364 RHOPALOCERA MALAYAN A. 



on abdominal foW, the innermost being more more or less— mostly so in female— greenish. Wings beneath 

 with the ground colour inu-plish-brown, mottled with darker patches ; anterior wings with the spots as above ; 

 posterior wings with two additional and contiguous pale green spots at base, spots generally more obscure 

 than above, a large gi-eyish-whito spot near costa inwardly margined with a black and red spot, a black 

 and red spot close to the upper discal green spot, the lower discal spot with a black centre, the marginal 

 spots more or less margined with blackish, a small whitish fringe-like spot above anal angle preceded by a 

 reddish spot bordered with greyish and black ; abdominal fold dark greyish, sometimes more or less greenish. 

 Body above brownish, with a broad central black fascia, which is margined with greenish on pronotum 

 and with greyish on abdomen ; inner margin of eyes greyish ; body beneath greyish ; legs streaked with 

 dark fuscous. 



Exp. wings, <? and 5 , 66 to 95 millim. 



Hab.— Continental India; Silhet, Dukhun (Horsf. & Moore); Darjeeling (coll. Dist.). — Ceylon 

 (Moore).— Andaman Islands ; Port Blair (Wood-Mas. and de Nic). — Nicobar Islands ; Kamorta (Moore). — 

 Burma ; Moulmein (Moore).— Tenasserim ; Meetan, Hatsiega, Houngduran Source (Limborg — Moore).— 

 Malay Peninsula ; Penang, Province Wellesley (coll. Dist.) ; Perak (Kiinst. — Calc. Mus.) ; Malacca (Pinwill 

 — Brit. Mus.). — Siam; Chentaboon (Druce). — Nias Island (Kheil). — Sumatra (Forbes — coll. Dist.). — Java 

 (Horsf. & Moore) ; Batavia (Snellen). — Borneo (Voll.) ; Elodina (Pryer — coll. Dist.) ; Bangermasin (coll. 

 Dist.). — Philippines (Semper). — Celebes (SnelL). — Amboina (Voll.). — Cochin China (Oberth.). 



The larva and pupa of this species have been figured by Horsfield,* and the larva in Java 

 is stated to feed on the same plant as P. ant.iphates.\ The larva and pupa are also figured from 

 drawings made by the Bros, de Alwis in Moore's ' Lepidoptera of Ceylon,' | and the larva 

 in Ceylon is said to feed on MagnoUacccc and Anonacew, and also — on the authority of 

 Mr. Mackwood — on " Soursop and Cinnamon," § whilst both in Batavia and South-West 

 Celebes M. C. Piepers found it "feeding on the leaves of Anona muricata, Linn., a plant 

 introduced from the West Indies." || 



This species is of a varietal nature, and several local races appear to have a moderately 

 distinct facies. Thus the length of the caudate appendages to the posterior wings is longer 

 in specimens found in Continental India than in the Malay Peninsula, whilst Celebesian 

 examples can easily be recognised by their generally larger size and smaller spots. IT 



- Cat. Lep. Mus. E. I. C. vol. i. t. Ill, f. 9, 9o. f Antea, p. 359. J T. 63, f. 2, 2(7. § Ibid. p. 145. 



II Tijd. Ent. xix. pp. xviii to xxiv, and English translation by Kii-by, ' Entomologist,' x. p. 272. 



Fritz Miiller has recently given some interesting facts as to the botanical discrimination of butterflies. Writing from 

 Santa Catharina, Brazil, he remarks: — "The caterpillars of Mechanitis, Dircenna, Ccratinia, and Ifhomia feed on different 

 species of Solanacecc {Solatium, Cyphomanilra, Bassonia, Cestrttm), those of the allied genera Thyridia on Bnmfelsia. Now 

 this latter genus of plants had been placed unanimously among the Scrnphularince, till quite recently it was transferred by 

 Bentham and Hooker to the Solanaccce. Thus it appears that butterflies had recognised the true affinity of Brunfelsia long 



before botanists did so There is yet another and more curious instance of oxvc butterflies contirining the arrangement 



of plants in Bentham and Hooker's ' Genera Plantarum.' Aijcronia and Didonis were formerly widely separated by 

 lepidopterists, being even considered as constituting distinct families, but now they are to be found beside one another 

 among the Nymphalina;, and the structure of their caterpillars leaves no doubt about their close affinity. The caterpillars 

 of Ayeronia feed on Dalechampia, those of Didonis on Tracjia. Now these two Euphorbiaceous genera were widely 

 separated by Endlicher, who placed the former among the Etqtliorhiece, the latter among the AcaJyphece ; Bentham and 

 Hooker, on the contrary, place them close together m tlie same sub-tribe of Plukenetiecs, and thus their close affinity, which 

 had been duly appreciated by butterflies, has finally been recognised by botanists also." — (' Natiure,' vol. sxx., p. 240.) 



^ Mr. Wallace enumerates six local forms of this species (Trans. Linn. Soc, vol. xxv., pp. 67-8 (1855), and Mon. 

 Oberthur has more recently described two under distinct varietal names (Etudes d'Ent. Quatr. Livr., p. 58 (1879). 



