1895.] L. de Niceville & Dr. L. Martha.— Butterflies of Sumatra. 399 



also and Sumatra. The larva feeds on Ricinus communis, Linn., the 

 castor-oil plant. Occurs everywhere in the plains and all the year 

 round, mostly near the houses of Indian (Tamil) coolies, who are very 

 fond of cultivating the castor-oil plant. Its flight is perhaps lower 

 aud weaker than that of E. ariadne, Linnaeus. Dr. Hagen records 

 E. taprubana, Westwood, from Sumatra, a species confined to South 

 India and Ceylon as far as our experience goes. It is a very noticeable 

 fact that everywhere two quite distinct species of Ergolis occur together. 



124. EURYTELA HORSFIELDII, Boisduval. 



Hagen. Grose Smith. 



125. Eurytela castelnaui, Felder. 



Snellen. Hagen. Grose Smith. Both the Sumatran species of this 

 genus occur only in forests, and are somewhat rare insects, the female 

 being the rarer sex of the two. E. horsjieldii, Boisduval, occurs more 

 in the plains, from Bindjei to Namoe Oekor ; E. castelnaui at higher 

 elevations, from Namoe Oekor to Soengei Batoe. The females are 

 splendid mimics of the two preceding species of Ergolis, E. castelnaui 

 mimicking E. isgeus, Wallace, and E. horsjieldii mimicking E. ariadne, 

 Linnaeus. Even in the "way of flying they closely resemble the flight 

 of species of Ergolis. Dr. Martin obtained his first female of E. castel- 

 naui while catching E. isgeus on the same spot in a forest south of 

 Namoe Oekor. The males always settle with folded wings for greater 

 protection, and have some predilection for the sandy banks of small 

 streams running through the forest. 



126. Euripus halitherses, Doubleday and Hewitson. 



Hagen as halitherses and euploeoides. Sfcaudinger. The male differs 

 from typical E. halitherses in having the marginal dots on both sides 

 of the forewing restricted more to the anal angle. The female is tri- 

 morphic, in one form the ground-colour is brown as in typical E. euplce- 

 oides, Felder ; in the second form it is indigo-blue ; in the third form 

 it is blue without white patches on both wings and mimics Euploea 

 linnsei, Moore. The first two forms seem to be mimics of Euploea 

 diocletianus, Fabricius. As usual, the amount of white coloration on 

 the wings in the female is very variable, and on that character no 

 species should be based. One of these inconstant forms has recently 

 been described by Mr. Distant as E. borneensis, and seems to be inter- 

 mediate between E. euploeoides aud E. pjeifferee, both of Felder, from the 

 Malay Peninsula. This species was, before the forests of Deli and 

 Langkat fell victims to the triumphal march of the tobacco cultivation, 



