56 LYCANIDA. SPALGIS. 
marks, and several outer transverse interrupted zigzag lines. FEMALE. UPPERSIDE, both wings 
paler. Forewing witha broader diffused white discal space, and a blackish disco-cellular lunu- 
lar mark, Cilia whitish. UNDERSIDE, doth wings whiter, markings bolder.- An/enne reddish, 
with black and white basal articulations. Zegs banded with brown.” 
“ LarvVA, pale green, the segments armed with elongated divergent pointed - processes. 
Feeds on Zuphorbiacee. Pupa, small, dilated in the middle.” (Moore, 1. c, in Lep. Cey-) 
The male of S. esis appears to be very constant in its markings, but the female varies’ 
considerably. In one extreme the upperside of the forewing has a diffused whitish patch on~ 
the disc as small as in the male, in the other extreme this patch occupies the whole surface 
except a costal and outer even border of the ground-colour, and the hindwing has much whitish 
diffused over the disc. The larva, as figured by Mr. Moore, isa most extraordinary object, and, 
as far as I know, quite unique amongst the Zycenide, It possesses numerous long diverging 
fleshy processes or tubercles, some of which are coloured green and others deep red. One of 
the figures of the pupa as shown in the “ Lepidoptera of Ceylon” is suspended head downwards 
by the tail like a Nymphalid pupa ; this is probably incorrect. It also is pale green marked 
with deep red like the larva, and has a large hump on the middle of the back. Mr. E.E. 
Green, of Pundul-oya, Ceylon, has sent me drawings of the larva and pupa of this species 
which are quite different from those given by Mr. Moore. Mr. Green writes : “I have several 
times reared an insect indistinguishable from S. esius from a carnivorous larva that associates 
with and feeds upon Dactylopius adonidum (the “ mealy-bug ” of planters). Mr. Moore, how- 
ever, figures a quite distinct larva for this species inhis ‘ Lepidoptera of Ceylon,’ and quotes 
Euphorbiacee as its food. Either there must be some error in Moore’s figure, or we have two 
distinct species or even genera, which are indistinguishable as imagines. My larvae were dull 
olive-green above with numerous minute dark bristles and a lateral fringe of brown hairs, 
beneath pale green, slightly suffused with pink on anterior segments. It partially covers and 
conceals itself with the mealy secretion from the Dactylofius. Pupa various shades of brown, 
wing-cases pale.” , 
The observations of Mr. Green’s are of very great interest, and I trust he will confirm 
them, though, as he has ‘several times” reared the larvze, there can hardly be any mistake on 
his part. It would be most desirable to rediscover the larva and pupa that Dr. Thwaites 
reared ; the peculiarities regarding it are many, and it appears possible that some mistake has 
occurred in his observations. The discovery of a carnivorous butterfly larva in India is par- 
ticularly interesting ; as far as I am aware only one other is known, Fenesica tarquinius, 
Fabricius, of the family Zycenidz, but placed by Mr. W. H. Edwards in the Memeobiine, 
and described fully by him in the Canadian Entomologist, vol. xviii, p. 141, ef seg, (1886). 
S, epius has been taken at Bholahat, Malda; it occurs in Sikkim in May, June, and Octo- 
ber somewhat rarely; ia Calcuttal took it twice in the Botanical Gardens on a bush 
named Randia dumetorum, Lamk., in August, 1882, and again in September, 1883; it 
occurs also in Orissa in January, March, Augustand December ; in Ganjam; at Bangalore 
in August and September; on Karanja, Bombay, in February, August and September ; 
in the Nilgiris on the lower slopes; in Travancore; in the ‘‘ Central Provinces, Ceylon, 
about flower-gardens, at 3,000 feet elevation, during February, very local” (Hutchison) ; 
“Kandy ; Kottawa forest, Galle, very common and easy to capture, likes shady places and high 
jungle” (Wade); and at Mergui, December. Everywhere but in Ceylon 5. epias appears to 
be a somewhat rare species, never occurring in large numbers. 
The figure shows both sides of a male specimen from Ceylon in the collection of the 
Indian Museum, Calcutta. 
643. Spalgis nubilus, Moore. 
S. nubilus, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1883, p. 522; id., Distant and Pryer, Ann. and Mag. of Nat. 
Hist., fifth series, vol. xix, p. 266, n. 107 (1887). 
HABITAT: South Andaman Isles, Borneo. 
EXPANSE: I'o inch. 
