( 420 ) 



Pathym aiiticrates, Swinhoe, Tr. Eiil. Soc. Loud. p. 313. n. 393 (1893) (Kliasia Hills: great 



numbers). 

 Papiliu (P<illii/m) fiiilicrateK,'Sic(ville, Gazetteer of Sikkim p. 174. n. 495 (1894) (Sikkim ; siiiglc- 



brooded ; at Sivoke in April and May very common). 



In my series of seventeen specimens from Sikkim tlie median black band on the 

 upperside of the hindwings varies from being almost complete to being almost 

 entirely absent. The Sikkim specimens are not subsijccifically distinguishalile from 

 the Assam examples. The before-mentioned band is complete, as in the next sub- 

 species, in a specimen from the Garo Hills (.Vssam). The two white bands inside 

 and outside the discocellular uervules on the forewings are sometimes connected 

 with one another at the costal margin. In an Assam specimen the fifth black band 

 on the forewings (the fourth, if counted from the apex of the wing) is very much 

 abbreviated and extends from the costal margin scarcely half-way to the median 

 nervure. The posterior and anterior red spots of the median row on the underside 

 of the hindwings are sometimes feebly marked on the upperside. 



Hah. Assam (11 S); Sikkim (15 <?,2 ?). 



(rf): P. aristeus hermocrates I""eld. [c?,?]. 



Pa2>ilio hermocrfdes Felder, Verh. z. h. Gcs. ^yirll p. :^02. n. 11)4 (1864) {mm. mill.) : id., Peine Xor., 

 Lep. I. p. 1)7. n. 44. t. 12. f. E {S) (186;.) (Luzon) : Oberth., El. iTKnt. IV. p. 63. n. 1.56 (1879) 

 (Mindanao) : Standing., Iris I. p. 14 (1888) (Palawan) ; id.. I.e. II. p. 14 (1889) (Palawan : 

 ? nntie.) ; Eimer, Arthild. Schmell. p. 161. t. 3. f. 2 (1889) ; Oberth., Et. d'Etil. XWl. p. 4 

 (1893) (Tonkin). 



Papilio anticrates, Distant, Rhop. Mrd. p. 470. n. 32. t. 42. f. 7 (1886) (Perak) ; Hagen, Iris VII. 

 p. 27. n. 30 (1H94) (Gajo country. Sumatra). 



Popilio (Piilliyai) hermocrates^ Elwes & Nicev., Juurn. As. Sue. Buiij. p. 437. n. 146 (1886) (Tavoy 

 & Siam) ; Semper, Philipp., TaafuU. p. 283. n. 413 (1892) (Luzon : Cebu : Jlindanao). 



In the amount of black on the uppers^ide of the \vings this form comes nearest 

 to P. aristeus Cram. The lilack band situated upon the discocellular nervules of 

 the forewings is posteriorly mostly joined to the submarginal black band, thus 

 separating the short white streak outside tlie end of the cell from the postcellular 

 white area. The median hand on the upperside of the hindwings is always present. 

 The breadth of the black bands is very variaUe. 



Prof. Eimer (I.e.) distinguishes four forms (which, in my opinion, all belong to 

 hermocrates): P. hermocrates Feld., P. aristeoides Eimer, P. aristeus ynv.nie/ricans 

 Eimer, and P. anticrates var. nigncans Eimer. 



P. Jtermocrates is described by Felder from a specimen with rather much white 

 on the wings ; in Elmer's aristeoides the white colour is more reduced, in his 

 P. miticrates var. nigricans even more so, and in what he calls aristeus var. 

 nigricans the black colour is so prevalent that the basal white baud on the under- 

 side of the hindwings has disappeared. P. aristeoides Eimer is not a species, as 

 there are all intergraduate specimens between it and ty|)ical P. hermocrates, and 

 it is not a local form, as it occurs all over the whole of the area occupied by 

 P. hermocrates. P. anticrates var. nigricans must be referred to P. hermocrates, 

 not to anticrates, as its characters (the habitat is unknown) agree with the fir.sl. 

 P. aristeus var. nigricans has, according to lunicr, the inuU'rside of the wings gulden 

 brown, not black, and therefore cannot be a variety of P. aristeus proper, but must 

 also belong to hermocrates. So we have four names for P. aristeus hermocrates, 

 of which two are identical (nigricans); as the most aberrant nigricans is the first 

 described, it is not necessary to rename the secor.d nigricans. 



