IRAOTA. By Dr. A. Sf.it/,. 275 



DoHERTT found it on the wing at a considerable altitude a.s late as December, when the ground was 

 already covered by a thin layer of snow. 



A. dodonaea Moore (75b). Both sexes similar to the ? of the preceding species, with a short tail dodonaea. 

 and prominent pointed anal angle. Easily distinguished from rama by the blue gloss being lilac blue, while 

 it is purplish blue in rama. The markings of the underside are still more prominent and brighter than in 

 rama, and the ground-colour beneath is more earth -brown instead of brownish lilac as in rama. Both 

 species fly side by side in certain localities, so that de Niceville sometimes caught them both with one 

 stroke of the net. — dodonaea tlies in oak-forests in Kashmir and the adjacents districts of India, being much 

 rarer than the two previous species. It was formerty mistaken for the ? of rama. 



A. turbata Btlr. (= teesta Xin'r.). ()uite different from the preceding species. The apex of the turhata. 

 forewing obliquely- truncate, the outer margin almost straight, with the liind angle sharp and almost right- 

 angled. The anal lobe of the hindwing rounded and strongly produced and the tail rather long. Upperside 

 deep blue, with a broad black border. Underside brown, with lilac clouds, the bands, rings and spots olive 

 and much more numerous than in the previous species. ¥ bright ultramarine, with a broad black border. — 

 South Japan and Gorea, rare. Leech found the species in May and I obtained it myself in September at 

 Nagasaki. Besides the Palaearctic Region, the species also inhabits North India and Tenasserim. 



A. ganesa Moore (75 c). This Kashmir-insect is one of the smallest of the whole genus. The cfcf , ganesa. 

 like all the Palaearctic Arhopala above blue with a narrow black margin, are distinguished by a white 

 patch beyond the apex of the cell, wliich to my knowledge is not present in any other species of the 

 genus which might be confounded with ga>iesa. The light dust-grey underside bears bands which are 

 tilled in with dark scaling on the forewing and are onlj- indicated by their border-lines on the hindwing, 

 which is exaggerated in our figure, copied from Staubingek. — loomisi Pri/er (= seminigra Leech) (75c) loomisi. 

 has the blue reduced above, there is no white on the upperside, and the underside is evenly banded with 

 brown. Japan, Central and West China, in the oak-forests of the mountains, not rare, in June and July. 



16. Genus: Iraota Moore. 



Rather large butterflies, with pointed wings, extremely brilliant glossy upperside in the cf, and 

 characteristic underside. Head small as compared with the disproportionately robust thorax, particularly much 

 depressed, with the frons broad, but quite flat. The eyes, still coppery in dry specimens, anteriorly edged 

 witli ivory yellow. The antennae short and thick, very similar to those of the preceding genus, gradually 

 incrassate as in Arhopala, without an abrupt club. The medium-sized palpi projecting obliquely upward. 

 The wings pointed in the cf, especially the hindwing strongly produced at the anal angle, with a large 

 round prominent anal lobe bearing a distinct tail, above which there is occasionally a second shorter tail. ? 

 much more broad-winged, in shape much more similar to Arhopala than the cf. On the underside of the 

 forewing between base and middle there is a small tuft of hairs in the cT. About 6 forms are known, only 

 one of them is Palaearctic. In facies they recall the much smaller Camena. 



I. maecenas. The cf above of a magnificent cyaneous blue, with a strong metallic gloss, the costal 

 and distal margins of the forewing verj- broadly black , the hindwing with a narrow black distal border. 

 Widely distributed, from Kashmir throughout the Himalayan countries far into China and southwards to 

 Ceylon and South India. The species is dimorphic: maecenas F. (75c) with the underside of the hindwing maecenas. 

 almost uniformly chestnut-brown, and timoleon Stall (= nila Roll.) witJi the hindwing beneath abundantly timoleon. 

 spotted and banded with white, de Niceville was right in regarding them as seasonal forms, although the 

 wet-season form (timoleon) does not apparently fly everywhere. There occur all transitions between the 

 two extiemes maecenas and timoleon, an abundant material she^ving an uninterrupted series from one extreme 

 to the other. — Larva very evenly convex, ovate, smooth, greyish ochreous, greenish towards the sides, 

 with red-brown longitudinal stripes, between which there are rows of small ring-spots; on Ficus religiosa. 

 Pupa yellowish brown , with blackish markings , the anterior part being darker. The butterflies are very 

 abundant in many places; the cTcf fly up and down the roads with a very fast, almost buzzing, flight and 

 settle with half open wings on the naked ground or in the grass on clearings in the woods, more rarel>- 

 I caught them off' the tips of twigs. They show a preference for certain spots, which are soon occupied by 

 other specimens, if the original occupants are caught. As the species is very wild in the net, good specimens 

 are not easily obtained. 



B. Tribe Polyommatini, Coppers. 



Taifless or with one or two small tails to the hindwing. The wings entire, generally of normal 

 shape, the forewing triangular. The prevalent colour of the upperside is golden red, at least in the cfcf, 

 but the colour is occasionally also metallic blue or green. 



