MELANITIS. 100 
uniformly covered with short grey striaj. Fore wing with tour 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 ferruginous-brown, llind wing with a transverse discal lino 
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 <•.) 
Feiinde. 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 ferni- 
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. 
Var. tristis, Folder. " M(tle. Upperside obscure fuscous, paler at the margins. Underside : both 
wings obscure ferruginous-swarthy, densely and finely variegated with 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 leda." {Marshall ^ de Niceville, I. c.) 
The female of 21. aswa, which is here described, is perhaps the so-called 
form of 31. leda referred to by Marshall aud de Kice\'ille as var. a (Butt. 
Ind. i. p. 253) as follows : — " This variety has been found in Kulu in the 
N.W. Himalayas, in Biu'ma, at Pooua in the Deccan, and at Trevandrum in 
Travancore. It is distinctly intermediate between M. leda and some varieties 
of M. aswa, not only in the style of the fascia; and marginal band, and in the 
less distinct and prominent ocellation, but also in outline, for it has the costa 
more strongly arched aud the fore wing consequently broader than in 21. leda, 
but never so much so as in 11. aswa, and this aud its paler coloration will 
alwavs serve to distinguish it from M, aswa in any of its forms. It appears 
to be a fairly constant form." {Marshall and de Xiceville, I. c.) 
I have received specimens of the female of 21. asiva from Captain Young 
which were taken at Sultanpore, Kulu, and these are identical with examples 
of this sex of the species fi'om ^^'esteru China. The males are mostly of the 
tnstis form, but there are also specimens agi'eeing fairly well with the type, 
and others with suptdana. The differences between these named forms are 
really very unimportant, and sink into insignificance when we regard the more 
