LEPIDOPTEEA INDICA. 



Sub-Family LYCiENIN^. 



Eyes naked, colouring on the upper side generally blue or purple, some few dark 

 or pale brown : many metallic and shining, venation and general structure very similar 

 in all the genera ; the margins of the wings invariably entire ; the hind wings are 

 tailless. 



Genitalia. — ^doeagus very wide at the proximal end, so that it is heart-shaped, 

 and there is a good armature of cornuti (Chapman). 



Genus PHENGARIS. 



Phengaris, Doherty, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 1891, p. 36. 



Imago. — Eyes smooth ; this splendid Chinese butterfly, Lycsena atroguttata, 

 Oberthiir, deserves to be placed in a separate genus or sub-genus, distinguished from 

 Lycsena by the upper discoidal vein of the hindwing being short, and angled outwardly, 

 the lower discocellular meeting the median vein opposite its second forking. 



This butterfly is certainly the finest of the sub-family, unless the Danis group of 

 Cyaniris be excepted. I was not able to detect any odour about it, but it has all the 

 air of a protected species. 1 often saw it in the meadows of the Kutcha Naga country, 

 Naga Hills, from 6,000 to 8,000 feet elevation, flying very slowly and visible from a 

 great distance, so that I caught a good number, in spite of its rarity. The character 

 of its markings, round black spots on a pure white ground, is very remarkable. It is 

 hard to avoid thinking Tnjuria maculata, Hew., a mimic of this species, though it 

 seems to live at a lower elevation and further to the westward. Taraka hamada is 

 somewhat .similarly marked, and is obviously protected. 



I have taken the name Phengaris, which means a daughter of the moon, from the 

 modern Greek (Doherty, I.e.). 



Type, atroguttata, Oberthiir. 



Dr. Chapman informs us that the genitalia of Phengaris show characters closely 

 allied to those of typical Lycsena. 



VOL. VIII. B 



