DELIAS. 



419 



Delias horsjleldii. Gray. — " Alis suboblongis, integerrimis, nigris, raaculis albidis triangiilaribus, 

 anticis siibtus maculis apicalibus tribua flavis ; posticis basi marginoqne interiorc llavis, 

 subtus maculis ad marginem posteriorem flavis. 



" Expansio alarum 3|. Habitat in Ncpaul." {Gray, Z. M.) 



Delias helladonna. Gray. — " Wings black with whitish dashes and spots ; the base of the hinder 



wings and the interior margin yellow. 

 " Under surface of the fore wings black, spotted with white, and with three apical yellow spots ; 



the hind wings black, the interior margin and spots yellow, with four central white ones. 

 " Expanse of wings three inches and a half." {Gray, L. I. N.) 



Occurs commonly at Omei-shan and Moupin, Western China, in July and 

 Au.2:ust at an elevation of 3000 to 4000 feet. Both sexes (Plate XXXVII. 

 figs. 3 c? , 4 9 ) agree exactly with specimens in my collection that were 

 taken in Kulu, and only differ from Kangra examples of the horsfieldii form 

 in Mr. Elwes's collection in being somewhat larger. I believe the specimens 

 here figured represent typical helladonna of Fabricius. 



In his 'Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Sikkim ' (T. E. S. 1888, p. 408), 

 Mr. Elwes, referring to D. belladonna, says : — 



" Having recently "written on this species, I was careful to take especial 

 notice of its habits during my last visit to India, and, though I am not able 

 to change my opinion that there is only one species under the several names 

 which have been given to it, yet I am able to add something to our previous 

 knowledge. I found the dark form ifhiela * most common in Sikkim from 

 May to August at low elevations, 2000 to 4000 feet, where it frequents the 

 banks of streams in hot, thoroughly tropical valleys, and flies slowly about 

 the water side, resting sometimes on mud and pebbles almost in the water. 

 Some specimens of the variety with yellow on the abdominal margin occur 

 here with the pure black oue, and some have white or only a yellow tinge in 

 the same part of the hind wing. But neither Moller nor I have ever taken 

 females with the males in these places, and all the five females I possess of 

 this form were procured from native collectors, and vary in the same 

 particulars as the males. I never saw a typical horsjieldii at these low eleva- 

 tions, but found it in the dense forest on Sinchul at 6000 to 8000 feet, where 

 it settles on paths and in damp places on the ground, and flies slowly in the 

 same manner as ithiela. The only female of this form which I got was taken 

 by my native assistant at an elevation of nearly 11,000 feet, on the road 



* Delias (TJiyca) ithiela, Butler, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) iv. p. 242 (1869); Lep. Exot. 

 pi. xxiv. fig. 1 (1871). 



3k2 



