259 



ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES 

 FROM THE INDO-MALAYAN REGION. 



By Lionel de Niceville, f.e.s., c.m.z.s., &c. 



(With Plates N, 0, P, and Q.) 



(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on2Sth January, 1895.) 



Family NYMPHALID^]. 



Subfamily Satyrin,e. 



1. LETHE (Rangbia) GULNIHAL, de Niceville, PI. N, Fig. 1, $. 



L. gulnihal, de Niceville, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1887, p. 450, pi. xxxix, fig. 7, male; 

 id., Elwes, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1888, p. 308 ; id., Manders, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1890, 

 p. 518, n. 18 ; L. gulnihal, var., Elwes, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1891, p. 263 ; Rangbia gulnihal, 

 Moore, Lep. Ind., vol. i, p. 234, pi. lxxvi, fig. 2, male (1892) ; R. peguana,i&., 1. c., p. 235. 



Habitat: Bhutan (de Niceville and Elwes); Bernardmyo, Shan States 

 (Manders) ; Karen Hills, 2,000 to 5,000 feet (Elwes) ; Sikkim ; Mani- 

 pur ; Saipha, 3,500 feet, Katha District, Upper Burma (coll. de Niceville). 



Lieutenants James M. Burn, R.E., and A. J. Pilcher, R.E., have late- 

 ly obtained a considerable number of male specimens of this species at 

 Saipha in March. I have compared them carefully with my Manipur 

 and Bhutan specimens, and am unable to find that any of the characters 

 given by Mr. Moore to distinguish between L. gulnihal and L. peguana 

 are constant. The best character, as far as my specimens go, is the size 

 of the ocelli on the underside of the hind wing ; but this is very vari- 

 able too, they are large in Bhutan specimens, still larger in Manipur 

 ones, medium and small in the Upper Burma examples. I have 

 here figured a female example from Saipha, as that sex, though 

 described by Mr. Elwes, has not so far been portrayed. It is useless 

 figuring a male from Burma, as the figure could not be made to dis- 

 close any real differences between Bhutan and Burma specimens ; the 

 Bhutan form has already been twice well figured. 

 Subfamily Amathusiin^. 



2. MELANOCYMA FAUNULOIDES, n. sp., PI. N, Fig. 2, $. 



Habitat : North Chin Hills, Upper Burma. 



Expanse : $ , 4*5 inches. 



Description : Female. Upperside, both wings very pale fuscous 

 or French-grey, all the black markings of the underside showing- 

 through faintly by transparency. Forewing with the veins slightly 



