﻿NYMPHALIN^. (Group EUTHALIINA.) 77 



STIBOCHIONA NICEA (Plate 217, figs. 2, 2a, b, (J ? ). 



Adolias Nicea. Gray. Ijpp. Tn.?. of Nopal, p. 13, pi. 12, fig. 1 (1833-46). Doubleday, List Lop. Brit. 



Mu,=!. pt. i. p. 105 (1814). Westwood, Gen. D. Lep. p. 291 (1851). Moore, Trans. Bnt. Soc. 



(1859), p. 83. 

 Stihoehiona Nicea, Butler, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 614. de Niceville, Butt, of India, etc., ii. 



p. 120, pi. 19, fig. 81, c? (1886). Leech, Butt of China, etc., i. p. 133 (1892). 

 Adolias Dulope, Felder, Wien. Ent. Monats. iii. p. 184 (1859). 



Imago. — Male. Upperside velvety purpurescent-black. Cilia of forewing 

 alternated with white, of the hindwing entirely white. Foreiving with a marginal, a 

 shorter excurved upper submarginal and a still shorter upper discal row of small 

 white spots, the marginal row the largest and somewhat lunate ; between the two 

 outer rows is a parallel series of blue points, forming a sinuous band ; three slightly- 

 defined blue transverse marks within the cell. Hindwing with a marginal row of 

 black spots ringed with blue inwardly and white outwardly, followed by a con- 

 tiguous inner submarginal more or less defined slender blue sinuous line, both the 

 latter being brightest and most defined in Eastern Himalayan and Burmese 

 specimens. Underside. Ground-colour slightly paler brown-black. Forewing 

 marked as above, but with all the spots bluish-white, more distinct, the discal row 

 being entire and blue. Hindwing with a marginal row of more or less narrow bluish- 

 white lunules, sometimes a submarginal row of bluish-white dots, and a discal series 

 of blue dots, and two, or three, blue dots at end of the cell. 



Female. Upperside olivescent-black ; markings as in the male, but all some- 

 what larger, more defined, the submarginal sinuous line and inner half of the ring 

 bordering the marginal black spots on the hindwing of a greenish-blue. Underside 

 as in the male, but with all the markings slightly larger. Body, palpi, and legs 

 black ; collar, sides of palpi and forelegs white ; antennae black, tipt with red, 



Expanse, S ^-^^i to 2^^, ? 2^^ to 3 inches. 



Habitat. — "Western and Eastern Himalayas ; Assam ; Khasia and Naga Hills ; 

 Silhet. 



Distribution. — " Occurs throughout the Himalayas, from Kulu to Assam " (de 

 Niceville, Butt. India, 121). We possess a male from Kashmir, taken by the late 

 Capt. R. Bayne Reed, also specimens from Masuri, 7000 feet elevation, taken in 

 May by Capt. A. M. Lang, from Nepal, taken by the late General G. Ramsay, and 

 from Sikkim, taken in March by Mr. G. C. Dudgeon. The Rev. J. Hocking obtained 

 it in the Kangra Valley, and states that it " flies like Papilio Pammon, following 

 the line of hedge, and passing in and out between the bushes " (P. Z. S. 1882, 239). 

 Mr. W. Doherty records it from " Sarju, Gori, and Kali Valleys, 2000 to 5000 feet 

 elevation, in Kumaon " (J. A. S. Bang. 1886, 123). "Mr. Graham Young has 

 taken it in the Kulu Valley, and I met with it in August below Kotgarh, fifty mii§3 



