ON 'NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 293 



Apparently nearest to Z. katura, Hewitson, which is almost certain- 

 ly the female of Z. ataxus, Doubleday and Hewitson, from the Western 

 Himalayas and Western China,* the male differing therefrom on the 

 upperside in the darker and less bronzy shade of the green colour, 

 which also is of far less extent, especially on the forewing. The 

 underside is totally different. The female differs on the upperside of 

 the forewing in having the base of the wing dark brown instead of 

 " pale blue" ; the markings of the hindwing on the underside are 

 very different, in Z. Jcatura the inner edge of the discal band is 

 highly irregular and broken, in Z. absolon it is quite straight, unbroken, 

 and regular. The occurrence of a species of so purely palsearctic a 

 genus as Zephyrus in the mountains of Java is highly interesting, 

 the furthest southward point where any Zephyrus has been found is 

 in the Khasi Hills of Assam, from whence I described Z. khasia, and 

 where Z. duma, Hewitson, is also found, though Z. letha, Watson, 

 from the North Chin Hills, Burma, 5,000 feet, is from a still more 

 southerly locality. 



Described from a single male taken on 26th August, 1892, on Mount 

 G-ede, 4,000 feet, Western Java ; the female figured from Sukabumi, 

 2,000 feet, Western Java, taken in 1893 ; and a second female taken 

 at the same place as the male, but on 30th June, 1892, all captured by 

 Herr H. Fruhstorfer, and given to me. The second female mentioned 

 above differs from the type in the entire absence of the broad pure 

 white discal band on the underside of both wings, the band being 

 replaced by a pale violet band. Mr. Hewitson described the species 

 from " India " from a specimen in Dr. Boisduval's collection. There 

 is little doubt, I think, that it does not occur in India, and that it is 

 probably restricted to the mountains of Western Java, where it is 

 very rare, as Mr. Fruhstorfer informs me that he captured only six 

 or seven specimens in all. 



* Mr. J. H. Leech in Butt, from China, JapaD, and Corea, p. 375, says that the two 

 names represent sexes of one species, and he figures both sexes from Moupin in Western 

 China (pi. xxvii, figs. 5, male ; 6, female). On the other hand Dr. C. Fixsen in Romanoff's 

 Memoires sur les Lepidopteres, vol. iii, pp. 268 and 269, places Thecla Jcatura in the 

 Dipsas group, and Thecla ataxas in the Zephyrus group. He divides the genus Thecla 

 into eleven groups, and in these mixes up the genera, species and sexes in the most comic 

 manner. 



