NEPTIS, ETC. 149 



or less brown at the base, and traversed by broad, slightly un- 

 dulating brown lines. 



The genera Neptis, Athyma, and Abrota are all very 

 similar in colour and markings, and are all confined to the 

 Eastern Hemisphere, except Neptis, a few species of which 

 extend to Africa and Eastern Europe, as we have already 

 mentioned. They are almost all black or brown, with white 

 or tawny markings. These generally take the form of a band, 

 often more or less interrupted or macular, running from the 

 middle of the costa of the fore-wings, and curving round to the 

 inner-margin of the hind-wings. Beyond this, there is often 

 an outer, narrower band, at least on the hind-wings, and often 

 a row of dots or a sub-marginal line in addition. In the cell 

 of the fore-wings is often a basal streak, either entire, or broken 

 into two or three sections. Sometimes the male is white and 

 the female tawny, or vice versa, and sometimes there is a white 

 or tawny belt at the base of the abdomen. 



Parthenos, Hiibner, is another genus which is confined to 

 the tropics of the Eastern Hemisphere, and which contains 

 some of the largest and handsomest Butterflies allied to Li- 

 menitis. They measure about four inches across the wings, 

 which are more or less dentated, though the fore-wings are not 

 concave; the hind-wings are often more or less angulated. 

 The wings are generally dark brown, varied with green, lilac, 

 or tawny, but there is always a row of large white spots running 

 obliquely from within the tip of the fore-wings towards the 

 inner-margin ; and from the base of the fore-wings, and the 

 base of the inner-margin of the hind-wings, several short broad 

 black bands run out into the wing. 



Ethiopian Region. 



The African species of Neptis, one of which we have figured, 

 need not detain us; they resemble the Indian species, but 

 are generally rather smaller. 



