| OCR Text |
Show 404 MR. A. G. BUTLER ON [May 4, and parallel to the bank : in these were a few living plants more or less green. In these nullahs I found no. 26 Butterfly, also nos. 8 and 23, where the food-plants of the larvae were common. Not a single shower of rain fell from the beginning of April till the 20th December. The lucerne is grown in the young plantations of fruit-trees, and is watered from small canals which traverse the whole cultivated portion of the country." In a letter (dated 15th January) he adds : - " It is not curious that I have got so few specimens, the reason being that my hunting-grounds were extremely limited. There is every reason to believe we shall go towards Ghuznee this summer, and probably start about the end of February or beginning of March ; and I expect that will be a far better part of the country than this, there being no forest or even scrub jungle of any kind here, the only trees being fruit-trees, with a very few exceptions. The war appears only just to be commencing ; so I cannot form an idea when I shall get out of the country : the worst of it is, it is not safe to go even a few yards from quarters without being well armed, and to go any distance at all, even a few miles, is very unsafe without an escort; so that there is not much pleasure in being in a country like this." " I collected very few eggs here-only those of the common and Red-backed Shrike, a small Dove which built its nest on the rocks, a crested Lark (extremely abundant), a ' chikor' (a red-legged Hill-partridge), and one or two others ; I am afraid I shall have even a worse opportunity this year of finding any. I can do nothing where I am at present: I gave up collecting Butterflies last year earlier than I should have wished to, owing to cholera breaking out here rather severely, as the sick were put in the places I was in the habit of frequenting. I visited the hills close by ; but after 1st of July they were so dried up that only a few common butterflies were to be found ; moths I caught very few of, owing to being unable to go outside the walls after dusk, and there being no flowers of any kind near to attract them." " I don't think I ever mentioned to you that there was a silkworm common at Jutogh on mulberry. It was very like the common silkworm so well known in England (B. mori) ; but (I am sorry to say I made no description of it at the time) it was light brown, and had a good many long fleshy projections over the body (some perhaps a quarter of an inch long). The silk was very like that of the common one, a beautiful golden colour, and quite as good, if not better. There was no difficulty whatever in winding off the silk; and it was extremely strong. In 1876 it was common and double-brooded ; but in 18781 only observed one brood. In 1877 I was in Cashmir, where, in a mulberry orchard, I found one crawling up m y tent." In a subsequent letter Major Roberts forwarded careful sketches of the larvae of some of the species obtained by him, of which he had already forwarded descriptions, together with notes on habits, date oi capture, and, so far as he could ascertain, the distribution of the insects obtained by him, all which information I have incorporated in the present paper. |
