B.

AN INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIMENTAL EMBRYOLOGY. By

G. R. DE BEER. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1926. 148 pages.

The author has tried to select from the vast literature on embryology a number

of experiments which, taken together, are intended to shed some light on the

essentials of the problems of animal development. The book, though of

modest size, embodies some hundred and eighty pieces of work by various

experimenters arranged in logical order which give us a plastic picture of the

development of the animal body, beginning with fertilization and ending with

the assumption of the adult form. He shows the reader how to draw conclu-

sions from the facts obtained by experiment, and very often the process of

experimentation is adapted in such a way as to lead gradually to the correct

interpretation of the results.

In a final review of animal development De Beer touches on many points

which are of more general interest, especially to the philosopher amongst

zoologists. He discusses in a few sentences the old controversy as to whether

preforniation or epigenesis occurs during development. ‘Given the initial

inherited predetermination,’ he says, ‘ development is a series of processes of

differentiation, of producing form where none was, and each stage follows

from the previous stage as irrevocably as it is followed by the subsequent one.’

This is a clear statement in favour of epigenesis. The author considers the

Roux-Weismann theory of mosaic development as untenable. He has to

admit, however, that ‘cases do occur in which precocious chemo-differentia-

tion of organ-forming substances takes place’ and in those cases he regards

the cytoplasmic divisions during cleavage as qualitatively unequal and

ascribes the mosaic development of the so-called mosaic-eggs to cytoplasmic

localization.

When he arrives at the question whether physics and chemistry contain

categories of phenomena adequate to explain the behaviour of living organ-

isms or, in other words whether we have to call to help some kind of vitalism,

the author becomes very careful in expressing his views on thesubject. ‘ There

is no hiding the fact,’ he remarks, ‘ that most of the complex components of de-

velopment are as yet unintelligible, but by the experimental method the analysis

is gradually splitting them up.’ Though he seems to expect a good deal from

the splitting up of those complex components in the future, he still reminds us

that ‘ ultimately nothing can be really explained,’ and he considers it idle and

absurd to imagine that experimental embryology will explain the development

of organisms.

De Beer’s book is not only a useful introduction to experimental embryology,

but everybody, even the advanced student, will find it a reliable guide to the

‘essentials’ of embryology. It is a clear statement of our present knowledge

of the subject and free of cumbersome details which, after all, can be of

interest to specialists alone,

E.B,

REVIEWS 1019

A SHIKARI’S POCKET-BOOK with hints on preserving and skinning tro-

phies in the field. By CHARLES McCann, Assistant Curator, Bombay Natural

History Society and Lt.-CoL. C. H. STOCKLEY, D.S.0., 0.B.E., M.C., F.R.G.S.,

F.Z.S. with a foreword by Col. R. W. Burton, 1.4. (Retired). Illustrated. 47 pp.,

9 text-figures and a diagram. Oxford University Press. Rs. 5.

We recall the instance of a member of this society who sent us, at no con-

siderable trouble and expense the raw and blood-stained skin of his first tiger

neatly soldered up in a tin case. But oh when we opened the lid!

The ignorance of the average shikari as to the proper method of preservation

of trophies in the field is truly astonishing—the appalling condition of many of

the skins sent to museums and taxidermist firms are evidence of this. Sports-

men are usually willing to spend time, thought and money in planning their

shooting expedition, but the care of the trophies obtained is usually left to in-

experienced skinners, in fact to any one who is willing or seems likely to be able

to undertake the job.

The sportsman’s duty to his trophy commences from the moment he draws

a bead on it with his gun, and the handling of trophies in the field requires a

certain amount of knowledge—knowledge which he should have and which he

should be able to impart to others. This knowledge the book provides ina

plain manner so that all who read may learn. The writer of the book has had

considerable experience in the handling and treatment of skins both in the

field and the museum and in this book he yields the benefit of his knowledge

to hunting men in this country. In addition to Big Game the book includes a

chapter on collecting small mammals, birds and one on the collecting

and preservation of Butterfles. The book concludes with notes on equipment,

camp kit, stores and clothing which will be found useful both to the tyro and

the veteran as a glance through the list may prevent the ‘ leaving behind of

several small but important items as boot laces or soap.’

The format of the boook is handy and expressly intended for use in the

field—of pocket size, neatly bound in brown canvas, and provided with a

game-register and blank leaves for notes and a lead pencil—it is exactly the

kind of book that one may carry about easily and we can heartily reeommend

it to all sportsmen in this country.

Copies may be had on application to the Society. The cost represents a

trifling, though sound investment which might be the means of preventing

much heart-burning and remorse at the close of a shooting trip.

SoH.

EDITORIAL

H.H THE MAHARAJA OF JODHPUR

We are pleased to be able to announce that H.H. the Maharaja Sir

Umaidsing Bahadur, K.C.S.I., K.c.v.o., of Jodhpur, has recently consented

to become a Vice-Patron of the Society. His Excellency the Viceroy conferred

on us the privilege of his patronage last year and Their Highnesses the Maharajas

of Cutch, Rewa, and the Maharani of Dhar are already Vice-Patrons and we

are glad to be able to add the name of H.H. The Maharaja of Jodhpur to the

list of Princes who have already associated their names with the work the

Society is doing. His Highness has been pleased to donatea sum of Rs. 5,000

towards the funds of the Society and we take this opportunity of expressing

the thanks of the Committee and Members of the Society to His Highness

for his generous donation.

Only those who are actually enpagen in carrying on the work of the Society

can realize how urgent is its need for funds. The Natural History Section of

the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, is our special province and it is our desire

to make this Section worthy of the name the Society holds. Admittedly the

space at our disposal in its galleries is small, but such space as we have we

intend to put to the most effective use. Our Curator, recently returned from

his tour of American and European Museums, is full of ideas and notions for

the improvement of the Museum. Must we break his stout heart by an oft

reiterated non possumus ? Three things are essential to give our plans their

fullest effect, money, then money and again money !

GAME PRESERVATION

In our last editorial we commented at some length on the subject of Game

Preservation in India. It is a question of more than passing interest to the

majority of our members and we hope that those who have anything to say on

the subject will not hesitate to let us have the benefit of their views. We have

already heard from one member Mr. F. Brayne, I.C.S., of Gurgaon, Punjab

on the subject. He writes :—‘ From what I seeand hear during my occa-

‘ sional ventures after big game, I am very depressed with the steady decrease

‘of game, and am far from agreeing with the optimistic section of your corres-

‘ pondents.

‘J formulated a proposal to a celebrated shikari—now alas dead—several years

‘ago of which he heartily approved. He said, however, that he had tried to

‘start it but the Forest Departiment would not agree.

‘My idea was to form big-game syndicates and take over blocks of jungle on

‘long leases from the Forest Department. The syndicates would be given the

‘ powers of forest officers for the preservation of game, they would erect their

‘own lodges where wanted, appoint their own game keepers, settle what was

‘to be killed each season and keep careful records of game and natural history

‘notes. They would at all times, of course, give every assistance to the Forest

‘ Officers and the Forest Officers would naturally help them. As the syndicate’s

‘interest would be to get as large a stock of game as possible in their syndicate

‘preserve, they would combine the advantages of a sanctuary with strong pro-

‘tection against poaching, wild dogs, and other enemies of game.

‘The Forest Officer would, of course, be given privileges when travelling on

‘duty in the syndicate’s preserves, and he would bein no way the loser. He

‘would be most effectively relieved of a duty he probably finds difficult to

‘perform with efficiency and would have in the syndicate and its keepers

‘ staunch and intelligent allies in all his work.

‘ From the point of view of the sportsman who is posted outside the big game

‘country—in the Punjab for instance—it would be an unmixed blessing. He

‘would pay a few rupees a month and in return would, when his turn came,

EDITORIAL 1021

‘have a certainty of sport in a minimum of time with a well-known and cut-

‘and-dried bandobast all arranged for him at the cheapest rates possible and

‘the shooting lodge and the keepers at his disposal. The saving in time and

‘ money, in spite of the monthly subscription, would be enormous and think of

‘the comfort and joy of shooting in known jungles with one’s own staff to help

‘and with one’s friends notes on the game, the botany and the natural history

‘to read and one’s own observations to add.

‘Suppose a syndicate of a dozen sportsmen could lease, say, three forest

‘ blocks for a dozen years at the average sum paid in fees for the last three years

‘for these blocks. If each member paid Rs. 20 per month subscription this

‘ would give Rs. 240 per month for the rent and the game keepers. This would

‘ probably be enough to carry on with as of course those actually shooting would

‘pay special contributions. For the first two or three years probably the

‘number of heads to be killed might be rather limited but thereafter with the

‘intensive preservation the syndicate would organize, there would be plenty for

‘allthe members. Thesyndicate would naturally try and get at least one local

‘member in the shape of a planter, Forest Officer or other civil official, so as to

‘have a man on the spot to help, advise and supervise the game-keepers.

‘Living as I do in the Punjab and finding my big game expeditions most

‘uncertain and most expensive I would eagerly join one or more syndicates

‘with jungles in the Central Provinces, South India or the Terai. I should

* then be certain of good, cheap, quick sport, which I can never get now.’

‘ Thinking the matter over, there is another solution which might possibly be

‘combined with the one I suggested, and that is the formation of a Game

‘ Preservation Society with branches in every Province. As its membership and

‘resources increased it would with the permission of Government steadily take

‘ over responsibility for game preservation in Government forests and as far as

‘could be arranged in privately owned areas as well.

‘ The Society would be, of course, just as much Indian as British. Its main

‘ object will be preservation and only where the quantity and quality of the

‘ game justified it, would shooting passes be issued to members and, of course,

‘the number of beasts to be shot would be laid down for each pass. I think if

‘we make a big point of preservation we might get in people not interested in

‘ big game shooting.’

NATURE STUDY CLASSES

We are glad to be able to state that a beginning has been made with Nature

Study Classes for local schools at the museum. Thirteen schools are now

co-operating in the scheme and the eagerness with which the courses have

been taken up augurs well for its future development.

During his stay in America, our curator had the opportunity of studying

various methods adopted by the museums of that country in their very extensive

service to the schools. Inthe introduction to his report on the Educational

Work of Museums which we hope to publish later Mr. Prater says ‘ Perhaps

the most impressive phase of museum activity in America is the work done by

these institutions for the state schools. The museum has become a vital factor

in the educational life of the people and this ideal of service has developed and

is developing so rapidly that, with new facilities and a fuller comprehension

of the scope of museum responsibility, the museums of the country will become

to an even greater degree one of the leading agencies for the cultural develop-

ment of the nation.’

We have before us as we write a botanical scrap book of spring flowering

plants made up by a pupil of the Main Avenue High School, San Antonio,

Texas. The scrap book contains beautifully pressed and carefully labelled

exaiuples of local flowering plants--a trained museum collector could not have

done it better ! What, we ask, has been the value of this work to the child?

Firstly it has developed her powers of observation —with many of us this power

lies dormant but it can be astonishingly improved with exercise—-and is it not

easier to cultivate precise vision when the objects observed are beautiful and

interesting ? Secondly, it has widened her interest and turned her natural

inquisitiveness into a pleasing channel. Children are naturally curious and

this inquisitive interest is the essential urge to reasoned enquiry—it is also the

salt of life, for it makes boredom impossible. It is said that one of the troubles

of the day is that many people abuse their leisure ; this is partly the nemesis

1022 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXII

of unawakened interest. Thirdly, it has offered the child a problem for

independent enquiry, it has taught her how certain discoveries were made,

how very littie is known and how much she is still able to find out for herself.

Finally it has given her anew source of enjoyment—a new appreciation of

beauty. For is not her subject beautiful and aré not her wild flowers models

with never a fault ?

POPULAR NATURE BoOoKS

For years there has gone up in India a cry for books on Natural History

written in a language understandable by the people. The average scientist

scorns the unlearned and though he be polite he cannot refrain from thinking

he is casting his pearls before swine if he writes in a manner intelligible to the

‘people’. One of the editors remembers on his arrival in India being fired

with some enthusiasm on the subject of shells by Mr. H. M. Phipson who

pointed out to him what a number of new discoveries in the world of con-

chology had been made by a neophyte, the late Mr. Abercrombie—a

former Chairman of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and one whose

regretted death has caused his son to leave India on what was, perhaps, the

eve of his own election to that important office, an office which he would have

filled to the great satisfaction of those engaged in commerce in this great city.

Fired with Mr. Phipson’s enthusiasm and inspired perhaps by leaving a name

to posterity which should endure, if children did not, he entered on the subject

Wwe may say with zest until the books on conchology reminded him that he was

a bad Latin scholar and that ¢hezr Latinity would not improve his classics. A

butterfly net and Khandalla turned his attention next to entomology but not

even the plates of De Niceville or Moore’s Lepidoptera Indica could interest

him sufficiently to conquer his aversion to the scientific descriptions. Fortu-

nately he had Aitken to talk to and to read, and Phipson for gardens and

jungle walks ; but how very badly off the average man in the street in India is

in all respects where common books on common Natural History subjects are

concerned, compared with dwellers in England or the United States of

America.

This Society has already made a good attempt to remove this reproach from

India. We have done nothing it is true as regards shells and the common

objects of the sea shore, but T. R. Bell, with his interesting life stories, and

Col. Evans with those black and white plates and interesting opening pages of

what he described as, and what was, ‘A Child’s Guide to Butterfly Hunting,’

and Lefroy’s ‘Indian Insect Life’ have done much for the *‘ Bug Hunter.’

Stuart Baker has done everything for the small game shooter. What an

ungrateful man the small game shikari is! ‘We have piped unto you and ye

have not danced.’ We have put before you the finest illustrated books on the

Game Birds of India ever produced. We have given members of the Society

such favourable terms of purchase that the bookseller is still groaning and yet

we cannot complete the series because members will not buy and will not get

their friends to buy. Stuart Baker’s books were published by the Society and

the Society’s money is so locked up in them that further publications by the

Society are impossible and we have for other ventures to seek the aid of other

publishers.

THE Book oF INDIAN BIRDS

The Oxford University Press has a good understanding of what is wanted in

the way of popular knowledge literature and when the head of the press in India

was shown that wonderful book on American Bird Life issued by the Geogra-

phical Society of America he said ‘ That is what is wanted in India, get on

with it and see what you can do with the Education Department in India and

if 1 am not mistaken we shall be only too pleased to publish it for you.’ We

must apologise if we have not caught his Rabbelais style of diction (he is our

Treasurer) but that is the gist and we got our own special artist busy—and a

very good artist he is too, though we say it who should not, since we give him

his salary,—and we have already produced 150 coloured pictures of the common

birds of India.

In the book these pictures will be arranged four to a plate but we propose

issuing the pictures separate from the book and on a larger scale for the

benefit of schools and colleges in India. In this case the pictures will be issued

pom

EDITORIAL 1023

in the form of hanging wall charts. There will be roughly 40 species to each

chart and 6 charts illustrating ahout 250 birds will complete the series. We

have already received advance orders for 337 charts from the Education

Departments of the Governments of Bombay, Madras, Mysore State and Bihar

and Orissa, and we are confident that the New Year will wake the other

Provinces out of their lethargy and that well over 1,C00 copies will be issued in

the first edition.

The book itself will be modelled on its American progener. It will be of a

handy size and reasonable in price and though it is ¢#¢ book which has been

wanted for so long its publication will not Mean that there is no necessity to

buy other books on birds. Buy all you can—so long as you buy the Society’s

publications—buy the Society’s Book on Birds but also buy, when it comes

out, an illustrated book on birds which is being written by Mr. Whistler with

the encouragement of Mr. Frank Mitchell. Buy Stuart Baker’s Game birds

and then buy /udian Ducks written by Douglas Dewar and iliustrated by R. G.

Wright of the Aitchison College, Lahore. We want more books and we want

more support from members.

WANTED A HELMINTHOLOGIST

We would like to draw attention to the advertisement which appears at the

beginning of this Journal. The Imperial Institute of Veterinary Research,

Muktesar is desirous of obtaining the services of a Helminthologist who will

be expected either to carry out independent research or to work in collabo-

ration with others.

The candidate should be a Graduate in Zoology of any recognized University

with specia! knowledge of Helmintiology which to the unversed we might

explain is mainly the Natural History of parasitic worms,

MASHEER

The Honorary Secretary of the Dehra Dun Fishing Association gives the

following interesting information and makes the accompanying request, which

we recommend to readers who angle.

‘Considering that the Mahseer is a fish which is extremely plentiful in

almost every suitable water throughout India, surprisingly little seems to be

known of its habits, migration, rate of growth, etc., nor do any systematic

experiments appear to have been carried out with a view to studying these.

Practically the only method by which reliable data can be obtained is by

marking a number of fish over a series of years, recording their weight, date

and place of release, etc., and obtaining similar data on their recapture.

To make the experiment a success two points are essential. Firstly marking

and releasing of fish must take place regularly over a number of years, and

secondly there must be as high a probability as possible of marked fish being

recaptured ; and the required information being properly recorded. ‘The first

of these essentials has, it is hoped, been secured by the co-operation of the

Members of this Association, who have agreed to mark and liberate fish. The

second point is, however, much more difficult to secure, for to be of value,

waters quite beyond the control of the Association must be covered. The only

hope lies in securing the co-operation of as many anglers as possible who may

fish in the waters draining into the Ganges and Jumna.

Will any angler who catches one of these marked fish report the capture with

full particulars to me at Dehra Dun, U. P.?

The fish are being marked with a small silver plate, wired through the

dorsal fin, and marked with ‘ D’ and a serial number—D1, D2, etc. The

particulars required are

(1) Place. of capture.

(2). Date, of capture.

(3) Exact weight

(4) Any peculiarities of colouring, etc.

(5) Number of the fish caught.

It would also assist in furthering the scheme if any marked fish re-captured

could be released again after these particulars have been recorded,

1024 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

MEMBERSHIP

This brings us to the subject of membership, and the beginning of a New

Year leads us to a review of our forces. How do we stand for man power ?—

the heart of the Society. Last year we appealed to members to rally round—

sectire new members and to let the Society’s be the last subscription which

retirement or income tax caused one to drop. Well, 204 new members appear

on our roll—and 97 drop out. The 204 area gain, the 97 are a loss—Let us

hope none of the 97 resigned because the Society was of no use.

The New Year brings with it Honours. May we offer the congratulations

of all to two of our regular contributors—Major-General Sir Harry Tytler who

has-been made a K..C. B. and Col. W. Hl. Evans, R:s.,\ DiS.0., \F:Z.S , BeBae.,

who has been given the C.1.E.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Our thanks are due to Capt. L. D. Hearsey, Kheri Lakhiinpur, for the help

he has given the Society’s collector in obtaining a set of skins and skulls of

the Spotted Deer for the museum. The group when completed will contain

the male, female and young mounted in natural surroundings in accordance

with the latest methods of preparation which our curator had the opportunity

of studying while in America, and we look forward to associating Capt.

Hearsey’s name with the case when completed.

FRIENDS IN AMERICA AND EUROPE

The Committee of the Society would also like to express their thanks to

those who in America and in Europe helped to make Mr. Prater’s visit produce

such useful results. Amongst those in America who helped we should specially

like to thank the brothers Theodore and Kermit Roosevelt, Dr. Fredric Lucas,

the Honorary Director and Dr. George H. Sherwood, Acting Director of the

American Museum of Natural History, Dr. G. Clyde Fisher, Educational

Department, Mr. Albert Butler, Acting Director and the staff of the Preparation

Department and Mr. Lewis Jonas, Taxidermist, Miss Anna Gallup, Curator of

the Children’s Museum, Brooklyn, Mr. Harold Madison, Curator of the

Cleveland Museum, Dr. C. Cummings, Curator, Buffalo Academy of Natural

Sciences, Mr. |. T. Frary, Cleveland Museum of Art, Dr. S. A. Barret, Curator,

Milwaukee Public Museum, Mr. Stanley Field and the Staff of the Field

Museum, Chicago, Mr. Figgins, Director of the Colorado Museum of Naturai

History, Denver, Colorado, Dr. Van Streelen, Director of the Natura! History

Museum, Brussells and the Directors and the staff of the Natural History

Museums at Altona, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and Vienna.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

I.—A COMMENT ON ‘TIGERS AND ELEPHANTS’ AND NOTES ON

TIGERS AND BUFFALOES

I am much interested in the article under the heading No. IV ‘Tigers and

Elephants’ on page 514 of vol. xxxi, No. 2, written by R. K. Anderson.

In all the history of Cooch Behar shooting, extending over a period of sixty

years, I have never heard of tigers attacking any elephant, tame or wild, unless

wounded. And then the tiger has always come off second best. The area shot

ie has been the Western and Eastern Duars and parts of Assam, as you

now.

It may interest you to know that tigers very rarely attack full grown

buffaloes, wild or tame, singly, and I will give you two instances.

(1) The Superintendent of Pilkhana, Cooch Behar, was going up a river-bed

on the borders of Bhutan on a female elephant with other Koonkies, with

the object of ‘Phadi Shikar’ i.e., lassoing wild elephants. Suddenly he

noticed a movement in the grass fifty yards ahead. He moved up to investigate,

when to his astonishment he saw a magnificent bull buffalo moving along

leisurely and on each side was a tiger (probably a tiger and tigress). Every

now and then one tiger would dash in to try and get a hold, and the buffalo

would merely sweep his horns. The tigers were evidently sparring for an

opening. Neither the buffalo nor the tigers took any notice of the elephants

which were following. This went on for about half a mile when suddenly one

of the tigers got too close, and the buffalo immediately ripped it right up with

his horns and the beast died at once. The other tiger did a bolt and the buffalo

went on unconcernedly.

(2) The Raja of Gauripur (Assam) was out shooting in Assam and a tiger

was slightly wounded one day. It immediately bolted across some open land

where a herd of tame buffalo were grazing, and somehow or other got mixed

up with them. When the shooting party arrived on the spot there was hardly

any tiger left! The buffaloes had actually been tossing it about on their horns

as soccer players head the ball to each other.

I believe it is well known that wounded tigers in the Central Provinces are

known to have been turned out of a patch by a herd of buffaloes.

Once my father did come across the half-eaten carcase of a wild buffalo, but

evidence in the shape of pug marks showed it had been attacked and killed by

a pair.

235, Lower CircuLar Roap,

CALCUTTA. VICTOR NARAYEN

September 24, 1926. of Cooch Behar.

IIL.—NOTES ON TIGER PREFERRING CARRION TO LIVE BAIT

While out shooting in the Central Provinces some time ago, I discovered

that there was a very big tiger living in the jungle adjoining my block, and

which often came in my jungle, crossing the Mandla-Bilaspur Road at a certain

place where the road passed through a bit of thick jungle.

I got a buffalo tied on the roadside but there was no kill for three days.

On the fourth day the buffalo died where it was tied owing to some cattle disease

prevailing there. The dead body was left where it was and next day I got

khabar that it was taken away by the tiger. It was traced to a place about

200 yards from the road, where a machan was tied and my friend ‘.475’ sat up

in the evening. The moon was only four or five days old and the tiger returned

to his feed near midnight. ‘.475’ did not take a chance shot in the hope of

getting him on some future occasion. The tiger’s eating the carrion we took

to be a coincidence; so we kept on tying live bait at the place from where

the carrion was first dragged. Seven days passed yet there was no kill at this

particular place though sometimes his large and unmistakable footprints

indicated that the tiger had passed within a few yards of the buffalo, and as the

1026: JOCRNAL, BOMBAY NATORALIAIST (SOGIETY, Vole XX xXT

buffalo was tied in an open place there was no reason to believe that he had

not seen it.

On about the eighth day we had to send off the buffalo (which we had been

tying near the road) to some other place. A herd had passed by the road in

the early morning; S and self went after it and bought two buffaloes from the

herdsman.

In order to secure the large tiger we tied both of these near the road, one

at the usual spot and the other at a short distance to the left. In the morning

both were unable to walk. We now realized that the herdsman had purposely

sold us sick animals which he thought would not undergo the long journey.

We let them lie where they were and did what we could for them, but the

poor beasts died before mid-day. The carcases were left unmoved in the

hope of getting a drag.

Sure enough, next morning one of them was dragged by the tiger in question.

Another smaller tiger had also visited the place and we naturally took it to

be a tigress as it was their mating season then. In the afternoon a beat was

arranged which started at about 1 p.m. Within ten minutes the brute was

on the move and at first tried to break through the stops on the left, but

was successfully kept back by them, and he came towards where ‘.475’ and self

were sitting. After coming forward a few paces he immediately changed his

course and made for our right. As he seemed to be going straight to a gun

posted on our right we let him go. There was a nalla in front of our machans

and we saw him go into it but never saw him coming out on our side. It

seems he took cover of the nalla and escaped through it. When the beat

was within 100 yards of us, out rushed another tiger with deafening roars and

came straight towards us at a great pace. A fine shot in the head from my

friend finished the animal which turned out to be a tigress. Thus the big

tiger had given us the slip for the second time! He was an enormous beast

and looked even bigger—at least bulkier—than the 9 ft. 6 in. tiger—between

pegs—I had shot there a few days previously.

It is a well-known fact that herds of buffaloes are taken towards Bilaspur

from Jubbulpore, Mandla and Saugor districts, and most of them go by the

old Mandla-Bilaspur Road. I believe in Bilaspur District they are mostly used

for ploughing, hence their great demand. When they are taken in such great

numbers naturally a few die on the road, and if one happens to die at a place

where the road passes through jungles, the village chamar cannot get at it and

it is left there to decay or for hyenas, etc. So far I have laid down the facts.

But it will not be out of place to surmise that the tiger in question must be

taking advantage of this gift of the gods! 1 have reasons to believe so,

because it will be noticed from what I have said that he eventually did drag

away our dead buffaloes nct once, but on two occasions from the roadside in

question.

Has there been any case where tiger has preferred carrion to tied buffalo?

I did not try a pig or a donkey as none was available. Will either tempt

him? Any criticism or information will be welcome.

A BEGINNER.

[In the Oriental Sporting Magazine of June 1874, a writer (“Young Nimrod’)

maintains from his own experience and on the authority of some eminent

sportsmen of the time, including ‘Hawkeye’ (Capt. Richard Hamilton), ‘Zoo-

philus’ (Blyth) and ‘Hogspear’ (F. Bruce Simpson, B.c.s.)—who was reputed

to have shot literally hundreds of tigers,—that tigers prefer putrid flesh to fresh

meat, or at least are very partial to it, and will readily eat animals not

killed by themselves.

Recent authorities like Dunbar Brander also comment on the tiger’s propensity

for putrid flesh, and we know the instance of a tiger in the Tavoy District

(Burma) who in preference to a live calf that was tied up as bait for a number

of consecutive nights close to a village, showed partiality for the dry mouldy

bones of a domestic pig that had died two months previously, which were

lying in a neighbouring nullah submerged in about 18 inches of water. Night

after night the beast visited the place passing within 10 yards of the tie. Its

pugs clearly showed that he had been wading into the stream and pulling out

the old mildewed bones which he dragged for about 15 feet on the bank and

crunched. The favourite spot to which he always carried this delicacy, was

littered with crunched and chewn fragments and it is a mystery as to what

the animal could have got from them in return for his pains! Eps. |

Ui,

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 1027

III.—BLACK LEOPARDS

The Report of the Honorary Committee for the management of the Zoo-

logical Garden, Calcutta, 1925-26, shows that among the animals that were

born in the garden during the year were three black leopards which unfortu-

nately died of Gastro-enteritis (verminous) shortly after.

In reply to enquiries regarding the pedigree of these cubs the Honorary

Secretary of the Gardens writes under date August 21, 1926, as follows :—

‘The three black leopard cubs were born of parents, both of which are

black. Previous litters from the same pair also showed melanistic strain. Three

more cubs, all black, were born from the same parents in July last and are

so far doing well.’

This case is an extremely interesting one. Only in a Zoo is it possible to

conduct experiments which will further our knowledge in regard to that peculiar

phase in animal colouration known as ‘Melanism’ and it is to be hoped that the

Calcutta Gardens will carry on the good work, occasionally varying the experi-

ment by putting the black male to an ordinary female and vice versa.

On page 234 of vol. xvii of the Society’s Journal, Lt.-Col. W. B. Ferris

records that three litters from a pair of black panthers (2, 2 and 1 cub re-

spectively) which bred in the Kolhapur Gardens, were all quite black like the

parents.

It is well known however that black and normally coloured cubs are frequently

found in the same litter: T. A. Hauxwell mentions an instance on p. 723 of

vol. xv where a litter taken in the Bhamo District (Burma) comprised one

black and one ordinary coloured cub. The mother was of the normal type,

but it is possible the father may have been of the black variety.

From the fact that neither in the case of the Calcutta pair nor in that

recorded from Kolhapur, was there ever a ‘throw-back’ to the ancestral (?)

spotted type, it would appear that melanism is a dominant character. This

makes one wonder as to why black leopards are not much more common than they

are in the natural state. Can it be that the black colour is in some way

vitally detrimental to its possessor in the struggle for existence, and that a

large proportion of the animals so coloured fail to survive? Can ferocity, which

is usually correlated with melanism, have any part to play in bringing about

this end?

Bomspay Naturat History Sociekty,

6, APPOLLO STREET, BomBay. SALIM A. ALI

November 25, 1926.

IV.—SHIPS’ CATS, AND AN INSTANCE OF THEIR HOMING INSTINCT

Our cat ‘Tommy’ joined this ship in July 1924, at Calcutta. He came from

another Company’s ship along with his master, who has since gone on leave.

I do not know how many ships he has served in, but as far as I can judge he

is about ten years old,—a good age for a ship's cat.

The incident I am about to relate took place at Bombay in November 1924,

when ‘Tommy’ went ashore for a stroll, after the manner of all cats. By

the time he returned, the ship had left for Calcutta, and of course he was

missed by his master and all the ship’s company. After discharging her cargo,

the ship went to load coal at the Kidderpore Dock. Some few days later

another vessel of the Company, also from Bombay, berthed close by. She

had brought ‘Tommy’ as a passenger. He was one of the first to disembark,

and made straight for his old home. Since that time he has been careful to take

no chances, and now rarely goes on shore. He does not like strangers, and

when in port is to be usually found in one of the lifeboats,—only emerging

therefrom at meal times. I do not know that the story is worth the telling,

as the majority of ship’s cats who miss their passage, just board the nearest

ship. In this case, by a coincidence the ship ‘Tommy’ boarded happened to be

bound for the same port as the ship he had missed; and there might be

something in cat nature that, seeing his old ship lying close by, he preferred

it to his new home as perhaps giving him the better time. Had the ship

which he boarded at Bombay been bound to any other port, I expect he would

probably have soon made himself quite at home and thought no more about it.

I think ships’ cats are different from shore cats, whether this is because they

1028 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1I

are usually well looked after and fed—in addition to there being a rat or two—

I do not know. To make a good ship’s cat as much as a good sailor, he must

join quite young; otherwise he will take the first opportunity of deserting and

not coming back again. Once, however, he settles down to ship’s life, and he

is unfortunate enough to miss his passage, he appears perfectly content to

join the next ship available in preference to living on shore.

The other day while we were lying at Wellington, New Zealand, a very

pretty pure bred female cat came up to my deck, and sat down as if she owned

the place. Of course I knew she was a ship’s cat, and on making enquiries

found she belonged to the S.S. ywhich had left the port that day. Some-

times we return cats to their ships, when we can, but this one—the only

pure bred on board, except ‘Tommy,’ we ‘pinched’; and she lived to have a

family by a wharf Tom at Basrah. This Basrah cat by the way ‘belonged’ to

the shed, and gave us the impression that he specialized in marrying ship’s lady

cats as they arrived. ‘Nellie,’ as we called the New Zealand cat, was stolen

by some boatmen at Alleppey, and her family one by one disappeared, either

through cat-admiring boatmen or by falling overboard during their frolics. I

might mention that cats of whatever breed are always welcome on most ships.

They keep down the rats and besides, are companions.

When we get a cat of low breed, and not quite to our liking, we surreptitiously

put him aboard another ship, when the officers are not looking; but this only

happens rarely.

Families born on board are all kept. We talk a lot about drowning a few—

just to help mother—but when the time comes no one will do the deed, and

they are preserved, only for some of them to be drowned afterwards by slipping

overboard while at play. Thus nature finds her own way.

S. S. ‘Gurna’,

BomBay, JOUNVEA AHUGHES, 38:5;

October 1926. Commander.

[Much ink has been spent on stories concerning the reputed extraordinary

homing instinct of the cat. It is very seldom, unfortunately, that one gets

such stories—especially the more remarkable ones—first hand. It is usually

A, whose word can be confidently relied on, who tells it exactly as he heard

it from his intimate friend B, (a lady whose great fondness and knowledge of

animals renders its veracity unquestionable) who when staying at an inn heard

the story from the landlady who was personally acquainted with some friends

of the people to whom the cat belonged! If a fraction of the tales in circulation

respecting the homing sense of the cat were true, this faculty must certainly

border on the supernatural, but, there is no doubt that a great proportion of

the remarkable returns-home are exaggerations.

In the above instance, however, the strangeness as Capt. Hughes rightly

observes, lies not in that the animal having missed its own ship got aboard

another lying alongside the dock in Bombay, but that when by coincidence he

found this one berthed close to his old home in Calcutta he promptly crossed

over to the latter.

It was in all likelihood by sight that Tommy recognized his old home and

not by smell which is commonly believed to be the guide. It has been proved

by repeated experiments that a cat’s power of smell is extremely indifferent.

Eps. |

V.—WILD DOGS IN MYSORE

With reference to Capt. Windle’s letter in vol. xxxi, No. 2 of the journal ;

I shot wild dogs out of seven different packs in this district last year and have

seen many others at various times. Their colour varies from light golden to

brown-red, but all that I have seen in this district whether on the plateau or

in the Wynaad have had not only a black tip to the tail but black on its

upper side for practically its whole length. Down near sea-level the colour

is lighter, the tail much less bushy and with a blackish tip only. The above

is confirmed by Mr. E. J. van Ingen, our local taxidermist, who states that in

his experience the South Indian wild dog aiways has the black tip.

I am sending you under separate cover four skins in case they may be of

interest ;

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 1029

(1) Full-size dark skin with black bushy tail—this is the ordinary type

of the district. Shot at Anaikatti in February, 1926.

(2) Full-size lighter skin with narrow tail and little black on it. Shot

on the Tellicherry Ghaut in Malabar in October, 1925.

(3) Small-size dark skin (without head)—half-grown dog shot at Mudumalai

in May, 1925. A full-grown dog was with it creuching in the ditch but was

not seen in time. :

(4) Small-size light skin (with head) marked 520—shot at Mudumalai in

April, 1925 out of a pack of eight or ten all of small size. The dogs were

running towards the fire-line we were on and seeing us stopped and_ stared

some thirty yards off. I noticed at once that they were small and looked

the pack over carefully before opening fire to see if there were any full-size

dogs, but there were none. I was surprised to see a pack of what I then

presumed to be immature dogs running on their own account (I had met a

pack of three full-grown and two small dogs at the same place a fortnight

before), but after reading Capt. Windle’s letter have begun to wonder if these

may not have been a smaller kind of mature dog. Unfortunately only one

of this pack was bagged, and with the skin I send the skull together with a

full-size ordinary skull for comparison. From this you will, no doubt, be

able to decide if the smaller dog was mature or not. To me it appears mature.

As regards the noises made by wild dogs—a whistle is the usual form of

communication and is generally used to call the pack together when they

have got separated as the result of firing. They occasionally whine or whimper

and I have twice heard them yap. I have never heard them bark, but the

well-known Nilgiri sportsman, the late Genl. Hamilton (‘Hawkeye’) writing in

1876 mentions that a wild dog which he had fired at, and missed, near

Avalanche, ‘only retreated a short distance and then rushed back tail erect and

barking furiously.” Two more long shots also missed and the dog then decamped

‘barking for some time after he disappeared.’

C. E. M. Russel (Bullet and Shot in Indian Forest) mentions two cases of

aggressive behaviour by wild dogs towards men, and Col. Pollock (Sporting

Days in South India) states that they will sometimes kill helas (buffalo calves)

tied out as baits for tiger. A case of the latter occurred last June at Masinigudi

when two sportsmen were sitting up in a machan over a live heifer. A pack of

wild dogs appeared and attacked the heifer which was only saved by the

sportsmen opening fire.

Why is it that old-time sporting writers so seldom mention wild dogs?

Were they considered beneath notice, or was it that they were much scarcer then?

Since writing the above, I have been down at Anaikatti, and have made

enquiries on the point raised by Capt. Windle. My shikari, Jaora, a reliable

man, stated positively that there are two distinct kinds of wild dogs. He said

that the larger kind only were found south of the Moyar River, but that a

smaller kind hunted in Mysore to the north of the ‘Ditcn’. The latter he

described as similar in colour to the larger kind but with a light patch on

the head. He ‘said they were much fiercer, very destructive to sheep, and

would not hesitate to attack man, which the larger kind never did. They were

to be found round Bachhalli and Bandipur—the latter place is only a few miles

from Mudumalai of which Capt. Windle writes.

Of course this is merely hearsay, but I have always found Jaora’s statements

reliable.

I hope to be able to visit Bachhalli next month, and will then make further

enquiries.

LovepDALE, NILGIRIS. E. G. PHYTHIAN-ADAMS,

October 23, 1926. Major I.A. (Retired.)

[A careful examination of the skins and skulls submitted by Major Phythian-

Adams has convinced us that they all belong to one species of dog only, viz.,

C. dukhunensis. The apparent differences are doubtless due to age and to

the different times of the year at which the specimens were obtained. For

instance No. 1 which was shot in winter (February 1926) naturally shows a

better coat than No. 2 shot in October where it would be just preparing for

the partial seasonal change.

Nos. 3 and 4 are obviously immature animals. In the skull of No. 4 milk

teeth are present, the fusion of the cranial sutures is incomplete, and no dorsal

ridge appears. Eps. |

1030 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX1

VI.—NOTES ON THE LONG-ARMED SHEATH-TAILED BAT

. TAPHOZOUS LONGIMANUS, Harpw.

(With a photograph)

A few of these bats were caught by me living in the niches on the outside

of the Prince of Wales’ Museum dome, of which three were males and three

females. This would go to show that the sexes in this species live together.

All the three males were much lighter in colour than the females, being a

yellowish brown; the females on the other hand were dark blackish-brown,

almost black. Blanford, in the Fauna of British India, mentions that Blyth

observed the young individuals to be pale fulvescent and that they became

gradually black with age. Whether these paler ones were males or females he

does not say, for they might have all been males? One male taken by me at

Vihar Lake the day before was even paler than those secured in the Museum,

being of a very pale fulvescent tint.

On looking through the material in the Society’s collection I found this

difference in the sexes to be the general rule, only a few being like the females

which are probably young spcimens. One at least is very young and_ is

coloured like the female. In almost all cases 1 could pick out the males

from the females by the difference of colour alone.

Of tne three females mentioned above, secured in September of this

year, two were in an advanced state of pregnancy and, from all appearances,

the foetus (of which there was only one in each case), would have been

born in a couple of days. The third had a young one clinging to her, as

shown in the photograph.

Blanford states that a pregnant female was taken in early August in

Calcutta, the present record would therefore extend the breeding season slightly,

although no mention is made of the condition of his foetus.

The young one, a male, was almost devoid of hair. It attached itself to one .

teat and would not easily relax its hold though it would change from one

teat to the other occasionally. Young as it was, it showed the tendency of

hanging head downwards, as when I turned the mother round it would alter its

position and when I repeated the experiment it turned round again always

hanging head downwards. The wings of the young one were imperfectly

developed near the margin of the ‘hand’ region. They were very tender and

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 1031

showed no clear-cut edge as in the case of old ones (they may have been damaged).

The wings were covered with a sticky oily substance, especially in the folds.

The same author says that this species is probably a cave dweller and

inhabitant of rock fissures; it is frequently found in old temples, cellars, and

outhouses, etc., and that Blyth once observed it on the stem of a palm. My

observations confirm this last statement, as the one secured at Vihar Lake

was shot on the stem of a Borassus or ‘Tadgola’ palm. Referring to the

specimens in the collection, I notice that Mr. Crump, one of the Society’s

collectors, found a tbat of this species on a palm in Chanda, and Mr. Phillips,

from Ceylon, also quotes two instances of his having secured specimens in the

crown of coconut palms. There is also another statement made by Blanford

which I wish to confirm, viz., that individuals in confinement can cling to

vertical smooth surfaces and creep by means of the claws. As a general rule

such progression is backwards and at an angle when on a flat or upright

surface. When disturbed while hanging they move very quickly to either right

or left as the case may be.

There are two noises usually produced by this species. One is an almost

inaudible repeated ‘tic-tic-tic,’ etc., uttered when they are hanging together

and the other a harsh screech uttered when caught or alarmed.

Bompay NaturaL History Society,

6, APPOLLO STREET, C. McCANN

November 1, 1926.

VIIL—THE BREEDING OF THE INDIAN RHINOCEROS (RHINOCEROS

UNICORNIS) IN CAPTIVITY

The following are some particulars kindly supplied by the Honorary Secretary

of the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta, relating to a calf of the great one-horned

Rhinoceros born in the Garden on October 9, 1925, which are interesting.

Unfortunately the birth was somewhat premature and the calf survived a few

hours only.

So far as could be ascertained from the Keeper, mating commenced on

March 17, 1924 and continued till the end of that month. The period of

gestation would therefore appear to be about nineteen months. Hodgson with

his seventeen or eighteen months is therefore much nearer the mark than

Desmarest who estimated it as under nine months !

The weight and dimensions of this calf are given as follows :—

(1) Body weight when born ; 5 : : ; ; 74 Ibs.

(2) Length of head and Pedy i : : : 5 3’ 2”

(3) Length of tail : : ; ; 3 3”

(4) Height at shoulder ; : : i bake : 110”

Hodgson gives the following measurements of a newly born animal of this

species :—

Length (excluding ele : ; : c : : : 3’ 4”

Height : : 2.07

and B. C. Ellison records the dimensions of a fully developed foetus taken

from an animal shot during H.R.H. the Prince of Wales’s shikar in Nepal,

as under :—

Head and Bony ; ; : ; ; ; : d 3 4”

Tail ; ; : ; : : ; : a.

Girth : 2 : : : : : ; : : 2’ 9”

Weight : : ; : : : ; 120 Ibs.

It will be seen how eocai the measurements agree in the case of all the

three calves, and it might therefore be safe to accept them as average of a new-

born calf.

BomBay Natural HIstTory sole

6, APPOLLO STREET, SALIM A. ALI.

November 22, 1926,

1032 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATOCORAL FIST SOGIEDY Won Xxx

VIII.—EXTENSION OF HABITAT OF HUME’S SCIMITAR BABBLER

(POMATORHINUS HORSFIELDI OBSCURUS) TO ORISSA

While going through the Society’s Bird Collection recently I came upon a

specimen, obviously of this race, obtained by Major H. J. Walton, 1.m.s., at

Rosul Hindol, Orissa,°on February 18, 1902. On page 211 of vol: 1, # JBI.

Birds (second edition) it is stated, ‘So far only recorded from Mt. Aboo and

Seoni.’ As Orissa is considerably farther east of the localities mentioned, I

think this record is very interesting. Major Walton gives the following data

regarding the specimen on his label: ‘No. 1418¢ Long tot.=9.5”, al.=3.87,

caudv= 4.175 ‘culmaiy= 1.2573) tars. = 1.375 Iris deep red. Bill yellow : base of

culmen blackish. Legs and feet olive-green. Testes moderate.’

The specimen, which is numbered 850 in the present catalogue, is much

paler than true horsfieldi horsfieldt.

It would be of great value if members sent us skins of this race obtained

outside its known range.

Bompay NaturaL History Society,

6, APPOLLO STREET, SALIM, A. ALT.

October 1, 1926.

IX.—INDIAN CUCKOO NOTES—KOEL (EUDYNAMIS S. SCOLOPACEUS)

PARASITISING NEST OF (INDIAN (ORIOLE (ORTOLUS OO, KUN DOO)

It is well known that the Indian Koel lays its eggs in the nests of the

House Crow and rarely in that of the Jungle Crow. I was not a little

surprised when on May 25 I found a koel’s egg deposited in the nest of

an Indian Oriole (Oriolus o. kundoo, Sykes). There were three oriole’s eggs

and one koel’s egg. I do not think this has. been recorded previously, and I

think it is due to untoward circumstances—to the fact that the Koel at the time

she deposited her egg was unable to find a suitable nest and so dropped the egg

into the nearest likely nest available to take its chance. ‘This is to some extent

borne out by circumstances for koels are very plentiful in the vicinity of this

oriole’s nest while the nearest crow’s nest was about two or more miles away.

I have also been sent an egg from Secunderabad which was found in the nest

of an Ashy Wren-Warbler (Prinia socialis socialis) on September 21, which is

quite unlike all described eggs of Cacomantis passevinus and those figured by

E.C. Stuart Baker in his article! on the Oology of the Indian Parasitic Cuckoos.

This egg is almost identical in colouration and size to an egg of the Jungle

Wren-Warbler ; it measures 18.3X13.2 mm. This is the second time my cor-

respondent has found this egg in the nest of an Ashy Wren-Warbler and the

latter seems to eject the cuckoo’s egg from its nest. He notes as follows :—

‘First Nest oF ASHY WREN-WARBLER

16—8—1926. Nest completed and first mahogany red egg deposited.

17—8—1926. Nest completed and second mahogany red egg deposited.

18—8—1926. Cuckoo’s egg deposited.

19—8—1926. Cuckoo’s egg disappeared, two red eggs only in nest.

30—8—1926. One red egg hatched. :

31—8—1926. Second red egg not in nest.

10—9—1926. Young bird quitted nest.

SEcoND Nest oF ASHY WREN-WARBLER (perhaps the same pair).

17—9—1926. Nest completed.

20—9—1926. First red egg deposited.

21—9—1926. First red egg and one cuckoo’s egg, latter removed and sent

to Mr. D’Abreu. This egg similar to the one that disappeared

from the first nest.

* Journal B.N.H.S., vols. xvii and xvili.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 1033

22—9—1926. Second red egg deposited.

4—10—1926. Both red eggs hatched.

14—-10—1926. Both nestlings left nest.’

It would be interesting to know if any of your correspondents have had any

experience with this cuckoo which lays its egg in the nest of the Ashy Wren-

Warbler and to whose egg its has not the slightest resemblance.

CENTRAL MUSEUM,

Nacpur, C.P. E. A. D’ABREU, F.z.s.

November 11, 1926.

X.—OCCURRENCE OF THE WOOD SNIPE (GALLINAGO NEMORI-

COLA) IN BURMA

Referring to the Indian Game Birds, vol. ii, I see that only once previously

has the wood snipe been recorded from Burma and curiously enough from

the same district—Myitkyina.

While moving from one snipe ground to another on October 24, my dog

flushed what I took to be a wood-cock. I followed the bird up and after

great difficulty, fully ten minutes’ hard work by the dog in a small patch of

scrub jungle only 20 yards square, he flushed the bird again and I bagged it.

On the dog proceeding to retrieve the bird he flushed two more and I stood

in. one spot and bagged five. The other guns only flushed two birds and

bagged both.

They appeared to just fancy this spot as with eight coolies extended over

a line of 60 yards we put up no more birds, giving us in all three and a half

couple. It is the first time I have shot the bird though I recognized it from

the plate and description in volume ii, Game Bird of India, Burma and

Ceylon.

I am sending two sets of wings to satisfy you and write you this account

as a matter of interest which might be worthy of the next Quarterly Journal.

The ground we found the birds on was covered with very thick grass about

3 feet high with water 4 inches deep, with small mounds dotted about and

scrub jungle and grass growing on them. The birds were between these

mounds—most unsuitable land for snipe (Fantail or Pintail or even the

Painter).

SauHMAwW Estate, MyitTKyina DIsTRICT,

U. BurMa. A. MACDONALD.

November 4, 1926.

[The wings undoubtedly belong to the Wood Snipe (Gallinago nemoricola). Eps. |

XI.—ARRIVAL OF SNIPE IN MYSORE

It may be of interest to members to learn that I shot three Snipe (Pintail)

in the heart of the Malnaad of Mysore on Sunday, August 29.

The S.-W. Monsoon is still on here, although lighter than usual. It is not

due to leave us till September 15 approximately. We have averaged 35 cents

a day the last week. ;

I had visited the swamp in which I shot these three (the only ones there)

about the middle of July and on August 22 and found none. Of these three

birds two appear to be young birds. Many planters assert a few Snipes remain

here all the year round, but I have never observed this and I think that it is

generally agreed that those that do stop must be ‘pricked’ birds unable to

undertake a long journey.

I believe (I have not a copy at hand) in the Game Birds of India, vol. ii,

the migration chart shows the arrival of Pintail in Mysore as the beginning of

October, and the Fantail, beginning of August? I do not think the Fantail

visits the Malnaad of Mysore at all, but I dare say it is found near Bangalore,

where also, no doubt, snipe arrive earlier and in greater numbers.

GUNTANAIK ESTATE, BALEHONNUR P.O.,

Kapur DISTRICT. G: ¥. R. FREND.

August 30, 1926.

[The approximate dates of arrival of the Pintail and Fantail Snipe in

Mysore as shown on the migration maps in vol. ii of the Game Birds of India,

Burma and Ceylon are October 5 to 20 and September 25 to 30, respectively.

1034. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL-AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

Writing again on October 2, Mr. Frend says :—

‘I am afraid I was unable to find time to visit any more Snipe swamps

‘till September 26, when I again visited the swamp in which I had shot the

‘three Snipe on August 29. However, it will probably be of interest to you

‘to hear I found no sign of Snipe then (September 26). Since then I visited

‘another small swamp, but did not see any trace of them.’

From the fact that no Snipe were seen on September 26 either on the same

swamp or subsequently on the other one visited by Mr. Frend, it would appear

that the three birds obtained by him about the middle of July, as also those

shot on August 29, were all ‘stay backs’ of the last season. The fact that

two birds of the latter date were apparently young supports this presumption.

EDs. |

XII.—MIGRATION OF WILDFOWL

I give below a short account of the ducks which were ringed in February

1926, on different tanks in the State.

You know that His late Highness Maharaja Sir Udaji Rao Puar Sahib

Bahadur had ordered some rings from you for putting on ducks in January

last, with the idea of finding out their permanent homes and whether these

very birds come back to the same localities.

The birds were accordingly ringed in February almost at the close of the

season, and it will be seen from the following accounts received from time

to time that these birds go back as far as Siberia, from Central India, in

about three months’ time.

The first duck, bearing ring No. 29, a White-eyed Pochard (Nyroca rufa)

has been shot by Lieut. W. A. Gimson, R.A., on Lekoda Tank (just north

of Fatehabad, near Ujjain) in the month of March 1926, in Gwalior Territory.

The second duck (No. 94), a Wigeon (Mareca penelope) was shot by one

Mohamad Akbar of Campbellpore in the beginning of May last year, at Jand

Station, on the N.W. Railway.

One Bag Ali Shah, Head Constable, Railway Police, Jhind, shot one of our

ducks in Jalwal Village (Attock District) on April 5, last.

The last one (No. 58) a Pochard (Nyroca ferina), male, has been shot by

some one, at a distance of 120 kilometres from the town Barnaul, in Siberia,

in the month of May last and this information has been kindly sent by

Prof. Hermann Johnsery of Tomsk University.

The duck season has now commenced and it has to be seen whether some

of the ringed birds come back to India again.

I am sending this account with the hope that it will interest the readers

of your well-known Journal.

PRIVATE SECRETARY’S OFFICE, G. B. PAURI,

Duar STATE. Private Secretary to

October 30, 1926. H.H. The Maharaja of Dhar.

[As far as we are aware this is the only experiment of its kind made in

India that has yielded results. We supplied in all 500 aluminium rings

inscribed ‘Inform Maharaja of Dhar’ to the late Maharaja in January this

year, of which about 200 were used on birds. The percentage of recoveries in

this short interval works out to two per cent. which is certainly encouraging.

Landsborough Thomson in his interesting, recently published book—Problems

of Bird Migration—estimates that about two or three per cent is a common

figure for total recoveries, but the proportion may be less, sometimes much

less, than one per cent in the case of some of the smaller Passerine birds.

Ducks give high figures and Mortensen obtained twenty per cent with

Pintail, which as the author observes, is remarkably good when it is considered

that most of the reports came from a distance.

We confidently expect more recoveries to be reported in the case of the |

Dhar ducks. In India where the major part of our wildfowl is migratory,

this mode of experiment deserves to be tried on a much vaster scale, and

we hope the success achieved in the above case will be an incentive to other

sportsmen and naturalists to employ similar methods.

Many problems still remain to be solved concerning our migratory wildfowl,

and it is only by such means that we can hope ultimately to arrive near

anything like a solution. Eps. ]

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 1035

XIII.—THE BREEDING OF THE INDIAN LESSER WHITETHROA?T

(SYLVIA CURRUCA AFFINIS) AT QUETTA

With reference to ‘Some notes on the second edition of the Fauna of British

India—Birds, vols. i and ii’ by Claud B. Ticehurst which appeared at page 497,

vol. xxxi, No. 2 of the Journal, published on August 15, 1926, regarding the

nesting of the Indian Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca affinis) at Quetta,

I would like to make the following statement :—

About ten years after I had left Quetta, Dr. Ticehurst wrote asking me

whether I was sure that this bird nested at Quetta. I told him I was not.

At that time, I had not access to my notes, which I have at the time of

writing this. On referring to them, I find that May 18, 1906, so far as

finding birds new to me, was a red letter day. On that day, I found the

nests of this bird, as will be explained later, the Eastern Orphean Warbler

(Sylvia hortensis crassirostris) and the Rufous Shrike (Lanius cristatus phoeni-

curoides). I had not seen these birds before, so did not know what they

were, consequently I had to do, what is always distasteful to me, shoot them

off the nest. This I did and sent them to the museum for identification.

They may have been wrongly identified. As the Shrike and Orphean Warbler

have not been challenged, I do not see why the Lesser Whitethroat should be?

I am afraid the reason why Dr. Ticehurst could not obtain information from

the Museum was probably due to the fact of the skins being such bad

specimens, were thrown away, not being worth preservation. The eggs, I

took, were not marked till I received a reply telling me what they were.

The following is an extract from my notes :—‘13—5—1926. Nest in low

thorn bush, 4 incubated eggs, nest flimsy.’ I found another on May 31,

with four half-fledged young, and seem to have found five or six Orphean

Warblers.

The eggs are now in the possession of Mr. Stuart Baker, who should be

well able to express an opinion as to whether they are the Indian Lesser

Whitethroat, if not, what he considers them to be.

Quetta is a highway for migrating birds and it is not beyond the bounds of

possibility that a bird, here and there, may be compelled, by circumstances,

to stop and nest before reaching its destination proper. The locality, in

which the Whitethroats’ and Warblers’ nests were found, was on the hillsides

bounding the Hanna Pass and not in the valley.

It is to be hoped that ornithologists who may happen to be quartered at

Quetta now, or in the future, will keep an eye open for this bird.

Carpe Town, R. M. BETHAM,

October 30, 1926. Brigadier-General.

XIV.—THE EFFECTS OF A RECENT CYCLONIC STORM ON BIRD

LIFE IN KARACHI AND ITS ENVIRONS

The rainfall in Karachi for the past seventeen years works out to an

average of 6.54 in. per annum. These figures however include abnormal falls

of 9.28 in., 14.12 in., 8.08 in., 20.33 in., 12.63 in., and 15.54 in. during

the years 1910, 1913, 1914, 1916, 1921 and 1926 respectively.

The actual rainfall in seven of these seventeen years has not gauged 3 in.

per year, so when Karachi, situated as it is, was suddenly struck by the

cyclone and deluged by a more or less continuous downpour, gauging 12.71 in.

in so short a time as 38 hours, the results can be imagined.

On the evening of Saturday, September 4, rolling banks of dense clouds

overshadowed the sky completely shutting out the sun, then came the wind

and rain bringing desolation and destruction.

By Sunday afternoon roads and streets were muddy, sluggish waterways,

dotted here and there with uprooted trees. Maidans and recreation grounds,

sheets of water, and the Lyari (a dry river-bed) a rushing, swirling, ugly-

looking torrent, scattered with floating debris, the washed-out homes, all the

worldly possessions of many a Mekrani family; here or there, turned and

twisted by the remorseless current, almost submerged but still distinguishable,

the carcass of some unfortunate domestic beast, the bloated body of a rat or

a mass of drenched, bedraggled feathers, a mere shape, all that remained of

some hapless bird, alive so shortly before, realistic, grimly symbolic of the

insatiable rage of the elements.

10386 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vel SOC?

Monday dawned, the wind and rain had gone leaving a trail of havoc.

Distress and disease, malaria, typhoid and dysentery, quickly followed taking

toll from every street. Karachi is still suffering, doctors and undertakers

profiting.

The cyclone came at a time when the house crows had still the responsi-

bilities of feeding their hungry, helpless, half-fledged offspring, consequently,

as a ‘species’, they suffered heavily.

Over a score of dead fledglings, apparently beaten out of their rain-and-

wind-battered nests, were counted in the compound of the Civil Hospital alone

and in two small public gardens within the limits of the city proper. Heaven

alone knows how many had been washed away before the floods subsided, but

it is significant that, about twenty days after the cyclone, only four young

crows were found in the fields at Malir and Landhi, where in all about eighty

birds were seen.

While the storm was at its worst a crow which attempted to fly from a

date palm to a ‘banyan’ tree a short distance away, was beaten down by

the rain. It managed however to flap and flounder its way out of the

water and sought safety under a building stair-way. This bird which was

fully grown was quite exhausted and incapable of flight.

The city house sparrows, like the kites and semi-domestic pigeons of the

town, were able to find shelter in buildings, on cornices and under the eaves

of roofs, thus escaping the violence of wind and rain. On the whole the

kites and pigeons got off lightly, with just a severe drenching, the sparrows

however suffered to some extent.

During a short lull on the evening of the second day a batch of pigeons

ventured out to feed in the yard of a granary, but after circling around, flew

off towards the city without attempting to alight on the sheet of water

below, their transformed but regular feeding ground.

If the floods had not subsided as quickly as they did, it is probable that

all species, habitants of the city and its environs, would have suffered more

or less from starvation. It would then have been interesting to note if any

of these species migrated temporarily elsewhere.

A pair of rose-ringed parroquets took shelter under the gable of our roof

and a pair of house mynas jostled a pigeon for room under the eaves.

A flooded-out earth mole swam to a partly submerged kutcha wall, upon

which it climbed, crawling feebly from end to end vainly seeking shelter and

safety in some hidden recess.

Kites and the pigeons sat, in some instances, almost side by side for hours

on sheltered cornices.

Human bodies and the carcasses of camel foals, cows and donkeys, washed

down by the Lyari River, were fished out of the sea at Keamari. The story

goes that some cows pulled out alive by Port Trust employees were milked

shortly after landing, poor . beasts.

On September 25, about twenty days after the cyclone, a searching visit was

paid to the gardens and other wooded tracts at Malir and Landhi, thirteen

and fifteen miles respectively from Karachi, where bird life abounds.

A ‘babul’ wood situated between these two places had apparently met the

brunt of the storm. The position of uprooted trees clearly indicated the

direction of the wind, which struck the wood from the west, moving in a

semi-circle towards the south, leaving in its wake rows of torn and uprooted

trees. Here alone, within a comparatively small radius, could be counted

over a score of fallen trees.

This wood is the haunt of many drongos and several species of Shrike, but

none of these birds appeared to be in less numbers than usually met with.

A small but dense belt of tamarisk scrub, near the Malir River, a favourite

resort of common babblers and some warblers was entirely devoid of bird

life.

Large mangoe, mulberry and guava topes, which usually contained great

numbers of white-eared bulbuls and white-browed fantail flycatchers, ‘were

found practically empty of bird life, the two species named being conspicuous

by their absence. In all, three of the former and only one of the latter

were seen.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 1037

Extensive bean and egg-plant fields, the usual haunts of numerous tailor

birds, were quite deserted. A quiet beat along the bushes, row by row,

flushed a single bird which appeared weak and _ sickly.

These very fields once yielded no less than nine fresh nests in a short and

casual search.

Irregular tracts of small ‘babul’ trees and borrow-pits along the railway

lines, where doves, pin-tailed munias and bee-eaters were usually found in

abundance, had been apparently quite submerged and very few of these birds

were seen.

As a result of such observations, as were possible under the circumstances,

it can with safety be said that as ‘species’ the smaller Warblers, White-eared

Bulbuls and White-browed Fantail Flycatchers suffered the most, the Babblers

to a less degree.

The heavy toll among crow fledglings was due more to circumstances, than

to direct results of the cyclone, which came at an unfortunate time, when

the young birds, exposed and helpless in open, unprotected nests were at the

mercy of wind and torrential rain.

The shrikes and drongos being larger and constitutionally stronger than

- flycatchers and warblers apparently escaped scot free. Such is the insuper-

able Law of Nature, what the strong survive the weak succumb to.

Note.—Unfortunately, photographs taken during the cyclone proved failures,

owing to the extremely bad light.

KarAcui, SIND. K. R. EATES.

October, 1926.

[f Mr. Culbertson writes from Karachi on September 13, that quail were

arriving during the storm. A friend of his picked up a quail in his drawing

room and put up another in his garden on Monday morning just after the

storm had blown itself out. He appears to be of the opinion that much more

damage was actually caused to animal life by the heavy rain and _ over-

flowing of nullahs, etc., than by the wind which did not reach beyond forty

or forty-five miles per hour. Eps. |

XV.—STRANGE BEHAVIOUR OF A TRUNCATED FLY

Some time ago, seeing a large fly, like a horse fly, sitting on a tumbler,

I absent-mindedly took up a knife and, by a lucky hit, cut it at once in

two in rear of the front legs. Instead of finishing the fly’s earthly career it

led to a most amazing performance on the part of the fly, which continued

until I could stand it no longer and took further measures.

The two halves of the fly appeared perfectly well, vigorously chased each

other about the table and indulged in several very severe fights. The hind

part appeared to have intelligence as well as the front part and was quite

equal to holding its own in the fights, having the advantage of weight on its

side.

I do not know how long apparent life would have lasted but I watched the

performance for about twenty minutes and then stopped it.

What is the explanation of both halves being able to carry on independently ?

I can understand the head-piece existing for a time but is there a separate

mental organization in the body or is it merely very vigorous and continued

reflex action?

Ev_cin HAtt,

DALHOUSIE. C. W. SANDERS,

July 20, 1926. Major.

[Commenting on the above Major R. W. G. Hingston writes as follows :—

‘The nervous apparatus of a fly consists of a brain, a sub-cesophageal

ganglion, and a ventral chain of ganglia along the floor of the thorax and

abdomen. The brain is the central organ of sensation; but each ganglion of

the ventral chain is capable of individual nervous control. It possesses both

motor and sensory functions, is an independent reflex centre, exhibits a

capacity for co-ordination with some degree of individual autonomy, and _ this

co-ordination exists independently of that exercised by the brain.

1038 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI1

Referring to Major Sanders’ experiment. When the fly was severed behind

the front pair of legs its nervous apparatus was divided into parts. The

brain, the sub-cesophageal ganglion and probably the first thoracic ganglion

went with the head half. The remaining thoracic ganglion, and all the

abdominal ganglia went with the posterior half. Each half, therefore, pos-

sessed a nervous apparatus efficient for both motor and sensory functions

together with some capacity for individual behaviour. Major Sanders states

that the halves appeared perfectly well. Such a result might have been

anticipated, a brainless insect can be induced to eat. A decapitated Ichneumon

can clean its wings, if the prothoracic ganglion be isolated by severing the

connectives in front of and behind it, the forelegs will still respond to

stimulation. ;

But Major Sanders goes further. He writes that each half appeared to have

intelligence, that they chased each other about the table and indulged in

several severe fights. This conclusion cannot be admitted. Many entomologists

deny intelligence even to complete highly-organized insects; and such can

scarcely be admissible in a brainless posterior half. No doubt a reflex activity

was excited when the two halves came into contact; but such behaviour can-

not be regarded in the nature of a conscious or intelligent rivalry.’ Ebps.]

XVI.—THE PAIRING OF SEA SNAKES

(With a photo)

I am sending you a photograph of two sea-snakes which we caught at

Dabai in the Persian Gulf, last April. We saw these snakes locked together

in the water, so another officer and myself went off in a boat and captured

them. We lifted them out of the water on the end of a boat hook, carried

them on board and put them on the dock where I took the picture, and yet

they never let go of each other, although they were both very much alive.

It appeared to us that they must have been engaged in sexual intercourse

to show such indifference, but even so one would hardly have expected such

shy creatures to take no notice whatever of handling. Any remarks which

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

VIVIPARITY IN A THISTLE

WISCELLANEOUS, NOTES 1039

you may have to make on this subject will also be greatly appreciated. The

picture shows the snakes in the state in which we took them from the water,

they being both alive when the photograph was taken.

R.I.M.S. ‘Lawrence,’

R.I.M. Headquarters, A. R. POYNTZ.

November 28, 1926.

[With regard to the copulation of snakes in general, G. A. Boulenger (The

Snakes of Europe) writes as follows:

‘The union of the sexes sometimes lasts only a few minutes but usually

‘an hour or more; it has even been observed to last a whole day. Several

‘copulations may take place at intervals of a few days. ... The more or

‘less prehensile tail with which thoroughly aquatic snakes (like sea snakes)

‘are provided is no doubt of use in facilitating the pairing when it has to

‘take place in the water.’

All exclusively aquatic snakes such as the Hydrophiine are ovoviviparous

and thus dispensed from going on land for parturition. Eps. |

No. XVII.—OCCURRENCE OF THE WORM-LIKE BATRACHIAN

ICHTHYOPHIS MONOCHROUS, Boutenc., AT KHANDALA,

POONA. DISETRICEL

When at Khandala during the month of September 1919, I secured several

specimens of this Batrachian. It lives under stones, during the rains, in

burrows much after the fashion of the earthworm which it also resembles

in its movements. At first sight it might well be mistaken for one of these

creatures as its body is also coated with slime. On the removal of the stone

under which it lives the animal soon begins to descend into its burrow away

from light.

It was only by chance that I picked up one of these animals while hunting

for other things. It was its darker colour which arrested my attention first.

When I examined it more closely, I discovered that it possessed a definite

head and jaws like that of a snake and as I had never seen an animal like it

before I consigned it to my collecting bottle for examination later on and

was glad to find then that I had discovered one of these limbless Batrachians.

The Fauna of British India gives the distribution as follows :—

‘Java, Borneo, Singapore, Sikkim and Western Ghats of India; specimens

were obtained in Malabar by Col. Beddome and I have recently received from

Mr. Gleadow a fine specimen obtained at Waghei, Surat.’

As there is no definite locality mentioned for the Western Ghats, I think it is

worth while recording this animal from a particular spot in order to enable us

to further our knowledge of its distribution.

Bomspay Naturat History Society,

6, APPOLLO STREET, BomBay. C. McCANN.

September 29, 1926.

No. XVIII.—VIVIPARITY IN A THISTLE

(With a plate)

In July 1925 Mr. D. Frenchman found a specimen of Echinops echinatus,

Roxb., a thistle, two miles from Panchgani on the way to Wai. This plant

usually flowers from November to January and ripens its fruit immediately

after.

The specimen in question was a plant of the previous year; stem and leaves

were absolutely dead and dry, so were the vegetative parts of the inflorescence.

From between the bracts about twenty achenes had germinated and young

plants with a short stem and branches and roots had developed. The first

leaves were 3-4 cm. long and about 1 cm. broad; petiole and blade were of

equal length. It is strange that the seeds had not fallen off during the long

season,

10940 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

I may mention another point. KEchinops echinatus is always described as an

annual. Our specimen had produced a new stem at the base of the old one

which shows that there are plants which are at least biennial.

PANCHGANI, E. BLATTER.

October, 1926.

No. XIX.—THE USE OF PATENT BULLETS IN SHOT GUNS

The following notes regarding patent bullets that can be fired from both

choke and cylinder barrels might be found useful by young shikaris who are

at present more or less dependent for guidance regarding their choice in such

matters on the advertisements and price lists of the various firms of gun

makers :—

The principal patent bullets now in the market are :—

The Lethal.

. The Destructive.

. The Destructor.

. The Contractile.

The Rotax.

. The Rotary.

There are some others besides the above, but the six named are the chief

ones now in use and are generally available in most towns and stations where

there is a reputable arms and ammunition vendor.

Lethal Bullets —These are effective against all big game except against

such thick-skinned and heavy-boned animals as elephants, rhinos and buffaloes.

They have been also used with success against bison. I have had extensive

experience of this type of bullets, having used them since their first appearance

in the market, and I can unhesitatingly recommend them as one of the best,

if not the best of the patent bullets manufactured. I have bagged over fifty

animals with these bullets and though they included such tough beasts as

bears, sambar, etc., generally one shot has been sufficient, when well placed,

tc account for the biggest of them. The maximum range of these bullets

when fired from an ordinary 23” 12-bore case is about 100 yards, and about

120 to 130 yards when used with the 3” or 33” 12-bore case. They are

also available for 16 and 20-bore guns, and these smaller bores are also quite

effective up to about one hundred yards, though of course inferior in power

to the 12-bore. With the ordinary 12-bore gun (choke or cylinder) they are

as accurate as a first class express rifle up to some 80 yards and they are

ideal for snap-shots in the jungle where the shooting is generally done at very

close ranges. These bullets can be used with perfect safety from both choke

and cylinder barrels and possess considerable penetration besides readily ex-

panding on striking a bone or a mass of muscles, etc., such as the shoulder

of a tiger or a big bear. The lethal bullet has been extensively used by many

eminent sportsmen and it can be safely recommended to the novice.

Destructive Bullets—This is another spherical bullet specially made for use

in both choke and cylinder guns. I have not had much experience of these

bullets, but a friend of mine who has had considerable experience of these

found that though they were quite as accurate as any other patent bullet up to

some 100 yards, they were rather inclined to expand too much and so lessen

penetration. The bullet is suitable for use from both choke and _ cylinder

barrels and is quite suitable for use against soft skinned animals.

Destructor Bullets——These are similar to the above and suitable for use

with both choke and cylinder guns. I had occasion to try it last year when

I was in the Kamrup District and fired some twenty rounds in all including

four or five shots at a target. I found them quite accurate up to about

100 yards and bagged several deer and a small bear with them. They expanded

very well on striking an animal but left me with a doubt as to whether their

penetrative powers would be sufficient to deal with such animals as tigers, etc.,

as I got an impression from examining the animals shot by me that they might

not be able to go through the tough muscles, etc., of a tiger’s shoulder and so

fail to reach a vital part. This and the preceding type of bullets are only

available for 12-bore guns.

Contractile Bullets. This is another good bullet. From the way they are

made they expand readily and have considerable penetration, I shot a big wild

> OU 0 bo

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. . Pw aeas, aioad

boar, at a range of some 40 yards with ,one of these bullets. when I was in

the Cachar District, and the bullet which struck the animal on the right shoulder

broke both shoulders and caused a wound which would have brought down

any beast however big. This bullet also accounted for a large panther which

one of ‘my friends killed with one shot in the chest. The bullet, which had

expanded beautifully, was found near the root of the tail having raked the

animal right through. The contractile bullet can be safely fired from both

choke and cylinder barrels and it is one of the best patent bullets in the

market. Their. effective range is about the same as that of. the lethal’ bullet

and I think this is one of the bullets that can be safely recommended to the

young shikari as a suitable one for everyday use. At present they are available

in 12-bore only, but I believe the manufacturers contemplate turning them out

for use in 16 and 20-bore guns in the near future.

Rotax Bullets.—These bullets have only recently appeared in the market

but they are well spoken of by those who have used them. I have however

unfortunately no practical experience of them. Recently in some letters published

by Messrs. R. B. Rodda & Co. (the manufacturers of the Rotax bullets), in

their catalogue it was stated that tigers were shot with the Rotax bullets at

ranges well over 150 yards. I accordingly made a reference to the firm and

inquired whether they could recommend their Rotax bullets as likely to be

effective at ranges of 150 or over when fired from a 12-bore gun. The firm

in reply said that ordinarily the effective range of the Rotax bullet is about

100 yards when fired from a 23” 12-bore case and about 30 yards more when

fired from a 3” or 334” 12-bore case. Accordingly the stories of animals having

been bagged at such long ranges as 150 yards and over should be considered as

flukes and the effective range of the Rotax bullet is about the same as that

of any other patent bullet. The Rotax can be used with perfect safety from

both choke and cylinder barrels.

Rotary Bullets.—This bullet was very much in evidence at one time but their

popularity appears to be on the wane. I have had no experience of these

bullets myself, but a Gurkha officer (retired) who used these bullets exclusively

for some time for shooting big game, told me that they were quite satisfactory

ordinarily but that on one or two occasions he found that they struck the

target sidewise and did not travel end on as they should. He used them from

an American made single 12-bore gun fully choked and said that he found the

bullet quite accurate to about 100 yards or so and that they were very effective

against deer and wild pigs.

In conclusion it may be seen from the above that the effective maximum

range of all the patent bullets is about 100 yards or so when used with the

ordinary 12-bore 23” cartridge and some 25 to 30 yards more when used with

the 12-bore long range 3” and 32” cartridge cases and all stories about animals,

especially big beasts having been shot at ranges over a 100 yards with any of

the bullets mentioned above should be considered in the nature of flukes and

the young shikari would find it advantageous to do his shooting at ranges of

80 yards or less with whatever patent bullet he may select for use.

Upper SHILLONG,

ASSAM,

November 23, 1926.

[We publish the following comments by Col. R. W. G. Burton, on the use

of patent bullets from smooth bore guns, from which it will be seen that he

holds a different view from Mr. McCulloch’s as regards the efficacy of these

missiles. The subject is an interesting one and of real importance to the

novice just beginning his shooting career, and we would welcome the opinions

and experiences of other sportsmen.

Col. Burton writes :— ,

‘Mr. McCulloch of Shillong writes regarding statements in gunmakers

catalogues as to shooting powers of ordinary smooth bore guns with various

patent bullets. ;

‘I have not an extensive personal knowledge of the behaviour of such bullets

having always used a rifle and avoided bullets with a shot gun. I give however,

such experience as I have for what it is worth.

‘The “Lethal’’ bullet—a tiger shot at by a friend—distance 30 yards hit on

muscles of left shoulder: Some days later this tiger shot over a kill—the lethal

bullet found sticking in muscles of the shoulder like a plum in a pudding! a

mere flesh wound—no penetration,

E. L. McCULLOCH.

1042 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXI

‘A Sambhur shot by myself: an expanded lethal bullet was just under the

skin.

‘A tiger—killed from machan by my nephew this year—10 yards.

‘Il am afraid this is but little, but it is instructive. I am convinced from a

large experience of shooting with a rifle that the various patent bullets can

be of no use outside quite short ranges—say anything up to 25 or 30 yards,

not beyond that, and then only against lighter animals. Even at 30 yards

such heavy animals as tiger and sambhur, if hit on the massive muscles of the

shoulder—are likely to receive a small amount of damage.’ Eps. ]|

Printed by George Kenneth at the Diocesan Press, Madras, and published by

Sir Reginald Spence for the Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay.

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