NYMrHALID/E. ACR.^INTE. TELCIIINIA. 319 



nervule. ///«(/to/;/?' with a series of four blackish spots, one in each interspace outside the 

 cell from the first median nervule ; a marginal highly dentate line leaving a series of yellow 

 spots on the margin, one in each interspace, this line more or less coalescing with a submar- 

 ginal series of diffused spots, the space between them being richer ochrcous. Underside, 

 paler. Foravhtg marked as above, but the space between the angulated discal streak and a 

 submarginal ochreous band whitish ; the margin ochreous, bearing a highly dentate blackish 

 line, obsolete at the apex. Himhoing with two sulimarginal black lines, the outer lunulate, 

 the points of each lunule resting on the margin at the ends of the nervules, and the inner 

 irregular, the space between them rich ochreous. Between the inner black line and the 

 end of the cell is a broad band of whitish extending from the costa to the abdominal 

 margin. Collar and costal base of the forevving rich ochreous, body black, marked 

 with two series of round whitish spots. The markings of the female are usually darker 

 than in the male. 



A. vesta is a very variable species ; in some specimens the black markings coalesce every- 

 where leaving only spots of ochreous on the forewing, which on that wing vary in tone from 

 deep ochreous to pale whitish buff; in others again the black markings are confined to a 

 narrow band on the costa of the forewing, and on the outer margin of both wings bearing 

 a complete series of large ochreous spots ; thedisco-cellulars of the forevving are broadly black, 

 and all the rest of the nervures of both wings are narrowly pencilled black. Between these two 

 extremes every gradation is found. The size of the insect too varies greatly. 



"Larva feeds on the willow-leaved nettle ( Bvhcemeria salicifolia). Imago, July to Sep- 

 tember. Eggs deposited in September, and hatch in about twenty days. Length of young 

 larva three to four lines, entirely black. When about three weeks old they moult and then 

 hibernate, re-appearing in the following April. They moult again early in May, when they 

 assume the red head. The larvse generally feed on the upper branches of the plant, are 

 gregarious, and drop to the ground when disturbed. Third moult early in June, about the 

 middle of which month they suspend themselves by the tail near the bottom of the stems of 

 the bushes, and there change to the pupa state. The imago appears in about fifteen days, 

 in the first or second week in July. A few come out in August and September, but not in 

 sufficient numbers to constitute a succession of broods. The imago is seldom found far fiom 

 the food-plant, which grows near running water." {A. Gia/iam Young, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 Lond., 1882, p. 243). 



A. vesta is found, locally, throughout the Himalayas from the Chenab to Sikkim and 

 extending through the Khasi hills to Upper Burma. Major C. H. T. Marshall has taken it in 

 Chumba in May and June. Mr. A. Graham Young records the following note of its occurrence 

 in Kulu . — 



"It is a very local insect, but, where occurring, abundant. It is to be found in wet 

 ravines at from 3,000 to 4,000 feet elevation in Kulu. It is not a rapid flier and is easily cap- 

 tured ; when at rest it may be taken with the fingers. It is very constant in its appearance 

 frequenting the same localities year after year. The imago does not hibernate." (Note by Mr. 

 A. Graham Youttg, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1882, p. 243.) 



Freiherrn v. Hiigel took it at Mussoorie ; Mr. E. T. Atkinson records it from the 

 submontane tracts of Kumaon. In Sikkim Mr. de Nic^ville met with it in profusion at 

 from 2,000 to 7,000 feet elevation in October, the larvae covering the weeds all along the 

 cart-road between Chunabati and Darjiling ; in Simla he only met with it in a limited area of 

 about 200 yards in the bed of a stream ; and the Indian Museum has specimens from Bhutan, 

 Sibsagar, the Dafla and Khasi hills, and from Upper Burma. 



Genus 43.-TELCH:NIA, lUil.ner. 



Telchini/!, Hiibner, Verz. bek Schmett , p. 27 (i8i6) ; id., Moore, Lep. Cey., p. 65 (1881) ; Acrc^a, section iv, 

 Tekhiuia, Doubleday, Gen. D. L., vol. i, p. 141 (1848). 



"Forewing narrow, triangular; costa slightly arched towards the end, apex scarcely 

 rounded; exterior margin oblique, slightly convex ; inner margin short. Costal ntxvxw^ extend- 

 ing to two-thirds of the maigin : first subcostal nervule emitted at a short distance before the 



42 



