760 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



Underside greenish grey dusted with black scales, dark brown discal fascia, 

 and terminal lilac shading very prominent. White spots as on upperside. 

 This is the variety which very largely predominates in Bombay and Western 

 India, and is possibly an approach to the vasanta form of Ceylon. 



Type III. — Upperside a dark greenish brown, basal area still darker but 

 not so regularly delimited from the lighter portion as in the other two 

 types. The discal markings consist of three distinct white, well-separated 

 spots beyond the cell, the two upper quadrate and moderately large, the 

 lower very variable, and a fourth spot in interspace 8. A distinct white 

 costal spot beyond the white band, and a well-marked dark subterminal 

 fascia. Subterminal black spots on hindwing large and distinct. Under- 

 side basal half of wings much as in Type II. ; outer half up to pale lilac 

 edging darker brown, but no distinct fascia. White markings as on 

 upperside but less distinct. This variety is the one most generally 

 taken in Bengal and Assam; and some sent me from Maymyo in Upper 

 Burma were of the same type. 

 Neptis eurynome. Westwood. 



Indian lepidopterists are under a great debt of gratitude to Col. 

 Bingham for his labours in overhauling and revising the numerous named 

 varieties of the common Indian Neptis. His decision to sink all the 

 inconstant varieties given specific rank into one species has cleared 

 the air immensely. No one who has dealt with any number of these 

 Neptes can have failed to observe the extent of variation and the utter 

 impossibility of referring any but extreme types to any particular one 

 of the many so-called species. Among all the forms now sunk under 

 eurynome there is, however, one which perhaps deserves to be kept distinct, 

 if only as a local race. This is the dark form with narrow white bands 

 and chocolate coloured underside. It is more or less constant (the 

 underside has sometimes a rusty or ochreous tinge, but is always quite 

 different from the yellow or true eurynome) and is easily distinguishable 

 both on the wing and in the cabinet. It is, moreover, essentially a hill 

 insect, confined to the higher ranges of the Himalayas and Assam hills, 

 and not occurring below 4,000 or 5,000 feet ; whereas eurynome is found 

 both in the plains and in the hills to 5,000 feet and more. As far as 

 I can identify it, the hill form is the true N. astola of Moore. 

 Neptis mahendra. Moore. 

 Neptis yerburyii. Butler. 



The differentiation of these two species is, in my experience, a far more 

 difficult matter than, for instance, the separation of N. eurynome and 

 N. astola. I have a long series before me, taken at various places from 

 Mussoorie on the west to Shillong in the east ; and were the prolongation 

 or otherwise of the detached apical spot of the discoidal streak to be 



