74 RHOPALOCEEA MALAYAN A. 



case the male character depends upon the colour blue for its brilliancy, the remarkable affinity 

 of these female forms of Morpho and Zmzidia are most suggestive. If we allowed ourselves to 

 generalise, it would seem that in Morpho and Tropical America the brilliant blue character of 

 the male has reached its maximum, and has there descended in the majority of instances 

 to the female as a secondary sexual character, whilst in Zeuzidia the females still retain their 

 primitive coloration. 



Mr. Wallace, however, rejects the theory of sexual selection, and substitutes several 

 propositions to account for varying sexual phenomena. One of the principal of these is the "need 

 of protection, repressing in the female those bright colours which are normally produced in both 

 sexes by general laws." * The observation of the habits of both sexes of Zeuzidia would greatly 

 assist this theory. Mr. Wallace has also proposed " Colour as a means of Kecognition" for 

 butterflies, "in which the females of closely-alhed species in the same locality sometimes 

 differ considerably, while the males are much alike."! This, however, would not apply to 

 Z. amellnisttis, as it possesses a close ally in the female of Z. douhlcdai/i. I 



Genus DISCOPHOEA. 



DUnophora, Boisduval, Sp. Gen. i. t. 12, f. 3 (183G); Westw. Gen. Diuru. Lep. p. 329 (1851); Moore, Lep. 

 Ceyl. i. p. 35 (1881). 



Anterior wings subtriangular, -with the costal margin very much arched and the apex acute ; the inner 

 margin nearly straight. First subcostal nervule emitted a little before the end of cell, anastomosing with 

 costal nervure for some little distance, and then apparently refiexed to costa ; the second pursuing a like 

 com-se a little before apex of costal nervure ; remaining nervules emitted beyond costal nervure and near 

 apex. Discoidal nervules with their bases contiguous. First median nervule slightly arched, but not 

 angulated beyond apex of cell. Posterior wings subtriangular ; disk of costal margin nearly straight ; outer 

 margin of wings, especially in the female, more or less prominently and obtusely angulated at apex of first 

 median nervule. Discoidal cell quite unclosed at apex. 



The males possess a silky oval patch of raised scales on the upper surface of the posterior wings at the 

 bases of the median nervules. 



This genus comprises some eight or nine species, spread over an area which in the main 

 corresponds with that of the two preceding genera. Discophora is found in Continental India, 

 Ceylon, Andaman Islands, Burma, Tenasserim, the Malay Peninsula, and onwards throughout 

 a large portion of the Malayan Archipelago. 



Two species are at present included in this fauna. 



1. Discophora tullia. (Tab. VII., fig. 8 J , 9 2 .) 



I'apiUo Tullia, Cramer, Pap. Ex. i. t. 81, A, B (1779) ; Fabr. Sp. Ins. p. 7G, u. 337 (1781) ; Maut. Ins. p. 38, 



n. 394 (1787); Ent. Syst. iii. p. 98, n. 305 (1793). 

 Morpho Tullia, Godt. Enc. Meth. ix. p. 44G, n. 19 (1823). 

 Discoplioni tullia, Westw. Gen. Dmrn. Lep. p. 331, n. 1 (1851); Horsf. & Moore, Cat. Lep. Mns. E. I. C. i. 



p. 211, n. 431 (1857) ; Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, p. 707 ; ibid. 1878, p. 826 ; Butl. Cat. Fabr. Lep. 



p. 46, n. 1 (1809) ; Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, Zool. vol. i. p. 538, u. 2 (1877) ; Druce, Proc. Zool. Soc. 



1873, p. 341, u. 1. 



* 'Tropical Kature,' p. 193. | Ibid. ji. I'JG. 



J The subject has also been treated by Fritz Miiller ('Kosmos,' 1879, p. 285 et seq.), with refereuce to an Araerican 

 butterfly, but his views do not apply to our present cUsoussion. 



