BITHYS. 



233 



Hew., coruscans, Leech), remain as the only ornament. In all these 

 species the spots are orange. In other species they become pale, and 

 in some are lost almost altogether. The following grouping of some 

 of the species may prove interesting: 



A. Hindwing not furnished with a tail ; apex of the median nervule only toothed 



— khasia, de Nicev. 



B. Hindwing with the apex of the first median nervule of hindwing developed 



into tail — ■ 



a. Violet-based ? s. 



a. ¥ s of the " quercus " type (metallic basal patch only) — quercus, 



Linn., taxila, Brern. 



b. ? s of the " bellus " type (orange spots in addition) — icana, Moore, 



dohertyi, de Nicev., pavo, de Nicev., ataxus, Hew. (-rhatura, 

 Hew.), brillantina, Staud., japonica, Murr., etc. 



c. S s of "increased bellus" type (orange spots united) — tsanghie, 



Obth, etc. 



b. Black ? s. 



a. ? s of the " bellus " type (with orange spots) — Jiecale, Leech. 



b. $ s of "increased bellus" type (with united spots) — duma, Hew., 



coruscans, Leech. 



c. Blue ? s. 



a. ? s of the " bellus " type (with pale or whitish spots) — syla, Koll., 

 birupa, Moore, ziha, Hew. 



d. Grey ? s. 



a. ? s of the " bellus " type (with pale spots) — orientalis, Murr. 



b. 2 s almost unicolorous — saphirina, Staud. 



Many species we have here not attempted to group, being doubtful, 

 in some instances, whether the females in the British Museum 

 collection belong to the males with which they are placed. Niceville 

 gives an excellent grouping, as far as his material goes, of the males 

 of the Indian species, and notes also the characteristic markings of 

 the underside (Butts, of India, iii., p. 301). Of these the species are : 



Brilliant metallic green on upperside of all wings — khasia, de Nicev., zoa, de 

 Nicev., ataxus, Hew., absolon, Hew., duma, Hew., syla, Koll., birupa, Moore. 



Metallic green in some lights, purple in others — icana, Moore, dohertyi, 

 de Nicev. 



Obscure violet at base of forewing only, otherwise entirely black — mandara, 

 Doh. 



Blue or purple on disc and base, with two spots on disc placed obliquely — 

 ziha, Hew., pavo, de Nicev. 



It is possible that the last-named section, in which the pale discal spots 

 occur in both sexes, forms one of the older groups, the $ s only, in most 

 of the other species, retaining these characteristic markings, the $ s 

 having specialised in an entirely different direction, whilst, in other 

 species, e.g., taxila, quercus, etc., the marking only rarely occurs as a 

 memory of the former markings of the 2 • Gehh&vd (Soc. Ent., xii., p. 132) 

 mentions a $ B. quercus with these " bellus " spots (see postea p. 239). 



The undersides of some of these Bithynid species are as beautiful 

 in their pearly-grey markings of different shades, e.g., ataxus $• 

 (katttra 5 ), etc., as the uppersides are sparklingly brilliant. 



As affecting purely European lepidopterists, the distribution of the 

 species is most interesting, for our single species, B. quercus, common 

 over the greater part of Europe, Mauretania, and Asia Minor, does not 

 enter at all into Asia proper, the metropolis of the genus. De Niceville 

 states that thirteen species occur in the hills of northern India, and 

 Staudinger and Eebel (Cat., 3rd ed., p. 71) note ten from northeastern 

 Asia (including north China), but this means little, for, at present, the 

 species appear to be not properly distinguished, many of the ? s are 



