344 Mr. Lionel de Niceville's note 



species in life for many years) writes me : — " I am 

 sending you ten more [D. sanaca] of five different 

 shades as near as I can manage. I am sure the dark 

 and hght-coloured ones belong to the same species, as I 

 got dozens of all shades in one place, and in one 

 forenoon ; they were all chasing each other, at times 

 six or seven together. Mr. Angus Campbell has also 

 captured some of them in Masuri, where it is not very 

 rare : he got them ont he flowers of the horse-chestnut 

 in May. Mine were all caught on open spaces in forests 

 of the Mouroo Oak, Quercus dilatata. [Ticketed Nag 

 Tiba, near Masuri, 8500 feet, latter half of May and 

 beginning of June, and Tehri Gurhwal, near Masuri, 

 8500 feet, 10th to 20th June.] I have seen them often 

 in Masuri, but captured them very seldom." I should 

 remark of the female from Masuri, that none of them 

 are as light-coloured as the palest male specimen of D. 

 flavalba ; in fact they vary too, but not as much as the 

 males, the lightest specimens equal D. flavalba (type 

 female), the darkest equal D. sanaca. 



Major Marshall writes me on the subject : — " I am 

 returning to-day your paper on T. belladonna. I think 

 you are right in the matter. I would never have 

 separated D. flavalba unless I had believed it to be 

 confined to the dry western zone of the Himalayas, 

 where the climate is that of Kunawar. Its occurrence 

 at Masuri makes it climatically and geographically in- 

 separable, though of course climate has a large effect in 

 l)roducing the prevalence of black or of white in the 

 coloration of butterflies." 



I will now leave the matter, only adding that it is 

 more than probable that there is only one species of this 

 group, D. belladonna, and that to prove it, it is only 

 necessary to bring sufficiently large material together to 

 connect all the described forms, of which I give a list 

 below : — 



D. belladonna, Fabricius, habitat of typical specimens 



unknown, probably occurs in Western China. 

 D. ithiela, Butler, described from Penang, but occurs 



in Sikkim and Assam. 

 D. berinda, Moore, figured on plate xii., vol. 1, of 



Waterhouse's * Aid,' occurs in the Khasia Hills, 



probably a synonym of the last. 



