THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. 755 



185. Rathinda amor. Male. Upperside : brownish-black with a violet tint. 

 Fore wing : with a white spot, often with ochreous scales upon it and 

 more or less trapeze-shaped, placed obliquely just beyond the cell in 

 interspaces 4, o, with two more, smaller, generally slightly blurred and in a 

 curve downwards and outwards, in interspaces 2, 3 ; a slight fringe of 

 sparse, glistening, brownish hairs along the inner margin ; a fine, auteci- 

 liary, black line ; the cilia light, glistening brown, pure white under the 

 apex and just before the tornal angle. Hind wing : with the abdominal 

 fold light brown as well as the costa very narrowly ; a band of red-orange, 

 subterminal, in interspaces 1 to 5 thinning upwards, sometimes wanting 

 in the higher interspaces, sometimes continuous, sometimes consisting 

 of separate lunules capping terminal brown spots or even, in tbe first 

 three interspaces, black, terminal spots ; these spots whether brown or 

 black bordered by pure white, fine lines exteriorly in interspaces 1 to 3 ; 

 a fine, anteciliary, brown line ; the cilia pure white outside the spots, grey 

 in the middle of the outer margin, brown towards the apex ; a thread-like 

 tail, the middle one 3'5 mm. in length, at the ends of each of the veins 

 1, 2, 3, the outer half as long as the middle one, the innermost shortest ; 

 all brown, tipped with pure white. Underside : white, the markings brown, 

 both wings often sufl'used with golden ochraceous. Fore wing : the apical 

 third brown, the inner edge an even, outwardly convex curve from the 

 middle of the costa to about a quarter of the length of the inner margin 

 from the tornal angle ; this area in some specimens completely suffused with 

 golden-ochraceous and always with a subterminal black, straight line, 

 interrupted at the veins, bordered inside by a fine, white line of equal 

 breadth ; the area beyond nearly always sufl'used with golden-ochraceous 

 forming the terminal outer border, limited by a fine, dark-brown, anteci- 

 liary line ; the cilia light brown. The inner border of the white is often 

 irregular, sometimes nearly straight, diverging from the outer border to 

 vein 1 or beyond and with a twice-waved, thin line of brown near the 

 outer edge of it in interspace 1 ; inside the pure white, discal band thus 

 formed there is a large, brown patch between vein 1 and 4, more or less 

 quadrate in shape, sometimes invading interspace 1 below somewhat, not 

 extending further in than the base of vein 2 with two brown spots above 

 it in interspaces 4, 5 which border the discocellular nervures ; these 

 nervules bordered on the inside by a more or less triangular brown spot 

 often connected with the large brown patch below ; in the cell are two 

 brown spots one under the other beyond the middle and, below them in 

 interspace 1, touching the median nervure, is a quadrate or transversely 

 elongate, subbasal spot ; a basal, brown line along the underside of vein 1 2 

 and another line, parallel to it and twice waved, extends from vein 1 near the 

 base of the wing to the subcostal nervure in the middle of the cell. The 

 whole wing at the base from the median nervure upwards to the costa as 

 far as the discal, white band may be sufl'used with golden ochraceous and 

 the brown spots on the white groiind-colour are then often bordered by 

 ochraceous. Hind wing : proceeding inwards from the outer margin the 

 markings are as follows : — cilia pure white with an anteciliary, very fine, 

 brown line ; a terminal moderately broad, golden-ochraceous band bordered 

 inwardly by a fine, jet black line from costa to vein 1 : a submarginal. 

 light bluish-silver, complete, rather fine line turning up at the anal end 

 to the anal angle and touching the terminal, ochraceous band in the 

 middle of the outer margin, the space between it and the outer margin 

 is white, often with ochraceous scales on it here and there, in interspaces 

 16, 1 and 2 often with a black spot overlying the white, the central one 

 always the largest, sometimes obsolecent, but, if present, bordered on the 

 outside also by silver ; this submarginal band bordered inside by a fine. 



