168 HELCYRA. By H. Stichel. 



apex acutely angulate; subcostal 5-branched, 2 branches proximally to the apex of the cell. Cell closed in 

 both wings. Hindwing a triangle with the sides curved, precostal erect, its tip curved outwards; cell long, 

 about half the length of the wing. Upperside of the wings black, tinged with green,' bearing white and greenish 

 spots and smears, and at the margin a whitish zigzag line. The butterflies are strong fliers, are fond of settling 

 on roads in the woods, and rest witli the wings half erect. Early stages not known. 



nesimachus. D. nesimachus Bdv. (60b). Upperside black-green; the forewing with black dots and narrow black margin, 



besides bearing white and greenish spots dispersed over tlio whole surface, and an abbreviated oblique costal 

 band near the apex of the cell composed of grey smears. There are further a row of wliite submarginal dots 

 and white arcuate bars in the distal area of both wings, the hindwing, moreover, has a row of black spots in the 

 marginal area and a curved row of bluish spots on the disc; in the apical area a larger white spot. Distal margin 

 of hindwing dentate-undulate. $ somewhat larger, the spots larger, the ground-colour less dark. The butter- 

 flies resemble in habits the other Apaturids; their flight is violent, and they have the habit of returning to their 

 resting-place even if they have been disturbed several times, and of settling with half-spread wings on roads 

 in the woods. The nymotypical subspecies occurs in North India, Assam, Burma, Tenasserim , the Malay 

 Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the Philippines; it touches in the Himalaya the Palaearctic territory 

 and is here described for the sake of completeness. — In West China there flies a form which is very similar 

 nesseus. to the nymotypical race, but is mucii less strongly spotted; this is nesseus Gr. -Smith. The upperside of the wings 

 is dark grey-green; in the cell of the forewing there are 3 black elongate spots, the marginal area has a lighter 

 tint, being bounded by acute arcs, between the veins are long white and whitish acute double arcs, of which 

 the external ones are filled up with black, this colour being continuous with the narrowly black margin. The 

 hindwing is darker, anteriorly slightly violet, the veins bearing blackish, radiating, streaks, at the margin are 

 large blac^ wedge-shaped spots, in the anterior area white double angles. Underside brown; in the cell of the 

 forewing two bluish white transverse spots, in the central area a number of white and whitish spots, in the 

 marginal area long white acute double arcs; hindwing paler in the distal area, which is separated from the 

 basal area by a row of blackish halfmoons, some bluish dots in the basal and discal areas, at the distal margin 

 some blackish sagittate spots edged with bluish white. North and West China : Omei-shan, Ta-tsien-lu. — 

 nesiotes. Another local race inhabits Japan; this is nesiotes Fruhst. (60h), with the spots and dots of the upperside purer 

 white and broader. The markings are shortened, especially the subapical diffuse spots of the forewing. In 

 the hindwing the black spots of the distal area very distinct, the other greenish spots, however, but dull and 

 diffuse, some of them entirely obsolete. Central Japan: Nikko, Tosa, Niigata, more in the mountains, June 

 and July. 



8. Geinis: Helcyra Fldr. 



In habitus similar to Eriboea, but the hindwing without tail. Head broad; eyes large, naked; palpi 

 densely scaled, but projecting little above the head; antennae slender, the club flat (elliptical). Forewing a 

 right-angled triangle, apex acute; subcostal 5-branched, 1. branch considerably before the cell-end, 2. branch 

 originating soon beyond the 1., anterior discocellular atrophied, cell open. Hindwing almost ovate, the distal 

 margin strongly undulate; precostal simple, curved distad, cell open. 



Only one form in the Palaearctic Region: 



superba. H. superba Leech (52b), which must be considered the northern representative of heniina Hew., the nymo- 



typical race inhabiting India. Upperside white, with a silky gloss, apical area black with 2 white spots; hind- 

 wing with a sharply defined submarginal zigzag line. The markings of the upperside feebly shining through 

 beneath, the hindwing with a transverse row of black halfmoons and 2 blackish-bordered orange spots, there 

 being sometimes such a spot also in the middle median cellule of the forewing. $ not different, only being larger. 

 — Not rare in July at Chia-ku-how (West China), singly in the province Kweichow and at Mupin. 



b. Group Charaxidi. 



Large, rarely medium-sized, very robust butterflies ^\^th hard rigid wings. Head large, broad, with the 

 palpi pointed and porrect. Antennae thick, but slightly and quite gradually incrassate at the apex. Thorax very 

 large and broad, much more voluminous than the proportionately small abdomen, which appears as an appendix to the 

 former, being covered at the base by two lateral tufts of hair of the thorax. The wings very broad, strong-veined, 

 the distal margin of the forewing concave in the cf; the margin of the hindwing dentate, often with 2 projections. 

 Larva with a rough shagreened skin, the rather large head bearing 4 horns. They often live on |)]ants with very 

 hard leaves and grow rather quickly. The pupa short, resembling a berry. The butterflies imbibe with preference 

 the sap flowing from the wounds of trees, and can be baited with decaying matter, sometimes settling on a 

 perspiring hand or the back of workingmen in order to drink. The o^o" sit on the ends of certain projecting 

 branches or on the top of bushes, to which place they always return. If one catches a sf)ecimen, another will soon 



1 



