132 NYMPHALID^.. SATYRIN^. MYCALESIS. 



white, the third from anal angle being black. Expanse: 225 inches," {Moore, Horsfield and 

 Moore, Cat. Lep. E. I. C, vol. i, p. 230, n. 488 (1857). 



jlf. visala is typically considerably larger than AI. perseus ( <? , 2"i to 2'2 ; ? , 2*4 inches), 

 and has the ocellus on the upperside of the forewing larger. The apex of the forewing is sharply 

 angulated in the male, but sometimes less prominently so in the female ; it also presents 

 considerable variation on the underside, the most distinctly specialised form having the 

 underside uniform pale greyish-brown, scantily and indistinctly irrorated with dark brown 

 scales ; the two transverse lines prominent, brown ; and all the nervures of both wings dark 

 brown, contrasting strongly with the greyish brown ground-colour : then come specimens in 

 which the discal line is outwardly, and the subbasal line inwardly, margined with suffused 

 ochreous ; then in others a clouded brown band appears beyond on the line of the obsoles- 

 cent ocelli. Again in others the space between the two transverse lines is darker than the rest 

 of the wing, forming a broad transverse bar darkest at its edges. Again, in others, the discal 

 line is broad, dark brown, and suffused, while the subbasal line is evanescent. And lastly in 

 some specimens both the transverse lines are evanescent, and the nervures are concolorous with 

 the rest of the wing. In all these latter forms the tone of the ground-colour is subject to 

 great variation, being suffused in some entirely, in others more or less, with various shades of 

 ochreous ; in others clouded here and there with chestnut, and in others again more or less 

 profusely irrorated with grey. I'he third spot from the anal angle of the hindwing is usually black 

 but this is by no means universal, nor is it confined to any particular variety. In many 

 specimens the spot between the lower median nervules on the forewing is somewhat large and 

 pure white. M. visala is the commonest form in the Sikkim tarai and hills where typical 

 M. pcrseiis is comparatively very rare. It is also found in Bhutan and Upper Assam, and 

 specimens inseparable from it have been sent from Burma, Bombay and Travancore. In the 

 neighbourhood of Calcutta it gives place to the variety indistans, but the two forms appear to 

 us to be inseparable, except by selecting typical representatives of each, 



Mr. de Nicevdle took the male specimen figured, and which shows the upper and under- 

 sides, in Sikkim in October. It is now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 



Var. suhfasciata. "Nearest allied to visala, Upperside of both j^-jti^j with a greyer 

 marginal border, and the ocellus on \\\e. forewing only half the size. Underside of both sexes 

 much greyer, more densely covered with black-speckled strigse, the two transverse lines 

 comparatively nearer each other, and the outer line bordered by a broad chestnut-brown 

 suffused fascia. Expanse: ^, i-88; ?, zq inches."— f'il/t;^;^ Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 

 1882, p. 237, pi. xii, fig. 8). 



This variety was described from Dharnisala in the N. -W. Himalayas. We have not seen 

 the types, but we have specimens, fairly answering to the description, from Sikkim. It is 

 evidently intermediate between visala and typical pei setts, both from its size and from the 

 shape of the forewing which, in the plate, is shown as having the apex rounded, 



Var. indistans. " Differs from persens in having a more distinctly-pointed apex, and 

 straighter exterior margin, resembling in these respects visala. The colour is uniformly much 

 paler above. The underside is especially paler, the transverse discal pale-bordered line 

 more even, and that on the forrcving- is slightly curved inward ; the marginal spots are 

 less prominent, or only visible as white spaces, and sometimes are quite obsolete. Expanse : 

 S 1*755 ? » 2"0 inches." — [Moore, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1880, p. 164). 



This variety is developed in the plains of North-East India, examples of it from Calcutta 

 (from whence the type was described) being most distinctly specialised, and there it is easily 

 separable from the typical M. persens which co-exists commonly with it. The female has the 

 apex of the forewing almost as angnlate as in the male, the most prominent characteristic 

 of this form is the very pale, almost uniform colouration of the underside, the 

 transverse lines being almost entirely obsolete in typical specimens. It is found in 

 Tenasserim, also in the plains of N.-E. India as far north as Upper Assam, and as far south 

 as Orissa ; but in these localities it is far less distinct, specimens from Assam being almost if not 



