NOTES. 137 



by the late F. Moore, now admits it to specific rank. He describes 

 the female of lithargyria as having the same colouring as the male, 

 but with a broadish black border. Local collectors do not appear 

 to have met with the female of this species. Even the male is a 

 scarce insect in Ceylon. It is difficult to understand how the species 

 could ever be confused with strabo. Apart from its characteristic 

 colour, the heavy and very distinct markings of the under side 

 separate it completely from every other species of Catochrysops. 



Nacaduba ardates, Moore. — This smallest of the Nacaduba group 

 was originally described by Moore, presumably from Indian exam- 

 ples, in P. Z. S., 1874, p. 574. He subsequently recorded the same 

 species from Ceylon. We have either two forms or two closely- 

 related species in Ceylon, one with, and the other without, tails on 

 the hind wings. De Niceville and Manders, in their " List of the 

 Butterflies of Ceylon," unite both these forms under the name 

 noreia of Felder. Bingham {loc. cit., pp. 391, 393) describes both 

 ardates and noreia, and credits Ceylon with the two species. I 

 understand from Col. Manders that Swinhoe now refers the tailed 

 form to nora (also of Felder), and the tailless one to yioreia. Apart 

 from the presence or absence of this tiny appendage, the two forms 

 are practically indistinguishable. They frequent the same loca- 

 lities and are on the wing at the same time. The larva of the tailed 

 form has been bred by Mr. J. C. F. Fryer, from the flowers of 

 Allophyllus cobbe. Manders submitted examples of both forms to 

 Dr. Chapman for a critical study of the genitalia, but the results of 

 the examination were purely negative, no appreciable difference 

 being observable. 



Terias. — The number and names of the species of this genus 

 occurring in Ceylon have always been a matter of dispute. Moore, 

 in his " Lepidoptera of Ceylon," enumerates nine species, viz., 

 hacabe, simulata, hecabeoides, citrina, rotundalis, uniformis, drona, 

 cingala, and rama. These fall easily into two groups, which we may 

 call the " hecabeoid " group (containing the first six names), and 

 the " drona " group (containing the other three). De Niceville and 

 Manders reduced this number to five, namely, libythea (= drona, of 

 Moore), venata (= cingala and rama, of Moore), hecabe (= Simulata, 

 hecabeoides, and citrina, of Moore), silheta7ia (= rotundalis and 

 uniformis, of Moore), and sari. Bingham credits Ceylon with four 

 species only, omitting silhetana from our list, but it is evident, from 

 his description and figures, that he has included under the name 

 hecabe several varieties of silhetana, as it is recognized in Ceylon. It 

 is probable that typical sari does not occur in this Island ; but 

 whether the local form that we know by that name is distinct from 

 hecabe or not, can be proved only by breeding. Personally, I am 

 inclined to believe that we have only two species of the hecabeoid 

 group here, which I recognize — for the present — as hecabe and 

 silhetana, whatever their correct names may be. They are both 



T 0(2)11 



