120 LYCANIDA:. ZIZERA. 
‘‘T have received a fine series of this species, which proves (as could be reasonably 
expected) that the species is subject to considerable variation both in size and in the distinct- 
ness of the markings on the underside of the wings. It also appears to be a very abundant 
lyceenid in the Malay Peninsula.” (Distant, 1. c.) 
The correct identification of this species seems to have puzzled several writers. 
‘Mr. Elwes* says that Mr. Moore refers specimens from Shanghai of Z. avgia, Ménétriés, 
to LZ. otus [=L. otis], Fabricius. Z. argia is almost certainly a synonym of Z. maha, 
Kollar, which can have nothing to do with the present species. Again Mr. Triment 
says that Z. lysimon, Hiibner, is probably “ the ofis of Fabricius (1787), but it is impossible 
to decide the point from that author’s descriptions,” If Mr. Butler is correct in saying ¢ 
that ‘‘Z. lysizone, Snellen, is identical with” Z. ofis, Fabricius, then the latter species 
cannot be confounded with Z. dysimon, though Mr, Butler remarks § that Z. ofis, ‘‘ though 
allied to Z. Zystmon, Hiibner, is sufficiently distinct to rank as a species.” 
I propose, as in the case of Z. maha, Kollar, and Z. lysimon, Hiibner, to keep separately 
the different descriptions and names which have been applied synonymically in my opinion 
to this species. As pointed out by Mr. Distant, there is much variability in this species ; 
in the male the outer black border to the wings on the upperside is sometimes narrow, 
sometimes very broad; the female has sometimes much blue at the base of the wings 
on the upperside, sometimes none at all. The markings of the underside in both sexes 
vary too ; insome specimens they are quite obsolete, rendering identification very difficult, 
in others they are very prominent. I have no doubt that much of this variation is due to 
seasonal causes ; the specimens which are inconspicuously marked on the underside occurring 
in the dry and cold seasons, the prominently marked ones in the rains, and so on. 
In the “ Habitat” above I have given only the localities recorded by the authors referred 
to in the synonymy of the species, but taken in the broad sense in which I view it, Z. ofis 
occurs in the outer Himalayas, throughout continental and peninsular India, in Ceylon, the 
Andaman and Nicobar Isles, Assam, from the Chittagong district to Singapore, in Java, 
and in China. 
I have bred the larva of this species in Calcutta, but made no notes regarding it. It is 
very similar to the larva of Z. maha, and feeds on Alysicarpus vaginalis. 
The figure shows both sides of a male specimen in my collection from Khurdah, Orissa, 
704. Zizera sangra, Moore. 
Polyommatus sangra, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1865, p. 772, pl. xli, fig. 8, #aZe; idem, id., 1. c., 
1877, p. 588; Lycena sangra, Butler, Proc, Zool. Soc. Lond., 1880, p. 668, n. 16; idem, id., Journ, 
Linn. Soc. Lond., Zoology, second series, vol. i, p. 548, n. 4 (1877); Zizera sangra, de Nicéville, Journ. A. S. B., 
vol. liv, pt. 2, p. 46, n. 64 (1885) ; id., Doherty, 1.c., vol. lv, pt. 2, p. 133, mn. 176; id., Wood-Mason and 
de Nicéville, 1.c., p. 365, m. 112; id., Moore, Journ. Linn. Soc. Lond,, Zoology, vol. xxi, p. 39 (1886) ; 
id., Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1886, p. 427, n. 47. 
Hasirat: Bengal ; Port Blair, South Andamans ; Kamorta, Nicobars; Mergui Archi- 
pelago (Afvore) ; Calcutta, Sikkim (de Nicéville) ; Cachar ; Andamans and Nicobars (Wood- 
Mason and de Nicéville) ; Ranibagh, Jhulaghat, 1—2,000 feet, Kumaon (Doherty); Mhow, 
October to February (Swinhoe) ; Malacca, Penang, Formosa (Bziéler). 
ExpANSE: @, °7 inch. 
DESCRIPTION : “‘MALE. UPPERSIDE, doth wings pale purple-blue, the exterior mar- 
gin pale purple-brown. Cilia pale grey. UNDERSIDE, doth wings pale grey. Forewing 
with a blackish white-bordered streak closing the cell, a row of transverse discal spots, a 
marginal and submarginal row of lunules. AHindwing with markings the same, and with 
an additional subbasal row of three similar spots. a/fi and body beneath and “gs white.” 
(Moore, 1. c. in Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1865.) 
* Proc. Zool Soc. Lond., 1881, p. 888. 
+ South-Afr. Butt., vol. ii, p. 46 (1887). 
} Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., fifth series, vol, xviii, p. 186, n. 29 (1886), 
§ Cat. Fab, Lep. 8. M., p. 169, n. 7 (1869). 
