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Show 398 MR. H. J. ELWES ON BUTTERFLIES FROM STKKIM. [May 2 margin a fine yellow streak as well ; close to it, at the base, yellow spot is found. , . Head black ; palpi laterally white ; forehead with two white streaks ; top of the head with four white points; antennae in the female brownish ; prothorax above with two yellow points ; abdomen below and on the sides spotted yellow. EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXIV. Fig. 1. Papilio hahneli, p. 396. 2. Heliconius venus, p. 396. Fig. 3. Heliconius godmani, p. 397. 3. On a Collection of Butterflies from Sikkim. By H. J. ELWES. [Received April 24, 1882.] (Plate XXV.) When at Darjeeling in 1881 with Mr. Godman, I made arrangements with a native plant-collector, a Sikkim Bhotea, who had accompanied me on two expeditions into the interior, to visit the Chumbi valley, on the Tibetan frontier of Sikkim, to collect seeds and insects. This he did during the months of August and September last; and through the kind assistance of m y friend Mr. Gammie I have received a considerable number of Butterflies in papers in tolerable condition. Though I cannot be certain of the exact localities in which they were taken, I have little doubt, from my knowledge of the country and the plants which came with them, that a considerable portion of them were taken on the Tibetan side of the frontier, which has never been visited by any European, on account of the jealousy of the Tibetan officials. On two occasions I have looked down into this valley from passes 15,000-16,000 feet high on the Chola range, which hounds Sikkim on the north-east; and, judging from what I saw and from the information we have obtained through native sources, it is a valley of somewhat different climate and vegetation from the Sikkim valley, though the Machu river, which drains it, flows southwards through Bhotan to the Bay of Bengal. It is said to be much drier in summer and colder in winter than Sikkim valleys of similar elevation ; and as a number of the plants and butterflies I received are not known to occur on our side of the passes, I have no doubt that the collectors passed some part, at any rate, of their time in this valley. With the collection came a number of other species which occur at lcwer elevations in Sikkim, and which were probably taken on the journey up. This part of the expedition is often made to last as long as possible by these native collectors, who infinitely prefer to spend their advance-pay in feasting at some of the villages on their road to hard work in a cold climate on short commons. The most interesting species in the collection are Palaearctic forms |