212 L. de Niceville — List of the Butterflies of Ceylon. [No. 3, 



discrepancies in the pattern of the upper surface or the definition 

 of the markings on tlie under surface may be partly local and have 

 a subspecific v.'ilue. The fact that we have the extremes from the 

 AnarauUy Hills in South India proves that they are not permanently 

 separated as distinct species." Without seeing the type specimens of 

 T. cingala it is difficult to say exactly what it is, it may be that it is a 

 form of T. libythea, Fabricius, rather tlian of T. venata. In Ceylon 

 T. venata is distinctly variable, and is found there at the same elevations 

 as the last and throughout the year. It has not been bred as far as we 

 are aware. 



15J. Terias hecabe, Linnseus. 



Dr. Butler has recently stated in his paper on Terias above referred 

 to that T. hecabe does not occur in India or Ceylon but is found in 

 Southern China, while what we have been accustomed to call 2\ hecabe 

 is the T. suava of Boisduval, which Butler restricts to India and Ceylon, 

 and Burma southwards to Malacca including the Mergui Archipelago. The 

 only difference Butler gives between T. hecabe and T. suava is that the 

 former is " broader-winged." According to the late Capt. E. Y. Watson, 

 T. hecabe may be known " By never having more than two streaks or 

 spots in the discoid al cell on the underside of the fore wing in addition 

 to the reniform spot on the disco-cellular nervules." Again " The dry- 

 season form at the apex of the forewing on the underside has a more or 

 Jess strongly pronounced brown patch." Manders notes that the larva 

 feeds in his compound in Colombo on the leaves of the Madras Thorn, 

 and that he has considerable experience of the insect as it is so common. 

 The spots in the cell of the forewing on the underside are sometimes 

 reduced to one or even absent altogether. The brown patch mentioned 

 above is not absolutely indicative of the dry-season form ; it varies 

 considerably in size, and is found in the females at the commencement 

 at any rate of the wet-season. True T. hecabe is a wet-season form, 

 besides which Moore records from Ceylon T. hecabeoides, Menetries, also 

 a wet-season form, and 7'. simulata, Moore, a dry-season form. T. hecabe 

 is adundant everywhere in Ceylon and occurs at all seasons. The larva 

 feeds in Leguminosm. 



Dr. Butler records T. nicobariends (recte nikobariensis), Felder, 

 from the Andamans, Nicobars, Java, Sumatra, Flores, Borneo, and the 

 Philippines, and notes that the British Museum has " A female appar- 

 ently referable to the intermediate form of this species, but said to 

 have been taken in Ceylon." He gives T. phanospiJa, Felder, as a 

 synonym, and says it is the drj-season form. Mr. de Niceville has 

 examined the type of T. nikobariensis at Vienna, and considers it to 

 represent a variety of T. hecabe only. 



