LEPIDOPTERA. _Butterflies_.--Butterflies in the interior of the island are comparatively rare, and, contrary to the ordinary belief, they are seldom to be seen in the sunshine, They frequent the neighbourhood of the jungle, and especially the vicinity of the rivers and waterfalls, living mainly in the shade of the moist foliage, and returning to it in haste after the shortest flights, as if their slender bodies were speedily dried up and exhausted by the exposure to the intense heat. Among the largest and most gaudy of the Ceylon Lepidoptera is the great black and yellow butterfly (_Ornithoptera darsius_, Gray); the upper wings, of which measure six inches across, are of deep velvet black, the lower, ornamented by large particles of satiny yellow, through which the sunlight passes, and few insects can compare with it in beauty, as it hovers over the flowers of the heliotrope, which furnish the favourite food of the perfect fly, although the caterpillar feeds on the aristolochia and the _betel leaf_ and suspends its chrysalis from its drooping tendrils. Next in size as to expanse of wing, though often exceeding it in breadth, is the black and blue _Papilio Polymnestor_, which darts rapidly through the air, alighting on the ruddy flowers of the hibiscus, or the dark green foliage of the citrus, on which it deposits its eggs. The larvæ of this species are green with white bands, and have a hump on the fourth or fifth segment. From this hump the caterpillar, on being irritated, protrudes a singular horn of an orange colour, bifurcate at the extremity, and covered with a pungent mucilaginous secretion. This is evidently intended as a weapon of defence against the attack of the ichneumon flies, that deposit their eggs in its soft body, for when the grub is pricked, either by the ovipositor of the ichneumon, or by any other sharp instrument, the horn is at once protruded, and struck upon the offending object with unerring aim. Amongst the more common of the larger butterflies is the _P. Hector_, with gorgeous crimson spots set in the black velvet of the inferior wings; these, when fresh, are shot with a purple blush, equalling in splendour the azure of the European "_Emperor_." Another butterfly, but belonging to a widely different group, is the "sylph" (_Hestia Jasonia_), called by the Europeans by the various names of _Floater, Spectre,_ and _Silver-paper-fly_, as indicative of its graceful flight. It is found only in the deep shade of the damp forest, frequenting the vicinity of pools of water and cascades, about which it sails heedless of the spray, the moisture of which may even be beneficial in preserving the elasticity of its thin and delicate wings, that bend and undulate in the act of flight.