THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Vol. LIU.] MAY, 1920. [No. 684 



A NEW AEHOPALA {LEP : LYCMNIDM) FROM 



CEYLON. 



By N. D. Eiley, F.E.S. 



In a small collection of Lycfenidse recently received from Mr. 

 W. Ormiston from Ceylon there is, amongst other interesting 

 forms, a pair of an Arhopala which Mr. Ormiston considered new. 

 After a fairly careful search I have been unable to find any 

 published description with which it agrees and have therefore come 

 to the same conclusion. In such a well-worked country as 

 Ceylon one would hardly have expected such a distinctive species 

 of this showy genus to have been overlooked so long. Its 

 discovery therefore may, I hope, be taken as an earnest of many 

 more yet to be made known. 



Arhopala onnistoni, sp. nov. 



Arhopola, sp. nov., Ormiston, "Notes on Ceylon Butterflies," 

 pt. i, p. 58, in * Spolia Zeylanica,' 1918. 



(^ . Upper side. — Both loings uniformly deep rich violet-blue. 

 Fore wing with costa and hind margin narrowly black, widest at 

 apex ; hind loing with costa and inner margin broadly, hind margin 

 narrowly, dark brown. 



Underside. — Fore iving — ground colour light grey-brown with a 

 faint vinous tinge, areas la, lb and 2 centrally and for greater part 

 very pale shiny grey-brown, cell and remainder of wing surface 

 thickly sprinkled with grey ; a small circular spot near base of cell, a 

 larger oval spot in centre, and a still larger one at end of cell, all 

 much darker brown and ringed with w4]ite ; a discal band of six 

 similar subquadrate spots, interrupted at vein 4, the lowest (in area 

 Ih) very indistinct ; a similar oblong spot at base of area 2 lying 

 along vein 2, and an indistinct oblong pale-brown mark in lb just 

 before base of vein 2 and in line with central cell spot. A submarginal 

 row of brown lunules edged both sides with whitish, largest and most 

 distinct posteriorly. There are indications of two small costal spots, 

 similar to the cell spots, in areas 9 and 10. Hind icing — ground colour 

 similar, but, together with the markings, almost entirely obscured by 

 very heavy ashy-grey scaling. The most distinct markings are the 

 three small dark brown white-ringed basal spots in the cell and areas 

 Ic and 7, the larger one in centre of cell, the triangular one in centre 

 of 7, and the two squarish ones in 6 and 7 — these last being the 



ENTOM. — MAY, 1920. K 



