216 L. de 'NiceviWe— List of the Butterflies of Ceylon. [No. 3, 



161. Belenois mesentina, Cramer. 



Mooie as B. taprohana, Moore. Mr. H. Fruhstoifer in Berl. Ent. 

 Zeifcsch., vol. xlii, p. 326 (1897) has desciibed the Ceylouese form of 

 B. mesentina as B. mesentina fervidior, wliich in any case must fall as 

 a synonym to B. taprohana. The lii^htest marked examples from Ceylon 

 can be exactly matched with the darkest examples from India, so, 

 although Ceylonese specimens average darker than Indian ones, we do 

 not consider that the Ceylonese i-ace can be justifiably keep distinct, 

 even as a local form. Dr. Butler in Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1898, 

 p. 435, notes : — " We have a very extensive series of this species [in the 

 British Museum], B. angusta ~agrippina = lorJaca heing the wet -phaae, 

 B. mesentina = syrime intermediate, B. auriginea dry, and B. taprohana 

 being an insular dry phase differing in the blacker outer border to the 

 forewing of the male, on which the subapical spots are less prominent." 

 In Ceylon B. mesentina is uncertain in its appearance, but is abundant 

 in the low country when it does occur, and then joins in the migratory 

 flights, June and July, and agaiji in November and December. It is 

 found in Madagascar, Africa, Arabia, Persia, Syria, Afghanistan, Balu- 

 chistan, and throughout India. It has often been bred, the larva feed- 

 ing on Capparis, and A. Grote says on Zizyphus also. 



162. Appias narendra, Moore. 



Moore as WiposcriHa narendra. Rare in Ceylon, recorded by Mack- 

 wood from the hills 2,000 to 4,000 feet. It is much more common in 

 Southern India, being replaced in North-Eastern India, Burma, and 

 Indo-China by the allied A. indra, Moore. It has never been bred. 



163. Appias neombo, Boisduval. 



Originally described from Brazil, neighbourhood of Bahia and 

 Fernambouc, but Boisduval evidently doubted the correctness of this 

 locality as he wrote " Should not this species be rather from the East 

 Indies ? " We include it here solely on Dr. Moore's identification, in 

 Lep. Cey. he records it as Catouhaga rieomho, and figures the male and 

 Form I of the female, also describing the female Form III as a variety, 

 this form he had previously figured in 1857. As regards his figure of 

 the male, de Niceville has none from Ceylon which match it, but he 

 possess two males from North Kanara and one from Ootacamund which 

 agree with it fairly well. Moore's figure of the white female Form I 

 in Lep. Cey. is probably only a pale form of the female of A. alhina, 

 Boisduval, while his female variety is the yellow female Form III of the 

 same species. Boisduval's description evidently applies to a fenjale, as 

 no male Appias has a figurc-of-3 black band on the undeiside of the 



