264 XYMPHALID.E. ELYMNIIN.^. ELYMNIAS. 



Ergalis and Byblia of the Nymphalince. In the clothing of the palpi they resemble Mdanitis, 

 which in this respect is an aberrant genus of Satynntv, but the short wide cell in both wings 

 closed at the origin of the second median nervule, the brilliant colouring which among the 

 SatyriiKE is only approached in CaliUs, the almost universal absence of ocellation, the fre- 

 quency of an irregular dentate outline of the wings, and above all the highly mimetic 

 character of the species, make it a group by itself, and justify its retention as a separate 

 subfamily ; it appears to have little in common with the Morphince except in its habits, and 

 perhaps in the brilliant colours of the upperside. 



The subfamily consisted, till comparatively recently, of a single genus— ^/j'w/naj-. In 1869 

 Mr. A. R. Wallace, in a paper on Eastern Butterflies (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1869, p. 321) 

 wrote: "It is interesting to observe that the species from the Austro-Malayan islands 

 form a compact group, distinguished by a regular and somewhat rounded outline of wings, 

 and resembling in colouration some of the broad winged Eiiplaas, or the genus Drusilla 

 [a peculiar genus of MorphitKV which now stands under the name Tanaris, confined to the 

 ^lalayan archipelago] ; while the species of India and the Indo-Malayan islands are almost 

 always characterised by a more irregular outline, waved, dentate, or even caudate, and generally 

 coloured like species of Datiais, or the more elongate forms of Euplcea." Following on this in 

 1S71, Mr. A. G. Butler (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1871, p. 518) in a monograph of the sub- 

 family divided it into two genera, Elymnias and Dyctis, basing the division mainly on the 

 character of the neuration of the hindwing, and omitting the features of outline indicated by 

 Mr. Wallace, for though the genus Dyctis as defined, embraces all the Austro-Malayan species, 

 it also includes several of the Indian and Indo-Malayan species ; some of the latter being in- 

 distinguishable, so far as outline is concerned, from species which are retained as true Elyfunias. 

 In a highly mimetic subfamily such as this, outline is a feature on which little reliance can 

 be placed as a generic character, and style of colouration is of little use even for the 

 determination of minor groups within a genus ; even the style of neuration is not 

 always a safe guide, but as there is a well-marked diff'erence in the shape of the 

 disco-cellular nervules of the hindwing to separate Dyctis from Elymnias, we retain them as 

 distinct. 



The ElvmniincE are forest-loving insects, with a weak flight, frequenting dense undergrowth 

 or bush jungle, and usually avoiding the open sunshine ; they are all tropical or sub-tropical 

 insects, and within our limits are only found in the region of heavy rainfall, in Ceylon, the 

 hills of South India and along the East Coast to Bengal ; thence they stretch westwards along 

 the warm valleys of the outer Himalayas as far east as Mussoorie, and eastwards through 

 Assam, Sylhet and Burma into the Malay peninsula. 



Genus 31.— ELYMITIAS, HUbner. (Plate XVII.) 



Elymnias, Hubner, Verz. bek. Schmett., p. 37 (1816); Mdanitis (part), Fabricius, III. Mag., vol. vi, p. 282 

 (1807) ; id , Westwood, Gen. D. L., vol ii p. 403 (1851) ; Bibtis (part), Latreille, Enc. Mdth., vol. ix, p. 10 

 (1819) ; Elymnias (restricted), Butler, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1871, p. 519. 



Characters of the subfamily, but with the lower disco-cellular nervule of the hindwing 

 highly concave from the origin of the discoidal nervule. 



The butterflies of this genus vary much in outline, but with the single exception of 

 E. penanga all the Indian species have the outer margin of the forewing perceptibly dentate, the 

 hindwing is dentate in all, and in many of them strongly caudate. E. penanga has three black 

 ocellular dots on the underside of the hindwing ; E. obnubila has a complete submarginal 

 series of small ocellular spots, and E. mimtis has them largely developed ; in E. undidaris 

 and some of its allies the only trace of the series is a silvery subcostal spot ; the magnified 

 pupil of an obsolete ocellus, and sometimes as many as four smaller spots, one in each 

 interspace, from the anal angle, but in no other Indian species of the restricted genus is there 

 any trace of ocellation whatever. Of the species which have blue markings on the upperside, 

 E. nndularis and its allies are distinguished by having the outer margin of the hindwing ferrugi- 

 nous or fulvous, the blue markings being confined to a submarginal series of spots on the 

 forewing ; E. penanga has a large blue patch on both wings, with paler blue streaks in it on 



