268 LEPIDOPTERA INBICA. 



HELCYRA HEMINA (Plate 190, figs. 2, 2a i). 



Helcijra Hemina, "Kewitao-n, Trans. Ent. Soc, Lond., 1864, p. 245, pi. 15, fig. 1, c?. de Nicdville, 

 Butt, of India, ii. p. 45, pi. xix. fig. 85, S (1886). 



Imago. — Male and female. ITpperside pale olivescent pearly-wliite. Forewing 

 ■with a broad purpurescent-black decreasing apical band, the inner edge of which is 

 very irregular and its lower end from the middle median narrow, marked by a slight 

 white lunular streak above the posterior angle ; obliquely across the band before the 

 apex are two white spots ; two obliquely-superposed black spots at end of the cell, 

 the upper spot small ; and between the lower median veinlet and submedian vein is 

 another black spot near the angle. Eindiving with a submarginal series of eight smaller 

 black spots, placed in eschelon, three being inwardly disposed anteriorly, two in the 

 middle, and the subanal, followed by a narrow black marginal lunular line and a 

 slender anteciliar line. Underside glossy pearly-white. Both wings with the 

 markings of the upperside indistinctly visible and bluish-tinted. Forewing also with 

 a very slightly-defined slender black sinuous line extending from middle of the lower 

 radial to the middle median veinlet. Hindwing also with a very slender black sinuous 

 discal line placed before the transverse spots of the upperside, these spots being bluish- 

 tinted, and the third subanal spot being bright yellow with blue and black scaled tip. 

 Bodi/ white ; front of thorax and head grey ; palpi above dark brown ; antennae 

 black above, ochreous beneath ; legs white ; eyes red. 



Expanse, 2^ to 3 inches. 



Habitat. — Sikkim ; Khasia and Naga Hills ; Upper Burma. 



Distribution. — This beautiful species is rare. Mr. Otto ]\loller took males in 

 Sikkim in April, May, and September, and a single female at Singla, near Darjiling, 

 1300 feet, in October, 1884. A male from the Naga Hills is in the British Museum, 

 Calcutta (de Niceville, Butt. Ind. ii. 45). "A very rare butterfly, which occurs 

 singly in Sikkim during the summer. It is less rare in the Daling division of 

 Darjiling, where it occurs at 4000 feet. Mr. G. C. Dudgeon once took a specimen 

 himself at 3000 feet in Darjiling, and found that it flies very swiftly, which may help 

 to account for its scarcity in collections " (de Niceville, Sikkim Gazetteer, 1894, 134). 

 Specimens from the Khasia Hills are in Mr. P. Crowley's collection. " Mr. W. 

 Doherty obtained a male in the Naga Hills, and four at the Ruby Mine district, 

 north of Mandalay, Burma, in June" (P. Z. S., 1891, 273). 



Chinese and Malayan Helcyras. 



Helcyra superba, Leech, Entomologist, 1890, p. 189 ; Lep. China, etc. p. 152, pi. xx. fig. 2 (1891). 



Habitat. W. China. 

 Helcyra »p. ? {Cf. Snellen, Tijd. v. Entom. 1894, p. 78). Habitat. Java (Coll. Mus. Leyden). 

 Helcyra chionippe, Felder, Sitzb. Akad. Wiss. Wien. 1860, p. 450 ; Neuos, Lep. p. 46, pi. 1 (1861). 



Habitat. Amboina. 



