792 
TAXILA. By H. Fruhstorfer. 
Tenasserim, Pahang, Sumatra and North Borneo in my collection. In three of my specimens the broad 
white subapical band of the forewing being always seen in thuisto has entirely disappeared, and in three 
more 99 only yet indicated by two subapical dots. In ephorus the discal black spotting of the hindwings 
likewise disappears entirely in 4 9? and is only indistinctly noticeable in two specimens. The under surface 
also exhibits remarkable differences. All the violet spots of ephorus are more prominent and the subapical 
spots, being white in thuisto, are substituted here by violet maculae. Siam, Hinlap (January) Muok Lek 
thuisto. (February). — thuisto Hew. (170 c) was founded by a $ from Singapore, later on Distant described the B- 
There are but quite few specimens in European collections, so that thuisto may be regarded as the rarest 
form of the species. The $ appears beneath lighter than 9? from Borneo and exhibits on the forewings 
cut aches, a more imposing white macular series than $$ from North East Sumatra. - — eutyches Fruhst. B much darker 
than B of thuisto (type) which I chanced to see in the British Museum. $ of a more intense reel-brown 
ground-colour with more pronounced white spots of the forewings. Under surface considerably different by 
the extensive dark violet bordering of the sharp black punctiform spots, showing no white admixture what- 
therikles. ever, as the 9? of thuisto of the British Museum and specimens of my collection. — therikles Fruhst. (139 f) 
deviates from thuisto Hew.-Q from Pahang (Malayan Peninsula) by narrower, more sharply defined white 
subapical small spots of the forewings and by more intensely black discal spots being beneath more extensively 
bordered by a deeper violet, particularly on the hindwings. According to Martin, therikles flies all the year 
round, in the plains near the coast as well as in the promontories, but it is a rare species in Sumatra and 
presumably also in the other places of its occurrence, and there are most strangely fewer Be? captured 
than maybe on account of the unicolorous, plain upper surface of the wings of the Be?- The 2 is dis¬ 
tinguished from the B by a lighter ground-colour and a white macular band running across the upper surface 
of the forewings and beginning at the costa, composed of four roundish spots. According to Hagen, an allied 
race occurs in the Island of Banka. 
Group of species: Taxila Dbl. 
T. haquinus, the most imposing and multiform species of the genus. B above blackish or velvety- 
brown, occasionally 7 in continental races with a white or bluish-violet subapical area, the apex with a red- 
brown tinge even in all the insular branches, 9 very similar to the thuisxo- 9 , but larger, shading off from 
dull greyish-brown to a beautiful intense red-brown, either with a white or more rarely redclish-yellow oblique 
band of the forewings. Uppei surface of the 99 with two rows of partially blurred, square, grey or black 
spots. Beneath always lighter brown than in the B> the transcellular band of the forewings more pronounced 
than above. Distributed from North Burma to Siam and in the whole Macromalayana, as well as in Palawan 
fasdata. and some satellite islands between Borneo and Palawan. — fasciafa Moore (= moulmainus Stgr.) above like 
in all the three continental races dull black, with a distinct white preapical spot, and a reddish tinge of 
the forewings. Of the 99 there exist two temporal forms: a light red-brown one, almost without any black 
spots of the upper surface (flying in January 7 ) belonging to the winter-generation, and a chocolate-brown 
one whith distinct black spots, of the Monsoon period. They occur from North Burma, where fasciatus was 
collected by Adamson from April till June, Pegu, from where specimens from the months of March and 
April are before me, as far as to the southern Tenasserim. In the British Museum there are specimens from 
herthae. the Mergui-Archipelago from December. — berthae Fruhst. (138 g) excels fasciatus in size. 9 with a generally 7 
narrower white band of the forewdng which is almost extinct in one specimen. B ; beneath likewise more 
monotonous, with less markings. The white subapical band of the forewing being prominent in fasdata is 
obsolete here. On the hindwings the submarginal row of black spots is entirely absent, and like on the fore- 
wings, the violettish silvery and the black spots are paler and more blurred I found the charming form 
exclusively in Siam, in the darkest shade of the forests, amongst the palms on the banks of the Muok-Lek 
River. The butterflies are apparently shunning the light, for I saw them flying only by jerks for short dis¬ 
tances, wdiereupon they settled down on leaves for some moments, with their wings folded and quite erect, 
in order to disappear again in the darkness. The velvety cover of the wings is very sensitive, so that one 
haquinus. most rarely is able to secure an entirely undamaged specimen. —- haquinus F., erroneously described from 
,,Tranquebariae“, is generally regarded as the form of the Malayan Peninsula. 9 similar to that of berthae 
from Siam, though with a slight reddish-brown tinge of the forewings. Beneath paler than fasciatus and 
berthae, with a darkened greyish-white trace of a transcellular band. 9 smaller than in the vicarious types 
mentioned hitherto, of a brighter red-brown than in berthae and drupadi from Java. Malayan Peninsula, 
duras. Singapore. — ducas Fruhst. (138 g B9)- B differs from haquinus haquinus F. from Malacca by 7 a subapical 
reddish-brown brightening of the forewings resembling zemara Btlr., whereas the whitish-violet macula of 
the under surface of haquinus is absent here, being replaced only by a uniformly yellow patch. 9 lighter 
red-brown than Perak-99, with a distinct double row of whitish submarginal lines of the hindwings, a broader, 
but more blurred whitish subapical spot ot the forewing. North East and West Sumatra, ducas is, according 
to Martin, a common form flying all the year round, inhabiting the woods in the plains near the coast, 
occurring, however, in especially great numbers in March and April, ducas and thuisto behave similarly 
as the Zemeros-species visiting the blossoms of Sambucus, but they were, especially the 9$> also found on 
grass and low bushes on forest roads. 99 specimens from Banka differ but slightly from those of Sumatra 
