54 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL MIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



From the long list of synonyms, it will be seen that Tramea limhata is 

 the name applied to a series of insects, differing but slightly and all 

 tending to merge the one into the other. Ris remarks that they are all 

 probably subspecies or varieties of one form and that the Indian represen- 

 tative is a tolerably well defined form, described first from a female 

 specimen under the name of similata by Rambur, and later from a male, 

 under the name of stylata, by the same odontologist. 



Male. Expanse 90 mm. Length 50 mm. 



Head : eyes dark brown above, olivaceous at the sides and beneath ; 

 \resicle occiput and face dark olivaceous brown ; forehead dark, glossy, 

 metallic violet ; labrum blackish brown : labium olivaeeous brown, with 

 the middle lobe and a stripe on the lateral lobe, black. Some greenish 

 yellow occasionally on the sides of face. 



Prothorax brown. 



Thorax densely pubescent, dark reddish brcwn with some obscure dark 

 lines laterally and often some pruinescence beneath. Legs black. 



Abdomen deep mahogany brown, the last three segments black. Broad, 

 black annules at the junctions of the segments and the borders often edged 

 with black. Anal appendages very long, black. 



Wings hyaline, reticulation black ; a basal spot in the hindwing of a deep 

 blackish brown, a ray in the intercostal spaces extending as far as the 1st 

 antenodal nervure and separated from the main larger spot, which extends 

 halfway along the subcostal space, nearly or quite up the trigone in the 

 cubital space, for 1 cell in the base of the loop and from thence in a more 

 or lesi indented line to the torntis, at which spot only it reaches the ter ■aen. 

 In some spacimens, there is a very marked indentation where the base 

 of the loop cuts into the marking, so that it appears more or less bilobed. 



Stigma reddish brown, the hind about two-thirds the size of the fore. 



Membrane pale brown, or grey. 



Sexual organs : male : lamina similar to hasilaris ; internal tentaculoe 

 longer and narrower than basilaris and the end of hook more bent ; lobe 

 lono- and narrow. Female similar to hasilaris but the vulvar scale smaller 

 and not obscuring the 9th ventral plate which is longer than in that insect. 



Female very similar to the male but paler in colour. A broad, blackj 

 basal line to the forehead. The abdomen a dark olivaceous brown or 

 yellow, or in many specimens a reddish brown as far as the ] Otb segment. 

 Basal marking of hindwing more extensive outwardly but less so posteriorly. 

 Outwardly it extends as far as the trigone or slightly within it and for 

 halfway along the body of the loop internal to the mid rib. Posteriorly it 

 fails to reach the tornus and internally, the anal border, where a small, 

 clear hyaline area is enclosed. (A very small, hyaline area, similar to this 

 is occasionally seen in the male but is absent in all my specimens). Wings 

 decidedly smoky. 



Burma specimens differ a little from the above description. The face is 

 a deep red, the forehead a lighter red and with a broad, black, basal band. 

 The basal marking extends rather beyond the 1st antenodal nervure, as far 

 as the arc, to just within the trigone, rather more into the loop and to 

 within 2 or 3 cells of the termen. The hyaline area at the base covers 

 about 12 cells. The colour of the marking is a deep reddish brown. 



Hob. — Similar to that of hasilaris and with similar habits. Cosmo- 

 politan. 



