LEMONIID.-E. NEMEOBITN^. TAXILA. 3'7 



truncate, the outer portion of tl.e truncation armed with numerous long setce ; /«/z'////« 

 broad, short, dilated at the extremity." (JFesi-cVood, 1. c.) • , , t„ ,n« 



Westvvood placed several species in the genus Taxi/a, which are now uicluded in the 

 genera Do.fona and Al>isara. Mr. Distant in his «' Rhopalocera Malayana places under 

 Al>isara, the species which I have arranged in this genus, but as they differ in the outhne of 

 the wings from typical Aiisara and also in markings, I have thought it advisable to keep 

 these genera distinct. The species which I have retained in the genus Tax,la all have the 

 hindwing more evenly rounded, hardly angled, not lobed, or tailed, and the underside is 

 furnished with brilliant bluish-silvery spots. The male of T. thuhto and the female of T. 

 M.m/^haveavery«'^^»^ra-like" angle at the termination of the third median nervule, 

 very similar to that in the female of A. fylla, but not nearly so prominent as in the 

 A. , neophron and A. echerius groups, but the markings of both upper and underside are 

 sufficient to prevent confusion among the two genera. The males have no secondary sexual 

 characters, 



Key to the Indian species of Tazila. 



A. A marginal, submarginal and discal series of spots arranged in distinct even bands on the underside of 



forewing. , „ . r> 



606 A THUiSTO, Tenasserim, Tavoy, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo. 



B. The spots on the underside of forewing placed irregularly, not arranged in distinct bands. 



607. A. FASCIATA, Tenasserim, Tavoy. 



606. Tazila tlmistO, Hewitson. 

 T thuhto, Hewitson, Ex. Butt., vol. ii, Taxila^V i, figs. s. 6, /««-i?^ (.861) ; id., Druce, Proc. Zool. 

 Soc Lond , 1873. p. 347, n. i ; /I ^M«ra //z«ziif^, Distant, Rhop. Malay., p. 191, n. 4. woodcut n. 51. fn'^^e, 

 52, /^;«a//(i883) ; A. thiusto, Butler, Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., fourth series, vol. v, p. 363 (1870). 



Habitat: Mergui, Upper Tenasserim, Tavoy, Sungei Ujong, Singapore, Sumatra, 

 Borneo. 



Expanse : $ , lA ; ? . i7 inches. 



Description: "Male. Upperside, <5<7//i zvings uniform and very dark indigo-blue or 

 black. Underside, both ivings bright reddish-brown. Foreiving with the apex paler, an 

 oblique bluish fascia crossing cellj a number of irregularly-shaped blue and black discal 

 spots arranged in three series, the outer most distinct, consisting of six spots divided by 

 the nervules, the upper three being very pale, and a submarginal series of linear blue spots 

 margined with black situated between the nervules ; the cilia black. Hindcuing with a 

 transverse bluish fascia crossing cell and extending to near costa, and with a number of 

 irregularly-shaped blue and black discal spots as on the forewing^of which the outer are the 

 most prominent, and which are placed between the nervules ; submarginal linear spots as on 

 forewing, and the cilia black. Body above concolourous with wings, beneath somewhat paler ; 

 Uos ochi4ceous." {Distant, 1. c.) " Female. Upperside, both loings rufous, clouded at the 

 base, crossed transversely beyond the middle by a band of oblong black spots, each spot marked 

 with dull blue-those near the costal margin of the forewing interrupted by five white spots ; 

 a band of lunular black spots near the outer margin, each spot traversed by a line of blue or 

 white. Forewing with a transverse band of black spots before the middle. UNDERSIDE 

 does not differ from the male, except that it is lighter." {Heiuitson, 1. c.) 



Dr. Anderson obtained several specimens of this species in the Mergui Archipelago 

 during the cold weather ; Captain Adamson took a single female in October at Natchoung 

 in Upper Tenasserim which is now in Major Marshall's collection ; and there is a single male 

 in the collection of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from Tavoy, which differs from typical 

 specimens in having the silvery spot on the underside in the subcostal interspace of the 

 forewing showing on the upperside as well. 



T thuisto is a smaller insect than T. fasciata, the inner margin of the forewing propor- 

 tionally longer, giving that wing a squarer appearance ; the hindwing too is distinctly quadrate, 

 showing an approach to Abisara. The arrangement of the spots m regular bands on the 

 underside will immediately distinguish it from T. fasciata. 



