HYPOLIMNAS. By H. Stichel. 195 



at rest and thus resemble a dry leaf so closely that the htiinan eyi' does not easily detect them in this position. 

 They only arrest the attention, when startled by some movement, they open the wings and dart away, showing 

 to the surprised observer the magnificent coloration of their upperside. As a rule they do not fly far, but 

 the butterfly is difficult to catch on account of the suddeness of its appearance and the rapidity with which 

 it vanishes in a new hiding-place. The in.sect also likes to drink at the edges of rivers and to imbibe the sap 

 of trees. Stale beer (old beer-barrels) are particularly attractive to it (Nicfivii.LE, Elwes a. t).). 



In the Pahn^u'ctic Region tlie genus is only represented liy (me s]iecies , A. inachis Bscl. . of 

 which the nymotypical subspecies flies in Nortli India , flic billdwing forms (liff(^ring hut unessentially in a 

 general way. 



K. huegelii Knil. ( ? = buckleyi Moore). Shape a"s in the following. Ground-colour at the base of the hucgelii. 

 forewing and on the hindwing glossy light blue, on the hindwing anteriorly shading off into yellowish \\hite 

 and distally as well as posteriorly into grey; costal and distal marginal areas irrorated with black atoms; the 

 band of the forewing orange-yellow, between the 2 median veins in the blue ground-colour a vitreous black- 

 edged spot. Both wings with distinct submarginal zigzag line. Underside grey or grey-brown, with leaf- 

 like markings and shadows as in chinensis, but very variable in colour as well as in the intensity of the markings. 

 $ similar to the ^, the apex of tlie forewing more produced. Appears like the follow ing subspecies in two broods. 

 As nymotypical {= first described) form we must regard the dry-season form. Tlie apex of the forewing is 

 produced into a pointed lobe, the tails are longer, somewhat curved inward, and the underside bears prominent 

 markings, ab. boisduvali Moore is the name for the rainy-season form, which is smaller on an average, has boisduvali. 

 somewhat broader wings with a deeper tint of the ground-colour, the apex not being much produced, the tails 

 shorter, and the markings of the underside more indistinct, darker and more diffuse. West Himalaya, 

 Kashmir. — chinensis S^vitih. (GOd) differs but unessentially from inachis and huegeJii. Smaller, the blue colour diittensis. 

 of the wings not violet iiut steel-blue, almost as in huegelii but darker, the deep orange, almost yellow ochre 

 band proportionately somewhat narrower, proximally more strongly bordered with black. Only one form is 

 known, which nearly corresponds in shape with the Indian dry-season form, but has a more uniformly coloured 

 underside with diffuse markings. Also in this form has the 9 the apex of the forewing more produced and 

 pointed. West China: Omei-shan; Central China: lchang(coll. Seitz, Jankowsky leg.). — eucerca Friihst. (60d) eucerca. 

 is similar to the preceding, the wings however are broader, bearing the characteristics of a rainy-season form, 

 the band of the forewing darker golden yellow, the blue ground-colour of the basal half of the forewing and 

 of the hindwing darker blue, strongly glossy; on the hindwing there is close to the submarginal zigzag line an 

 incomplete row of black lunules, which are placed in a black shadow. This band-like pattern is but slightly 

 indicated in the other forms. Known from Okinava (Liu-Kiu Islands) and here described on account of its 

 being so closely related to the Chinese race. Specimens from Hongkong probably belong here. — The species 

 flies in the forest, and Fruhstorfer says that he attracted (baited) the race from Okinava by squirting rice- or 

 potatoe-alcohol (Sake) into the air or saturating with it a pocket-handkerchief. 



5. Genus: Hypolimuan Him. 



Broad-winged butterflies of simple build, with the neuration ])ut moderately prominent. Head and 

 body normal; palpi porrect forming a beak, moderately long; antennae less than half the length of the fore- 

 wing, with almost knob-like club. Forewing a right-angled triangle, with the apex somewhat truncate obli- 

 quely; subcostal 5-branched, 2 branches originating close together proximally to and near the apex of cell; 

 cell closed; 1. discocellular aborted, the 3. about twice the length of the 2., both curved inward. Hindwing 

 almost triangular, with curved sides, the apex somewhat rounded, the anal angle less distinct in the $ than 

 in the c^*; precostal simple, its apex curved distad in hook-shape; cell open; the posterior discocellular indicated 

 only by a fold as a minute line. — Larva cylindrical, with branched thorns, on Portulaceae and Urticaceae. 

 Pupa suspended, short and stout, with short lateral tubercles. — Distributed over the whole of the Indo- 

 Australian Region as far as the South Sea Islands, occurring also in Africa, and being recorded from North and 

 South America. 



The species of this genus are remarkable for their sexual polymorphism (see description of misippiis) 

 and the similarity of the $$ to certain Danaids. They fly in the warmer valleys of the submoidane region, 

 the ^(^ having brisk movements; they rest in the sun on leaves or flowers, alternately opening and closing the 

 wings, the $9 having the more sluggish flight of the Danaids. 



H. misippus L. (60c). ^ above velvety black-brown, bearing on both wings a' large white patch with misippus. 

 diffuse glossy violet-blue edges; moreover, on the forewing a similarly coloured small snliapical spot. Under- 

 side of the forewing reddish brown at the base, blackisli distally, the apex being yellowisli, in the cell several 



