WINGED BEAUTIES

Winged beauties

Of around 1,400 species of butterflies in the Indian subcontinent, almost half are to be found in Sikkim. And they make a pretty sight, says Subrata Chowdhury


IMAGINE a world without butterflies. It would be much like looking upon feminine beauty marred by the lack of eyebrows. Indeed, these winged harbingers of beauty are choosy about their habitat and can be found among flowering bushes and in and around aromatic orchards, but never in deserts.
There are around 1,400 species of butterflies in the Indian subcontinent and almost half of these are to be found in Sikkim. The state's 700-odd species are classified into various types according to shape and colour and most are found at a height of between 600-6,000 feet above sea level in the high stretches of mountainous terrain — but never above this limit because temperature and snowfall are unfavourable for this delicate diurnal insect. The wonders of nature are manifest in butterflies because they paint a pretty picture after starting out as not-so-agreeable looking caterpillars.
Joseph Dalton Hooker, an Englishman, first brought the Sikkimese butterflies to light in an article published in the Himalayan Journal in 1855, wherein he wrote, "Leaving the forest, the path led along the river (Rangeet) bank, and over the great masses of rock which strewed its course. The beautiful India rubber Fig was common, as was Bassia butyracea the 'Yelpote' o f the Lepchas, from the seeds they express a concrete oil, which is received and hardens in bamboo vessels. On the forest skirts, parasitical orchids and ferns bounded, the Chaulmoogra, whose fruit is used to intoxicate fish, was very common; as was an immense mulberry tree, that yields a milky juice and produces a long green sweet fruit. Large fish, chiefly Cyprinoid, were abundant in the beautifully clear water of the river. But by far the most striking feature consisted in the amazing quantity of superb butterflies, large tropical swallowtails, black, with scarlet or yellow eyes on their wings. They were seen everywhere, sailing majestically through the still hot air, or fluttering from one scorching rock to another, and especially loving to settle on the damp sand of the river edge; where they sat by the thousands, with erect wings, balancing themselves with a rocking motion, as their heavy sails inclined them to one side or the other; resembling a crowded fleet of yachts on a calm day. Such an entomological display cannot be surpassed."
He mentioned finding "Swallowtail butterflies", "Sphinx", "Painted Lady", "Sulphurs", "Marbles", "Whites", "Blues" and "Thecla" butterflies, which were common to their cousins found in the British Isles, save and except for a very rare species of "Black Swallowtail". This, he wrote, was a wonderful sight to see as it danced in the air and waltzed from flower to flower in eternal delight.
In 1880, HJ Elwes wrote an exhaustive article on Sikkimese butterflies that came out in The Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London in the same year. In 1888, he wrote another piece jointly with Otto Moller on Sikkimese butterflies which was published in The Transactions of the Entomological Society of London. 
More or less during the same period, ND Niceville of the natural history section of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, was simply fascinated by these beauties of Sikkim. He undertook several trips to this wondrous stretch of alpine heights to study these enchanting species over and over again. The accounts of his probe appeared in a series of absorbing write-ups in the Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal over half a decade that followed.
In the Gazetteer of Sikkim, released around 1890, DA Gammie and Niceville together described in detail the discerning features of as many as 631 species of butterflies they had scrutinised in the Sikkim hills. They mentioned having found the same species in neighbouring Darjeeling and Bhutan as well, obviously because of the contiguity in topography and likeness in vegetation. Many renowned naturalists have taken a deep interest in Sikkimese butterflies and penned interesting articles since then, with the ones by DF Sanders, printed in the Journal of Bombay Natural History Society in 1947 deserving special mention. Major museums around the world have collections of Sikkimese butterflies, but the biggest collection can be seen in the Natural History Museum, London, besides Indian museums.
So the next time you visit Sikkim, keep an eye out for the live show these beauties stage. It's so much better than stepping into a museum.(THE STATESMAN)