1888.] LEPIDOrXERA OF CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 543 



though composed of smaller spots than in 77. alcmene ; the secon- 

 daries paler, redder towards the outer border, and with larger white 

 marginal and suhmarginal spots. Expanse of wings 92-99 millim. 



Three males and five females, obtained on the 3rd and 4th October. 

 One of the specimens is labelled as having been taken at an elevation 

 of " 700 feet on yellow creepers of jungle " and another " canght east 

 of Lunch tree, October 4, 1887." 



The perfect constancy of this species interests me, inasmuch as I 

 have recently been accused of making far too many species in this 

 genus : — 



At a meeting of the Entomological Society of London (held Nov. 

 4th, 1885) Mr. Gervase F. Mathew exhibited a number of specimens 

 of this genus of Butterflies from Fiji and other islands of the Western 

 Pacific, and stated that the males varied in no way whatever, but of 

 the females, of which forty-eight were exhibited, scarcely two were 

 alike ; he concluded therefore that several species described as new 

 were referable to a single species, and assured the members present 

 that from one brood he had bred individuals agreeing with varieties 

 from the Gilbert, ElHce, and Marshall Islands, the New Hebrides, 

 New Guinea, Tonga, Samoa, &c. Unfortunately the series exhibited 

 to the meeting consisted of females from various localities, corre- 

 sponding with the forms usually received from those localities, and 

 therefore in no way supporting Mr. Mathew's statement ; it would 

 have been interesting if the polymorphic brood described by him 

 could have been exhibited, but the series before the meeting rather 

 tended to prove the constancy of the various island-forms than the 

 reverse. 



In a paper read before the same Society on the 7th December, 

 1887, and pubUshed in this year's 'Transactions,' Mr. Mathew 

 associates all the local forms under the name of Hypolimnas bolina ' 

 and observes : — " This butterfly is occasionally to be seen in the 

 vicinity of Sydney, but I never met with it tliere myself. I have 

 taken it at Brisbane, Cooktown, Claremont Islands, Thursday Island, 

 Fiji, New Caledonia, Friendly Islands, New Hebrides, Ilotumah 

 Island, Solomon Islands, Gilbert Islands, Samoa, Pelew Islands, 

 New Guinea, New Britain, and have received it from Norfolk Island." 

 He adds ; — " On account of the extraordinary manner in which the 

 females vary, it being extremely difficult to obtain two exactly alike 

 from the same brood of larvae, a number of new sjtecies iiave been 

 described, among which I may mention naresii, mosleyi, pallescens, 

 pulchra, and montrouzieri of ISntler, and otaheitce, Felder." 



At a meeting of the same Society, held on the 4th April of the 

 present year, iMr. Salvin exhibited about sixty specimens, no two of 

 which were alike, of a sfiecies of Ili/polimnas caught by Mr. Wood- 

 ford near Suva, Viti Levu, Fiji, on one patch of Zinnias. This ex- 

 hibition, though interesting, really added nothing to our knowledo-e 

 of the genus, since the varieties shown were those connectiu" 

 H. pallescens with an extremely dark rc)iresentative of 77. antiyone, 

 which in the Museum collection have been associated since the year 



1 H. bolina is an Indian type never yet received from the Australian Eegion 



37* 



