274 L. de Niceville — List of the Butterflies of the Ke Isles. [No. 2, 



97. Papilio polydorus thessalia, Swinhoe. Plate I, Figs. 6, 

 larva ; 6a f 66, pupa. 



Ruber as P. polydorus, Linnoeus. The local race thessalia was 

 originally described from Ke Island {Halliburton). It is usually com- 

 mon on Little and Great Ke Isles, but is sometimes rare, flying in 

 the open forest. The larva is very similar to that of Troides priamus 

 poseidon, Doubleday, and feeds on the same plant, a species of Aristolo- 

 chia : it is dark violet in colour, with tentacular fleshy pale red processes 

 on the second, third, sixth, seventh, tenth and eleventh segments ; 

 those on the fourth, fifth, eighth and ninth are brownish-red ; the 

 process on the sixth segment is based on a pinkish-white spot ; that on 

 the seventh segment has a pale base ; there is also a series of supra- 

 spiracular processes. The pupa is pale brown, mottled with darker 

 brown, with a pair of red spots on the middle of the back above ; it is 

 furnished with numerous foliaceous processes on the abdominal segments. 



98. *Papilio fuscus rotalita, Swinhoe. 



Hober as P. beccarii, Oberthiir. This local race was described from 

 Ke Island (Halliburton). We have not seen it. Mr. Kiihn notes that 

 he does not believe that this species ever came from the Ke Islands, as 

 from 1889 to the present date no collector has been on the islands except 

 himself; also that he (Kiihn) up to J896 has sent butterflies from the 

 Ke Archipelago only to Dr. 0. Staudinger, except one very small col- 

 lection to Herr J. Rober, so from whom could Col. Swinhoe have obtain- 

 ed it ? In the original description Col. Swinhoe gives Halliburton as 

 the collector. 



99. Papilio albinus thomsonii, Butler. Plate I, Fig. 7, larva. 



Originally described from Ke Dulan. Mr. Rothschild in Nov. 

 Zool., vol. iii, p. 322, n. 3 (1896), has described an ab. mordingtoni from 

 Little Kei Island, from one female, captured by the late Capt. H. Cayley 

 Webster. Mr. Kiihn writes to de Niceville that had he gone on shore 

 on New Guinea the day Capt. Webster was murdered by the natives, he 

 (Kiihn) would have shared the same fate. It was quite an accident 

 that on that day he, for the first time during the expedition, remained 

 on board their vessel. We have not seen this aberration. P. thomsonii 

 is a very variable butterfly : in some specimens there is a well-defined 

 oblique subapical white band on the upperside of the forewing which 

 often dwindles away to nothing ; the large discal white patch on the 

 upperside of the hindwing varies greatly in size, in some specimens its 

 outer edge is even, and in the other extreme it is highly irregular, 

 being continued along the veins towards the margin ; sometimes the 



