W. Dohevty—Oertaln Lycnanidfe ./Voj/i Lon-rr Te9iasf:nnm. [No. 4, 



outer part of the base, the inner part being green and minutely rati- 

 culated with hexagons. The prehensors I do not know. The fore- 

 tarsi are, I believe, the same in both sexes, as in the Qenjdinm. 



Liphyra hrassolis flies slowly with a distinct humming sound 

 and an uncertain circling flight, hesitating a long time before alighting. 

 Whether it is, as it seems, a protected species, or whether, as 1 believe, 

 it flies chiefly at twilight and so escapes capture, 1 do not know. No 

 one would ever take it for a butterfly ; few moths arc more typically 

 moth-like in flight. It is probably the oldest type of Lyavnid existing, 

 and unconnected with the rest, except through such primitive dwarf 

 forms as Taraka and the smaller Oerydince. It is the only Asiatic re- 

 ]n-esentative of the subfamily Liphyrina} and its nearest allies are appa- 

 rently African. 



A word deserves to be spoken on the subject of green butterflies, 

 since it seems one little understood at home. Early ia the century 

 Horsfield professed to have found a green female of the Javanese 

 Arhopala eumolphus, the true female of which is blue. Recently, Mr. 

 Distant has described, as the female of A. farquJiarii, a butterfly bright 

 green over the basal half of the wings above. Now, the real female of 

 fnr(iuhani (perhaps the form described as A. maxwdlii, Distant) is violet- 

 lilue and one of the most constant of butterflies. Of the green form 

 mentioned, I took several specimens in the Malay Peninsula and in 

 Borneo, and they were all males. It is a rare species uudescribed, 

 (lerhaps identical with the Horsfieldian form. 



Grant Allen shows that, while greenish flowers arc among the oldest, 

 really green flowers are the most recently developed of all and among 

 tlio most conspicuous. Very much the same thing is true of Lepidoiitera. 

 Pale green moths, like Aotias, Geometra, and Fachyarclies, are protected 

 by their colouring, which is common to both sexes, and are quite hidden 

 when resting among the leaves. Such seems also to be the case with 

 Lehera eryx*, a lycajnid which is greenish on the underside, and may 

 possibly be the case with some OalopMias. But bright metallic-gi'een 

 is I think, the latest developed colour among butterflies, and decidedly 

 the most conspicuous. No one who has not seen it can imagine the 

 lirilliancy of Arhopala farquharn or OrnitJwptera hrooheana in the green- 

 est jungle. The brightest of the metallic-blue butterflies look dim 

 beside them. It may be confidently assorted of all such butterflies that, 

 unless the species is protected, only the male is green. The protected 

 Omithopteras have sometimes assumed green colours as well as golden 



« The undorsido ia green or greenish in many South Amorioan Thednx, bnt 

 such oases are very unusual in Eastern Lycasnida:, 



