NYMPHALIDiE. SATYRIN^E. MYCALESIS. 115 



underside varies in much the same way as in M. iniiieiis. We incUide under the name blasitts 

 the M. samba of Moore, M, lalassis, Hewitson, and M. litrida, Butler. M. samba much 

 more closely resembles the typical M. blashis of Fabricius, than do the forms described by 

 Moore in the Lepidoptera of Ceylon and by Distant in the Rhopalocera Malayana under the 

 name of I\I. blasius ; in fact these latter forms are indistinguishable from M. lalassis, Hewitson. 

 il/. /fl/«.fj/j is perhaps the most distinct form of all, but Hewitson himself admitted later on 

 that M. lalassis was inseparable from M. samba, and it is therefore h fortiori inseparable from 

 M. blasius. The claims of i^/. litiUaio specific separation do not seem to have ever been 

 admitted. The various forms do not even appear to be geographical races, M, lalassis was 

 described from Gilolo, but that form is the commonest in Burma and Ceylon also, as well as 

 in Northern India. Butler remarks with reference to Mycalesis blasius (Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 Lond., 1867, p. 720) : — "This seems to be identical with the J\I. samba of Moore ; it differs 

 from M. lalassis, Hewitson, in having smaller and less distinct ocelli, and not so many in 

 the forewing ; it is also rather smaller." He also states (Cat. Lep. B. M., Satyridcs, \>. 135):— 

 *' M. blasius IS :i distinct species closely allied to, if not identical with, M. samba, ItlooxQ. 

 Westwood, however, makes it a synonym of M. tninats." 



96. Mycalesis blasius, Fabricius. (Plate XVI, Fig. 55 S). 



Pafilio blasius, Fabricius, Ent. Syst., Suppl., p. 426, nn. 488, 489 (i7g8) ; Mycalesis blasius, Butler, 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1867, p. 720 ; p. 718, fig. 4, male ; idem, id., Cat. Lep. B. M., Satyridce, p. 137, n. 40 

 (1868); idem, id , Cat. Fabr. T.ep., p. 34, n. 10 (1869); idem. Distant, Rhop. Malay., p. 52, pi. vii, fig. 7 

 (1882), male ; Caljysisme blasius, Moore, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lnnd., 1880, p. 162; idem, id., Lep. Cey., p. 21, 

 pi. xi, figs. 2, 2a (1880), male; Mycalesis samba, Moore, Horsfield and Moore, Cat. Lep. E. L C, vol. i, 

 p. 233, n. 498 (1857); Calysisme samba, id.. Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 18S0, p. 163 ; Mycalesis lalassis, Hewit- 

 son, Ex. Butt., vol. iii, p. 89, Mycalesis iA. \\, iig. -iS (\86\), male ; Calysisme lalassis, Moore, Trans. Ent. 

 Soc. Lond., 1880, p. 163 ; Mycalesis lurida, Butler, Trans. Em. Soc. Lend., 1879, p. 3, male. 



Habitat : Northern, Eastern and Southern India, Ceylon, Burma, Malayana. 



Expanse : 1-5 to i -9 inches. 



Description: "Wings entire. '[Jvv^v.sivi^ spoilas fuscous. Underside scarcely paler, 

 with an oblique median white fascia ; forewing with three ocelli beyond the fascia, black, 

 with yellowish iris and white pupil, the middle one minute, the ocelli included in a common 

 kidney-shaped band ; marginal line slender. Hindwing with seven unequal ocelli enclosed 

 between two wavy ashy marginal lines meeting on both sides, the marginal line slender." 

 (Fab)-icius, 1. c. in Ent. Syst.) 



Var. samba, " Upperside dark-brown, exterior margins paler ; narrow marginal line 

 black. Underside with transverse white line ; forewing with two occelli ; hindwing with 

 seven ocelli, the anterior second and third very small ; exterior margins pale, with narrow 

 marginal lines." {Moore, 1. c, in Cat. Lep. E. I. C.) 



Var. lalassis. " Male : Upperside rufous brown, paler at the outer margins, which have 

 near them a line of brown. Forezving with a minute white spot opposite the lowest ocellus of the 

 underside. Underside rufous brown ; both wings crossed at the middle by a narrow band of 

 lilac-white ; both with two submarginal lines, and a very fine line which borders the ocelli (not 

 singly but all together), lilac-white. Foreimng with four ocelli, the first two touching, the 

 fourth the largest. Hindiving W\\.\i ZQven, the second, third and sixth [? seventh] minute." 

 (Hewitson, 1. c, in Ex. Butt.) 



Var. lurida. " Male allied to M. lalassis, but the basal half of the forei.ving both on 

 upper and undersides suffused with lurid ochraceous ; the white stripe of the underside 

 reduced to a slender brown-edged squamous white line, the third of the four ocelli of the 

 forewing reduced in size, and only the two first united." {Butler, 1. c, in Trans. Ent. Soc. 

 Lond. ) 



The commonest form of the species is well described as follows by Moore in the Lep. 

 Ceylon : — 



Description : "Male and Female : Upperside dark brown glossed with olive-brown. 

 Forewing with or without a discal small white-pupilled bhck spot. Underside dark 



