118 



RHOPALOCEHA MALA YA .Y. 1 . 



Male. above fuliginous-brown. Anterior wings with the basal half, excluding coll, much 



darker or fuscous; cell crossed by five blackish lines, one Bomewbat oblique near base, the other four in 

 pairs, connected pOHteriorly, and situate two about centre and two sit extremity ; between these lines the 

 colour is much darker; immediately beneath basal half of cell are Borne indistinct blackish markings ; 

 at tin? extremity of the basal dark coloration is a curved series of live greyish spots placed between the 

 nervulos, the upper three in somewhat oblique series beyond end of cell, divided by the dtseoidal nervules, 

 the fourth and fifth curved inwardly and divided by the second median ntrvule ; two subapical greyish spots, 

 one on each aide of the bifurcation of the fourth and fifth subcostal nervules, and a narrow, waved, dark 

 fascous submarginal fascia. Posterior wings with the base and it broad curved diaeul and outwardly 

 dentate fascia, much darker or fuscous; ceD p&rtially crossed by two pairs of blackish lines, looped 

 and convexly united posteriorly, situate respectively near the centre and extremity ; a submarginal series 

 of small blackish spots placed between the nervules, the extreme outer margin of both wings narrowly 

 fuscous, with the fringe more or less greyish. Wings beneath pale brownish olivaceouB, cellular makings as 

 above, but posterior wings possessing a long ovate spot above, and a smaller spot beneath the base of the 

 hrst subcostal nervule, and a curved line on outer side of base of discoidal nervule, continuous to the lower 

 pair of dark lines crossing cell ; greyish spots as above, but brighter, and an additional third subapical spot 

 between the discoidal nervules; a narrow dark submarginal fascia to both wings, becoming faint and 

 obsolete on posterior wings towards abdominal margin; posterior wings with the subtnargiual spots as 

 above, and the outer margin of anterior wings excluding apex, and apical margin of posterior wings, very 

 pale violaceous. Body and legs more or less concoloroub with wings. 



Female. Larger than the male, wings above paler, the markings as in the other sex, but 

 the submarginal fascia to anterior wings broken and indistinct, and the whole basal half of posterior 

 wings darker ; beneath as in male, but paler, and the submarginal fascim more broken. 



Exp. wings, $ GO to 67 millim. ; ? 70 to 80 inillim. 



Had. — Continental India; Silhet, Bengal, Oudh, Bind (Brit Mus.) ; Bombay (Dr. Leith — coll. 

 DiBt..)— Ceylon (coll. Moore). — Burma (Brit. Mue.) — Malay Peninsula ; Province Wellesley (coll. DistO ; 

 Malacca (coll. Godin. & Salv., and Brit. Mus.) — Java (Brit. Mug.) 



This is a variable species, the greyish spots on the upper surface of the anterior wings 

 being frequently obsolete* In all the specimens I have examined the males are darker iu hue 

 than the foniales. 



The larva and pupa are figured by Horstield and Moore * from the original drawings by 

 General Hardwicke, and the first has been reproduced here (tff^c, p, 115, fig. 39), According 

 to the last- named observer, the larva feeds on 11 Tropkia aspera and on a species of Bryonia" \ 

 According to Mr. A, Grote J and the Rev, J* H. Hocking § it feeds upon the mango. || 



* Cat. Lep. Mus. E. L C. I, vi. f. 2, -la. f Ibid. p. 187. \ Ibid. 



§ Proc. Zool. Soc. 1882, p. 239. 



|| Another species of the genus, i£. aeon the a, is also described by Horidield a* feeding 013 tin- nj:uig<i UIoW. & Muore, 

 Cat. Lep. Mus. il. i.C. i. p. Of the man go iu Dominica, F. A. (>ber makes ji curious obHervatioii : — -"The manjfi'es are 



bristling with spikes of blossoms — white with them — but uot a binl uor a butterfly is hovering above theiu, though the 

 surrounding trees riml Klirnbn lire ahve with I In lei . This it) a lac I I have long noticed, tliat th« mango ia ever diverted" 

 (' Camps iu the Caribbecs/ p. 21). Now we know that the mango was introduced into the West Indiett, and the dramatic 

 circumstance* under which plants from Bourbon were first introduced to Jamaica have been graphically described by 

 Sir Joseph Hooker (Lect. to Hoy. Instit. on the ♦ Distr. of the North Am. Flora,' 1*781. iJut in the Must ih<- nuitic is 

 not deserted by birds and bultertiie6 t lor not only do the Ktiihttliadx frequent them to deposit the eggs which i)nuhiue 

 the devouring larvie, but also — tr» quote no other author Mian the pleasant ami versatile Phil. linbhiHon— there is the 

 "greeu parrot" tltat settles "with a screech among your mangoes," and the *■ watcher," who has ''all day long to nit 

 and watcJi the ripening fruit, to wage a perpetual war with little beast** and Little birds, every squirrel a throe, and ouch 

 finch a spasm" (' In my Indian Garden,' pp. -21 uud 



