174 NEPTIS. By H. Stichel. 



costal with five branches; the first branch before the apex of the cell, 3. terminating far beyond the same, 

 cell open. Hindwing ovate, costal vein in the ^ short, reaching about to half the costal margin, in the 

 $ longer, ending at the rounded apex of the wing; praecostal straight upright, tip curved outwards or forked; 

 bases of the suljcostal and radial veins situated very close together, the radial veins on a short common stalk 

 (this structure somewhat variable), cell open. — Egg higher than broad, top convex. The larva lives especially 

 on Leguminosae, Malvaceae, Urticaceae, etc.; it has a deeply cleft head, vertex with 2 processes. Body stouter 

 in the middle, covered with hairy humps and warts. Pupa suspended, head with two processes, antenna-case 

 projecting like a nose. Upperside of the wing generally black or with white or brownish bands and spots; the 

 butterflies have a slow, floating flight. Distributed from Siberia through China to the South Sea and Africa. 

 In Europe only represented by two forms. F. Moore has separated the genus Neptis without any great necessity 

 into the following genera — from whose introduction as far as they concern us here at all we abstain — : Para- 

 neptis (type: P. lucilla), Kalkasia (type: K. alwina), Hamadryodes (type: H. lactaria), Acca (type: A. venilia), 

 Phaedyma (type: P. amphion), Andrapana (type: A. columella), Neptis (type: N. aceris), Philomona Billb. 

 (type: P. agatha Cr. = meliccrta F.), Bimbisara (type: B. sankara), Paiulassana (type: P. fiiliginosa), Stabro- 

 bates (type: S. rhada), Tagatsia (type: T. dama), Rahinda (type: R. hordoiiia), Lasippa (type: L. heliodore), 

 Bacalora (type: B. pata), Atharia (type: A. consimilis), Andasenodes (type: A. mimetica), Rosalia (type:./?. 

 gracilis), Aldania (type: A. raddei). 



coenobita. N. COCnobita StoU ($ = fridolini Friihst.) (53a) bears in the cell usually a sharply defined basal stripe, the 



white spots are little variable in size, being in the S of rather smaller dimensions than in the $; on the underside 

 there is near the edge a more or less distinct grey band of spots, the .submarginal row of spots lying before 

 it sometimes slightly shining through above, the same taking place in the area of the distal margin of the 

 hindwing; SS of the nymotypical subspecies (see figure of specimen from Saratov) are more brightly marked, 

 the spots rather larger, the band of the hindwing broader. A characteristic of this and the following form is 

 the colour of the fringes of the forewing , which are for the greater part black , interrupted with white once 

 near the anal angle and twice anteriorly, and bear another white spot at the apex. Chiefly in Southern Russia 

 (Volga district), eastwards as far as the Central Asiatic mountain chains, and north-eastward about as far as 

 lucilla. Lake Baical. — lucilla F. (= Pap. Camilla Esp.. not L., N. sappho Kirb. not Pall., = N. innominatus Lew.) 

 (53a) only slightly differs from the preceding. In this butterfly the basal streak in the cell of the forewing 

 , is mostly indistinct or rudimentary, the band of spots on the underside of the hindwing simple and sometimes 

 indistinct or almost absent, the other markings, as in the preceding, brighter and more plentiful in the $ than 

 in the cj, but otherwise fairly constant; the white spots and band on the dull reddish brown underside edged 

 with black, the streak in the cell of the forewing sharper defined, the wings in the $ rather broader. Larva 

 when full grown 4 — 4.2 cm, brownish or reddish brown, with pale dorsal stripe and 4 pairs of conical humps 

 spotted with yellow; sides with dark oblique stripes bordered with a light colour, and a yellowish longitudinal 

 stripe above the feet; underside inconspicuously pale coloured, dotted with yellow; head blackish brown 

 with yellow spots. In May on Spiraea salicifolia, Sp. idmifolia, Sp. flexuo.sa. Butterfly from May to July; 

 flight slow and floating. Southern slopes of the European Central and Eastern Alps, eastwards from about 

 Tessin, southward to the Lago Maggiore, in the Southern Tyrol, Carinthia, Carniolia, Styria, Wiener VVald, 

 Upper Austria to Salzburg (see figure $) and in Austrian Silesia, Prussian Silesia (Waldenburg), Transsylvania, 

 ladmilla. Hungary. In the eastern districts in transitions to the following form. — ludmilla Nordm. (53a). In this form 

 all spots are essentially smaller, the basal streak in the cell of the forewing is absent, the spots on the hindwing 

 are obsolescent or wanting, and the band on the hindwing is naiTowed and in the (J divided up into spots 

 by the strong black scaling of the veins. This name has hitherto been erroneously applied to a mixture of 

 Asiatic and East-European representatives of the species; topotypical specimens of this form appear to be 

 rare (the originals come from the Caucasus), but it occurs again in identical or similar individuals in Bulgaria 

 (see figure $), Roumania and the Bukovina, perhaps also in the eastern parts of Hungary (locally together 

 with lucilla), has even been found singly in Carinthia and is distributed in Asia as far as the Altai (see figure ^); 

 it therefore seems to fly locally togetlier with the nymotypical subspecies coenobita. — East of the mountain 

 magnata. ranges near Lake Baical a form similar to coenobita occurs: magnata Heyne (53a). It is distinguished by more 

 abundant white markings, by the white submarginal spots on both wings shining through more distinctly on 

 the upper side, by the regular black and white checks on the fringes of the forewing, and by a paler brownish 

 underside with two rows of white submarginal spots or bars (in the forewing). Together with, and in the same 

 district as this principal form another form, similar to coenobita, with fewer white spots, is said to occur, to 

 synetainis. which the name synetairus Friihst. would have to be applied. Amurland, Mongolia, Western China, Corea. — 

 insulamm. As the most eastern development there flies in Japan a race again corresponding to ludmilla; this is insularum 

 Fruhst. (53b, $). It is larger than the continental forms, with the spots strongly reduced. Median band of the 

 hindwing very narrow, and in the $ still more narrowed towards the hind margin, instead of being broadened 

 as in the other races; the submarginal spots on the darker l)rown underside almost entirely obsolete in the 

 hindwing and strongly reduced in the forewing. Hondo. 



