SOME BUTTERFLIES FROM THE INDIAN REGION. 755 



mark is so reduced as to barely noticeable. There is no similar insect in 

 the series of E. mulciber in the Indian museum and de Niceville collections, 

 but a few specimens in the latter from Borneo, named E. basilissa, Cramer, 

 (now sunk as a synonym) approach the Duars insect in the paucity of 

 violescent spots — though even these are far more numerously spotted. In 

 the absence of material showing constancy, my variety can hardly be consi- 

 dered a distinct species ; and it is probably a highly melanised example 

 of what is usually a very constant species. 



LETHE (Genus). Hiibner. 



A few remarks with respect to the altitudinal range of the different 

 species of this extensive genus may be interesting. Though the type 

 species — L. europa, Fabricius — is a plain's butterfly, the genus is essentially 

 one of the hill country. Only one other species — L. mekara, Moore — appears 

 to occur at all generally in the plains. This is in Sylhet where it is rather 

 common in bamboo jungle. It is true that other species such as L. chandica 

 and L. latiaris have been reported from ' Sylhet, ' but it is almost certain 

 that the insects on which these records were based came from the lower 

 Khasi hill country below Cherrapunji, which abuts on the Sylhet plains. 

 This locality is a favorite hunting ground of the native collectors who 

 often speak of it as Sylhet. It is to be noted that L. europa and L mekara 

 are the only species of the genus to be found in the plains country of 

 Sumatra (Butt : of Sumatra, de Niceville, Journ., Asiatic Soc. of Bengal, 

 Vol. LXIV , No. 3, 1895). 



Going a little higher in elevation, we come to the next group, one 

 composed of more or less closely connected species. This group includes — 



L bhairava. Moore. 



L. latiaris. Hewitson. 



L. kansa. Moore. 



L. vindhya. Felder. 



L. sinorix. Hewitson. 



L. chandica. Moore, 

 and is essentially one of the foot hills. Its range may be said to be 

 between 500 and 3,000 feet. With the single exception of L. kansa, none of 

 the species is common anywhere. L. kansa is to be found fairly plentifully 

 at low elevations in the Sikkim hills and is very common on the northern 

 edges of the Khasi hills. I have also taken a single specimen atNaini Tal — 

 the only case I know of its occurrence above 2,500 feet, and also, so far, the 

 only record of its existence west of Sikkim. 



The rest of the Lethes are, almost without exception, insects of the 

 higher hills. Of these — 



L. rohria. Fabricius. 



L. nilgiriensi. Guerin. 



