EURASIAN & AUSTRALIAN NEPTINI 6g 



but it can be told from either almost at a glance by the fore wing cilia, which are 

 clearly chequered with white in spaces 6 and 7. 



Western China (Szechwan and ' Tibet '). A single male from S.E. China 

 (N. W. Fukien) with rather wide markings is provisionally placed under this sub- 

 species. There are no examples from the Upper Mekong Valley (Tse-Kou etc.) 

 despite the enormous number of Neptini ex Oberthiir coll. from this area, suggesting 

 that the valley floor at some 7000 ft. is too high for this species. 



N. yerburii pandoces ssp. n. 



(PI. 2, fig. 14) 



In both sexes close to ssp. capnodes, but considerably smaller (male fore wing 24-25 mm. 

 compared to 29-30 mm. in the latter). On the upper surface the white markings are slightly 

 narrower than in the corresponding seasonal forms of capnodes, but the fore wing submarginal 

 series is more prominent and almost clear white, whereas in capnodes the spots in spaces 8, 7 

 and especially 3 are sullied by fuscous scales. On the under surface the ground colour is the 

 same shade of rich reddish brown in the dry season form to purplish brown in the wet season 

 form as in capnodes, but on the hind wing the submarginal fascia forms an almost continuous 

 whitish line instead of being broken up into narrowly separated streaks. 



Holotype <$■ ' Sikkim ' : Darjeeling, 1894 (R. P. Bretaudeau), dry season form. 



Allotype $. Sikkim : Tumlong, 1894 (R. P. Brctaudeau), dry season form. 



Described from 7 <J 1 $ Sikkim, 2 <J Assam (Khasi Hills), 1 <$ N.E. Burma, i $ 

 West Siam : also 1 <$ Sikkim, 2500 ft. in my coll. 



N. yerburii yerburii Butler 

 (PI- 2, fig. 13) 

 Xiptis yerburii Butler, 1886 : 360. ' q* ' recte $. Murree. Type BMNH. 



Butler's female type, which he mistook for a male, is unfortunately in poor 

 condition with the cilia almost entirely worn away and the antennae broken. There 

 is nothing else like it in BMNH, and until its male is found some doubt must remain 

 as to its true affinities. It resembles capnodes and pandoces better than any other 

 forms, differing from them, as would be expected in a Neptis from the N.W. 

 Himalayas, in having wider white markings and a paler under surface ground colour. 

 It is definitely not the species which all subsequent authors, including Butler himself 

 (1888), have treated as N . yerburii (usually emended to yerburyi) and which must 

 henceforward be known as N. soma Moore, for the following reasons: — 



a. the fore wing submarginal series forms an even curve, not shifted in above 

 vein 6 as in soma, 



b. on the under surface of the hind wing the marginal fascia is not whitish and 

 prominent as in the Sino-Himalayan subspecies of soma, 



c. the hind wing discal band is the same width throughout, whereas it expands 

 towards the costa in soma, 



