THE COMM (jy n VT TKliFLI KS OF THE PLAIX.S OF IMJlA . (i53 



l)e Niceville states tliat Kveres anjiades occurs in the inoister 

 portions of Ladak in India, thro\ighout Kashmir, all alonj^- the 

 Himalayas, c'te. He continues •' 1 am siirprised to find that it does 

 not occur on the Western (Hiats."' In this he is wrong, for it does, 

 as it has been taken in Kanara District of the ]5oml)ay J'residency; 

 hut it is very uncommon there. 



11. (jlouus — Xacaduba. 



This group contains a uumber of species which are all some shade of blue, 

 violet or pliimbeons-purplo <»n the iipperside in the males ; the female has 

 the npperside black with the base marked with iridescent blue or 

 purple scales, sometimes largely pearl-white on the disc and base beneath 

 the scales. The undersides are greyish or ochraceous-brown crossed by 

 whitish lines in pairs or chain-like bands. The genus is chiefly Indian but 

 two species extend to Australia. Fourteen occur in India limits, only two 

 of which are mentioned here although there are several others which really 

 occur in the hill-stations of the Western Ghats, but these cannot be called 

 common: viola, pi umbeomican-<<, dana and macrojMhaima. The larvse and 

 pupie of three species are known, the two described below and plumheo- 

 micans ; the larvte are attended by ants. All are insects of moderately 

 strong flight but never stay long on the wing ; they go to flowers, but not 

 very much ; they are, however, often found sucking up moisture from the 

 ground in the hot weather and some are especially found of fresh cattle- 

 <lroppings : dana for example. All are species of scrub-jungle or real 

 forest and only ardates is commonly found in the Plains. The peculiarity of 

 the genus consists in that it contains both tailed and tailless species ( dana 

 from Kumaon to Sikkim ; Bhutan ; Bengal ; Southern India ; Nilgiris ; 

 Western Ghats in Bombay ; Cochin ; Chittagong ; Burma ; Tenasserim ; 

 and hampsoni from Mussoori and the Nilgiris), as well as one species 

 {ardates from Peninsular India, avoiding the desert tracts, to Travancore ; 

 Cevlon ; Assam ; Burma ; Tenasserim ; Andamans and Nicobars ; extend- 

 ing across the Malayan Sub-region to the Philippine Island) which is some- 

 times tailed, sometimes tailless. The transformations of N. atrata and N. 

 ardates are given below. Those oi plnmbeomicans are given in addition. 



148. Nacaduba ardates, Moore. Male, — Uppevside : purplish-brown or pur- 

 plish with a dark tint, some specimens brown with a very slight purplish 

 sheen seen only in certain lights. Fore and hind wings : nearly uniform, 

 both with slender black anticiliary lines, the hind wing in addition with the 

 costal and dorsal margins paler : in most specimens with a subterminal 

 black spot in interspace '2, sometimes seen only by transparency from 

 underside ; tail black tipped with white. Underside : brown, hoary, 

 brownish or pale dull brown. Fore wing : a subbasal pair of transverse 

 white strigte, a shorter pair along the discocellulars and a discal pair ; these 

 strigie all uarr<jwly edged on the inner sides of each pair with fuscous which 

 gives the appearance of transverse bands somewhat darker than the ground- 

 colour ; the subbasal pair extend from vein 1 to vein 1?, beyond the disco- 

 cellular pair from upper to lower apex of cell and the discal pair are very 

 irregular and dislocated at each vein, the whole having the appearance of 

 a dark sinuous band ; terminal markings often very faint and ill-defined or 

 again fairly prominent and consisting of a double, subterminal series of 

 transversely linear, sometimes, lunular, dark spots, with edgings paler than 

 the ground-colour ; lastly, an anticiliary dark line. Hind wing : with trans- 

 verse pairs of white, inwardly fuscous-edged strigic similar to those on the 

 fore wing, but even more irregular and broken ; the subbasal pair extend 

 from costa to vein 1, below which the dorsal area is whitish; the discocellular 



