1893.] MR. E. Y. WATSOIv" OX THE HESPERIID.E. 125 



1. Genus Ismene. 



(Plates I. figs. 14, 15, 16 ; II. figs. 11,12; III. fig. 18.) 



Ismene, Swainson, Zool. 111. vol. i. pi. 16 (1820-21). 



Type, oedipodea, Swaiuson. 



AntenntB : club very robust, about twice as long as shaft, ter- 

 minal portion tapering to a fine point and curved into a crescent, 

 never bent into a hook. Palpi as already characterized. Fore 

 fling : inner and outer margins subequal ; cell slightly more than 

 half the length of costa ; vein 12 reaching costa almost opposite 

 end of cell ; vein 5 equidistant from 4 aud 6 ; upper discocellular 

 minute, middle aud lower discocellulars subequal, almost erect ; vein 

 3 three times as far from base of wing as from eud of cell; vein 2 

 three times as far from end of cell as from base of wing. Hind wing : 

 cell very short, only reaching about one-third across wing ; vein 7 

 twice as far from 8 as from 6 ; discocellulars very faint, slightly 

 outwardly oblique ; vein 5 well developed; vein 3 just before end 

 of cell ; outer margin sinuate but not distinctly lobed. Hind tibiae 

 slightly fringed, and with two pairs of spurs. The above diagnosis 

 is from a Javan female of typical cedipodea, and applies to the females 

 of all other species of the genus. 



In the males of all the species the hind tibiae are much swollen, 

 and have a long tuft of hairs affixed near the proximal end on the 

 upperside, beneath which, along their outer edge, they are clothed 

 Avith large rounded scales. This character is most fully developed 

 in mahintha, and least of all in Jiarisa, the other species showing a 

 gradual transition between the two. 



In typical rjedipodea the male has a very prominent rounded patch 

 of appressed scales on the upperside of the fore wing, owing to which 

 the lower margin of the cell is strongly curved upwards, and vein 3 

 arises near the base of the wing and very close to vein 2. On the 

 hind M'ing vein 8 is very short, and runs upwards to the costa at a 

 short distance from the base, and, just beyond it, the costal margin 

 is folded over on the upperside. Vein 7 is much as in the female, 

 but vein 6 is strongly curved downwards. The folding over of the 

 costal margin on the upperside gives the wing, as seen from beneath, 

 the appearance of being strongly arched at base aud then cut away 

 obliquely to just beyond vein 7. 



The above characters occur only in males of typical cedipodea from 

 .Java and Borneo. In the Indian species, which has hitherto been 

 considered to be identical with rjedipodea and which I propose to 

 rename ataphus, the veins of the fore wing are distorted as in 

 Kdipodea ; but the costa of the hind wing is not folded over, and 

 the neuration of that wing is much as in the female. 



The other species of the genus vary considerably in the male 

 mark of the fore wing, which is sometimes very prominent and some- 

 times entirely absent, and there is also considerable variation in the 

 distortion of the veins of the fore wing. However, the character 

 of the swollen hind tibiae is invariably present and the females are 

 inseparable, so I have considered it very unadvisable to form new 



