Euploeines forming Mimetic Groups 29 



The synonymy will be as follows: — 



Euploea helcita Boisd., Bull. Soc. Ent. France, Ser. 3, vol. vii, p. 15fi 



(1859) (New Caledonia). 

 Euploea eleutho Boisd., Voy. Astrol. p. 100 (1832) (partim — Tahiti) (nee. 



Q. & G.) (= f. walkeri Druce). 

 Euploea eleutho Butler, P.Z.S. p. 276 (1874) (South Seas). I.e. p. 297 



(1878) (Ellice Islands) (= f. distincta Butl.) ; Ann. Mag. Nat. 



Hist., Ser. 5, vol. xiii, p. 343 (1884), (Fiji) (= f. eschscholtzi 



Feld); (nee. Q. & G.). 



We figure the following forms of helcita to show the range of varia- 

 tion. This kind of variation is not found in eleutho : — 



helcita helcita Bdv. New Caledonia (pi. IVb, fig. 6). 



,, walkeri Druce (=?natilica Fruh.). Tahiti, Tonga (pi. IVb, 



figs. 1, 2). 

 ,, intermedia f. indistincta Moore. Cook Is. (pi. IVb, fig. 3). 

 ,, ,, f. unicolor Druce. Cook Is. (pi. IVb, fig. 4). 



,, lilybaea Fruh. S . New Hebrides (pi. IVb, fig. 5). 



3. Euploea proserpina Butl. 



This species is treated as a race of eleutho by Fruhstorfer in Seitz's 

 Macrolepidoptera. We believe it to be a distinct species. The hind 

 wing is more oval than in eleutho, and the margin is not undulate as in 

 that species ; the sex-mark is shorter. It is more obviously allied to 

 the duponcheli group, and may come near pakullei Butl., from the New 

 Hebrides. 



I recently had an opportunity of examining the type of boisduvalii 

 Lucas in the Paris Museum. This is certainly an aberration of pro- 

 serpina with the spots clouded over. The type is labelled " Australie," 

 and is a $ , but nothing like it is known from Australia. Monsieur 

 Le Cerf informs me that the specimen was sold to the Museum with 

 the label '' Australie " by a Monsieur J. Verreaux, a dealer in Paris. 



This specimen shows the elongated discal spot, and is more likely 

 to have come from Fiji, where the helcita form is common. 



No similar specimen exists in the Paris Museum, in the British 

 Museum nor in the Joicey collection. 



We consider that the evidence is sufficient for sinking proserpina 

 Butl., as a synonym of boisduvalii Luc, but the latter name enn still 

 be retained to indicate the common white-spotted form. 



