NYMPHALID.E, SATYRIN.E. MELANITIS. 255 



the descriptions that M. varaha and M. go/-:ala aie merely South Indian varieties of M. /v/a, 

 and from the figures that A/, tambra is a variety from Ceylon, but on these points we are 

 as yet unable to speak definitely. 



M. kid is not uncommon in Sikkim, and at Sibsagar in Upper Assam. Captain C. II. E. 

 Adamson took it at Akyab in October, Captain C. T. Bingliam took it in Tenasserim in 

 the Meplay Valley in January and February, and in the upper and lower Thoungyeen 

 forests in March, April and May ; and Mr. Harold Fergusson has sent a single specimen 

 from I'ravancore. 



246. Melanitis tamlDra, Moore. 



M. taiitbra, Moore, Lep. Cey., p. 15, pi. ix, figs. 2, 2/', ntak; ia, female ; 2c, larva and^iipa (i88o), 



Habitat : Ceylon, 



Expanse : <?, 2-5 ; ? , 275 inches. 



Description : "Male : Uppersidk dark dusky olive-brown. Fornoing ferruginous- 

 brown at the apex, with a subapical small white spot (in some specimens an indistinct lower 

 spot), and an indistinct black contiguous spot. /^/«^/iw«^ without markings. Underside 

 dusky-ferruginous or purple-ferruginous, nervures speckled with pale ochreous, basal area 

 densely covered with dark purple-ferruginous strigce. forming three confluent irregular fasciae 

 on the forewing, but more uniformly disposed on the hindwing, which has a narrow 

 discal fascia only. Foreioing with a pale triangular costal space before the apex, and four 

 small ochreous brown-ringed spots, the penultimate spot with a contiguous inner white spot, 

 posterior margin broadly dull sap-brown. Hindimng with a pale ochreous space and a con- 

 tiguous dusky spot within end of the cell ; disc transversely washed with greyish-purple, a 

 submarginal row of small ochreous brown-ringed spots. Female : Upperside ferruginous 

 olive-brown. Fomving with a subapical dusky-black patch extending paler across end of the cell 

 to costal nervure, and suffusedly bordered externally and across the apex with paler ferruginous, 

 and centred with two white spots, the lowest spot small or obsolete. Rindzving with three 

 or four lower submarginal small white spots. Underside ferruginous; strigre, transverse 

 fascice, and outer border dark ferruginous, subapical spots on foreiving and submarginal spots 

 on hindiving with double rings and whitish centre, the penultimate subapical spot with a con- 

 tiguous inner larger whitish spot. Body brown. Legs ferruginous." 



"Larva elongated, thickened in the middle ; head with two long pubescent red processes ; 

 last segment also with two processes ; green with longitudinal and transverse darker lines ; 

 face striped with red. Pupa green ; head and thorax flattened," {Moore, \. c.) 



"Found in the western and central provinces of Ceylon. Plains and up to 3,000 feet, 

 June to September. Habits same as M. leda." (Hutchison). 



The figures given by Moore do not at all answer to his description quoted above. The' 

 MALE is shown as having the upperside dark brown, the margins irrorated with pale ashy 

 brown ; the forewing with the usual two white spots and a well-defined oval ochreous patch 

 on the costa, the hindwing unmarked ; the female is dark brown, slightly paler and mottled 

 with blackish on the margin; the forewing with a single indistinct white spot, the middle 

 of the costa suffused with ferruginous and mottled with blackish ; the hindwing unmarked. 

 The UNDERSIDE is shown as uniform dark chestnut brown, slightly paler at the margins, 

 and with very indistinct darker stride; a single ferruginous brown discal streak on each 

 wing ; the forewing with a single pure white spot, the hindwing with four submarginal 

 ochreous spots and two similar spots at the end of the cell ; a few whitish scales along 

 the nervules at apex of forewing and abdominal half of hindwing. In the figures of the 

 upperside the outer margin of the forewing is falcated, in that of the underside it is straight 

 and nearly even. 



We have seen no specimens and can make nothing satisfactory of this species ; from the 

 description it appears to be allied to M. aswa, var. suyndana, which also occurs in Ceylon ; 

 but from the figures it would seem to be merely a variety of M. bda, 



34 



