EURASIAN & AUSTRALIAN NEPTINI 71 



LECTOTYPE $. Near Abbottabad, 12.x. 1886. This is the female from Dhum 

 Tower described by Butler (1888). Unfortunately it is a tattered specimen patched 

 with part of the wing of another butterfly ; I select it because of its historical 

 interest. 



N.W. Himalayas (Chitral to Western Nepal). 



N. soma soma Moore 

 (Text-fig. 35) 



Neptis soma Moore, 1858 : 9, pi. 49, fig. 6. Silhet. $ type BMNH. Wet season form. 



Neptis yerburyi sikkima Evans, 1924 : 78. Sikkim. syn. n. 1 >ry season form. 2 <^ syntypes 

 BMNH of which one (BMNH type no. Rh.9562) is selected as LECTOTYPE, whilst the other 

 (BMNH type no. Rh.9563), which is wrongly labelled as a female, is designated as a para- 

 lectotype. 



Neptis yerburyi sikkima Evans ; Evans, 1932 : 167. 



The confusion between this butterfly and N. nata adipala Moore, by which name 

 must now be known the butterfly for many years wrongly called soma Moore, is 

 partly due to the seasonal differences which each species undergoes in the Indo- 

 Burmese area. Although the former averages much wider markings, its wet season 

 form overlaps a range of intermediate seasonal forms of the latter. The type of 

 soma is an extreme wet season female with sullied markings and, though described 

 from Silhet, probably came from the nearby Khasi Hills. 



The main differences between N. soma soma and N. nata adipala are: — 



a. in soma the white markings have a decidedly creamy tinge, though not so 

 yellowish as in Moore's original figure ; 



b. in soma the white markings, especially the cell streak and streak beyond cell 

 are wider than in the corresponding seasonal forms of adipala ; 



c. the upper three spots of the fore wing submarginal series are shifted inwards 

 in soma but more or less on an even curve with the rest of the series in adipala 

 (in this respect Moore's figure of soma is not very accurate) ; 



d. on the under surface of the hind wing the discal band is usually more or less 

 the same width throughout in adipala, but occasionally expands a little towards the 

 costa in the dry season form. In soma this band always expands towards the 

 costa, markedly in the dry season form but much less so in the wet season form, 

 especially in females, when the expansion may be confined to the spot in space 7. 

 The expansion of this spot is mainly distad in soma, whereas in adipala it is more 

 basad ; 



e. the marginal fascia on the under surface of the hind wing is whitish and almost 

 as prominent as the submarginal fascia in soma, whereas in adipala it is less prominent 

 and broken up by darker scaling at the vein endings ; 



f . in soma the under surface ground colour is not so dark as in the corresponding 

 seasonal forms of adipala ; 



g. in soma the white chequering of the hind wing cilia is not so clear-cut as in 

 adipala and, especially in the wet season form, there are many fuscous hair scales 

 mixed in with the whice ; 



