EURASIAN & AUSTRALIAN NEPTINI 49 



L. neriphus tawayana (Fruhstorfer) comb. n. 



Neptis neriphus tawayana Fruhstorfer, 1899b : 351. S. Celebes. 



Neptis (Bimbisara) nirvana tawayana Fruhstorfer ; Fruhstorfer, 1913 : 622, pis. 125c <J, 123d. 



Neptis (Bimbisara) nirvana nirvana Fruhstorfer (nee Felder), 1913 : 622. ' Probably N. 



Celebes '. syn. n. 

 Neptis neriphus biannulata Martin, 1924 : 60. Celebes, syn. n. $ co-type BMNH. 



Celebes. Examples from Banggai Is. show an approach to the next subspecies. 



L. neriphus neriphus (Hewitson) comb. n. 



Neptis neriphus Hewitson, 1868 : pi. Neptis, figs. 6, 7. $ Sula (Wallace). Type BMNH. 

 Neptis (Bimbisara) nirvana neriphus Hewitson ; Fruhstorfer, 1913 : 622. 



SULA Is. 



NEPTIS Fabricius 



Neptis praslini (Boiscluval) 



This species shows an unusual degree of subspeciftc difference in the hind wing 

 venation of males. The nominate subspecies from the Bismarck Archipelago has 

 vein 8 short (Text-fig. 11), whereas the subspecies occurring in Western and Central 

 New Guinea, N.E. Australia and the islands on the New Guinea shelf have vein 8 

 unusually long (Text-fig. 12). Examples from the Eastern Peninsula of New Guinea 

 (ssp. meridionalis Talbot) have vein 8 of variable length, leaving little doubt that 

 only one species is involved. 



N. praslini papua Oberthiir 



Neplis papua (Boisd. (in Musaeo)) Oberthiir, 1878 : 460 partim. Ceram (Lorquin) ; Nouvelle- 



Guinee : Dore'i (Prof. Beccari), Amberbaki (Laglaize). $ type BMNH. 

 Neptis praslini papua Oberthiir ; Fruhstorfer, 1913 : 614. 



The type, which agrees minutely with Oberthiir's very detailed description, 

 is a female from Boisduval coll. bearing locality label ' Ceram '. Lorquin's localities 

 are unreliable, and Ceram is an unlikely place of origin, though not absolutely 

 impossible. The specimen agrees with examples in BMNH from Gebi Is., and is 

 also close to examples from Waigiu. It possesses a prominent whitish streak 

 below the cell on the under surface of the fore wing (' une lanceolee au-dessous ' 

 [de la cellule]), which is characteristic of these islands, though absent or very obscure 

 in examples from the mainland of New Guinea. I think it is virtually certain that 

 the type originated from one of the islands off the Western Peninsula of New Guinea. 

 The two examples mentioned in the original description from Dorey are presumably 

 in Genoa Museum, and their identity can only be surmised. The example taken by 

 Laglaize at Amberbaki is in BMNH and proves to be a female N. nausicaa. 



Gebi Is. Also 1 <$ Halmahera [? loc. err.]. 



