XEPTIS. 



271 



sliglitly curved ; tibia scarcely half its length. Tarsus very short, not above one tliird of the length of the 

 tibia, forming a minute, oval, exarticulate joint, destitute of claws. Fore Legs of the female more robust, and 

 much longer than those of the male, scaly, with but few tine hairs. Femur slightly curved. Tibia also a little 

 curved, about two thirds of the length of the femur. Tarsus nearly as long as the tibia, well articulated ; the 

 basal joint half the length of the tarsus, the remainder rather dilated, with strong spines on the inside ; the 

 terminal joint minute, spined, but without claws. 

 Middle and Hind Legs rather short, scaly. Tibia spined beneath, with long tibial spurs. Tarsus with four rows 

 of strong spines beneath. Claws rather long and very much bent, and acute at the tip. Paronychia and 

 pulvillus small. 

 Abdomen slender, elongated. 



Larva slightly elongated ; head armed above with two short conical points ; second and third segments of the 

 body with a pair of diverging, obtuse, setose, fleshy spines, the hinder pair being the largest ; an erect 

 tubercle near the extremity of the body. 



Chrysalis with the head bifid, and with the base of the abdomen-case much swollen. 



The peculiar character of the colouring of several of the typical species of this, as well as of some of the preceding and following 

 genera, consisting of three transverse, more or less interrupted, wliite or pale-coloured bands running across tlie wings (as shown in the 

 upper' figures of our Plates XXXIV. and XXXV.), have made me long hesitate as to the propriety of generically separating the insects 

 by which they are exhibited. But ahhough it cannot be denied that uniformity in the general character of the markings of an 

 extensive series of species ought usually to be considered as indicative of generic affinity, yet an investigation of the structural 

 characters of tiie insects now before us has, from their superior importance, shown the necessity of separating them into at least three 

 genera. Fabricius, indeed, long ago proposed the genus Neptis, which I have here adopted, giving Melicerta and Aceris as his types ; 

 but his characters were taken from the structure of the palj)! alone, and, except by Dr. Horsficld in his List of the Genera of Diurnal 

 Lepidoptera, published in the first part of his work on the Butterflies of Java, tlie genus Neptis has been entirely sunk. His 

 character of the slender and very acute hairy palpi is, however, accompanied by two other peculiarities, which have led me to resuscitate 

 the genus in its present limits, namely the non-extension of the costal vein of the hind wings beyond the middle of the costa (a 

 circumstance not occurring in any of the neighbouring groui)s), and the extreme minuteness of the tarsi of the fore legs of the males. 

 Dr. Horsfield, indeed, appears to have been chiefly guided by the form of the larva in his short treatment of this genus, which, it is 

 proper to add, he has not described in detail. Thus he gives as an illustration of the imago a species which he names " Nei)ti3 

 Vikasi," which has not the structure of the palpi, nor the arrangement of the veins in the hind wings of the species with acute palpi. 

 His dissections of the Javanese species, which he names "Neptis Aceris?" (plate vii. fig. 9, 9a — 9/*.), agree with the characters 

 above laid down ; but in his Generic List, as well as in the definition of his third plate (containing the remarkable proo-ressive diagram 

 of the forms of the larvre of the Diurnal Lepidoptera), he has mentioned a new genus, allied ^o Limeuitis in the normal serfes of 

 Chilopodiform genera, figuring the same larva of "Neptis Aceris?" as its example, although he had given Neptis as an aberrant genus 

 of the group. He has moreover given figures from Kosel of the transformations of Papilio Populi Linn., which he describes as 

 "Neptis?" apparently from the general similarity between its larva and that of Neptis Aceris?; and at the same time has given 

 Procris and Leucothoe as illustrations of another genus, to which he applies the name of Biblis (proposed by Fabricius in the Systema 

 Glossatorum with P. Biblis as its type, which, from the heterogeneous nature of its contents, it will be advisable either to su])piess or 

 to restrict to its typical species, as has been done by Godart, viz. Biblis Thadana Godart, Didonis Biblis H'ubner); so that the geiuis 

 Limenitis appears restricted by Dr. Horsfield to P. Sibilla, of which he gives a figure of the larva from Rosel, which, however, from 

 comparison with Hiibner's figure of the larva of P. Camilla copied by Curtis and Boisduval, must be very inaccurate. 



The species of this genus, as here restricted, appear to be confined to Asia and the Indian Islands, Western Africa, Madagascar, and 

 Mauritius. The pretty species forming my first section are of small size, and marked with orange-coloured spots and bars on a dark 

 brown ground ; the second section comprises larger insects, having white or whitish spots on a black or blackish ground. There arc 

 several undescribed species of the genus in our collections. 



NEPTIS. 



Section A. Winijs spotted with orange. Fore wings with the second 

 branch of the subcostal vein arising considerably beyond the extremity 

 of the discoidal cell. 



Subsection a. All the wings without a transverse orange bar in the middle. 



1. Neptis Fbobf.nia. 



Papilio Frobenia Fabricius, Siijipl. Ent. Syst. p. Vi5. n. 



400, 401.; Godart, Enc. M. ix. p. 430. n. 254. (Nym- 



phalis Fr.) ; Boisduval, Faune Ent. de Uladug. p. 51. 



(Limenitis Fr.) 

 Pantoporia Frobenia Hilbner, /Cutr. pt. 4. p. 38. f. 773, 



774. 

 Mauritius, Madagascar. B. M. 



2. Neptis Du.MKTonuai. 



Limenitis Dumetorum Boisduval, Faune Ent. de Madag. 

 p. 50. pi. 7. f. 6.; Doubleday, List Lejj. B. M. Ap- 

 pend, p. 25. 

 Madagascar, Isle of Bourbon. B. M. 



Subsection b. All the wings with a transverse bar in the middle. 



3. Neptis Hobdonia. 



Papilio Hordonia Stoll, Suppl. Crnm. t. 33. f. 4. 4 D.; 

 August 1. 1850. 



Godart, Enc. M. ix. 429. "• 2-''>3.; E. Doubleduy, List 

 Lep. B. M. p. 93. 

 Java, East India (not Guinea). B. M. 



4. Neptis Hfliodore. 



Papilio Heliodore Fabricius, Ent. Syst. iii. pt. 1. p. 130. 

 n. 401.; .Jones, Icon. iv. t. 7(5. f. 2.; Godart, Enc. M. 

 IX. 429. n. 252.? (Nynipbalis Heliod. but not Heliodore 

 of Cramer, pi. 212. f. E. F.) 

 Penang, Java, Siani. B. M. 



Section B. Wings generally spotted with white. Fore wings with the 

 second branch of the subcostal vein arising before the extremity of the 

 discoidal cell. 



5. Neptis Acehis. 



Papilio Aceris Esper, Pap. t. 81. f. 3. 4. (minor ex Hun- 

 garia) ; Ernst, Pup. 1. pi. 11., Suppl in f. 12. u — d. 

 bis; Fabricius, Ent. Syst. iii. pi. 1. p. 245. n. 763.; 

 Godart, Enc. M. ix. p. 430. n. 255. ex parte (Nym- 

 phalis Ac); Hiibner, Verz. bek. Sch. p. 44. n. 393. (Acca 

 Aceris) ; Boisduval, Icon. Hist. t. 1 8. f. 2., Ind. Melh. 

 p. ifi. n. 1 1.9. (Limenitis Aceris). 



4 C 



