[exim] smtp_accept_max_per_host vs "connection count" in log…

I have this:

> exim -bP |grep max_per_host
smtp_accept_max_per_host =
${lookup{$sender_host_address}iplsearch{/etc/exim/connlimits}}

> exim -be '${lookup{1.2.3.4}iplsearch{/etc/exim/connlimits}}'
25
(The connlimits file has only a few lines, with exceptions for certain IPs
and a catchall 0.0.0.0/0 with value 25)

Yet I'm seeing lot of these in the logs:

2019-07-17 02:11:47.020 [1338] SMTP connection from [13.111.61.205]:50721
I=[my.ip.address.here]:25 (TCP/IP connection count = 142)

I'm confused why clients like this can have more than 25 connections.