238 L. de Niceville — Subgenus Pademma of the genus Euploea. [No. 3, 



the forewing, unglossed with blue ; bat in some parts of Bengal 

 (Maldah), and in Sikkim, specimens are met with which are either entirely 

 unglossed, or partly glossed with blue, towards the base of the wing, 

 while in Assam, Arakan and Pegu the whole of the forewing is usually 

 most richly blue-glossed. This phenomenon may be due to mimicry, 

 as in the Khasi Hills of Assam, where Pademmas are individually most 

 numerous, Euploea midamus, Linnieus (linncei, Moore), is also exceedingly 

 common, and the Pademmas probably mimic it or some other blue-glossed 

 species. The only thing to be said against this theory is that in Maldah 

 where many specimens are most distinctly glossed with blue there are 

 no other blue Euploeas which these Pademmas could mimic ; the occur- 

 rence of these latter in Maldah may, however, be due to immigration. 



The next point to be dealt with is the extraordinary variability of 

 the subgenus. The species which is found in Ceylon (E. sinhala, Moore) 

 appears to be quite constant, as do specimens of E. kollari, Felder, 

 received from South India, the Eastern and Western Ghats, Orissa, and 

 Calcutta. But directly the hills are approached, at Maldah north of 

 the Ganges and at tho foot of the Sikkim hills, the species commences 

 to vary and to approach E. klugii, Moore, both as regards the presence 

 of a more or less well-marked blue gloss, and in the acquisition of discal 

 markings to the forewing. But for these intermediate specimens, 

 E. liollari might be considered to be a good and constant species, but, as it 

 is, in certain parts of north-eastern India it is distinctly variable. As 

 we proceed to the eastwards, in Bhutan, Assam, and the northern and 

 middle divisions of Burma (Arakan and Pegu), blue-glossed species 

 mainly prevail, though occasionally specimens almost as free from the 

 gloss as is E. Tcollari are met with. Lastly, in the southernmost division 

 of Burma (Tenasserim) the blue-glossed species have almost dis- 

 appeared, being as rare as unglossed are in Assam, and are replaced 

 by unglossed species which differ in the character of the markings 

 from the continental Indian species, E. kollari. In the Malay Peninsula 

 Pademmas are very rare, and are of the Tenasserim form. To a certain 

 extent, therefore, we can divide np the Indian Pademmas into more or 

 less well-defined geographical races, which, were they only constant each 

 in its own region, might be retained as distinct species. But this is not 

 entirely so. E. kollari gradually merges into E. klugii in Maldah and the 

 lower slopes of the Sikkim Hills, and E. klugii equally gradually 

 grades into E. erichsonii, Felder, in Arakan. In their respective head- 

 quarters the two extreme forms are perfectly constant and recognisable 

 at a glance, E. kollari from any part of India south of the Ganges, and 

 E. erichsonii from Lower Tenasserim or the Malay Peninsula. On the 

 border-lands between these regions the several species are no longer 



