168 LEPIDOPTERA INDICA. 



Imago. — Male. Upperside deep black. Forewing with the markingd less 

 defined than in typical HorsfielcUi. Hindwing with the discal and outer spots smaller, 

 the cell streaks indistinct or quite obsolete, the abdominal margin very dark grey 

 scaled, or almost black, and in some anally sprinkled with yellow scales. Underside 

 blacker than in Belladonna. Forewing with the markings smaller and less defined. 

 Hindwing with the cell mark small and short, the discal and subraarginal markings 

 smaller, tlie abdominal margin either uniformly black, or more or less slightly 

 anally-speckled with yellow scales. 



Female. Upperside duller black. Foi-ewing with nuich less defined markings 

 than in male. Hindwing also with the markings much less defined, the cell streak 

 either elongate or obsolete, the abdominal margin slightly dark grey-scaled. 

 Underside viuaceous-black, with similar markings to the male. 

 ■ Expanse, c? 2^ to 2^, ? 2^ to 2| inches. 



Habitat. — Sikkim ; Khasia, Jaintia, and Naga Hills, Assam ; Chin Hills, 

 Upper Burma. 



DisTRiBDTiON AND Habits. — Mr. H. J. Elwes writes : " I found the dark form, 

 Itltiela, most common in Sikkim from May to August, at low elevations, 2,000 to 

 4,000 feet, where it frequents the banks of streams in hot, thoroughly tropical 

 valleys, and flies slowly about the water-side, resting sometimes on mud and pebbles 

 almost in the water. Some specimens of the variety with yellow on the abdominal 

 margin occur here with the pure black one, and some have white or only a yellow 

 tinge in the same part of the hindwing. But neither Moller nor I have ever taken 

 females with the males in these places, and all the five females I possess of this 

 form were procured from native collectors, and vary in the same particulars as the 

 males. I never saw a typical Horsfieldii at these low elevations. In the Khasia 

 Hills I was fortunate enough to find Belladonna in its breeding-places, which are 

 small patches of natural forest left on the higher parts of the hills at from 4,000 to 

 G,400 feet elevation. Here it is in some places abundant, and I found the females 

 almost as plentiful as the males. In the wood which crowns the summit of the 

 Shillong Peak, I had several opportunities of observing the habits of the insect, 

 which are quite different from what I saw in Sikkim. They fly on sunny days about 

 the tops of the trees, and make little excursions into the open country round, always 

 returning to the shelter of the wood, and frequently descending to settle on the 

 flowers of a species of Euonymus, and of a large species of Scabiosa which grew on 

 its outskirts. The flight is slow, graceful, and soaring, and the butterflies are not 

 at all shy. Here I found hardly any variation in the insects, all being true Ifhiela, 

 excepting two specimens, which were slightly tinted with yellow on the abdominal 

 nuirgin. I figure a female of the Khasia iovm = Berinda, Moore" (Tr. Ent. Sue. 

 1888, 408). We possess males from Sikkim, and the female type of Beriiida, from 



