196 NYMPHALID^. SATYRIN^. AULOCERA. 



The species of Anlocera are common where found at all ; and they seem more fond of 

 sunshine than is usual in this subfamily ; one species frequents the sunny paths and glades in 

 oak and rliododendron forests ; another is found everywhere at suitable elevations ; the third 

 generally frequents the grassy slopes above the forests ; and the fourth the grassy slopes 

 and scrub jungle at lower elevations ; all of them are fond of settling on paths or rocks, where 

 they rest with their wings closed over their backs. Seven species have been described by 

 different authors, but we are unable to admit more than four of these as really distinct. Among 

 the older described species some confusion in synonomy has occurred, owing to Blanchard 

 describing and figuring the same sex of two species as the opposite sexes of one species. 



1S7. Aulocera padma, Koiiar, 



Sniyrus fmdtnit, Kollar in Hiigel's Kaschmir, vol. iv, pt. ii, p. 445, n. 3, pi. xv, figs, i, 2 (1848), female I 

 Sntyriis avatara, Moore, Horsfield and JMoore, Cat. Lep., E. I. C, vol. i, p. 229, n. 481 (1857), vi.ile ; Aulocera 

 /ladiiia et avatara, Butler, Cat. Lep. B M., Satyridce, p. 49, n. 3, and p. 50, n. 4 (1868J ; id. Lang, Ent. 

 Month. Mag., vol. iv, p 246(1868). 



Habitat : Himalayas. 



Expanse: <J,3"ito3-3; ?, 3-5 to 37 inches. 



Description : Female : " Upperside obscure fuscous, with a common whitish fascia ; 

 macular in \.\\t. fomoing, and bifurcate at the apex. Undkrside fuscous, marbled with grey 

 and whitish, a black ocellus on they^;rjwV/_o- pupilled with white ; the fascia broader in the 

 forewing, narrow in the hhtihoiitg ; iht cilia spotted with whitish and fuscous." {Kollar, 1. c.) 

 Male [A. avalara, Moore.) " Difiers from ^. /W/«rt [the female] in having the transverse 

 maculated band much narrower, and there being no spots running obliquely to the costal 

 margin. It is less in size than A. padma [tlie female] bat larger than A, swaha and A. 

 sa7-as2i<ati." {Moote, 1. c.) 



A. fadma is the largest species of the genus, and is distinguished, in both sexes, by the 

 very black ground-colour of the underside of the hiiuhving. The male is further distinguish- 

 ed by the complete absence of the inner subcostal white spots on the upperside of the forewing, 

 a character which is approached in some specimens of the very distinct A. sarasivati, but in no 

 other species ; also by the sexual mark on the forewing being comparatively prominent. The 

 FEMALE has the outer margin of the white fascia indistinct and often much extended by 

 suffusion into the black ground-colour beyond, especially on the underside. It differs from 

 the male in its larger size ; and in having consiilerably more white on the underside ; the 

 whitish undulations covering the whole basal area of the hindwing instead of being prominent 

 only on the abdominal margin ; the outer half of the wing also is white, undulated irregularly 

 with various shades of brown, least densely towards the costal margin. 



A . avatara \\z.% hitherto been accepted as a distinct species, and even now some authori- 

 ties hold to this view ; but notwithstanding that A. avatara is common over a wide range 

 all the specimens are males so far as has as yet been ascertained ; and not a single male 

 specimen of the A. fadma type can be found. It is true that Mr. Moore when describing 

 A. avatara m the Cat. Lep. E. I. C, recorded the single sjiecimen of A. padma which the 

 Museum contained, and by which he wrote his comparative description of A. avatara, as a 

 male, but that identical specimen is now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, and notwithstanding 

 that the abdomen and forelegs are missing, the outline of the wings, the white character of 

 the markings, especially on the underside, and complete absence of the sexual mark leave no 

 room for doubt that the specimen is really a female, and that the original discrimination of 

 its sex was erroneous, and so far as the evidence at present goes, the conclusion that the 

 two are opposite sexes of the same species is irresistible. 



In 1868, Colonel Lang wrote, "A. padma and ^. avatara I have always found in 

 company, and they have appeared to me as female and male respectively of the same species. 

 They frequent quite different ground to A. swa/ia and A. saraszcati, and appear at a different 

 season; Hying in May and June on the borders of oak and rhododendron forests at the 

 summits of ranges of from 8,000 feet to 10,000 feet altitude. A second brood appears in July 



