§60 LYCASNID. APHNAUS. 
than in the male, the base of the wings dark slaty violet-blue.” UNDERSIDE, doth wings as in 
the male. : 
“ Nearest allied to the Andamanese species, 4. zot/us, Moore. Distinguished from it by its 
smaller: size, by the bands on the forewing all starting from the extreme costal edge, by the 
oblique discal band and the submarginal band being broadly joined at their base, and by the 
marginal band being broader on both wings.” (JZoore, I. c.) 
In this description Mr. Moore says that A. sebrinus has the bands of the underside €* pur- 
plish-black as in A. zo//us,” but in describing the latter species he calls the bands ‘‘jet-black ;”” 
in reality they are most faintly tinged with red.. He also says of A. zedrinus that the bands 
of the forewing on the underside start from the extreme costal edge, thereby differing from 
A. sotlus; but with the strongest magnifying glass I cannot find any specimen of 
A. zotlusin which this character is not found. I have seen no specimen from Ceylon at all 
agreeing with the description of A. zebrénus, and unfortunately Mr. Moore makes no men- 
tion of it in his last volume of ‘the Lepidoptera of Ceylon,” published three years after 
the description of the species. In the minutest particular his description of A. zebrinus 
applies to specimens of A. zoi/us, I can discover nothing to separate the two species, but 
keep them distinct, as I have seen no specimen from Ceylon at all like 4. zoz/us. 
In the next group seven species have been described. Individual specimens of all 
of them can no doubt be identified, but I have found it impossible with my large material to 
draw the line between them, as a perfectly graduated series from one extreme to the other 
can be constructed. They divide themselves primarily into two groups ;in the first, which 
contains five species (4. zctis, Hewitson, 4. trifurcata, Moore, A. khurdanus, Moore, 
A. nubilus, Moore, and A. lunulifera, Moore), the bands and spots of the underside are pro- 
minent ; in the second, which contains A. e/ima, Moore, and 4. uniforms, Moore, the bands 
and spots of the underside are more or less obsolete and indistinct. The next most 
important character seems to be the colour of the ground on the underside. In A, ictiés it is 
said to be ‘ orange-yellow,” in 4. ¢rifurcata “ deeper chrome-yellow than in A. iefis,” in 
A, khurdanus it is “dull pale purplish brownish-ochreous,” in 4. 2udilus it is ‘* ochreous,” in 
A. lunulifera it is “ pale ochreous-brown,” in A. edima it is “dull pale testaceous,” and in 
A. uniformis it is © dull pale brownish-ochreous.” With reference to 4. nubilus and A. lunu- 
Zéfera I possess a specimen of each named by Mr. Moore himself in which the tint of the ground- 
colour on the underside is precisely similar, The only other character which appears to 
be important is the absence, or extent when present, of the orange patch on the upperside 
of the forewing, In 4, iéctis it is “large,” in A. ¢trifercata it is small, “ trifurcate and 
triangular,” in A. khurdanus it is absent, in A. nudilus it is absent, in A. dunulifera it is 
a ‘‘small lunule,” in 4. e/éma it is somewhat large, in 4. unzformis it is absent. From these 
three groups of characters one would expect to find no difficulty in identifying any specimens one 
met with, but the contrary is the case. The bands and spots on the underside from being very 
obscure gradually, step by step, little by little, become prominent ; the ground-colour varies 
from pale ochreous to deep purplish-red, and the orange patch from being absent altogether 
occupies half tke forewing. I have not found either that the extent of the blue iridescence 
on the upperside of the forewing in the male is a character of any value, in two specimens 
agreeing in every other particular I find it to differ. From Bholahat, in the Malda district, from 
Sikkim, and from Orissa, from all of which localities I have received large series of these species, 
I find that the specimens with prominent markings on the underside occur during the rains, 
and those with obsolete markings in the dry season. This agrees with what I have observed in 
other Lycenide, solam almost sure that seasonal dimorphism has much to do with the va- 
riability which here undoubtedly exists. As usual I find that specimens taken at the change of 
the seasons (from dry to wet and from wet to dry) are intermediate in character between 
those taken in the middle of either season. In some localities high up in the Himalayas 
ho doubt the species which occur are single-brooded, so only one form is met with, but in the 
