ARGYNNIDI. By Dr. A. Seitz. 211 



rather distant from and the 2., close to llie upper angle of tlie cell, the 3. far beyond the same; 1. discocellular 

 atrophied, the 2. joining the 2. radial in a short curve, cell closed by a thin oblique cross-vein. Hindwing nearly 

 triangular, with rounded apex and i)ointed anal angle, the distal margin bearing an acute tooth at the 3. radial, 

 precostal indistinctly forked, cell open. — Larva cylindrical, armed with branched spines. Pupa suspended, 

 head and back with pointed prominences. — The genus inhabits particularly the Indian and Malayan districts, 

 and extends eastward as far as New Guinea and nortlnvard into the Palaearclic Region. 



Of the Palaearctic forms one, namely lucina Cr., is a subspecies of S. hippodns Cr., the nymotypical form 

 of which occurs in Amboina. There are two broods of lucina, which have received several names; these, however, 

 do not apply to the specimens from different definite districts. The dry-season form is daruka Moore, which danika. 

 differs from the rainy-season form lucina Cr. (= kliasiana Moore, aslhala Leech nee Moore) (61 d, e) only in the /ucina. 

 ground-colour of the upperside being more extended and of a paler brownish tint and in the underside being 

 paler. The dark markings are correspondingly more or less reduced, especially in the ?, the short band placed 

 beyond the cell being usually interrupted, sometimes even reduced to a small spot. The brown subapical 

 spot of the forewing, moreover, is more distinct in the dark marginal band. -^ The larva of the species is 

 gregarious on Urticaceae (Debregeasia bicolor, Girardinia heterophylla); cylindrical, the head black, flattened 

 in front, the vertex slightly cleft, minutely hairy, cheeks slightly tuberculate; third to last segment armed 

 with a dorsal and four lateral rows of black branched spines; the body fuliginous black, 2. segment with a 

 slender pale ochreous dorsal line, the other segments with 2 dorsal and 2 sublateral rows of pale ochreous spots. 

 Pupa suspended, pale reddish brown, thorax and abdomen laterally protuberant, with 2 dorsal pointed pro- 

 minences, the abdomen bearing rows of small points, head cleft. The principal area inhabited by the two forms 

 are the Himalayas; they extend southward across Assam, Burma, etc., to the Malay Peninsula, being also 

 known from South, Central and West China. 



S. hypselis Godt. from Java is represented in the Himalayas and the adjacent territories by the following 

 form, which comes nearest to S. h. brabira Moore: cotanda Moore (^ sinis Nicev.) (61e), wet-season form, of cotanda. 

 moderate size, the S deep red-brown with abundant dark markings, the $ paler, with the ground-colour rather 

 more extended, sometimes appearing in the dark bands, brabira Moore (== asthala Moore), dry-season form, brabira. 

 of lesser size, the dark markings of the upperside narrower, the ground-coloui' as a rule ])aler, the underside 

 yellowish with small spots, the blue submarginal lunules of the hindwing reduced or absent. The butterfly 

 has a habit of flying backwards and forwards in the narrow gorges so commonly formed in rocks by the moun- 

 tain brooks in the Himalayas, and occasionally settling on the ovei'hangiiig foliage (Nicfiv.). Himalayas 

 as far as Kashmir, southward from Bhutan, Assam, Burma to the Malay Peninsula. — hysudra Moore is hysudra. 

 presumably a mountain form. Larger, the ground-colour ochreous brown, the dark bands sometimes interrupted 

 in places; the underside similar to that of cotanda, but more yellowish. North-West Himalayas: Kashmir, 

 Kulu, Kaleni; North-West Kumaon. — Also sinica Moore belongs here. Similar to cotanda, but the band- sinica. 

 like subapical spot is prolonged and narrower, the underside has the black markings broader and closer together, 

 the blue submarginal lunules being very thin. The ground-colour of the 2 is somewhat paler above and more 

 extended. West China. 



Tribe Argynnidi. 



Red-browu, black-spotted butterflies of medium to large size; the antemiae with flat club, the eyes naked, 

 the wings entire, without projections, the markings very uniform, exhil)iting hardly any differences in a numljer of 

 species, only the doubtless secondarily modified $$ of an American species ( Arqi/nni.'i diana) and an East-Asiatic 

 one (A. sar/ana) being exceptions. The butterflies vary very much, the foxy-red ground-colour assuming a lighter 

 or darker tint, the black markings being modified; apart from such modifications the whole group exhibits a 

 remarkable uniformity. — The larvae are stouter than in the f'liie.'^sid/ , the spines being shorter and thicker in 

 most species, the head usually heart-shaped, indented, but without distinct i)rominences. They feed on various 

 plants , but the Violaceae and Sc rophulariaceae are the prevalent food-plants. The pupae have shorter and more 

 obtuse caputal prominences , the thoracic tubercle also being less prominent than in the Vatuss/d/ , or the head- 

 part is quite obtuse, the pupa as a whole being more rounded and stouter; on the back there are often small 

 tubercles. This group is of wide distribution, going as far northward as it is possible for terrestrial animals to live. 

 In America Argynuids form the majority of the butterflies of the high north, Argi/nnis charicJca extending to 

 Greenland and Nova Sembla. In the south only the greater part of Australia, especially its entire south and west, 

 has no Argynnids, which are also absent from the most southeiii districts of Africa and America, reaching on the 

 latter continent southward to North Patagonia. In other districts they are met with every\\'here and generally as 

 common butterflies. They fly in the sunshine on roads in the woods and on meadows, and visit all kinds of 

 flowers, also Iteiug found on damp places on the roads, where many species, such as Aryynni^ i)apliia and AteUa 



