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XIV. Notes on a protean Indian bntterjii/, Euplsea 

 (Stictoplcea) barrisii, Felder. By Lionel de Nice- 

 viLLE, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S. 



[Read October 5th, 1892.] 



I HAVE asked my friend Mr. E. Y. Watson to exhibit on 

 my behalf, to the Fellows of the Entomological Society 

 of London, a series of forty-five specimens of a protean 

 species of butterfly, Eiipkea {Stietoploia) harrisn, Felder, 

 consisting of thirty-three males and twelve females, 

 which I have selected out of a collection of upwards of 

 two hundred caught in the Khasi Hills, Assam, by the 

 native collectors of the Kev. Walter A. Hamilton. These 

 specimens were almost certainly all caught at or close to 

 the village of Chela-punji, at the foot of the hills on the 

 Sylhet side, and at an elevation but slightly above sea- 

 level. 



On examination the specimens will be seen to exhibit 

 considerable variation in outline, the wings being broader, 

 and the fore wing more produced at the apex (less 

 rounded) in some specimens than in others. With 

 regard to the markings, the variations are almost be- 

 wildering. I have arranged the specimens in two series, 

 the males first, then the females. I have placed at the 

 head of the series the most sparsely-marked specimens, 

 which, as far as the fore wing goes, represent the 

 oldest-named form, and are characteristic of Burma and 

 the Malay Peninsula ; and next those with the heaviest- 

 marked fore wing, which are characteristic of Sikkim, at 

 the other end of the geographical range of species. In 

 the Khasi Hills — as demonstrated by the specimens now 

 exhibited — the extremes of both forms with intermediates 

 between them occur. This extraordinary variation in 

 markings is not, in my opinion, due to seasonal or 

 climatic causes, but is probably inherent in the nature 

 of the butterfly itself. This mutability of character has 

 been noted and commented upon in the writings of every 

 field naturalist who has seen these butterflies in life, 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1892. — PART III. (NOV.) U 



