86 NYMPHALID.E. NYMPHALIN^. NEPTIS. 



in the latter ferruginous. On the underside also the same differences occur in the colour of the 

 ground, the more eastern examples being much darker. It is rather a rare species. I met with 

 it at Kujiah near Dalhousie and at Ulwas, Chumba, in wooded streams at the end of May, 

 Mr. A. Graham Young has taken it in Kulu at the same period, and Colonel A. M. Lang, 

 R. E., took it at Kandloo, Kunawur, in July, Mr. C. Templeton took it at Masuri, Mr. J. L. 

 Sherwill at Hulunguri, Jorehat district, Assam, in March, April and June, and Mr. A. V. 

 Knyvett has taken it in Sikkim and Bhutan, 



It is closely allied to N. viiah, but is a much larger insect ; the bands too are rather 

 narrower, and the outer discal violet line on the underside of the hindwing is lunulate and 

 more prominent. In N, ananta the spot in the first median interspace on the upperside of the 

 forewing in well separated from the spot below, in A'', iniah they are joined. 



364- Neptis viraja, iMoore. 



N. viraja, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lend., 1872, p. 563, pi. xxxii, fig. 6. 



Habitat : N.-E. Bengal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Orissa, S. India, Upper Tenasserim. 



Expanse: (J, 2*12 to 2*30 ; ?, 2*4 to 2 '8 inches. 



Description: " Male and female. Upperside black; markings ferruginous. Fore- 

 wing with a broad discoidal streak extending to two-thirds the length of the wing [sometimes 

 indented at the end of the cell]; a large broad subapical oblique spot, and a broad band beneath 

 extending to hind margin ; an indistinct pale brown marginal line. Bindzuitig with a broad 

 transverse inner band and narrow submarginal band. Underside ferruginous-brown in male, 

 blackish ferruginous in female ; markings as above, pale glossy ferruginous-white, and tinted 

 with blue in some lights ; a marginal line on both wings ; a narrow median discal line, basal 

 and a subbasal streak on hindiving bluish-white. Allied to N. radha." QMoore, 1. c.) 



This is a rare species. I took a single female in the Sikkim Tarai in October, and Mr. 

 MoUer has one specimen in his collection, also from Sikkim, taken in May. The Indian 

 Museum, Calcutta, has examples from Buxa, Bhutan, a single female taken by Mr. 

 W. C. Taylor in Orissa in March, another from the Wynaad, taken by Mr. Rhodes-Morgan, 

 and a third from Cannanore. In Major Marshall's collection there is a single female taken 

 in the Thoungyeen forests in Upper Tenasserim in March. The four latter specimens differ 

 from Himalayan females in having the submarginal band on the upperside of the hindwing 

 nearly as broad as the discal one, ie., much broader than in examples from the Himalayas. 

 On the underside the markings are much the same. 



A. viraja has the bands of the underside broader than in the three preceding species, 

 and the violet tinting is less pronounced ; in these respects it more nearly resembles the next 

 two species, but it is distinguished from both A^. zaida and N. tyianasa by the deep orange 

 colour of the bands of the upperside, and by the complete fusion of the lower discal spots 

 of the forewing into a band in continuation of the discal band of the hindwing. 



The next two species have the bands broad, tinted with ochreous, but not deep orange ; 

 the bands of the underside are tinted with violaceous, but not very prominently : the principal 

 distinctive feature in these is in the medial spot of the discal band on the forewing : in N. 

 zaida it is well separated from both the discoidal streak and the spot in continuation of the 

 discal band of the hindwing ; in N. manasa it coalesces with the discoidal streak but is well 

 separated from the spot on the inner margin, while, as pointed out above, in N. viraja it is 

 well separated from the discoidal streak, but it coalesces with the spot below. 



365. NeptiS zaida, Doubleday, Hewitson. 

 A'^. zaida, Doubleday, Hewitson, Gen, Diurn. Lep., vol. ii, p. 272, n. 9, pi. xxxv, fig. 3 (1830) ; id., 

 Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1858, p. 6, n. 10. 



Habitat : Himalayas. 

 Expanse : 2"6 to 3-0 inches. 



Description : Male : Upperside black, with pale ochreous or almost white markings. 

 Forming with a narrow discoidal streak not extending below the median nervure or indented 



