NYMPHALID^E. NYMPHALIN.E. ARGYNNIS. 131 



421. ArgynaiS aiphe, Linnaeus. 



Papilio niphe, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. xii, vol. i, pt. i!, p. 785, n. 208 (1767* ; id., Driiry, 111. Ex Ent , vol. i, 

 pi. vi, fig. i,yt//M/g (1770) ; id., Cramer, Pap. Ex., vol. i, pi. xiv, figs. D, E, male: B, C, /«;««/« (1775) ; id., 

 Herbst, Pap., pi. ccliv, figs. 3, t,, female (ijgS) ; Argynnis «/>/4tf, Godart, Enc. Meth., vol. ix, p 261, n. 17 

 (1819); id., Kollar, Hugel's Kaschmir, vol. iv,pt. ii, p. 440, n. 2, pi. xiii, figs, i, 2, male (1848); Acidalia. 

 niphe, Hiibner, Verz. bek. Schmett., p. 31, n. 256 (1816); id., Moore, Lep. Cey., vol. i, p. 60, pi. xxxi, figs. 2, 

 male; ■za, female; 26, larva a.nd pupa (liSi) ; Papilio hyperbius, Johanssen, Amoen. Acad., vol. vi, p. 408, 

 n. 75 (1764) ; P. argyriits, Sparrman, Amoen. Acad., vol. vii, p. 502, note f, male {1768) ; P, argynnii, Drury, 

 III. Ex. Ent., vol. i, pi. vi, fig. 2, tnale (1770) ; Z'. ar^/««/.j, Herbst, Pap., pi. ccliv, figs. 5, 6, tfiale (1798J ; 

 A rgynnis tephnia, God.axij'Enc. 'M6th., vol. ix, p. 262, n. 18 (1819) ; .^, rtrK««, Moore, Horsfield and Moore, 

 Cat. Lep. Mus, E. I. C, vol i, p. 156, n. 322, pi. ma, fig. 4, male (1857). 



Habitat : Himalayas, Oudii, Assam, Burma, Soutli India, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, 

 Formosa, China, Australia. 



Expanse : zi to 37 inches. 



Description: "Male. Upperside bright dark ochreous. Foreioing with black dis- 

 coidal marks, a transverse discal zigzag series of six large spots, two submarginal rows of 

 slightly smaller spots and a marginal dentate line. Hindwing with slender black discoidal 

 marks and transverse discal spots, a submarginal inner row of small spots and outer row of 

 broad conical spots bordered towards the anal angle by a blue line ; a marginal dentate line 

 bordered by a blue line. Female brownish-ochreous on basal area ; markings broader ; 

 apical area of foreioing with blue-black interspaces and obliquely crossed by a white band, the 

 spots also bordered by blue. Underside, forewlng red on basal area, pale ochreous and 

 greenish at apex ; MALE with two apical series of white spots ; female as above ; other 

 markings as on upperside. Hindwing greenish ochreous-brown, crossed by three black zigzag 

 lines and a submarginal line broadly bordered by silvery-white ; a discal row of spots centred 

 with silvery-white." {^Moore, 1. c) 



Mr. Moore in his " Lepidoptera of Ceylon" has figured the larva and pupa, but has not 

 described them. Mr. A. Graham Young has however furnished me with a description of the 

 transformations of a Kulu specimen. 



" Larva. Head and legs black, body black, this colour, however, almost obscured by the 

 orange-tawny markings. A broad orange-tawny dorsal stripe. Foiir straight horizontal simple 

 black spines on head ; spines on pectoral segments black ; on abdominal segments pink, 

 tipped with black ; on caudal segments pink, faintly black tipped. Pupa. Head and wing- 

 cases pale Indian red; ten pale metallic spots on back; abdomen dark pink ; spines faintly 

 black tipped." The head ends in two well-separated blant points ; there are a pair of spines 

 anteriorly, another pair in the middle, and a third smallest pair posteriorly on the thorax, the 

 latter being hunched and keeled, on the abdominal segments there are eight pairs of spines, 

 the third anterior pair the largest. 



Of all the species of the genus, A. niphe has probably the widest geographical ran<Te. In 

 India it is found throughout the outer ranges of the Himalayas, in Assam, and Burma. I have 

 taken it at Agra in the winter, it occurs again in Bombay, the Nilgiris, Travancore, and Ceylon, 

 where it is "found in the hills from 2,000 to 6,000 feet, in the neighbourhood of waste 

 grass-lands and swamps. Larva feeds on wild violet" ( Mcukzsjood). Colonel Lang writes 

 of it: " Tolerably abundant in certain localities, 6,000 to 8,000 feet in the North- West 

 Himalayas. The males seem much more abundant than the females." It has not been recorded 

 from the Andamans and Nicobars nor from the Malay peninsula, but occurs again in Sumatra 

 Java, Formosa, China, and North Australia. The male may be distinguished from all other 

 Indian species of the genus by the blue marginal markings on the upperside of the hindwino- 

 and the female by the whole apical half of the forewing being pmplish-black, crossed by an 

 oblique white band intersected by the nervules. In South Indian specimens of the male the 

 first median nervule on the upperside of the forewing is furnished for a portion of its length 

 with raised modified scales, this character being obsolete in specimens from other localities. 



Body rohmt; palpi ascending, finely pilose, second joint long, extending to top of the head, third joint short, 

 pointed and naked ; legs ileuder ; antennce with a bhort spatular club. Sexes dissimilar. Type, A. ni'-ke '' 

 (liUce. I. c.) ' ■ 



