866 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HLSTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



three kinds commonly caught by anglers in that part of the river. The Nga 

 Shu is a long fish with a long head, a large and very telescopic mouth and 

 heavy shoulder ; all the fish over 30 lbs. in weight that I have caught or 

 seen belonged to this variety. The Nga Dauk is a thicker, deeper fish than 

 the last and has a comparatively small head and mouth. The Nga Ni on 

 leaving the water is as red as a boiled lobster except on the belly, which is 

 white. I have heard it said that the Nga Ni is the male of the Nga 

 Dauk, I do not know with what truth ; I have found it to be much more 

 ' overhung ' than either of the other varieties and to take a spoon less 

 frequently, from which one may perhaps infer that it is more of a bottom 

 feeder. I once saw a large shoal of red fish ascending a small river 

 just before the rains. I do not know if mahsir migrate in shoals of one 

 sex or in mixed parties. 



J. H. WHITEHEAD, Major. 

 S. S. " Staffordshire," 5th November 1910. 



No. XXIII.— ARGYNNIS RYPERBIUS, var. CASTETSI : 

 AN APPEAL. 



I am asking for the co-operation of entomologists in S. India to assist 

 me in investigating the area and distribution (including elevation) of the 

 dimorphic female of Argynnis hyperbius form castetsi, more particularly that 

 form which is without the purple apex and white subapical band which is 

 so distinctive of castetsi. My reason for asking assistance is to throw 

 further light on the evolution of the Argynnidce. 



Dr. F. A. Dixey, F.R.S., in his classical paper, " On the phylogenetic 

 significance of the wing markings in certain genera of the Nymphalidse " 

 Trans., Ent. Soc, London, 1890, gives his reasons for the view that the wing 

 markings of the Vanessidce have been derived from an ancestor with wing 

 markings very distinctive of the Argynnidce, and further that the dark 

 females of many Argynnidce. retain the ancestral features of that family. 



He shows that this is most marked in the North American species A. 

 diana, which is almost entirely of a deep blue black colour, and well marked 

 also in the Chinese species A. sagana, which has the male very similar 

 to A. hyperbius but the female of a dull uniform brown with a white subapi- 

 cal band. These ancestral features are less clearly shown in the European 

 A. pandora which has the wings, more particularly the bases, olive-green, 

 and in the form A. valezina the dimorph of A. paphia, which is found not 

 uncommonly in the New Forest. In India A. hyperbius female retains the 

 dark colouring. But at the time Dr. Dixey wrote his paper he was 

 unaware that in S. India this species has a dimorphic female, the one re- 

 presenting the ancestral type {castetsi), the other {martini ff) representing 

 the newer development, i.e., by more closely resembling the male. The 



