CYAN IRIS. 323 



ground-colour and markings as in the tf . Antennae, head, thorax 

 and abdomen dark brown, not black, but otherwise as in the c? . 



Exp. 3 $ 26-34 mm. (1-04-1-34"). 



Hab. Sikhim ; Assam; Burma; Tenasserim ; the Nicobars. 



A variable insect ; some specimens, probably of wet-season 

 broods, have much less white on the upperside on both fore and 

 hind wings, while the terminal borderings are broad and black, 

 the markings 011 the underside coarser, more regular and more 

 clearly denned. 



091. Cyaniris puspa (PI. XIX, fig. 127), Horsfield (Polyommatus), 

 Cut. Lep. E. I. C. 1828, p. 67 ; Moore, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 245 ; 

 de N., J. A. S. B. 1883, p. 67, pi. 1, fig. 5, $; id. Butt. Ind. iii, 

 1890, p. 100. 



Polyommatus laveiidularis, Moore, A. M. N. H. (4) xx, 1877, p. 341; 

 id. (Cyaniris) Lep. Ceyl. i, 1881, p. 75, pi. 34, figs. 6, 6 a, 7, c? ? . 



Wet-season brood. rf . Upperside: violaceous blue, with bril- 

 liant iridescent tints in certain lights. Fore wing : the costa, 

 apex and term en bordered with black, this edging narrows from 

 base to the middle of the costa, then broadens greatly at apex, where 

 it occupies the apical fourth of the wing, and is again narrowed 

 below vein 4, whence it is continued as an even band to the 

 tornus ; on the disc beyond the apex of the cell the ground- 

 colour is sensibly paler, and the dark markings of the cell are 

 faintly visible by transparency from below. Hind wing : the 

 costa very broadly, the termen much more narrowly black ; the 

 black bordering on the latter consists of a series of rounded 

 coalescent spots, which on the inner side are margined by faint 

 dark lunules ; these are formed not by actual scaling but by the 

 dark markings of the underside which show through more or less 

 clearly. Underside : slightly bluish white ; the markings, some black, 

 some dusky, but all large and distinct. Fore wing : a short bar 

 on the discocellulars, an anteriorly inwardly curved, transverse, 

 discal series of seven, more or less elongate spots, of which the 

 spot in interspace 2 is vertical and sinuous, the next above it 

 irregularly oval and obliquely placed, the next smaller and almost 

 round, the fourth placed almost longitudinally, forms a short bar, 

 and the apical three decrease in size to the costa ; beyond these is 

 an inner subterminal, transverse, lunular line, an outer subterminal 

 series of transverse spots and a very slender anticiliary line. Hind 

 wing : two basal and three subbasal spots in vertical order ; a line 

 on the discocellulars ; a spot above it at base of interspace 6 ; 

 a much larger spot above that in interspace 7 ; a lower discal 

 irregular transverse series of five spots, followed bv terminal 

 markings similar to those on the fore wing, except that the spots 

 in the subterminal row are rounded, not transverse. Cilia of both 

 fore and hind wings white alternated with dusky black at the 

 apices of the veins. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen dusky 

 black, the antennae ringed with white ; beneath : the palpi, thorax 



Y2 



