all 
(oat ) 
“ Papilio melania was described by Fabricius in 1775, and 
figured by Donovan (Ins. N. Holl., 1805), Much doubt has 
prevailed as to the identification of Fabricius’s species. 
Boisduval’s P. melania, according to A. R. Wallace, is the 
female of Catophaga ega, Boisd. Wallace himself said, in 
1867, ‘The Papilio melania of Fabricius has not yet been 
properly identified, and probably never will be.’ He was no 
doubt unaware that Fabricius’s type was preserved in the 
Banksian Cabinet, where it may still be seen. 
“Tn 1884, Miskin applied the name 7’. melania to the female 
of Tachyris celestina, Boisd. Until quite recently the British 
Museum possessed no specimens of Fabricius’s insect, except the 
type (which was not included in the general Collection). The 
specimens that appeared in the Collection as C. melania were 
Pieris (Catophaga) zoe of Vollenhoven, the Batchian form of C. 
jacquinotti, Luc. Meanwhile, the true P. melania of Fabricius 
had been re-described by Miskin in 1888 as Tachyris asteria. 
“Mr. G. A. Waterhouse has now sent home specimens which 
are undoubtedly of the species described by Fabricius and 
represented by Donovan. It is said by Mr. Waterhouse to 
be rare and no doubt very local. Four of these specimens 
are in the British Museum, and a pair, male and female, 
here exhibited, have been presented to the Hope Department. 
These were captured at Kuranda, near Cairns, in North 
Queensland. Fabricius’s type is in bad condition, but there 
can be no possible doubt that Mr. Waterhouse’s specimens 
have been correctly identified. 
“ Now that the true melania has at last come to light it is 
seen to be not a Catophaga allied to ega or paulina, but a 
Tachyris belonging to the group which contains 7’. celestina 
and 7’. nero. It is a peculiarly handsome and distinctively 
marked butterfly ; and it is probable that only its presumable 
rarity, and the battered condition of the type specimen, have 
permitted the erroneous identifications which have been cur- 
rent for so many years.” 
Larva oF COLIAS NASTES, VAR. WERDANDI.—Mr. W. G. 
SHELDON exhibited a living larva of Colias nastes, var. werdandt, 
which he had bred from an ovum deposited by a 9 captured 
at Abisko in Swedish Lapland; the natural food-plant is 
