254 NYMPH ALID.E. SATYRIN.E. MELANITIS. 



at the maifjins. Underside : Both wings obscure fenuginousswaithy, densely and finely varie- 

 gated with white. Foreiviug with five minute ocelli, arranged as in C. Icda \ = M. ledd\. Hind- 

 wiug with an obsolete ferruginous discal streak, subangulate externally, with six ocelli much 

 smaller than in C. leda. The form of the wings diflers propovtionally from all the examples of 

 C. leda from many localities now before us. The foreiviug is longer in the inner margin ; the 

 hindiviug likewise is broader, but shorter within than in C. leda." {Felder, Reise Novara, Lep., 

 vol. iii, p. 464, n. 785 (1867). 



Al. tristis is clearly distinct from M. leda, but we are unable to find any character which 

 satisfactorily separates it from M. aszua, of which it appears to be merely a variety. The paler 

 margins of the upperside, and the extent to which the ferruginous bands of the underside are 

 developed show much variation in different specimens. The figure shows the upper and 

 undersides of a male specimen from the Wynaad, in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. 



Var. siiyudana, Moore. Habitat: Java {Moore), Ceylon. Expanse: 2'6 to 2-8 inches. 

 Description : " Upperside deep dark brown, paler on the margins ; a single whitish spot 

 near the apex of the forewing, and a minute dot on the hindwing. Underside deep mottled 

 ferruginous-brown, with indistinct darker usually transverse streaks ; a triangular space of 

 mottled greyish-white from the costal margin near the apex, Hindwing with six small pale spots 

 centred with a white dot." (Tl/c^c?^^, Horsfield and Moore, Cat. Lep. E. I. C, vol. i, p. 224, 

 n. 466, 1857.) 



We have two specimens from Ceylon which answer very closely to this description. In one 

 of them the upperside is immaculate, but the underside of both agree almost exactly. The 

 outer margin of the forewing is very slightly angled. As a species it appears inseparable from 

 AI. as7i'a, but the subapical triangular pale patch on the underside of the forewing is more 

 prominent than in any specimens of M. aswa we have seen. It is not included in Moore's 

 •' Lepidoptera of Ceylon." 



245. Melanitis bela, Moore. 



M. beltt, Moore, Horsfield and Moore, Cat. Lep. E. I. C, vol. i. p. 223, n 465 (1857), 



Habitat : Eastern Himalayas, Assam, Tenasserim, South India. 



Expanse : 2-9 to 3-3 inches. 



Description : '-Upperside deep dusky-brown. Fore7ving\\\\.\\ a small indistinct ferruginous 

 streak, below which the space is blackish ; the two usual white spots. Hindtving with one 

 minute white dot. Underside deep mottled ferruginous-brown : triangular patch near the 

 apex of the /(7/vzi7/«_o paler. Mwflfii://;;^ with six spots. " {Moore, I.e.) The female is slightly 

 paler than the male, and the wings broader, but it is identical in markings. 



M. bela, as found in North-Eastern India, appears to be less variable than the other species 

 of Melanitts ; the upperside is very dark brown, the margins irrorated with ashy, most 

 broadly about the apex of the forewing ; the ferruginous streak from the costa is never very 

 distinct, and often scarcely discernible, the black patch is indistinct ; the white spots are 

 almost invariably both present and prominent, the upper one the larger ; and there is almost 

 always a single submarginal white dot on the hindwing on the lower median interspace, and 

 sometimes another on the upper median interspace. On the underside too it is compara- 

 tively constant, sometimes the ferruginous tint, sometimes an ashy grey tint prevails, but 

 usually the basal half is somewhat darker than the lest ; and the ground-colour is variegated 

 by dark brown mottlings tending to coalesce in irregular patches, and with greyish mottliiigs 

 indistinctly grouped into transverse bars on the forewing ; the ocelli are blurred and often 

 indistinct, and the addition of a few ochreous dots completes the resemblance to a dark and 

 withered leaf. The forewing is moderately falcate in all the specimens we have seen. 



From South India we have a fairly typical specimen taken by Mr. G. Vidal at Khandalla 

 on the 4th April ; and a very curious variety taken by Mr. Rhodes Morgan in the Wynaad 

 in which the ocelli of the underside on the forewing are placed on a series of diffused white 

 patches largest on either side of the upper median nervule. It also seems not unlikely from 



