LYCANID, CYANIRIS. 95 
674. Cyaniris akasa, Horsfield. 
Polyommatus akasa, Horsfield, Cat. Lep. Mus. E. I. Co., p. 67, n. 2, pl. i, figs. 1, 1a, male (1828) 5 Cyaniris 
akasa, Moore, Lep. Cey., vol. i, p. 75, pl. xxxiv, fig. 5, #e2/e (1881). 
Hasirat : Shevaroy, Nilgiri, Annamalai and Pulni Hills ; Ceylon ; Java ; Sambawa. 
EXPANSE: ¢, I'oto I'l; Q, 1°25 inches. 
DESCRIPTION : MALE “ UPPERSIDE, doth wings with the base blackish-brown, covered from 
the base to the disc with an azure irroration ; (and in one of our specimens the disc is marked 
with an obscure curved fascia of brown). Forewing with the disc white, a broad belt along 
the anterior and posterior margins blackish-brown. izdwing with almost the whole surface 
white, marked with a few scattered dots of blackish-brown and surrounded by a streak of the 
some colour, interior to which is an interrupted series of delicate brown lines. UNDERSIDE, 
both wings milky white. Forewing witha series of five short brown lines disposed in an 
interrupted curve towards the posterior margin, exterior to which are a few faint marginal 
dots, and a short transverse streak arises near the costa and extends to the middle of the disc. 
Hindwing has the marginal dots of a more intense tint and continued in a regular series along 
the posterior margin ; the disc is pervaded by a very irregularly-curved series of about seven 
dots, commencing near the anterior margin, the first being disposed in pairs; three solitary 
distant dots are placed in the order of a transverse line towards the base. About eighteen 
dots, in all, may be counted on the underside of the hindwing. <Azéenne banded with white ; 
they depart in a small degree from the regular type, and give the butterfly a peculiar aspect ; 
the club is strongly compressed and semi-contorted at its base, in consequence of which a 
swelling appears at the point of union with the filiform portion, which is not usual in this 
genus. Zhorax and abdomen agreeing with the adjoining tint of the wings on both surfaces.” 
“*Tn its physiognomy and in the distribution of the markings of the lower surface, it 
resembles the ?. [=C.] arvgiolus, Linneeus, of the British Fauna.” (orsfield, 1. c.) 
Dr. Horsfield does not give the sex of the two specimens he described ; they appear to 
have been males, however, as he mentions the blue gloss on the upperside. Mr. Moore seems to 
take the opposite view, as in his ‘‘ Lepidoptera of Ceylon” he describes the female as blue-glossed, 
but says nothing about that colour in the male. I append his description.* I have only seen 
two specimens of what I take to be females in Colonel Swinhoe’s collection, one from the 
Annamalai Hills, Travancore, one from Ceylon ; the latter is marked ‘‘ Cyaniris akasa, 
Horsfield, ¢’’ in Mr. Moore’s handwriting. These specimens have broader wings than the 
males, the white area on the upperside of both wings more extensive, no blue gloss, and the 
marginal blackish dots on the hindwing obsolete. In both sexes the broad outer black 
margin to the forewing on the upperside ends in the middle of the submedian interspace, being 
continued to the anal angle by a narrow black anteciliary line, exactly as inthe male of C. 
alboceruleus. C. akasa, as far as is known at present, has a very restricted range, being 
confined to the hills of South India, to Ceylon, Java,and Sambawa. On the Nilgiris Mr. 
G. F. Hampson says it is confined to the plateau, where it is very common at 6,000 to 
8,000 feet. 
675. Cyaniris vardhana, Moore. 
Polyommatus vardhana, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1874, p. 572, pl. Ixvi, fig. 5, male; Cyantris 
vardhana, id., |. c., 1882, p. 244; id., Butler, 1, c., 1886, p. 367, n. 443; idem, id., Ann and Mag. of Nat. 
Hist., sixth series, vol. i, p. 147, n. 49 (1888). 
HaBiTaT: Western Himalayas. 
EXPANSE: 6,1°5to1'6; 9, 1°4 to 1'7 inches. 
* “Mare, Uppersipe, doth wings white. Forewing with the base, costal and exterior borders to near the 
posterior angle broadly dusky brown, and a very faintly indicated slender disco-cellular streak. Hindwing 
with the base of costal border brown, base of abdominal border brownish-grey, a delicate brown outer marginal 
line and a row of very small indistinct spots. UNDERSIDE, Joth wings white. Forewing with a slender 
blackish disco-cellular streak, a curved discal series of five or six waved short linear streaks, and a marginsl 
row of indistinct small spots. Aindwing with three subbasal black spots, and a discal curved series of irregular- 
shaped spots. FEMALE. UPPERSIDE, forewing with the brown marginal band diffused along the posterior 
border, where it is slightly glossed with blue, the white disc also being blue-glossed. Hindwing with the 
brown costal band and exterior marginal line and spots more distinct, the abdominal border also more distinctly 
glossed with blue, JZegs with black bands; Ja/i black above and fringed with black beneath,” (AZoore, |. c.) 
