COMMON BUTTERFLIES OF THE PLAINS OF INDIA. 335 



short, somewhat broad streaks in interspaces 1, 2, 4 and 5 ; these streaks 

 very variable in width and length. Hindwing on the basal, half and 

 along the dorsum broadly white ; the extent of the white is very variable 

 and very ill-defined shading imperceptibly into the dusky-brown. Under- 

 side, fore wing : similar, the white streaks much broader and longer ; 

 an additional dusky-white, longitudinal streak along the middle of the 

 cell ; base of wing dusted with yellow scales; apex with a large, diffuse, 

 purplish patch. Hindwing : basal two-thirds pale sulphur-yellow ; apical 

 third dusky brownish black, the margins of the two colours fairly 

 sharply defined ; veins crossing the disc black. Antennse as in the male ; 

 head, thorax and abdomen above with greenish pubescence ; beneath : 

 white. 



Dry-season Brood. — Male and female : similar to the wet-season form 

 but smaller; in the male, the black edging to the wings both on the upper 

 and undersides is narrower, often markedly so. In the female the differ- 

 ences are more conspicuous in the extreme forms. Specimens captured in 

 the height of the hot weather in specially dry localities resemble the 

 male of the wet-season form except that the irroration of black scales 

 along the costal margin in the latter is replaced by a broad, continuous 

 streak, widened at the apex and continued in a similar manner as in the 

 male along the terminal margin to the tornus, the inward prolongations of 

 the black colour along the veins more marked. On the underside th© 

 dry-season female very closely resembles the wet-season male, the only 

 marked difference is the absence of the elongate, oval spot in interspace 6 

 of the fore wing. This form is the Ajyjnas hippoides ; var. epiccena, Swinho©. 

 Between it and the dark wet-season form of the female many intermediate 

 individual specimens can be found in almost every large collection. Ex- 

 panse 54-82mm. 



Race taprobana, Moore. — Wet-season brood {latifasciata, Moore). — Male 

 closely resembles the wet-season form of typical hippo, but the colours are 

 brighter ; the black, terminal bordering to the wings on both upper and 

 undersides broader, especially on the underside of the hindwing ; the 

 yellow also on this wing is of a deeper, more vivid tint. It can, moreover, 

 be discriminated from hippo male at once by the subcostal vein and 

 veins 6, 7 and 8 where they cross the yellow ground-colour, which are not 

 concolorous but conspicuously edged with black scales, these latter often 

 form a broad streak along the basal half of vein 7. Female does not differ 

 materially from the wet-season form of the female of hip)po ; but the dusky 

 brown-purplish on the terminal half of hindwing on the underside is 

 always broader than in females of typical hippo. 



Dry-seaso7t brood.— M.&le can be separated from the typical form as 

 follows; — Upper side f orewing : vein 6 more or less broadly edged or 

 defined with black. Underside hindwing : terminal, black border much 

 broader ; subcostal vein and veins 7 and 8 black, not concolorous with the 

 yellow ground-colour. Female differs from the female of hippo only by the 

 greater width of the purplish-black, terminal margin of the hindwing on 

 the underside. Antennise, head, thorax and abdomen in both sexes as in 

 typical hippo. Expanse 64-76mm. 



The distribution of hifpo is given as Sikhim, Lower Bengal, Orissa. 

 Assam, Burma, Tenasserim, extending into Siam and China to the east 

 and southwards to the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. Taprobana is 

 chronicled as from Southern India, Malabar, Travancore, Ceylon. 



Another race is recognised, inhabiting the Nicobars (also known from 

 the Philippines), which is characterized in Colonel Bingham's key to the 

 species as '' male, underside hindwing : pale yellow, veins concolorous 

 with wings at all seasons ". This is known as andrea, Esscholtz, He says, 



