124 NYMPIIALID/E. NYMPIIALIN^. IIYPOLIMNAS. 



on a small herb with a purple flower. It somewhat resembled that of Junottia orithyia, 

 but the head is entire, of a red colour, and armed with two fleshy horns covered with 

 short spines. The body is also armed with similar processes. The pupa also resembles that 

 of J. orithyia in form and colouring, but of course much larger in size, and has spinous 

 projections along the middle of abdomem and dorsum of thorax.* 



Mr. Wallace writes (1. c.) : — " This is an exceedingly wide-spread and variable species. The 

 male is tolerably constant, but presents three decided modifications. That which extends 

 over the whole continent of India, is generally distinguished by a row of white points behind 

 the blue and white spot on the hind wing, and the white bands across the wings on the 

 underside are well marked. Those of the Malayan and Polynesian countries never have 

 the white dots, and seldom have the bands beneath so distinctly marked. In the British 

 Museum are some remarkable specimens from the Philippine Islands, in which the male has 

 the spot on the hindwing reduced to a mere blue gloss without any paler centre, so that in 

 most lights it is invisible ; but without a large series from this locality it would be impossible 

 to determine how far this is linked to the more ordinary forms by intermediate types." 

 Regarding this latter point there are two male specimens in the Indian Museum, 

 Calcutta, and several in my own collection, obtained by Mr. S. E, Peal at Sibsagar in 

 Upper Assam, which agree with the specimens from the Philippine Islands referred 

 to, in the character of the blue spot without white on the upperside of the hindwing, 

 but although they are alike in this respect they differ in size and in the markings of the 

 underside. Mr. W. C. Taylor has also taken a small specimen in Orissa, which shows but 

 very faint traces of the white colouration in the middle of the blue spot ; in fact there are 

 gradations from a perfectly uniform blue spot to others in which the white spot is fully 

 developed. 



Ira India H. bolina is represented by several fairly well-marked forms in the male, but they 

 are neither confined to particular localities nor constant in their characters, each form being 

 linked to the others by numerous intermediate gradations. The female is much more constant 

 comparatively, though it too shows variation in the extent of the markings, especially on the 

 upperside. 



The typical male which was described by Linnaeus under the name bolina, and figured by 

 Clerck under the same name and by Cramer under the name aiige, has on the upperside the 

 patches white, bordered with blue ; the white central portion being untinted with blue in any 

 light ; on the underside there is a prominent white bar or band on each wing, and the sub- 

 marginal band of whitish spots between the discal dots and marginal lunules is obsolescent. 

 This form, so far as I am aware, usually appears during the rainy season. 



Next there is a larger form in which on the upperside the patch on the hindwing is tinted 

 or irrorated with blue throughout, but much paler in the centre ; and on the margin they 

 frequently show more or less prominent traces of whitish markings corresponding with the 

 border markings of the underside. The underside is very variable, typically lighter and 

 more uniform brown, the white band on the forewing much reduced and irrorated with brown, 

 the white discal band of the hindwing very dififused and obsolescent ; and the submarginal band 

 on the other hand much more prominent and almost filling the entire space between the discal 

 dots and the marginal lunules. The larger size, paler and more uniform colouration of the 

 underside, and the absence of pure white markings, those on the upperside being irrorated with 

 bluish, and those on the underside with brown, are the distinguishing characters of this form* 

 As far as I am aware, it usually appears during the dry season. 



Again, each of these forms exhibits, but not commonly, a striking variety in which the 

 patch on the upperside of the hindwing is uniform black, shot in certain lights with brilliant 

 deep blue, but showing no trace of pale centering. These varieties are not casual isolated 

 forms, but linked by numerous gradations in which the pale centering gets gradually less. 



In the variety allied to the smaller typical form there is a striking difference on the 

 underside also, in extreme cases the white discal band of the hindwing and all the whitish 



• Trans. Ent Soc. Lond., 1884, p. 384 . 



