166 



lUrnPA LOCEIiA MALA VAN A . 



Ffmale. Winss above ilixrk olivaceous-l.rown. Anterior wiiiRS with a few small bliusli subcostal 

 spots above cell : a transverse blue macular fascia beyond end of cell (corresponding to the white fascia of 

 male) ; a submarginal series of white spots placed between the nervules, the two uppermost of which are 

 largest and contiguous, followed by a submarginal and marginal series of waved and linear greyish spots, 

 between which the .•ol.nir is somewhat paler. Posterior wings with a submarginal series of greyish 

 spots placed between the nervules, followed by a series of subconical spots of the same colour, which are 

 placed conjointly in pairs between the nervules ; marginal spots as on anterior wings, but more lunulate ; 

 fringe of both wings alternately greyish. Wings beneath brownish ochraceous ; anterior wings with the 

 marginal and submarginal markings as above, the macular fascia at end of cell subobsolete and greyish ; 

 the basal half of wing is pale castaneous, with the costal area and cell marked as in male ; posterior 

 wings with the marginal and submarginal markings as above, and the centre crossed by a faint greyish 

 fascia more or less corresponding to that on the wings of the male. 



Exp. wings, 3 70 to 78 millim. ; 2 84 millim. 



H.u!.— Continental India ; Silliet ; Nepaul (Brit. Mus.)— Ceylon (Moore).— Andaman Islands (Moore).— 

 Nicobar Islands; Great Nicobar ; Tillangschong (Wood-Mas. & de Nic.)— Burma; Moulmein (Brit. Mus.)— 

 Malay Peninsula ; Quedah (coll. Dist.) ; Province Wellesley (coll. Dist. & Sauer) ; Malacca (Pinwill— Brit. 

 j[us.i_Sumatra (Snellen).— Java ; Batavia (Snellen).— Siam : Chentaboon ; Nahconchaisee (Druce). 



There is no (loul)t of this being a variable species, though we need not necessarily follow 

 Mr. Kirby* to the full extent of his varietal speculations, and though, in one philosophical 

 sense he is most probably correct, on the other hand a number of local races have now become 

 so well established that the much-vexed, contested, and, in some quarters, almost deified term 

 " species" must necessarily be applied. f The two males which I have figured— the first from 

 Quedah and the second from Province Wellesley — sufficiently show inconstancy of type, and 

 Dr. Aurivillius I has added (and doubtless correctly added) several names to the synonymy, 

 which I have only refrained from copying here, owing to the exigencies of the treatment of a 

 local fauna. § 



The late Mr. Darwin, in reference to his theory of " sexual selection," has drawn attention 

 to the colour-markings of the male of this species, to wdiich his attention had been called by 

 Dr. Schulte, of Fiirstenwalde. The markings of the male when viewed from behind are pure 

 white, " but when viewed in front, in which position, as Dr. Schulte remarks, the male would 

 be seen by the female when approaching her, the white markings are surrounded by a halo of 

 beautiful blue." || 



The Bros, de Alwis have given drawings of the larva and pupa of this species as found in 

 Ceylon, 1i which Mr. Moore has described'* as " Larva })urple-brown ; head armed witii two 

 long erect branched spines, the segments with a dorsal row of three (two only on the anterior 



* Cat. Diuru. Lep. p. 224 (1871). 



I M3- friend Mr. Kirby lias iuformetl me that in makinn; this excellent Catalogue, in the nneiitomolo.?ical — and, as 

 regards libraries, uncongenial — habitat of Dublin, he depended much on the assistance of the late Mr. Hewitson, owing to that 

 gentleman's then unrivalled collection. It is more than an open secret that Mr. Hewitson altogether failed to grasp the 

 initial elements of evolution, and yet, strange to say, though, as is so frequently the case, his cabinets — in which allied 

 and. in some eases, remotely allied forms are placed under one name, to the great scandal of the conscientious specific 

 discriminator — bear eloquent witness to at least his own view of the mutability of species. 



■ Kongl. sv. vet. Ak. Handl. Bd. 19, no. 5, p. 90 (1882). 



j Authorities have differed as to the proper recognition of these allied forms. Thus Butler (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1874. 

 p. 282 1 has maintained that the " Bolina group" contains "several distinct and well-marked species," whilst the direct 

 contrary is afhrmed by Schmeltz (Verhaudl. d. Ver. f. naturwissensoh. Unterh. z. Hamb. ii. pp. 184 and 18.5). 



II ' Nature,' vol. xxi. p. 237. H Lep. Ceyl. i. t. 30, fig. lb. -- Ibid. p. 58. 



