LYCNIDA. CYANIRIS. 97 
season (spring and autumn) differs very considerably: the white area on the upperside 
of both wings is of greater extent, the black costal, apical and outer margins are about 
half as wide, the hindwing has the costal area alone black, the outer margin with a series 
of connected lunules, a series of small black dots beneath these, and a fine anteciliary black 
line. All the black spots on the underside of both wings are very much less prominent and 
smaller than in the wet-season form. In Sikkim there is a fresh brood on the wing at the end 
of February, and perfect specimens are to be met with throughout the rest of the year. Mr. 
Doherty has described the female as above, but I can find no character by which to 
distinguish it from that of C. pwspa, Horsfield. Mr. Moore has also described the female, but I 
am unable to identify it from his description, The male of C. marginata is easily distinguished, 
as, except C. akasa, Horsfield, C. vardkana, Moore, and C. melena, Doherty, it is the only 
species which has the costal area on the upperside of the forewing ir the male broadly black. 
Colonel Lang states that C. ~arginata occurs ‘‘ rarely in Naini Tal from 5,500 to 6,500 
feet, June, August, and September.” The species has a very limited range, occurring in the 
Himalayas from Kumaon to Sikkim, reappearing in Upper Burma, In the Phayre Museum, 
Rangoon, is a male frem Fort Stedman. 
As both Mr. Moore and I described this species about the same time, I append his 
description for reference. * 
677. Cyaniris melana, Doherty. 
C. melena, Doherty, Journ, A. S. B., vol. lviii, pt. 2, p. (1889), 
HABITAT: Tenasserim Valley, Burma, 
EXPANSE: @, I‘I to I‘2 inches. 
DEscRIPTION : “ MALE. UPPERSIDE, do¢ wings dark dull blue, resplendent in some lights ; 
no whitish patch. Forewing has the blue extending over less than half the surface, sometimes 
extending above the upper discoidal nervule beyond the cell, the black area very large, occupy. 
ing the upper part of the cell, widening at the anal angle, and extending over more than a third 
of the inner margin. indwing, the blue occupies hardly more than a third of the surface, and 
does not approach either the costal or abdominal margin. Cvzdia whitish. UNDERSIDE, 
goth wings grey-white, with a slight silvery lustre. orewing with a streak across the end of 
the cell; a curved discal line of six dark streaks set in paler rings, the second, third, fourth, 
and fifth outwardly oblique, the fifth and sixth removed inwardly ; a submarginal row of 
joined ocellus-like spots, consisting of a dark lunule, enclosing a pale dark-pupilled spot; a 
marginal dark line. Azzdwing with three distinct basal spots, a streak across the end of the 
cell, a very irregular series of discal spots, the first very large and black near the costa, the 
second minute near the first but more basal, the next four forming an oblique crescent (the 
fifth small, the sixth larger, nearest the base), the seventh large, removed outwardly, the eighth 
(between the submedian and the internal nervures) smaller and nearer the base; the 
submarginal ecelli are as in the forewing, the inner lunular line more serrate. FEMALE 
unknown.” 
‘* This species, which is the darkest Cyanir7s known, was taken inthe Tenasserim Valley in 
February, but in the rains it is perhaps confined to higher lands. An apparently identical 
species is found in the Malay Peninsula at a considerable height, and seems to be C. jyxteana, 
Distant (ec de Nicéville).” Mr. Doherty may be correct in identifying his C. me/ena with the 
specimen described and figured by Mr. Distant as C. jyteana, and judging by the markings of 
the underside and the width of the black border of the forewing on the upperside in Distant’s 
figure, I think he is right ; to set against this is the fact that Mr. Moore identified Mr. Distant’s 
specimen for him, recognised it as his own species, which he is hardly likely to have done 
* “ Allied to C. pusfa, Horsfield. Mave. Uprrrsibe, doth wings with the black marginal borders twice 
the width of those in C. fuspa, the upper discal area also more prominently white. /ovewsng with the black 
costal border extending its width half across the cell. FEMALE. UPppkeRSIDE, 0th wings darker than in the 
same sex of C. fuspa, the pale discal area of less width. UNDERSIDE, doth wings similarly marked,” (Maore, 
l.c.) ‘The above description evidently applies to the rains form of this species. 
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