INSECTS OF SAMOA. 



separation of a new race, which, however, has not yet proceeded far enough 

 to render the forms separable. The maximum, mean, and minimum expanse 

 of seventy-one males from both localities are 84, 77, and 72 mm., and of eleven 

 females 82, 77, and 70 mm. This race, unlike E. e. bourkei, has the female 

 more heavily spotted than the male. 



The chief food-plant is a large tree, the Tongan sacred fig, the local name 

 for which is Ovava, but I also saw a female ovipositing on Ficus tinctoria, so 

 that probably any species of Ficus is acceptable. 



The black areas of the wings evidently contain a pigment, not present in 

 the white areas, which is distasteful to some other creatures. On the way to 

 England a batch of Tongan butterflies, which included many specimens of 

 the present species, was attacked and partially destroyed by Dipterous larvae ; 

 in the case of specimens of E. eleutho mathewi, the white markings were eaten 

 away while the black parts were left untouched (PI. Ill, fig. 8). 



3 (c). Euploea eleutho distincta (Butler). 

 Nipara distincta ; Butler, 1874, p. 278. 

 Euploea eleutho ; Butler, 1878, p. 296. 



Moore, p. 272. 

 Euploea helcita distincta ; Fruhstorfer, 1910, p. 235. 

 Euploea helcita ivalkeri ; Poulton, p. 582. 



We obtained this form only in the Ellice group, where Buxton captured a 

 series of thirteen males and nine females on the islands of Nui, Nanomaga, 

 Niutao and Nukulailai ; he did not see it on Funafuti, and Rainbow does not 

 record it from there, but it is possible that Whitmee's specimens, referred to 

 below, are from this island, since the name " Ellice Is.," now generally applied 

 to the whole group, was formerly used for Funafuti only. Of the specimens 

 captured by Buxton, all are typical E. eleutho distincta except the two males 

 from Nukulailai, both of which have the white pattern much reduced ; in one 

 of them the reduction affects both wings equally, but in the other the hind- 

 wing pattern is almost obsolete, the inner row of spots showing more reduction 

 than the outer, while on the fore wing the spots, though obscured by dark 

 suffusion, are larger than in the first specimen. Unfortunately these are the 

 only two specimens captured on this island. Of two males and three females 

 in the British Museum, labelled "Ellice Is., Whitmee," both males and two 

 females are typical E. e. distincta; the third female is almost identical on the upper- 



