58 NYMPHALID.T:, NYMPHALINiE. HESTINA. 



and to be ''smaller than any species yet described," but in this case too no reference, whatever, 

 is made to H. feysimilis, to which it is still more nearly allied, and which, judging from the 

 dimensions given, is usually smaller than H. zella, and from the description alone it would 

 be impossible to separate them. The question is still further complicated by the fact that the 

 only authentic specimen I know of, which has been identified by Mr. Moore as // zella, lacks 

 the character which distinguishes Butler's figure from H. petswiilis, and is absolutely identical 

 with H. persimilis, mak, except that the apex of the forevving is paler and suffused with 

 castaneous. My own opinion is that H. zella is simply the paler western form of //. 

 fersimilis. 



337. Eestiaa persimilis, Westwood. 



Diadetna persitnUis, Westwood, Gen. Diurn. Lep., vol. ii, p. 281, n. 19, note (1850). 

 Habitat : Himalayas. 

 Expanse : (? , 2*5 to 28; ? , 26 to 3-1 inches. 



Description: "Black spotted with white. Closely allied to D.[=^ H.'] assimilis, but 

 smaller, with iheforezuing more elongated, the spots on the disc more rounded, and the subapi- 

 cal series obsolete. Hindwing with some small white spots in the place of the red spots. 

 Underside, both ivings much paler, the red spots wanting," {Westwood, 1. c.) 



Male. Upperside indigo-blue, with the following very pale greenish markings : — 

 Forewing with a streak filling the basal half of the cell, and a large oblique spot closing it, 

 three small spots just beyond it, with a large rounded one at the base of the first median 

 interspace, three short streaks divided by the discoidal nervules, a discal series of five 

 increasing round spots, one in each interspace, a submarginal series of eight or nine 

 spots, and a marginal series of obscure dots obsolete and often obliterated. A lengthened 

 bifurcated streak in the submedian interspace, which is broken towards its end, leaving 

 two detached spots. Hindwing with all the veins marked broadly with indigo-blue, the margin 

 broadly indigo-blue, leaving a small marginal and a larger submarginal series of whitish 

 spots, with two (sometimes one only) additional ones in the median interspaces, placed internal 

 to the submarginal series. Underside much paler, the disc of the forewing only with the 

 ground-colour indigo-blue. Markings as above, but larger. Female differs from the male 

 only in the outer margin of the forewing being less emarginate, both wings broader, the 

 colouration paler throughout. The extent of the pale markings is variable, the spots being 

 generally larger and with a tendency to coalesce. In general appearance the female closely 

 resembles Danais aglea, which it probably mimics. 



I have taken several specimens of H. persimilis in Simla and the neighbourhood chiefly 

 on over-ripe fruit ; it occurs also in Sikkim, but is by no means a common butterfly. Colonel 

 A. M. Lang, R.E , records* it from the " Himalaya, 4,000 to 7,000 feet. I have only seen 

 three specimens. One I caught in a narrow glen, well wooded with undergrowth ; the other 

 two in an orchard of plum and apricot, on the ripe fruit of which these insects were settling, 

 both on the trees and on the fallen fruit below the trees." Males from Sikkim (the only sex 

 I have seen from that locality) have the ground-colour much darker than specimens from the 

 N.-W. Himalayas. 



33S. Eestina zella, Butler. 



H. zella, Butler, Trans, Ent. Soc, Load., 1869, p. 9, male (with a woodcut) ; id., Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 Lond., 1882, p. 240. 



Habitat : N.-W. Himalayas. 



Expanse: «J, 2*7 inches. 



Description : " Male. Upperside white, with a slightly greenish tinge ; the discoidal 

 cell of the forevving spottedly ashy ; all the veins broadly ashy-blackish. Forewing with three 



•* Ent. Month I\Iag., vol. i, p. 133 (1864-5). 



