408 LYCJENID.E. 



Dry-season brood. 3 $ . Similar to the d $ of the wet-season 

 brood but differ as follows : 3 Upperside : pale purplish-blue 

 fading on the discs of the wings in some specimens to white ; 

 terminal black edging to the fore wing narrower ; markings on the 

 hind wing fainter, trending towards obsolescence. Underside : from 

 very pale ochraceous white to dark earthy ochraceous ; markings 

 identical with those in specimens of the wet-season brood, but in 

 some of the very pale specimens the white fasciae assume a pale 

 greenish-blue metallic tint. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as 

 in the wet-season specimens but paler. $ . Differs from the wet- 

 season specimens only in the paler ground-colour both on the 

 upper and undersides, on the former also by the narrowness of 

 the black edging to the fore wing, and the subobsolescence of the 

 markings on the hind wing. 



Exp. rf $ 32-40 mm. (1-25-1-57"). 



Hob. Sikhim ; Bhutan ; Bengal : Malcla, Calcutta, Orissa ; 

 Southern India : the Nilgiris, North Canara, Mysore, Travancore ; 

 Ceylon ; Assam ; Burma ; Teaasserim ; the Andamans ; Nicobars ; 

 extending through the Malayan Subregion to Java. 



Larva. " Feeds on the flowers and seeds of the cultivated 

 cardamom and also on those of Kcempfceria pandurata. It is very 

 similar to that of L. celeno, Cramer, but is of a pink hue, with well- 

 defined stripes of red dorsally and laterally." (Davidson, Bell fy 

 AtiTeen.} 



Pupa. "... found inside the fruit, or in the cluster of dead 

 flowers above the fruit ; is smooth and of a dull yellowish brown, 

 marked with interrupted bands of a darker brown. In shape it is 

 similar to (that of) L. celeno." (Davidson, Bell $ Aitken.) 



Var. kankena (PI. XX, fig. 148), Felder, which I am unable to 

 separate from L. elpis, seems to me to differ only in the absence of 

 the terminal markings on the upperside of the hind wing in the <5 . 

 L. kankena was described originally from Kar Nicobar, but it is 

 found (fide Distant, de Niceville, Elwes and others) in the Malay 

 Peninsula, Perak, Burma and the Philippines. I have seen 

 specimens also from Sikhim and the Andamans which are insepar- 

 able from those from the Nicobars. Also I can see no difference 

 in the genitalia of males of true elpis and males with the unspotted 

 terminal margin to the hind wing, from the Nicobars. [N.B. The 

 coloured figure here given is, I regret to say, badly reproduced by 

 the three-colour process. The insept is really much more blue 

 than the dark purple as represented here.] 



I have two specimens of a Lampides from the Central Nicobar 

 group which on the underside are identical in ground-colour and 

 markings with L. elpis var. kankena, but on the upperside are quite 

 different. The ground-colour is uniform slaty-plumbeous frosted 

 with a silvery sheen, the tornal markings on "the hind wing as in 

 var. kankena. Both specimens are males and not in good condition, 

 and I prefer at present simply to point out the above difference 

 between them and L. elpis. If new the form may stand as 



