NYMPHALIN^. 
223 
close to anal angle ; costa and hind-margin closely hatched with very 
thin, minute, short, transverse lines ; occasionally this hatching is want- 
ing on hind-margin, when there is an irregular black streak closely 
bordering hind-marginal edge. Hind-iving : more or less broadly 
clouded with black at base, the black occupying most of discoidal cell, 
at extremity of which is a subovato black spot ; this spot is occasion- 
ally united to basal black by a thin black line along discoidal nervule ; 
near and parallel to hind-margin a row of six ocelli similar to those of 
fure-iuincj^ but much larger (except the ocellus next anal angle, which 
is always small, and sometimes very minute), situate between nervules 
from first subcostal to submedian nervure ; macular streak of fore-wing 
continued across this wing in a more lunulate form, dusted with bluish 
scales, and ending in a thickly blue-dusted mark at anal angle ; speci- 
mens possessing the exterior hind-marginal streak in fore-wing have it 
likewise bordering hind-marginal edge of hind-wing. Cilia of both 
wings hoary-greyish, with tufts of longer hairs on dentations of hind- 
wing. Under side. — Paler or clarhcr dull ochreous-hroiun {rarely 2^ctlG 
greyish-ochroits), the markings of upper side narrowly and faintly 
reproduced in slateg-hlack. Fore-iuing : no basal black ; some short, 
strong, pale-yellovjisk hairs on costa near base ; stria in discoidal cell 
outlined only with slatey-black, but darker than ground-colour, ocelli 
mostly indistinctly marked, not blue-centred, but with a few, 'luinute, 
pale-yellowish hairs springing from their centres ; at anal angle, and 
more rarely at apex, is a whitish- violaceous tinge. Hind-iving : a 
small slatey-black spot in discoidal cell ; an irregularly-waved slatey 
streak, crossing wing before middle, closes cell ; a similar, but more 
regular stria beyond this, and continuous of the third stria in fore-wing, 
extends nearly to anal angle ; ocelli very indistinctly defined, much 
smaller than on upper side, rather conspicuously tufted in their centres 
with pale-yellowish hairs ; similar, but longer, hairs are scattered over 
base and margins of wing, but are most abundant and longest on i7iner 
margined portion covering abdomen ; a bluish tinge at anal angle. 
A specimen with very pale under side, in my collection, has the 
ocelli much distincter and bluer than above described, without any hairs 
in their centres ; these hairs are indeed almost universally wanting, 
except a few near bases of wings. 
$ Without the rich purple lustre of $ ; but markings quite similar 
to those of the other sex. Ocellate spots in both wings larger, and, as 
a rule, comparatively with more Uue. Under side. — Quite like that 
of ?. 
This species is very variable as regards both depth of colouring andiinten- 
sity of marking. The ocelli of hind-wing are particularly so, being in some 
specimens so enlarged as to form a broad continuous submarginal band. 
In its robust structure and thick, partly hairy wings, no less than in its 
colouring, this Precis is not at all unlike that section of the allied genus 
Vanessa which is represented by the well-known V. Polijcldoros (Linn.) 
I am iuiormed by Mrs. Barber that the larva feeds on "a large brown- 
