T R ANSACTIONS 



OF 



THE ZOO L OGICAL S O C I E T Y 

 OF LONDON. 



I. A Revision of the Amblypodia Group of Butterflies of the Family Lycsenidce. 

 By Geoege T. Bethune-Baker, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



Received October 22, 1901; read March 4, 1902. 



[Plates I.-V.] 



1 HE large division of the Lyccenidm usually known as the Amblypodia group has 

 been in a more or less unsatisfactory state for many years. Hewitson -was the first to 

 make any really important contribution to our knowledge of the species; but his 

 descriptions are so meagre that without his types combined with his figures (the latter 

 are not quite satisfactory without the former) they would be useless. About the same 

 time the brothers Felder, in their valuable work the ' Reise der cisterreichischen 

 Fregatte Novara,' added more species to the group and adopted the generic name 

 Arhopala given by Boisduval for the largest section thereof, recognizing that they 

 were structurally different from the genus Amblypodia. This name, however, not 

 having been diagnosed, was practically ignored until de Mceville again adopted it in 

 his ' Butterflies of India,' since then it has been coming more generally into use. 



I divide the group into six genera, viz. : Surendra, Iraota, Amblypodia, Mahathala, 

 Thaduka, and Arhopala, the last of which alone contains over 200 species and 

 varieties without considering many synonyms. Mr. Moore has tried to split up these 

 into several subgenera ; but I cannot see the use of adopting them, for reasons given 

 below. When even a large number of species like this falls naturally into one 



vol. xvn. — part i. No. 1. — August, 1903. b 



