RHOPALOCERA MA LA VAN A. 1B3 



Genus EUKIPUS. 

 Hiiripuf:, Westwood, Geu. Diurn. Lep. p. '293 (1850). 



Anterior wings in the male subtriangular, tlie eostal margin moderately arelied and eonvex, the 

 apical angle rounded, the outer margin sinuated and concave near centre, and generally slightly gil)l)ous 

 near apex of third median nervule, inner margin nearly straight ; in the female the anterior wings are 

 elongated, and the outer margin rounded and convex. First subcostal nervule emitted a little before end 

 of cell ; second emitted some distance beyond cell, but before the apex of costal nervure ; third emitted at 

 about same distance from second as second is from end of cell ; fourth and fifth bifurcating at about 

 one-fourth from apex and extending to outer margin ; lower disco-cellular nervule obsolete, leaving the cell 

 entirely open ; median nervure robust, the first median nervule with its base more strongly arched in the 

 male than in the female. Posterior wings subovate, the costal margin obliquely convex ; the outer margin 

 in the male strongly waved and scalloped, and at the apices of the discoidal and first median nervules 

 developed into a distinctly caudate but truncate prolongation ; in the female the outer margin is waved 

 and slightly scalloped, but not caudate ; abdominal margins divergently oblique to anal angle. Subcostal 

 nervules emitted at a little less distance from each other than the first is from base of subcostal nervure ; 

 lower disco-cellular nervule entirely obsolete. AnteuniB long, with a gradually formed elongate club. 

 Palpi obtusely pointed, obliquely porrect, and not raised above the middle of the eyes. 



This genus is of small extent and reallj- belongs to the south-eastern portion of the 

 Asiatic Continent, and extends through some of its Eastern Islands. In Continental India 

 several species are found iu the north-eastern districts ; * it is apparently absent from Ceylon 

 and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands ; two species occur in the Malay Peninsula, and the 

 genus is also recorded from Borneo, Celebes, Philippines, and Japan, f 



Like Euthalia, Euripus exhibits the greatest sexual dissimilarity in its species, and, as in the 

 first-named genus, the males of several species are very closely allied, and the strongest specific 

 differentiation is found in the females. These are " mimickers" of species of Eiqihm, and their 

 habits corroborate this view. Thus Mr. de Niceville, who collected in Sikkim, mistook females 

 of Euripus halithcrses for specimens of Euphva rhailamanthus, which he states " they evidently 

 mimic, not only in form and coloration, but also iu the slow-flapping flight and the habit of 

 settling in open places so characteristic of Euphras," I and he again remarks that the male, 

 which is not thus protected, "has a rapid flight, and never settles with expanded wings iu 

 conspicuous places, as the female does." § This is a good iUustration of the postulate made by 

 Mr. Bates, of one explanation of sexual dissimilarity, as the advantage in Nature that accrues 

 to " the possession of some peculiar colour, or form, or habit, by one sex to enable it to escape 

 dangers pecuhar to itself, owing to its haunts being somewhat different from those of the 

 opposite sex." || 



'■'■ It is appareDtly not found in North-Western India, as Mr. Moore has neither included it amongst tlie genera 

 collected by Capt. Lang (Proe. Zool. See. 18G5), nor enumerated it iu those collected by the Rev. J. H. Hocking (Troc. Zool. 

 See. 1882). 



f Amurland must also be added if we place the species described by Menetries (Ad. Schrenkiij in this genus, as has 

 been done by Mr. Kirby (Syn. Cat. Diurn. Lep. p. -i'iS, n. 9j, but most other writers have retained it iu Euthalia. 



I Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng. vol. l., Vt. 2, p. 51 (1881). § Ibid. p. 57. 



II Proc. Ent. Soc. Philad. vol. iv. p. 205 (1865). 



June 30, 1883. 2 m 



