270 NYMPH ALID^. NYMPH ALIN^. CHARAXE5. 



truncate, with a very fine carina [keel] on the underside, on each side of which is a very slight 



longitudinal impression. Thorax, very robust, oblong, thickly clothed with wool, especially on 



the metathorax Abdomen, rather short; nearly ovate in the female. FoREWiNG, sub* 



triangular ; costal margin moderately arched ; apical angle somewhat acute, but rounded off at its 



extremity ; outer margin oblique, slightly emarginate, and almost entire, three-fourths of the 



length of the costa ; inner margin straight, about equal in length to the outer margin. Veins 



very strong ; costal nervure not extending to the middle of the costa ; subcostal nervure with 



the first and second branches arising before the anterior extremity of the discoidal cell ; third 



branch arising at a very little distance beyond the cell, [reaching the apex of the wing] ; 



fourth branch arising also at a small distance beyond the third, at rather more than the 



length of two-fifths of the wing from the base ; elbowed downwards towards the tip of 



the wing ; upper disco-cellular nervnle arising at about the length of one-third of the wing 



from the base, very short, transverse ; as is also the rather longer middle disco-cellular ; the 



lov,er disco-cellular still longer, straight, transverse, very slender, and uniting with the 



third median ner\-ule at some distance from its origin, closing the discoidal cell transversely ; 



third median nervule gradually arched. Hindwing, large, somewhat ovate, not ocellated 



beneath ; costal margin arched ; outer margin more or less dentate, and tailed ; the tails being 



produced at the extremity of the fiist and third median nervules. Pracostal netuure oblique, 



the tip rather suddenly bent outwards ; discoidal cell small and narrow ; closed imperfectly 



by a verj' fine disco-cellular nervule, which unites the discoidal nervule with the median nervure 



just before its third branch is thrown off. [ In some Indian species the lower disco-cellular 



ner\Tile is absent, leaving the discoidal cell entirely open.] Forelegs, of the male very 



minute, scaly, and clothed with fine, silky, rather short black hairs above, and white ones 



below ; the tibia and tarsus being together not, or but little, longer than the femur ; the tibia 



twice the length of the tarsus, which is indistinctly articulated beyond the middle and 



towards the tip, when denuded of scales. Of the Jemal<; half as long again as those of the male, 



scaly ; the femur with a slight row of fine hairs on the inside ; tibia two-thirds of the length of 



the femur ; tarsus about as long as the tibia, compressed, dilated at the tip, which is obliquely 



rounded off, with several pairs of spines towards the tip on the underside, indicating the 



articulations ; the basal joint being scarcely more than half of the length of the tarsus. Middle 



and HINDLEGS, rather short, very robust, finely scaly ; tibia shorter than the femur, flat beneath ; 



intermediate tibia with an oblong patch of delicate plush at the base ; each side with a row of 



fine short spines ; tibial spurs short ; tarsi robust, scaly, with four rows of short spines 



beneath ; claivs moderate ; paronychia very small ; the inner lobe very short, outer lobe 



acute, curved." 



" Larva without any spines on the body, which is gradually attenuated behind; termi- 

 nated by a depressed bicuspidated* tail ; the head armed with four obtuse horns. Pupa 

 abbreviated, rounded, subconical, scarcely carinated down the back." (IVestwood, 1. c) 



"The genus Charaxes, from its wide distribution, and the beauty of its species, com- 

 bined with their strength of wing and body, forms one of the most interesting genera of the 

 JSJymphalitue. One species is found iu Europe, round the shores of the Mediterranean, which 

 has a very close ally in an Abyssinian species. The genus also inhabits Eastern, Western, 

 and the warmer portions of Southern Africa. It is apparently in Western Tropical Africa 

 that Charaxes is found in its maximum of size, beauty, and abundance of species. Madagascar 

 possesses some very distinct species, and travelling eastwards the genus has recently been 

 discovered in the Island of Socotra by Professor Balfour. It occurs in Continental India, 

 is found in Ceylon and the Andaman Islands [and Nicobars according to Godart], occurs 

 throughout Burma, Tenasserim, and the Malay Peninsula, Eastern Asia as far north as 

 China, and through the length and breadth of the Malay Archipelago. Its distribution iu the 

 Pacific Islands appears at present very limited, but it is found in Australia." 



'• The smooth spineless larvae with bifid tails ally Charaxes superficially with the Saty- 

 rincB^ {Distant, 1. c) 



• Bicuspidated, two-pointed, from bi, two, cuspis, a spear point. 



