NYMPHALID^.. SATYRIN^v. MELANITIS. 253 



bands between ; there is every gradation between the two extremes to be found wherever the 

 species exist, but the fascite are more highly developed in some specimens from Mhow in Cen- 

 tral India, taken by Colonel C. Swinhoe, than in any others that we have seen. On the 

 UPPERSIDE some specimens have distinct traces of ferruginous marks on the forewing showing 

 in this feature an approximation to AT. isnietie, but in all these cases the markings of the 

 underside are quite sufficient to establish their identity with M. leda. 



M. leda is extremely common in many parts of the country, and has a very wide range ; 

 it is found throughout the plains of India from Travancore to the Punjab, and also in Ceylon, 

 Burma, the Andamans, Malayana and China. It is on the wing more or less throughout the 

 year but is perhaps most common in the autumn. Details of the structure of AI. leda are 

 given on Plate I, copied from Horsfield's plate. 



Var. (a). UNDERSIDE with the fascia; and a distinct suffused marginal band ochreous or 

 ferruginous, the entire basal area also tinged with ochreous or ferruginous, the striation finer 

 and closer but equally uniform, the ocelli much smaller, and many of them often obsolete. 

 This variety has been found in Kulu in the N.-W. Himalayas, in Burma, at Poona in the 

 Deccan, and at Trevandrum in Travancore. It is distinctly intermediate between M. leda and 

 some varieties of M. asiva, not only in the style of the fasciae and marginal band, and in the 

 less distinct and prominent ocellation, but also in outline, for it has the costa more strongly 

 arched, and the forewing consequently broader than in M. leda, but never so much so as 

 in M. as7va, and this and its paler colouration will always serve to distinguish it from 

 M. aszaa in any of its forms. It appears to be a fairly constant form. 



The LARVA of 3f. leda, figured in Horsfield's Cat. Lep. E. I. C, pi. viii, fig. 9 (1829) 

 is green, covered with short hairs, and has several longitudinal streaks of a deeper green. 

 According to Colonel Lang it feeds on Sace/iatum raventice. The PUPA is figured on the 

 same plate (fig. 9a) and is green with yellow markings. 



244- Melanitis as-wa, Moore. 



Cylloaswtt, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc Lond., 1865, p. 769; C. tristis, Feldei, Reise Novara, I.ep., vol. iii, p. 

 464, n. 785 (1867); Melanitis suyudana, Moore, Horsfield and Moore, Cat. Lep. E. I C, vol. i, p. 224 n 466 

 (1857)- 



Habitat : India, Burma, Ceylon. 

 Expanse : 22 to 3 'o inches. 



Description : "Male : Upperside uniform dark brown, without spots or other markings. 

 Underside brown, uniformly covered with short grey striae. Foreiving with four or five 

 more or less defined apical ocelli, each composed of a black spot, white pupil, pale ferruginous 

 iris and dark brown outer circle, a marginal band ferruginous brown. Hindwing with a 

 transverse discal line and broad marginal band ferruginous brown ; a submarginal series of six 

 well-defined ocelli, each composed of a black spot, white pupil, ferruginous iiis, and dark 

 brown outer circle." (Moore, 1. c.) The female is apparently unknown. 



M. aiwa may always be distinguished from M. leda by the very dark brown colour of 

 the upperside, and by the peculiar shape of the forewing, the inner margin being long, and 

 the costa highly convex, giving great breadth to the wing ; the outer margin is typically even 

 and straight, or but slightly convex, but in some specimens the falcation is as distinct as in 

 some of M. leda, and in many a trace of it is perceptible. Typically also both wings are un- 

 spotted, but in some cases the forewing has one or two, or even three, white spots on a 

 blackish ground, and there is a single white spot indistinctly ringed with blackish on the lower 

 median interspace of the hindwing, and sometimes two others, one on either side of the first 

 spot. The underside also is much darker ; the fasciae are placed as in M. leda, var. {a\ but 

 are less distinct and more ferruginous in tone, and the striation is less uniform, being far 

 less distinct on the outer area. 



It inhabits much the same range as the variety of AT. leda referred to ; we have specimens 

 from Kulu, Sikkim, Sibsagar, Shillong, Burma, the Wynaad and Travancore. 



Var. tristis, Felder, (Plate XII, Fig. 27, male). Habitat: North India f/r/aVr>; South 

 India. Expanse : 2-6 to 3-0 inches. Description : "Male: Upperside obscure fuscous, paler 



