266 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
INTRODUCTORY PAPERS ON LEPIDOPTERA. 
By W. F. Kirsy. 
No. XVI. NYMPHALIDAI—NYMPHALIN &. 
(HYPOLIMNAS.) 
Frew genera of Nymphalide are more interesting than 
Hypolimnas and its allies, which are almost exclusively confined 
to the East Indies and Africa. They are insects of considerable 
size, expanding three or four inches, with more or less dentated 
wings, and the prevailing colour is generally brown and white, 
varied with blue. Several species mimic Danaine to a most 
remarkable extent. 
H. Misippus, Linn., is found throughout tropical Asia and 
Africa, and is also met with (though probably introduced) in 
Trinidad, and in several localities on the north coast of South 
America. It is of a rich dark brown, with a large white spot, 
shading into blue on the edges, in the middle of each wing. On 
the under side of the hind wings is a broad whitish band, filling 
up the central third of the wing. The female is so exact a 
counterpart of Danaus Chrysippus, Linn., that the only difference 
which strikes the eye at first sight 1s the presence of one black 
spot instead of four in the centre of the hind wings. There is a 
rarer variety of the female (Inaria, Cram.), in which the white 
band at the tip of the fore wings is absent, thus giving it a 
striking, though less strongly marked, resemblance to D. 
Dorippus. 
The next species is D. Bolina, Linn. The male is very 
similar to that of Misippus, but the white band on the under side 
of the hind wings is much narrower and duller, and the large 
spots above are more blue than white; there is also a sub- 
marginal row of small whitish spots round all the wings. The 
female is a large dark brown butterfly, and varies very much; 
the wings are frequently marked with masses of orange or white, 
and the hind wings are often bordered with dull white. Only 
long-continued observations on its range and transformations 
will inform us whether this is really a polymorphic species, in 
which the males are very similar, while the females vary greatly ; 
or whether it consists of a cluster of closely-allied species. I do 
