880 LT.-COL. J. M. FAWCETT ON [NoV. 23, 



3. Notes on some Aber-ratioiis in Orientiil Lepidoptera. and 

 on a new Form o£ Kascliema from Sumatra. By Lt.-Col. 

 J. Malcolm Fawcett *. 



[Received July 2, 1909.] 



(Plate LXXXII. t) 



During a fairly extensive experience in collecting Rhopalocei-a 

 I have not come across a more remarkable example of aberration, 

 or " sport," as such are sometimes called, than the two here 

 described. The cause of these freaks of nature is somewhat 

 obscure ; I have even been told that a voyage across the ocean, 

 when in the ]3upal stage, has been supposed to have contributed 

 in some (unexplained) way to its appearance amongst specimens 

 sent from America to this country ; however this may be, it can 

 have nothing to do with the specimens under notice here, as they 

 were taken at Port Blair, in the Andaman Islands, in the perfect 

 state. 



The general tendency of the exceptional modifications in their 

 coloration is decidedly towards melanism, which might, to a 

 certain extent, be accounted for by the heavy rainfall duiing the 

 monsoons in the Bay of Bengal ; and yet, in a very large series 

 of each of the two species which I possess, nothing out of the 

 common typical form has turned up, excepting these two examples. 

 The almost indiscriminate conglomeration of the small distinctive 

 spots of the two species into lai'ge and comparatively shapeless 

 fuscous streaks and blotches, is such a striking feature in these 

 two specimens that it appears to me to be worth being placed 

 on record. 



The descriptions are apjoended ; a reference to a figure of the 

 typical form is given in each instance. 



EuTHALiA ciBAKiTis. (Plate LXXXII. fig. 5.) 



Hewitson (Adolias), A. M, N. H. (4) xiv. 1874, p. 358. 



De Niceville {Tanaecia), Butt, of Ind. ii. 1886, p. 223, pi. xix. 

 fig. 77, d. 



Description. — This aberration differs from the typical form on 

 the upper side in the prominent white band being present only 

 on the fore loing, much reduced in breadth, pinkish white and 

 infuscated with black atoms. Inside the band the cliscal black 

 spots are lengthened into black streaks in everj'' interspace. 

 The four black lines in the discoidal cell become two black 

 renal spots. Hind wing : the black lines in the cell are reduced 

 to renal spots, as in fore wing ; no white discal fascia, and the 

 rows of discal black spots lengthened into black streaks in 

 the interspaces. 



* Communicated bj- Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.R.S. 

 f For explaiiatiou of the Plate see p. 883. 



