152 NYMPHALID-E. SATYRIN.^. LETHE. 



139. Lothe dyrta, Felder. (Plate X, Fig. 22 <? ? ). 



i?^W> (/)'r/<i, Felder, Reise Novara, Lep., vol. iii, p. 497, n. 860 (1867); Lethe dyrta, Butler, Cat. Lep. 

 B. M., Satyrida, p. 115, n. 6 (1868). 



Habitat; The Himalayas generally up to 8,000 feet fiom IMunee eastwards ; the 

 Khasi Hills; Meplay Valley, Tenasserim. 



Expanse: $ , 2.-\ to 2-2 ; ?, 2-4 to 2-5 inches. 



Descriptiox : " Female : Upperside dilute swarthy, the cilia broadly intersected with 

 •white. Foieiving with the apical half darker, the band as in Z. diypctis but a little 

 broader and pure white, more oblique, and more excised within, excised at the lower discoidal 

 fold without ; with a whitish spot below the band, and three subapical placed as in L. 

 drypetis, but the lowest evanescent. Hindwing with a rounded subapical spot, a somewhat 

 diffuse macular l)and parallel with the margin, a narrow stripe before the margin, and the 

 margin before the cilia, obscure swarthy. Underside much paler, ivr^f///?- with a small 

 fascia extending below the cell, defined externally with hoary ; then a bent stripe on a 

 hoary ground within the cell, and the apical two-thirds broadly deep fuscous ; the white band 

 as on the upperside, but wider and almost reaching the submedian nervure ; three blackish 

 ocelli with white irides, and broadly circled with swarthy and lilac-wliite, connected with 

 and starting fiom the white band, with two upper subapical spots merging into the swartliy 

 ground-colour at the outer edge ; a lilac- white streak edged with swarthy, much dilated at the 

 apex, and another fulvescent streak immediately beyond it before the margin. Hindwing with 

 two swarthy basal streaks, connected, and each bearing a hoary stripe, the outer giving out a 

 process beyond the cell ; six large ocelli broadly circled with swarthy and lilac-white ; the 

 uppermost largest and retired inwardly with a single white pupil, the last but one blind, and 

 the last geminate, black speckled with white with a yellowish iris; the remaining three 

 yellowish brown, the pupil black, lacerated, and profusely speckled witii white ; a lilac-white 

 stripe, defined with swarthy, widely on the inside, and another fulvous streak before the 

 margin." {Felder, 1. c.) Male similar to the female, but smaller, the upperside lacking the 

 white band on the forewing, having in its place a whitish spot on the costa, while only the ex- 

 treme apex is darker. On the underside the white band is indistinct, and a fourth ocellus 

 appears on the line of the band. 



Felder also states that " the margin of the wings is more regularly scalloped between 

 the nervures than in the allied L. drypetis, and the outer margin of the forewing not concave." 

 But these distinctions do not appear to hold good, as many specimens of L. dyrta have the 

 outer margin of the forewing distinctly concave, and the margin is not more regularly 

 scalloped than in L. drypetis ; the chief distinction in the female appears to lie in the upperside of 

 the hindwing, which in L. drypetis has an ochreous subapical spot, and all the marginal and 

 submarginal markings more boldly defined. The males can easily be distinguished from 

 one another, as the upperside of the forewing in Z. drypetis is unmarked, while inZ. dyrta there 

 are three subapical ochreous spots. 



Z. dyrta has been found in Tenasserim by Captain C. T. Bingham in February ; in the 

 Kh.asi Hills in May and November ; and in the N.-W. Himalayas it is very common through- 

 out the warmer months. 



There is a Lethe found in the Khasi Hills of this type, which differs from Z. dyrta by 

 having in both sexes on the upperside of the /^/////zc//;;;,'- a distinct submarginal row of five 

 blackish spots largest near the costa, and more or less distinctly bordered with paler brown 

 externally. Moreover in all Shillong specimens the white band of the female is extended by 

 an adjacent large white bifid spot below the first median nervule, whereas in the Western 

 Himalayan specimens there is only a slight suffusion of whitish just below the nervule in 

 continuation of the white band. 



'I'he figure is taken from a male specimen from Shillong, and a female from Kulu, and 

 shows the uppersidcs only. 



