( 204 ) 



J . Oniilhrijiliru ;«<//i|)tin, Doubl. Wcstw. & Hew., Gen. Dhirn. Lfp. I. p. 4. n. 9 (18-1()) (»m/< -ydon.) ; 



Hoi-sf. & Moore, Oit. Lfi>. /us. Slim. E. I. (J. I. p. 87. n. 177 (l'<:"i7) (»«/) Hi/nmi.) : Wall., 7V. 



Linn. Soc. Lotui. XXV. p. 39. n. 9 (180.0) (siii aynon.). 

 5 . Papilio j>onij>nts, Gray, Cut. Lep. Ins. li. .U. I. p. 5. u. 13 (1852) {niih syiioii.) : id., Lint Lip. Jm. 



B. .1/. I. p. 5. n. 15 (185S) {sub aynon.). 

 ?. Papilio mhios, Felder, Vcrli. z. b. Ges. Wim p. 291. d. 33. & p. 334. n. 22 (18G4) ("Sumatra" 



loc. erv.). 

 (J ? . Ornithoptem spec, Sealy, I'mc. Ent. Soc. Loncl. p. 9 (1875) (Malabar, Travancore, Cochin; metam.). 

 (?) cJ ? . OrnithopUm minos, Oberthttr, El. d'Eni. IV. p. 32. n. 14(1879) ("Hurma" Inr. err., rel 



spec. alt. ?). 

 (J J . Omithoj>t'iaj>i'inj)iiisva.T. minos, Wood-Mason, ./on™. .I.--. .Soc. Beni/. p. 8G(.l88l)(Trevandrum1: 



Fickert, Zool. .Juhrbiirh. p. 730. n. Ic (1889) ("Burma," "Sumatra," /("■. err.). 

 (J?. OntitJioplera minos, Stauding. & Schatz, Exot. Schmett. I. p. 5 (1884) (Malabar); Aitkeii, 



Joiim. Bomb. N. //. .Soc. p, 3.'). n. 73 (1887) (Bombay) ; Dm-idson .t Aitkeii, ibid. p. 3G1. n. 114 



(1890) (life liistory). 

 (J ?. Pajiilin (Ornitho/ilera) minos, Hampson, .fount. As. Soc. Beitf/. p. 3ii3. n. 193 (1888) (Nilgiris, 



3000 to70uOfeet) ; Ferguson, Jo«ra. Bomb. N. 11. Soc. p. 445. n. 167(18'.n) (Travancore ; fairly 



common, up to 4000 feet). 



Cramer's figure, which represents a, female with the vellow iibdoiiifii of ii nidlc, 

 fits exactly — exchisive of the wrong abdomen -to the only Troidea found in South 

 India. Many authors — misled by Fakriciics, who identified minos with his asknous, 

 and by tlie erroneous hahitat (''West .Sumatra") given bv Cramer — have treated this 

 insect either as synonymous with or as a variety of .T. heleiin (L.) [= ponipeut 

 (Cram.) = heiiacon (Fabr.) = astenous (Fabr.)], and I am astonished to see that 

 also Fickert (I.e.) did not perceive the close relationsliip of T. tninos (Cram.) to the 

 darsius-criton-haliphran group ou one side, and to T. anacus (Feld.) and rlw.da- 

 mantns (Lucas) on the other side. While in Ijoth sexes of T. hehna (1..), T. helena 

 cerberns (Feld.) and the other subspecies of helena, the black colour enters the cell 

 of the hindwings from the costal side of the base of the wing, it enters the cell fi-om 

 the abdominal side, or in a straight line from the base, in T. cr'doii, haliphron, etc. ; 

 in helen/i the black colour of the basal portion of the hindwings increases in the 

 direction from the costal margin to the anal angle ; in criton, dicmius, etc., especially 

 in the males, it increases in the direction from tlie aluloniinal margin to the anterior 

 angle, or from the base to the outer margin ; in the case of helena the cellule between 

 the co.-ital and subcostal veins is the first to become CTitirely tilled up with black, 

 whereas in the mules of the other group of .species the cellule between the submedian 

 nervure and the lower median vein is the first to assume the black colour, in this 

 respect T. minos 3 certainly agrees better with darsius and allies than with helena. 

 Tlie rather thin scaling of the middle of the disc of the forewings, and the black 

 powdering at the edge of the black marginal border of the hiudivings between tlie 

 median nervules which we find in many specimens, are characters which the mah of 

 T. minos (Cram.) has in common with the m/de of T. aeaciis (Feld.). That black 

 powdering is very peculiar; in certain specimens of aeacus it is rather extended, and 

 in one S])ecimen of the Pliilippiue r/tarfrtmaviios (Lucas), which is the nearest ally 

 of aeucus, the median cellules are all overiiowdered with black, thus reminding one 

 of T. rhadamantii^ plateni (Standing.) from Palawan. The female of minoa agrees 

 with aeaciiS in the white border of the cell of the forewings and in tin- position of the 

 black discal spots of the hindwings. 



The hindwings of minos <S and J are as hairy in the ba.sal and abdominal region 

 as in darsiua. The subcostal nervure, from the base to the origin of the subcostal 

 nervule, is as long as in darsiua and allies, i.e. longer than in helena (L.), especially 

 in the male. 



