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XXI. Notes on Eastern Butterflies; (continued). By 

 Alfred R. Wallace, F.Z.S., V.-P. Ent. Soc, &c. 



[Read 7th June and 5th July, 1869.] 



Fam. EURYTELID^. 



Genus Elymnias, Hiibner. 



[Melanitis, part, Fabr.) 



I follow Mr. F. Moore in adopting Hiibner's name for 

 this genus, in preference to Melanitis of Fabricius, 

 which has been used by most authors down to Westwood 

 and Felder, but which properly belongs to a genus of 

 SatyridcB, of which Leda and Banhsia are the types. 



It contains a number of remarkable insects differing 

 in style of colouration, but often resembling species of 

 other families, especially Danaidce and Morphidce. It 

 is somewhat widely distributed, ranging from West 

 Africa to New Guinea; but the bulk of the species are 

 found in the Malay Archipelago, where they are equally 

 distributed between the Indo-Malayan and Austro-Ma- 

 layan regions. None, however, are yet known from 

 Australia. In the " Genera of Diurnal Lepidoptera," 

 twelve species are given as then known, two being from 

 Africa, two from India, and eight from the Malayan 

 Islands. Several species have since been described by 

 Mr. Hewitson and others; to which I now add eight 

 from my own collection and that of the British Museum, 

 making a total of thirty-one Eastern species. 



It is interesting to observe, that the species from the 

 Austro-Malayan Islands form a compact group, distin- 

 guished by a regular and somewhat rounded outline of 

 wings, and resembling in colouration some of the broad- 

 winged Euploece, or the genus Drusilla ; while the species 

 of India and the Indo-Malayan Islands, are almost 

 always characterised by a more irregular outline, Avaved, 

 toothed, or even caudate, and generally coloured like 

 species of Danais, or the more elongate forms of 

 Euploea. 



These are forest-haunting insects, frequenting chiefly 

 damp places where there is a dense herbaceous vegeta- 

 tion. Their flight is slow, resembling that of the Saty- 

 ridcp. and Morphidce. 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. 1869. — PART IV. (AUGTJST) . 2 B 



