MELANITIS. 
109 
unifonnly covered with short grey stria. Fore wing with four or five more or less defined 
apical ocelli, each composed of a black spot, white pupil, ferruginous iris, and dark brown 
outer circle ; a marginal band fcrriiginous-brown. Hind wing with a transverse discal line 
and broad marginal band ferruginous-brown ; a submarginal series of six well-defined ocelli, 
each composed of a black spot, white pupil, ferruginous iris, and dark brown outer circle."' 
{Moore, I. c.) 
Female. Much paler ; primaries strongly falcate, and angulation of secondaries produced. Primaries 
have two black spots with white centres as in M. leda, but not edged internally with ferru- 
ginous ; the apical area is paler and tinged on the margin with ferruginous, and there is a 
fuscous patch above, and partly within, the outer portion of discoidal cell. The secondaries 
have from one to three small ocelli with distinct white pupils on the lower half of the sub- 
marginal area. The under surface is pale brown tinged with ochreous or ferruginous brown, 
strongly so on basal areas ; bands broad and rusty brown in colour, as also are the outer 
margins of all the wings ; ocelli small, often minute, sometimes entirely absent on 
primaries. 
Yar. tristis, Felder. '* Male. Upperside obscure fuscous, paler at the margins. Underside : both 
wings obscure ferruginous-swarthy, densely and finely variegated Avith white. Fore wing 
with fine minute ocelli, arranged as in leda. Hind wing with an obsolete ferruginous discal 
streak, subangulate externally, with six ocelli much smaller than in leda. The form of the 
wings differs proportionally from all the examples of leda from many localities now before us. 
The fore wing is longer in the inner margin ; the hind wing likewise is broader, but shorter 
within than in ledaJ' {^Marshall Sf de Niceville, I. c.) 
The female of M. aswa, which is here described, is perhaps the so-called 
form of 21. leda referred to by Marshall and de Niceville as var. a (Butt. 
Ind. i. p. 253) as follows : — " This variety has been found in Kulu in the 
N.W. Himalayas, in Burma, at Poona in the Deccan, and at Trevandrum in 
Travancore. It is distinctly intermediate between M. leda and some varieties 
of 21. aswa, not only in the style of the fasciie and marginal band, and in the 
less distinct and prominent ocellation, but also in outline, for it has the costa 
more strongly arched and the fore wing consequently broader than in 21. leda, 
but never so much so as in 21. aswa, and this and its paler coloration will 
always serve to distinguish it from 21. aswa in any of its forms. It appears 
to be a faMy constant form." {2Iarshall and de Nicemlle, I. c.) 
I have received specimens of the female of 21. aswa from Captain Young 
which were taken at Sultanpore, Kulu, and these are identical with examples 
of this sex of the species from Western China. The males are mostly of the 
tristis form, but there are also specimens agreeing fairly well with the type, 
and others with suyudana. The differences between these named forms are 
really very unimportant, and sink into insignificance when we regard the more 
