OCR Text |
Show 250 MR. H. J. ELWES ON BUTTERFLIES FROM [Apr. 21, Tezpur upwards. The rain still continues, the country is flooded, and the nights are so cold that few Moths are flying. Everyone says that in June the second brood of Butterflies comes out in full force in spite of the rains, but then hill expeditions (and Margharita is quite among the hills) are out of the question. I cannot stay here till then, as the road to Kohima, in the Naga Hills, will be closed, except for coolies, by June 1st, and I have better hopes of success there. Nevertheless I am getting a few new and good things, such as Apatura ulupi, Pithecops fulgens, Calliana pieridoides, and Limenitis austenia § , Papilio elephenor and P. telearchus." The rainy season of 1889 was spent by Mr. Doherty iu the Naga Hills, which had previously been almost unexplored by entomologists, though a considerable number of Butterflies were collected on their lower slopes by Messrs. Peal and Sherwill and a small collection was made by Dr. Watt on his march from Manipur through the Naga Hills to Assam in 1883 or 1884, and described by Mr. Butler in the 'Annals & Mag. of Nat. Hist.' for 1885. After leaving Margharita, where the rain continued till the end of May, Mr. Doherty went up to the Naga Hiils, marching vid Dinapur. He writes of the route from Nichugard, Naga Hills, on June 10th, as follows:- "The Dhansiri valley is a perfectly flat jungly country 300-500 feet above the sea and wholly uninhabited. We moved on very slowly. I hired coolies to push the carts through the mud, and they as well as m y men and myself were at work all day long on them ; but all the same we made less than a mile an hour, the distance being 83 miles. It is still 36 to Kohima." Mr. C. B. Clarke has described this road, which is the only approach to the Naga Hills from Assam at present, as being in the rainy season a sea of mud, lined with the carcasses of cart-bullocks which have succumbed on the journey, and almost impassable. " Whenever the rain stopped we caught Butterflies and Cicin-delidse. There are no jungle species, the road being bordered by 40 feet of high grass. Still there are a few good Butterflies, Papilio elephenor and P. sakontala [The last I did not receive.-H. J. E.], and Libythea rohini (L. narina, Godt.), but only a few very common Lycaenidse, Pieridse, and Hesperidse. I am now at Nichugard, at the mouth of the gorge of the Dhansiri river, and am glad to have a quiet day after so much rough work. It is a great disappointment to find that there are now no Moths here. As to Butterflies, I have not yet found out whether there are any; but if there are collecting will be delightful, as the country is divine, the jungle-paths excellent, and we have several hours of sunshine every day, though it rains every morning till ten. It will give you some idea of the cost of travelling here when I say that I am obliged to pay 4 rupees a maund (say 8 per cwt.) for getting my luggage carried from here to Kohima, 36 miles. Yet at Kohima I am only at the beginning of my expedition, and I have 16 maunds of luggage besides provisions." The physical features and peculiarities of the Naga Hills have |