ped with black.

Of the well-known green species of papilio, with longish tails and
blue or green spots on the hindwing, there are four species, of which
one is European. Some have semi-transparent wings of a lace-like
pattern, with long slender tails to the hind-wings, and are of a very
elegant shape.

A most gorgeously-coloured butterfly is the _Thaumantis diores,_
black with large spots (which cover a great part of both fore and
hind wings) of a brilliant metallic, changeable blue. It measures 4
3/4 inches across the outspread wings. It avoids the direct sunlight
and dodges about among the scrub growing under the deep shade of
tall trees in the hottest and moistest valleys.

One of the most lovely butterflies in the world is the
_Stichophthalma camadeva,_ which is one of the largest of the
Sikkim butterflies, being from 5 to 6 1/2 inches in expanse. It is
more soberly coloured on the upper side than the last-named, being
chiefly white and brown, but the underside is more beautiful, having
a row of five red ocelli with black irides on each wing and other
pretty markings.

The lyccenides, or "blues," are represented by no less than 154
species, several of them of surpassing beauty. Many are marked
with changeable metallic hues on the upper side of the fore-wing:
some violet, some with green, and some with golden bronze. The
most lovely of all is the _Ilerea brahma,_ of which the colouring of
the upper side of the male is unique.

Then there is the curious leaf-butterfly, which has a marvellous
resemblance to a dead leaf with its wings folded over the back and
showing the underside only, the leaf-stalk veins being excellently
mimicked. But when flying about its upper side, which is a deep
violet-blue with a conspicuous yellowish bar across the fore-wing, is
exposed, and the butterfly is then most beautiful. I have seen many
of these lovely butterflies flying about in the Teesta Valley,
glistening in the dappled light of the forest, and then settle on a
branch; and unless I had actually seen them alight, I should never
have known them from leaves.

* * *

The moths, though naturally not as beautiful as the butterflies, are
far more numerous, there being something like two thousand species.
Several of them are the largest of the insect race. And one of them,
the famous atlas moth, is sometimes nearly a foot across. Next in
size come several species of the genus _Actias,_ of which _selene_
is the most common. It