of Butterflies related to the Genus Morpho. 179 



Syn. ThaumanUs Nourmahnl, Westw. in Doubl., Westw. and 

 Hewits., Gen. Diurn. Lep. p. '337. 



Expans. alar, maris unc. 3| ; foem. unc. 45. 



Habitatin India Orientali. 



In Mus. East tnd. Comp., Saunders et Mus. Brit. 



The description published by me in the " Genera of Diurnal 

 Lepidoplera," was made from a female at that time unique in the 

 collection of W. W. Saunders, Esq., F.R.S., President of our So- 

 ciety. The East India Company has, however, subsequently 

 received both sexes from India. The male differs from the 

 female, as I am informed by Mr. F. Moore, merely in wanting 

 the white subapical spot near the extremity of the fore wings. 



On the upper side the wings are of a rich chesnut brown 

 colour, the fore ones having a very broad oblique fulvous fascia, 

 extending from the costa to the apical margin and anal angle ; 

 the tip of the wings being dark brown, with a small white suba- 

 pical spot in the female. There is also a series of submarginal 

 brown V-shaped marks, and another of brown lunules in all the 

 wings. Beneath the colour is paler, with a broad oblique sub- 

 central fascia, edged with a slender black slightly irregular line 

 on each side, the one nearest the base being internally, and the 

 outer one externally edged with a line of pale silvery greyish green 

 scales. The discoidal cell in the fore wings is closed by black 

 veins, but in the hind wings the outer black striga forms its ter- 

 mination. The fore wings have also five ocelli, and the hind 

 ones three, in the alternate spaces between the veins, the inter- 

 vening spaces being marked by paler dots, indicating obsolete 

 ocelli. Near the apex of the wings are two slender dentated 

 black lines, ending at the anal angle in a black dot, slightly suffused 

 with lilac scales. 



As in the two preceding species, the fore wings have only three 

 branches, arising from the post-costal vein ot the fore wings. 

 (PI. 18, fig. 2 a, 2 h, 2 c.) 



The charming play of colour on the underside of the wings of 

 this species has suggested the specific name of Nourmuhal, " The 

 Light of the Harem" of Jehanguire, renowned for 



" Loveliness, ever in motion, which plays 

 Like the light upon Autumn's soft shadowy days : 

 Now here and now there giving warmth as it flies, 

 Now melting in misl and now breaking in gleams." — Moore's halla Ttuohh. 



N 2 



