LIPHTBA. 453 



$ . Upper side, fore and hind wings : rich ochraceous ; markings 

 on the latter wing as in the d , but the black streak in cell and 

 the large spot or patch connecting it to the broad area of black 

 along the termen much smaller, often divided into two detached 

 spots ; on the fore wing the black is reduced to a large medial 

 patch that occupies the apical half of the cell, beyond and below 

 it the bases of interspaces 5, 6, 10, and II, the basal thirds some- 

 times more of interspaces 3 and 4, and a very broad, inwardly 

 irregularly concave band that is produced inwardly along the 

 terminal half of the dorsal margin and shortly along veins 2, 

 3 and 4. Underside : as in the J but generally the ground- 

 colour paler. In some specimens the whole hind wing with 

 mottlings of brown such as are present in all specimens of both 

 sexes along the costal margin of that wing. Antennae, head, 

 thorax and abdomen as in the c? . 



Exp. d S6-92 mm. (3-38-3-64"). 



Hob. Sikhitu ; Assam ; Malayan Subregion to Australia. 



A very variable form. The description given above is taken 

 from Sikhim and Assam specimens. Specimens from Malacca 

 and south and east through the subregion have a decreasing 

 amount of black colouring on the upperside. Australian speci- 

 mens have the least of all. In Australian specimens too the 

 antennae, the head, thorax and wings on the upperside are covered 

 often with a curious irregular irroration of white fugitive scales, 

 and the abdomen on both sides and beneath towards the apex by 

 a dense mass of brown hairs each of which terminates in a flattened 

 broad plume-like scale. 



So remarkable and abnormal is this form that under subfamily 

 characteristics I have not hesitated to quote a very large portion 

 of the lengthened description of the larva and pupa given by 

 Dr. Chapman ; also, as the insect is found in Sikhim and Assam, 

 I venture to give extracts from a note on the habits both in the 

 larval and imaginal states of this very curious butterfly. The 

 note is by Mr. F. P. Dodd of Queensland, the original discoverer 

 I believe, of the larva. 



Mr. Dodd says (' Entomologist,' xxxv, 1902, p. 153) : " One 

 correspondent stated ' that it is said to be found in ants' nests in 

 its larval and pupal stages.' .... Another correspondent informed 

 me that his book gave it as a twilight flier, with a query, and 

 they suggested that larvae may be carnivorous feeding on wooly 

 bugs. 



" I had already seen a female on a warm sunny day in July 

 1900, depositing eggs upon a tree which was in complete possession 

 of the wonderfully interesting green tree-ant (EcopTiylla smarag- 

 dina, Fab., which exists here in vast numbers in the coast and 

 mountain scrubs. Upon this tree there were several large nests 

 of the ants and the butterfly would rapidly fly over the top of the 

 tree once or twice, then come underneath and settle on one of 

 the branches near the trunk ; there were four spots to which it 

 returned at different times after its flights, and upon examination 



