HO [October, 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF BBAKMMA FROM JAPAN. 



BY ARTHUR G. BUTLER, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &C. 



Some years since, when I enumerated the species of Brahmcea 

 (P. Z. S., 1866, pp. 118—121), I could only muster four, as follows :— 



1. Brahmcea Certhia, Walk, {nee Fabr.), = B. conchifera, Butl. 



2. „ Whitei, Butl. 



3. „ Petiveri, Butl., = Certhia, Fabr. 



4. „ Lucina, Drury. 



Three more species have subsequently been added to the genus 

 by myself, one by Felder and one by Rogenhofer ; the B. Wallichii of 

 Gray has also been recognised as distinct from the species with which 

 it was formerly represented ; the genus now stands as follows : — 



Section I. 

 1. Brahmcea Lucina, Drury. Sierra Leone. 

 # 2. „ Swanzyi, Butler. Fantee and Old Calabar. 



Section II. 

 3. Brahmcea Certhia, Fabr. (= lunulata, Brem., = Petiveri, 

 Butl.). Chusan ; North China. 

 *4. „ Ledereri, Rogenhofer. Asia Minor. 



5. „ Mniszechii, Felder. Japan. 



Section III. 

 *6. Brahmcea japonica, Butler. Yokohama and Nikko. 

 7. „ nigrans, n. sp. 



Nearest to B. japonica, but differing in its slightly smaller size, narrower 

 secondaries and altogether blacker coloration ; the white bands on the body are 

 confined to the front of the head and collar ; the back of the collar and margins of 

 the tegulae are grey, the remainder of the thorax above is black, the abdomen blackish- 

 brown ; the ground-colour of the primaries does not show the pink tint of B. ja- 

 ponica, but is sordid white, all the wavy black lines are wider, those across the disc 

 being of a purplish-slate colour, the basi-costal area is broadly suffused with dark 

 greenish -black ; the central belt is very much constricted above the internal ocelloid 

 patch, is of a dull greenish-white colour, and the little pupillated black spots upon 

 it are more numerous, and, to a great extent, connected ; the submarginal spots are 

 more widely separated ; the secondaries have a much narrower basal area, less suf- 

 fused with blackish (not black) than in B. japonica, the belt which limits it 

 externally is much more abruptly angulated, of a sordid white colour, and traversed 

 by a simple greyish stripe ; the disc is of a pale greyish-brown tint, is wider than in 

 B. japonica, and the lines which traverse it are increased in number by one, and are 

 of a dull purplish-brown colour ; the submarginal wavy belt, is similar, but the 

 outer border is distinctly narrower, and of nearly uniform width throughout : on 

 the under-surface the prevailing colour is smoky-grey, the ground-colour showing no 



