NYMPHALID/E. NYMPHALIN^. ERGOLIS. 9 



very prominent anJ dark fascia: on the disc, and a narrower and paler one near the base of 

 both wings ; body and legs more or less concolourous with the wings." (Distant, I. c.) 



This species may easily be distinguished from 5. (Z/-;W«^ by the outer margins of both 

 wings being more even, and the lines across the upperside more numerous and zigzag. The 

 female is altogether paler than the male, the subapical white spot on the upperside of the 

 forewing more prominent. It is a common species ; I have taken it plentifully in Calcutta and 

 in Sikkim at low elevations, but only on one occasion at Simla ; it occurs also rarely at 

 Masuri. Mr. S. E. Peal has sent specimens from Sibsagar in Upper Assam, Mr. Wood- 

 Mason took it in Cachar, and it is common in Orissa, from whence Mr. W. C. Taylor has 

 sent numerous examples. Colonel Swinhoe has taken it at Deesa in Rajputana, and has received 

 it from the Nilgiris ; Dr. Anderson took it in the Mergui Archipelago, and Captain C. T. 

 Bingham in the Thoangyeen Valley, and the Donat range in Upper Tenasserim in the early 

 months of the year. It probably occurs throughout Northern and Continental India, extending 

 eastwards through Assam and Burma to the Malay peninsula. The larva is green, with two 

 branched spines projecting forwards in front of the head, and feeds on the castor-oil plant. 

 Mr. Wallace states that the larva of Ergolis " agrees with the Juiioiiia type," but the 

 bifurcating branched spines on the head are absent from the larvce of Junonia, their presence 

 would apparently indicate the near relationship of Efgolis to the Satyriiue rather than to the 

 NymphalincB. In Charaxes, however, a genus of the latter subfamily, the larvK of which have 

 a superficial likeness to the Satyrince, the spines are directed backwards instead of forwards. 



The figure shows both sides of a male Masuri specimen in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. 



What appears to be an occasional aberration, or " sport," of this species has lately been 

 described by Mr. Moore under the name of ^. tapestrina. There is a single specimen from the 

 Naga Hills in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, and one from Upper Tenasserim in Major 

 Marshall's collection which agree somewhat with his description ; the latter is given below.* 



300. Ergolis taproTaana, Westwood. 



E. taprohana, Westwood, Gen. Diurn. Lep., vol. ii, p 410, n. 3, pi. Ixviii, fig. 4 (1851) ; Id., Moore, Lep. 

 Cey., vol. i, p. 44, pi. xxiii, figs. 1, \b, male; xa, female (1880). 



Habitat : South India, Ceylon. 



Expanse : 175 to 2*2 inches. 



Description : " Male and female. Upperside, both wings dark ferruginous, crossed 

 by four or five basal black sinuous lines, a disco-cellular double line, two medial, two 

 discal, and a marginal line, the discal ones interspaced with indistinct black-speckled spots ; 

 the lines obsolete on the costal border of the kindiuiitg ; a small white costal spot near the 

 apex of the forewing in the female. Underside dark purple-brown, palest on the outer 

 borders ; transverse sinuous lines indistinct in the male, but very distinct and with four 

 intervening spaces suffused with chalybeate-grey in the female." (^Moore, I.e.) 



In Ceylon " Widely distributed in low country and hills up to 6,000 feet, both in forest 

 and cultivated lands. Found all the year in the hills, variable and not so common in the 

 plains. Flight slow, skimming, but shy, and not easy to capture" (Hutchinson). *' Common 

 all the year round in low country and up to 4,000 feet" ( Mackwood), 



This species may be distinguished from E. meriom by its darker colour on the upperside, 

 the outer margin of the forewing less falcate ; it has also no subapical spot on the upperside of 

 the forewing in the male. On the underside of the hindwing in the male there is a large discal 

 round suffused patch of dark maroon scales not mentioned by Mr. Moore. There are specimens 

 in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from Calicut and Ootacamund ( W. F. Hampson') in South 



* Ergolis tapestrina, Moore, Journ. A. S. B., vol. liii, pt. 2, p. 19 (18S4). Habitat : Dehra Doon, 

 Manpuri (Moore), Naga Hills and Upper Ten.^3serim. Expanse : i'75 to 2'i inches. Description : 

 " Malk and female. Comparatively smaller than E. merione ; outline of the foreiving more irrec^u'ar. 

 Upperside paler ; with similar tiansverse sinuous lines on botli iviuis, the two medial lines being somewhat 

 nearer together, the discal cordate marks having their outline of a uniform width, and being somewhat narrower 

 transversely, thus leaving a slightly but perceptibly wider space between the contiguous lines- ; the interspaces 

 between the basal lines, the subbasal and medial lines, the discal cordiform marks, and the marginal line and 

 outer margin, are of a more dusky colour, and thus give the wings the appearance of being marked with 

 alternately pale and dusky transverse bands. UNOERSiDii also paler than in E. merione, with more regularly 

 alternate pale and dark transverse bands." {,Moore, 1. c.) 



