BY G. A. WATERHOUSE. . 167 



Upper side velvety black with variable centrobasal area 

 metallic blue or green, occupying sometimes basal I, sometimes ^ 

 area of wings; orange spots on hind wing, two to four, sometimes 

 coalescing. Cilia brown. 



Underside as in ^, with the central area of forewing 

 broadly suffused with yellow in which the three black spots are 

 very conspicuous. 



Var. duai'ingcf, var.nov. (^.14 mm. 



This specimen is much smaller than average males of J/, delicia 

 from Victoria, and New South Wales, and differs in having the 

 metallic areas ^j>«/e blue, occupying f of both wings, leaving only 

 a grey costa at base, and a broad black outer margin to the fore- 

 wing; and narrower black costal and outer margins and two 

 orange anal spots to hind wing. 



Underside with spots and bands orange-red rather than 

 red, discal bands more prominent than in southern forms, metallic 

 borders blue rather than green, only two black spots on fore- 

 wing. 



The type of this remarkable variety, from Duaringa, Q., is in 

 the collection of Mr. G. Lyell. 



This beautiful species is somewhat allied to M. iyiiita, but is 

 much larger and is the only Australian species with metallic 

 scales on the upperside. Northern specimens are usually much 

 larger and tiner than southern. The species shows a certain 

 amount of variation, especially with regard to the metallic scales 

 of the upperside. Grose Smith k Kirby describe a species, //. 

 regiiia,"^ from the Moluccas allied to, if not identical with, this. 

 They state their specimen to be a male, but from the shape of the 

 figure I should certainly say it was a female; in fact I have an 

 almost identical female of M. delicia from New South Wales. 



Loc. — Victoria, New South Wales, Brisbane (^J 25, ^ 12). 

 * Rhop. Exot, pt. 32, 1S95. 



