TAXILA. 421 



Genus V. TAXILA. 



Taxila E. Doubleday (List Lep. Brit. Mm.). 

 Emesis Horsjield, Boisduval (nee Fabricius). 



Body robust : wings large, variously shaped. 



Head broad ; front with a broad transversely truncated tuft, extending over the base of the antennce. 



Eyes generally finely hirsute. 



Antennce moderately long and slender, with short joints, the base of each sliglitly annulated with white ; 

 terminated by a short, broad, somewhat pear-shaped, compressed club, varying in size in the different 

 species. 



Labial Palpi short, not, or scarcely, visible in front of the face when seen from above, finely scaly ; basal joint 

 much curved, finely hairy beneath ; terminal joint very small. 

 Thoeax robust, finely hairy at the sides and beneath : wings variable in form ; the fore ones often marked with 

 oblique bars of pale colour, and the hind ones beneath with two black spots near the outer angle. 



Fore Wings subtriangular, or subtriangularly ovate. Apical margin straight, or slightly convex. Apical angle 

 rounded, or subacute. Veins nearly arranged as in Zemeros. The fii'st and second branches of the postcostal 

 vein arising before the anterior extremity of the discoidal cell, and the third and fourth at considerable 

 distances beyond it. The upper disco-cellular vein obliterated ; the middle disco-cellular and the upper discoidal 

 veins arising together at a little distance beyond the second branch of the postcostal vein ; the middle and 

 lower disco-cellular veins forming a nearly continuous curve, the latter uniting with the third branch of the 

 median vein at a very short distance beyond its origin. 



nind Wings very variable in form; in some species with the anal angle ])roduced into a spatulate tail, in others 

 with the outer niargin entire, rounded, and very slightly scalloped ; in others with the middle of the outer 

 margin strongly angulated and produced into a tail-like lobe, and in others produced into several short tails. 

 The discoidal vein scarcely extending beyond the middle of the costal margin. Tiie branch of the postcostal 

 vein arising considerably beyond the upper disco-cellular vein. The lower disco-cellular vein uniting with the 

 third branch of the median vein at a short distance from its origin. 



Fore Legs of the male short, slender, and very densely clothed with soft hairs, forming a thick brush. Fore 

 Legs of the female twice as long, slender, scaly. The tarsus well articulated : terminal joint small, oval ; 

 armed beneath with a series of very minute spines, and at the tip with two, regularly formed, much curved 

 ungues, acute at the tip, not above one fourth of the length of the joint. The pulvillus large and leathery. 



Four Hind Legs moderately long, slender, and scaly. The femur hairy beneath. The femur of the middle pair 

 of legs elongated. Tibial spurs very minute, or obsolete. Ungues small, very strongly curved, broad at the 

 base, with a deep notch at the base of the apical acute portion. Paronychia very slender, obliquely truncate ; 

 the outer portion of the truncation armed with numerous long sets. Pulvillus broad, short, dilated at the 

 extremity. 

 Abdomen rather short. 



This fine genus is nearly allied to Haraearis, with which it entirely agrees in the arrangement of the veins of the wings, but from 

 which it is distinguished by the small size of the labial paliii, which are not clothed beneath to the tip as in that genus with long sel;B, 

 and by the different character of the markings, especially on the under side of the wings. 



The genus embraces, in its present extent, a variety of forms, the species being, however, confined in their geographical range to 

 Asia and Africa. Our Plate LXIX. contains representations of several of the most striking forms ; namely, Ta.xila Fylla from Sylhet 

 and Assam, with triangular fore wings and large slightly scalloped hind wings ; Taxila Egeon from India, a species agreeing most 

 nearly in its markings with Hamearis, but distinguished by the form of the wings, especially the hind pair. Of this form there are 

 several species in our collections, some of which arc recorded in the Catalorfue of the Lepidoptera of the British Museum under the 

 names of Erato, Fatna, and Cesennia. Another group, typified by Papilio Echerius of Stoll, has the middle of the outer margin of the 

 hind wings angidated, with a deep emargination outside the angle. Tiiis, in the African Ilesperia Gerontes Fab. (Baucis Druri/), is 

 developed into a tail, whilst the Madagascar T. Tepahi of Boisduval has the outer margin of the same wings deeply scalloped, with two 

 short tails in the middle. Another Eastern group, distinguished by its large rounded wings, the hind ones but slightly scalloped, is 

 typified by Enicsis Drupadi of Horsfield. In our Plate LXIX. figures 6. and 7. represent both se-xcs of the beautiful closely allied 

 species, E. Orphna of Boisduval. 



As Fabricius (by whom the genus Emesis was proposed in the Si/stc7na Glossatorutv) gave the Ilesperia Ovidius as its type, I 

 have followed E. Doubleday 's views in giving the name of Taxila to the present group instead of employing for it the name of Emesis, 

 as used by Horsfield and Boisduval, that name being restored to the genus containing Ovidius, for which Boisduval proposed the name 

 of Nymula. This explanation is necessary, in consequence of the generic name of Emesis having been misapplied to E. Orphna in our 

 Plate LXIX. 



