294 NVMniALID.E. MORPHIN.E. DISCOPHORA. 



Gentis 36.— DISCOPHORA, Boisduval. 



Z>Md'o/Aora, Boisduval, Spec, Gdn., vol. i, pi. xii, fig. 3 (1836) ; id , Westwood, Gen. D. L., vol. ii, p. 329 

 (i8sO. 



Body robust, very woolly. Head rather small, woolly, with a small woolly frontal tuft 

 [between the tips of the palpi] ; eyes large, prominent, broadly oval ; palpi compressed, 

 directed obliquely upwards and reaching as high as the level of the top of the eyes, almost 

 erect ; basal joint hairy beneath, middle joint scaly in front, but very hairy behind, the hairs 

 resting on the sides of the frontal tuft, terminal joint very short ; antetutiS not quite half 

 the length of the forewing, slender, terminated by a long and gradually formed but slender 

 club, finely carinated beneath, the seven terminal joints gradually acuminated. Thorax very 

 robust and woolly ; abdomen of moderate size. Forewing large, triangular ; casta much 

 arched ; apex acute ; outer margin straight, oblique or sliglitly concave ; hinder angle scarcely 

 rounded ; inner margin straight, nearly equal in length to the outer margin ; costal nervure 

 and first and second siilcostal nervules anastomosing for part of their length ; upper and 

 middle disco-cellulars both very short, the discoidal nervules originating close together near the 

 subcostal ; lozver disco-cellular long, but much shorter than is usual in this subfamily, 

 concave and closing the cell considerably beyond the origin of the second median nervule ; 

 submedian nervure nearly straight. HiNDWiNG with the costa slightly arched ; the outer margin 

 convex, sometimes angled at the extremity of the third median nervule, and slightly sinuate 

 throughout ; discoidal cell entirely open ; anal angle acuminate ; the anal margin convex 

 and highly channelled to receive the abdomen, and straight beyond the body. Forelegs 

 of the MALE small, very hairy ; those of the FEMALE rather longer, scaly, almost destitute of 

 hairs. 



" Larva long, cylindrical, with hairy tubercles ; extremity of the body armed with two 

 small conical spines. Pupa broadly boat-shaped, simple, widest across the wing-cases ; head- 

 piece acuminated into two long points." {IVesiwood, I.e.) 



The species of Discophora are very closely allied, and the markings of the underside are 

 of the same general pattern throughout the genus ; they are entirely Indo-Malayan, but extend 

 to North-East India, South India and Ceylon in the region of heavy rainfall. Nine species are 

 recognised, of which five are included in the Indian list, the other four inhabit the islands of 

 the Malay Archipelago. The upperside is typically brown of various shades, marked on the 

 forewing with three series of spots on the outer half, sometimes continued on the hindwing ; 

 and the variations consist in the more or less complete obsolescence of the spots on the one 

 hand, and in the development of a subapical fascia on the forewing on the other hand ; the 

 colour of the spots also differs in the different species. In all the species the male insect has 

 a prominent oval patch of raised plush-like scales on the upperside of the hindwing at the 

 lower end of the cell. 



Zey to the Indian species of Discophora. 



A. Males, upperside brown, with deep indigo-blue reflections, the spots ochreous. Females brown, with 



a broad subapical fulvous fascia on the forewing, 



a, Male<:, forewing with the submarginal series of spots usually complete, sometimes obso- 

 lescent, the discal and median series obsolete, except near the costa. 



a*. All the spots small and well separated. 



279. D. CBLINDB, N.-E. India, Burma, Andaman Isles, Malay Penin- 



sula, Java, Borneo. 



i'. The spots of the discal and median series near the costa large and tending to 

 coalesce into a subapical bar. 



280, D. NECHO, Tenasserim, Java. 



B. Male, upperside purplish brown, forewing with the spots large bluish-white, three (sometimes four) in 



number, the uppermost in the median, the rest in the discal series, but all arranged in a curved series 

 beyond the cell. Female, forewing with the three series of spots large bluish-white, the uppermost 

 of the median and discal series merged in a broad whitish fascia. 

 2S1. D. LEPiDA, St India, Ceylon. 



