SOME BUTTERFLIES FROM THE INDIAN REGION. 761 



made the basis of separation, I really do not think it would be possible 

 to arrive at any definite results. Indeed, the specimen in which the 

 prolongation is least marked is a very yellowish one from Sikkim, where 

 mahendra is not supposed to be found. All the points of difference 

 noted by de Niceville (N. nandina) and Bingham appear to me to break 

 down at times, the only one of moderate constancy being the complete 

 separation or otherwise of the spot and streak on the underside. 



Neptis soma. Moore. 



The numerous varieties collected by Bingham under this name form 

 another difficult group. An examination of some scores of specimens 

 collected in Assam and in the Sikkim and Bhutan Terais have led me 

 to make the following note. Of those insects placed under true soma there 

 appear to be two more or less constant and distinct varieties. The 

 first and more common has very narrow and heavily sullied markings, 

 the subterminal band in the hindwing so much so that it is only a 

 shade lighter than the ground colour. This appears to be the species 

 referred to soma by de Niceville (Butt, of India, Vol. II, page 102). The 

 second variety has all the markings pure white though narrow and small, 

 and the submarginal row of the hindwing is made up of distinct, very 

 clear white quadrate spots. It is probably the adipala of Moore. The 

 undersides are practically identical. Both forms have been taken both 

 in the dry season and at the height of the rains, so the differences 

 cannot be altogether due to climatic dimorphism. 



Neptis clinia. Moore. 



According to Bingham, this local race of N. soma s confined to the 

 Andamans. I have taken a couple of specimens, quite indistinguishable 

 from others from the Andamans, in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam. 



Neptis nashona. Swinhoe. 



Hitherto only recorded from the Khasi Hills. I took an unmistakeable 

 specimen in April this year in the forest country below Buxa, Bhutan. 



Doleschalla bisaltide. Moore. 



Doleschallia malabarlca. Fruhstorfer. 



Doleschallia andamanensis. Fruhstorfer. 



The impossibility of satisfactorily separating, on the lines laid down by 

 Bingham, a fairly long series of the genus in my collection from the Sikkim 

 and Bhutan Terais, Assam, the Naga Hills and the Andaman Islands, led me 

 to make a critical examination of the different species as represented in the 

 Indian Museum and de Niceville collections. These show that the character 

 ascribed by Bingham to the race malabarica, (Fauna of India, Butt., Vol. 

 I, page 392) viz., the termination of the preapical fulvous band in inter- 

 space 6 of the forewing, holds good only in specimens from the Malabar 

 Coast ; and in these it seems absolutely constant. In the long series in the 



