TRIFID^. 133 



panse H to If inch. Thorax and abdomen stout; lore 

 wings broad, blunt, pale drab dusted with black and with a 

 purple flush ; nervures narrowly white with a dusky edging, 

 and pale shades between tliem ; hind wings dark smoky- 

 brown. 



Antennas of the male simple but ciliated with fine bristles 

 which are longest at the base, light brown ; eyes clothed 

 with erect minute reddish bristles ; palpi rather broadly 

 tufted, golden purple-brown ; scales of the head flattened 

 and pointed forward, those of the thorax long and smooth, 

 both purplish-drab ; fascicles large, white ; basal portion of 

 the abdomen covered Avitli long purplish-white hairs, re- 

 mainder purplish-drab, with the lateral tufts red-brown and 

 the anal tuft yellow-drab. Fore wings rather uniformly 

 broad ; costa faintly rounded ; apex blunt ; hind margin but 

 little oblique, gently rounded, as also is the dorsal margin ; 

 colour pale drab, very silky, and with a distinct flush of pink 

 or purple colouring ; the median and hinder nervures very 

 narrowly tinged with white, but edged on each side faintly 

 with a dusting of black or brown, the upper edge of the 

 median more especially so ; the nervures are also all rather 

 thickened, as is the costal edge ; there is no indication of 

 stigmata or transverse lines ; cilia pale purplish-drab. Hind 

 wings broad and rounded but with a faint hollow in the 

 margin below the apex ; smoke-coloured, hardly paler at the 

 base ; cilia purplish-white. Female stouter, usually with the 

 fore wings paler drab, but the longitudinal lines of dark 

 atoms more distinct. 



Underside of the fore wings purplish-drab, with a large 

 smoky-black cloud occupying the middle area and shading 

 off to the margins. Hind wings greyish-white, dusted with 

 black, and broadly down the costal and middle regions with 

 purplish-pink. Body and legs purplish-drab. 



Variation is not very great, and is mainly confined to 

 deepening or obliteration of the stripes of dark atoms which 

 edge the nervures ; in some sj)ecimens these are pale and 



