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



Talicada nyseus. Guerin. 



Specimens from the hills north of Sylhet have the red area on the hind- 

 wing much smaller in extent than those from Western India, and of a much 

 deeper red. 



Nacaduba ardates. Moore . nov. var. ? dima. 



I have not been able to satisfactorily place a male Nacaduba taken by 

 myself near the foot of the Naga Hills in April 1909. It is very near 

 N. ardates (which is common in the locality) with which form it agrees in the 

 basal striga on the underside of the forewing being extended below the 

 median vein, in its small size (1"), and in being tailless. Its appearance 

 above is, however, very distinct and quite different from any of the 

 hundreds of ardates I have examined both in the course of my own collect- 

 ing and in the Museum and de Niceville collections ; and there are, more- 

 over, some points of difference in the markings on the underside. 

 N. ardates, on the upperside, is always some dark shade of brownish purple- 

 brown when looked at direct, a dull purple when seen at an angle. The 

 variety is a bright bluish purple, somewhat like that of Cyaniris jynteana, 

 with a shining, slightly frosted appearance in some lights. The underside 

 is a dull dark brown, with all the transverse strigse very indistinct, the basal 

 one of the forewing being traceable only half across interspace 1. The 

 large orange crowned black spot in interspace 2 of the hindwing, so 

 prominent in all forms of Nacaduba, is here replaced by a small, incon- 

 spicuous black spot, subequal in size to that at the extreme tornal angle, 

 the orange halo and metallic scales being altogether absent. 



The form may be new ; but ardates does vary somewhat, and pending 

 further material and research, it is best treated as a well marked variety 

 of that species. 



Thecla leechii. de Niceville. 



The female of this rare species was described but not named by de Nice- 

 ville in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, Vol. VI, page 

 374, as belonging to the genus Satsuma, Murray, and was named in a later 

 article in Vol. VII, page 335 of the Journal. I have to record three more 

 captures — all females— in Shillong, two by Mr. H. M. Parish now in his collec- 

 tion, and one by myself. Mr. de Nic6ville's description, which is very clear, 

 does not mention the small triangular patch of grey scales about midway 

 up the dorsal margin on the underside of the hindwing, or the well develop- 

 ed lobe at the tornus. The species, the female at any rate, is tailless. It 

 is decidedly rare and only appears very early in the spring, all the speci- 

 mens having been taken in March or early April. It is curious that the 

 male has not yet been discovered in the Khasi Hills. 



Herda epicles. Goclart. 



The usual colouring of the male of this very common species is a some- 



