AMBLYPODIA GKOUP OF THE LYC.ENIML 59 



blackish. Secondaries with costa broadly grey ; narrow brown posterior margin ; 

 abdominal fold pale grey. Underside : both wings pale brown, with a purplish shade 

 in many parts ; spots dark and velvety, broadly margined with whitish . Primaries with 

 a pale submedian area ; three discal spots increasing in size ; above the outer edge of the 

 second are two very small spots over each other ; two or three are over the third spot ; 

 below this is another, and a trace of one in the pale submedian area below the second 

 spot ; transverse fascia consists of six confluent spots, the second shifted inwards, the 

 third well outwards, the lower three below each other and shifted slightly inwards ; 

 there is sometimes just a trace of a small detached spot below the submedian nervure ; 

 submarginal row distinct. Secondaries with a half-spot at the extreme basal edge of the 

 costa ; four basal small spots, second and fourth shifted inwards, the fourth beyond the 

 internal nervure, the first spot being a double one ; beyond these are three large spots, 

 the upper one being shifted right outwards, its inner margin touching the outer margin 

 of that below it, and the lowest spot runs outwards into the seventh spot of the 

 transverse fascia ; cell closed by a large suboval spot ; transverse fascia consists of 

 nine spots, the second slightly shifted outwards, the confluent third and fourth right 

 out, their inner margin touching the outer margin of the second, the fifth and sixth 

 each slightly inwards, the usual angular seventh spot is divided into two, the upper of 

 the two running into the lowest of the three across the central discal area, and the lower 

 of the two — or the eighth, as I call it — confluent with the long spot which extends up 

 almost to the lowest basal spot ; submarginal band distinct, the white margins of which 

 are rather suffused ; lobe-spot black ; spot between the second and lower median nervures 

 black, the marginal space between which is broadly coloured with greenish-blue metallic 

 scales which extend considerably over each spot; extreme margin whitish ; tail stout, 

 rather short, brown, tipped with white. 



2 . Upperside : both wings pale silvery azure-blue. Primaries with costa narrowly, 

 apex very broadly, and posterior margin broad at first, then tapering to quite narrow, 

 black. Secondaries with costa broadly dark grey, and posterior margin narrowly black. 

 Underside as in male, but paler. 



This species, which is one of the two on which Boisduval founded his genus 

 Arhopala, may be known from anthore Hew. by the pale submarginal suffusion and by 

 the fact that the markings are decidedly darker than the ground and are much more 

 spotted in appearance. 



Var. anthelius Staudinger is a very pretty smaller form described from Aru and 

 Waigeoe, but the Aru specimens are without doubt ordinary helius ; the Waigeoe 

 specimens, however, are readily separable by the smaller size, especially noticeable in 

 the females, and by the dark purple suffusion of the undersides, which is particularly 

 prominent in the secondaries. Mr. Grose-Smith's helianthes, of which I have specimens 

 from Milne Bay, New Guinea, is referable to Staudinger's variety ; it corresponds 

 precisely with it. 



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