NYMPH ALID.E. NYMPHALIN.'E. HYPOLIMNAS. 125 



markings on the border of both wings entirely disappear, except a white dot on the cilia in 

 each interspace, and there appears a deep violet sufTused patch on the disc just beyond the cell ; 

 the ground-colour is darker throughout, and the discal white markings of the forewing though 

 narrower are prominent. 



In the variety allied to the larger form the underside is less strikingly different, the 

 markings are even more obscure and suffused as well as irrorated with brown, and the discal 

 dots on both wings are more prominently tinted with violet. 



The female was figured by Donovan and Drury under the name jacin//ta, and later on was 

 described by Fabricius under the name avia. The variations of it, which are casual and in- 

 constant, are mainly confined to the greater or less prominence of the blue macular fascia on 

 the upperside of the forewing, and the greater or less prominence of the whitish submarginal 

 band on the hindvving, in one extreme consisting of small conical spots in pairs between the 

 nervules, in the other extreme these spots are greatly elongated, entirely filling the spaces 

 between the veins, and coalescing with the discal spots towards the anal angle On the under- 

 side the females in all cases appear to correspond with the larger form, and not with the 

 typical smaller form in style of markings. Mr. Moore in his " Lepidoptera of Ceylon" gives 

 //. jacintha as a distinct species from H. bolina, but remarks that the former "may probably 

 be a seasonal variety of " the latter. 



H. bolina is in most parts of the country one of the commonest as well as one of the most 

 beautiful of the Indian butterflies ; in the drier portions of Western Continental India it is rare, 

 but even there it may occasionally be found in gardens. In the moister regions, particularly in the 

 warm valleys and submontane tracts, it abounds, and the flash of the brilliant purple as it opens 

 and closes its wings while sunning itself on some flower or spray of foliage meets the eye 

 at every turn. 



Mr. Butler has recently described as a distinct species under the name of H. charybdis 

 some specimens which I cannot recognise even as a distinct variety of H. bolina. He apparent-* 

 ly considers the larger form described above to be distinct and to stand as H. jacintha, but in 

 this I cannot follow him. The original description of H. charybdis \s appended for reference.* 



A closely-allied species or local race which has been described apparently from a single 

 pair by Mr. Butler as H. incomnioda occurs in Malacca ; it is almost identical with the Javan 

 species which has been identified as H. lasinassa of Lucas iiiec Cramer), the female of 

 which presents the characters noted but is extremely variable (one form of it is figured by 

 Cramer as P. proserpina'). The description of H. incomnioda is appended for reference. t 



In the Malay peninsula and archipelago several species of this genus occur which apparently 

 mimic certain species of Euplcea. Two species of this group have been described as occurring 

 within our limits, H. wallaceana (India ?), and H. interstincta (Assam, IVarwick^, but the 

 authority for the localities appears to be in both cases doubtful, and I am not personally 

 aware of any instance of the occurrence of any species of this group even in Tenasserim. 



* Hvfiolimnas charybdis, Butler, Cist. Ent., vol. ii, p. 432 (1S83). Habitat: Bombay. Expanse: Male, 

 3"58 ; female, 4 17 inches. Description : " Nearly allied to H. bolina. nither larger; the white fascicles on the 

 bright ultramarine patches of the upperside narrower and more elongated ; the white discal spots on the female 

 reduced to dots (excepting two near the costa of the forewing) ; the submarginal notched spots and the crescents 

 close to the margin narrower and sulfiised with brovvn Underside intermediate in character between H. bolina 

 and //. jacintha, the oblique white belt beyond the cell of the forewing being distinct, but broken up into spots ; 

 the belt beyond the middle of the hindwing sordid whitish, with a brownish tint in the male, and a creamy 

 tint in the female, corresponding with the submarginal belt in colour; the latter, the undulated whitish marginal 

 stripe and the discal series of pearly white spots as in H. jacintlui. Nearest to jC. \_=.H.\ incominoda, in 

 general appearance." {Butler, \ c ) 



This species appears to be one of the almost innumerable varieties of H. bolina. 



+ Hyfioliinnas inco>n>noiia. Butler, Trans. Linn Soc. Zoology, second series, vol. i, p. 543, n. 2 (1877) ; 

 id., Distant, Rhop. Malay., p. 167. n 2, pi. xvii. figs. 8, male ; g,yei)t^ile (tSS^). H.-\bitat : Rlalacca. Expanse: 

 Male, 31 ; female, 3*9 inches Description : '"Male very similar to the male of//, bolina, but with the subanical 

 bind of the forewing straighter on the undrrside. and the pale brown subnuruin;)! spots narrower and darker. 

 Femalb differs from the female of H bolina in having a broad oblique ^ub:)pical white band on the Uppersidb 

 of the forewing, a large diffused sordid white patch just beyond the cell of the hindwing, and the submarginal 

 spots all separated, small, and pale brown." 



ntrina 



" This form seems to replace //. ^o//«(i in Malacca; in some respects it approaches the Javan species H, 

 'na " (Butler, 1 c.) 



Mr. Distant states (1 c.) that " The male and female typical specimens, which are contained in the British 

 Museum, and here figured, constitute at present our sole knowledge of the species. " 



