268 NYMPHALID^, ELYMNIIN^. ELYMNIAS. 



are scarcely distinguishable from some Indian examples of E. undularis, but the females are in 

 both cases widely different from that sex of E. undularis ; whereas in the variety from Ceylon, 

 E, fraterna, it is the male sex that is differentiated, the female being scarcely distinguish- 

 able from that sex of E. undularis. In E. discrepans the female is only partially differentiated 

 from the male insect, while in E. uigrescens the female closely resembles the male in general 

 style of colour. 



258. Elymnias fraterna, Butler. 



E. fraterna, Butler, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1871, p. 520, pi. xlii, fig. -i, male ; id., Moore, Lep. Ceylon, 

 vol. i, p. 25, pi. xiii, figs, i, male; la, female ; ib, larva zxiApupa (1880). 



Habitat : Ceylon. 



Expanse : i, 2-65 to 3-1 ; ?, 3*0 to 3-4 inches. 



Description: "Male: Upperside dark purple-brown. Fomving \v\i\\. the exterior 

 margin slightly fulvous ; an oblique subapical indistinct blue maculated fascia. Hindiuingw'xi'h. 

 a broad fulvous marginal band having paler centres between the nervules. Underside dark 

 purplish-ferruginous, a triangular apical space and outer borders broadly covered with numer- 

 ous grey-brown strigte, the basal areas also with more regularly disposed strigce, a distinct 

 bluish-white spot on the anterior border of the hindwing. Female: Upperside blackish 

 purple-brown. Forewing\v\\\\ the basal and discal areas fulvous, a subapical oblique purple-white 

 fascia and three lower marginal spots. Hindiuing with the basal and discal area fulvous, the 

 median nervules and abdominal area grey-speckled, a marginal row of four bluish-white spots. 

 Underside as in the male, but paler, the basal area slightly fulvous, and the strigse on the 

 borders more prominent." {Moore, 1. c.) 



" Larva elongated, slightly thickened in the middle, pubescent ; head small, yellow, 

 surmounted by two pink pubescent processes, last segment also with two processes ; green, with 

 three lateral yellow lines, the upper line ornamented with chrome-yellow spots, and the fifth to 

 eighth segments with a red or blue spot. Feeds on Palmaceix. Pupa green, with longitudinal 

 yellow streaks bordered by red streaks or spots ; head and thorax flattened, with three short 

 tubercles." {Moore, 1. c. ) 



E. fraterna is nothing more than a local variety of E. undularis ; the females are indis- 

 tinguishable, but the males have the ferruginous, border of the hindwing narrower and brighter, 

 and scarcely any trace of the bluish marks on the forewing ; the underside is also paler. A 

 specimen oi E. undularis from Akyab in British Burma, taken by Captain C. H. E. Adamson, 

 approaches more nearly to E. fraterna than any continental specimen we have seen. 



259. Elymnias cottonis, Hewitson. 



Melanitis cottonis, Hewitson, Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., fourth series, vol. xiv, p. 352(1874): Elymnias 

 eottonis, Wood-Mason and de Niceville, Journ. A. S. B., vol. 1, pt. ii, p. 245 (iSBi). 



Habitat : South Andamans. 



Expanse : (J, 2-5 ; ? , 3'i inches (Heioitson) ; yoo to 3*35 inches. 



Description: "Male. Upperside dark red-brown. y^t^/Z^ tw«^.f with the outer margins 

 rufous. /v/'dYM'//^ with the costal margin lilac-blue. Underside as above, undulate with 



are very faintly visible in Malaccan male specimens in the same collection). Female: \Jrris.iiiiDK, /oreifinp 

 dark glossy fuscous, with the basal area more or less suffused with castaneous-red, with the bluish subapical 

 fascia and submarginal spots as in the male, but which are much larger and paler in colour. Hiiidnving fuscous, 

 becoming paler towards the outer margin (the outer margin is sometimes dull ochraceous), and with a submargi- 

 nal row of four white spots placed between the nervules, of which the first and smallest is placed above the 

 discoi'jal nervule, and the fourth is situate between the second and third median nervules (a fifth small and faintly 

 marked spot is found in some specimens between the third median nervule and submedian nervure). These spot.s 

 are very inconstant, being practically obsolete in some specimens. Undurside similar in pattern and colouration 

 to that of the same sex of E. discrepans." 



" This species or race is one which affords much difficulty and doubt as to its distinctive position. I have 

 neither seen nor received any male specimens from Province Welleslcy, though females are not uncommon from 

 that district. The British Museum, however, posseses several male specimens which were collected by Captain 

 Pinwill in Malacca, but these do not altogether agree with the P,ornean typical specimen described by Butler. 

 The difference is principally that of faintness or partial obliteration of the submarginal white spots to the hindwing, 

 but as this is a variable character in female specimens, collected in such a limited area as Province Wellesley, 

 I naturally predicate the same amount of variability in the other sex. Another peculiarity of E. fiigresceus is the 

 considerable similarity of the sexes. Are E. discrepans and E. nigrescens but seasonable varieties of one 

 species? This is neither impossible nor improbable." (Distant, Rhop. Malay., p. 6i, pi. vi, fig. i. male; 

 pi. ix, fig. I, yirw.r/^ 1 1882). There is a single specimen of a female of this species in the Indian Museum, 

 Calcutta, from Sinkip Island, which agrees very closely with Diitant's description and figure, 



