214 LYCAENID/E. IRAOTA. 
In the forewing the costa is bent at the base, a little excised in the middle, for the rest 
straight ; the apex is rounded ; the outer margin is at first convex, then concave ; the inner 
angle obliquely cut off inwardly ; the inner margin straight ; costal nervure ending opposite 
the apex of the discoidal cell ; first subcostal nervule bent upwards near its base towards the 
costal nervure, which it does not quite touch ; second subcostal with its base midway between 
the bases of the first subcostal and upper discoidal nervules ; third subcostal long, originating 
from the subcostal nervure nearer to the apex of the wing than to the base of the upper dis- 
coidal ; fourth subcostal (present in the male only) short, originating close to the apex of the 
wing ; the terminal portion of the subcostal nervure reaching the margin below the apex of 
the wing in the male, at the apex in the female ; lower discoidal nervule given off from the 
upper discoidal some little distance from the origin of the latter ; discoidal cell broadest in 
the middle ; no upper or middle disco-cellular nervules ; lower disco-cellular originating from 
the lower discoidal immediately after its origin, upright, slightly concave ; second median 
nervule originating a little before the lower end of the cell; submedian nervure straight. 
Hindwing with the costa evenly curved; the outer margin in the male straight, inwardly 
oblique: in the female the wing is broader and the outer margin is evenly rounded throughout, 
it is slightly scalloped in the male, more prominently so in the female; a large anal lobe ; a 
somewhat short tail from the termination of the submedian nervure, which is often twice as long 
in the female as it is in the male, sometimes with a second longer tail at the termination of the 
first median nervule in the male; the female has always a second tail at the termination 
of the first median nervule, about half as long as the inner tail, and sometimes a third 
tail (the shortest of all) at the termination of the second median nervule ; the costal nervure 
is much arched at base, curved throughout its length ; the first subcostal nervule is also curved, 
given off rather close to the apex of the cell ; the upper disco-cellular is slightly concave, 
outwardly oblique; the lower disco-cellular is also concave but less outwardly oblique 
than the upper; the second median nervule is given off very near to the lower end of the 
cell ; the submedian nervure is slightly recurved, the internal nervure is long and highly recurved. 
The antenne are more than half as long as the costa of the forewing. The eyes are naked. 
The male has a very small tuft of black hairs attached to the underside of the inner margin of 
the forewing just before the middle ; the glandular space in the hindwing described by Mr. 
Moore is quite rudimentary. 
Jraota and the preceding genus (A mlypodia, Horsfield) are structurally the most aberrant of 
the Indian Zycenide. Messrs. Moore and Distant appear to have both overlooked the fact of the 
absence of the fourth subcostal nervule in the forewing in the female, Mr. Moore describes 
disco-cellular nervule s, while only une such vein is present, and Mr, Distant says nothing 
about the almost unique fact of the lower discoidal nervule originating from the upper 
discoidal. 
LARVA, onisciform, smooth, the segments hardly constricted, head small, second segment 
small, the foilowing segments rapidly increasing in width to the fifth, then gradually decreasing 
in width to the eleventh, then rapidly to the thirteenth. Pupa smooth, humped on the thorax, 
the abdominal segments anteriorly very broad, but very rapidly decreasing in width to the tail, 
which is acute. 
Three species of Zraofa occur within strict Indian limits, while two others have been re- 
corded from the Malay Peninsula. The genus is of rather small extent, and occurs almost 
throughout India except the higher Himalayas and the desert tracts, in Ceylon, but not in 
the Andaman and Nicobar Isles, in Burma and the Malay Peninsula, in Java, Borneo, the 
Philippine Isles, and China. All the males have the disc and base of the wings most brilliant 
metallic blue on the upperside, the females are usually much duller, with a smaller patch of 
purple on the forewing ; usually no patch or only avery small one on the hindwing, sometimes 
with no purple coloration at all on the upperside. The underside of both sexes is highly 
variegated, castaneous with prominent silvery markings. I have only taken the butterflies 
