770 
L1BYTHEA. By H. Frtthstorfer. 
thira. in tlie north west ot the Himalaya. -— thira subsp. nov. denotes an areal form with greatly darkened, very broad 
bands of the npper surface resembling myrrha (139f) in the colouring of the yellow spots, though it is charac¬ 
terized by more broadly flown-out bands, thus combining the characters of myrrha and sanguinalis. Yunnan, 
rama. Tonkin. Type in the Paris Museum. Hereto presumably also belong specimens from Hainan. - — rama Moore 
is the most modified. The red-brown band on the forewings is reduced to a narrow cell-stripe and on the hind- 
wings to an almost expiring macular band. The subapical spots are not larger than in lepita and sometimes 
almost white. The under surface, however, has all the characters yet of sanguinalis except the cell-streak also 
being narrowed here. Larva, dark green with a light yellow dorsal line from the 4 th to 12th segment and 
a very narrow yellow band from the head to the anal end. Food-plant Celtis tetranda Roxb. Pupa light 
green with yellowish margins and a black spot at the apex of the abdomen. Type from Ceylon where the name- 
form is confined to the mountains of an altitude of about 4 to 6000 feet, whereas in the plains and on the hills 
carma. a transitional form to sanguinalis is found, having been observed only recently: -— carma subsp. nov. differs 
from rama from Ceylon by almost purely white subapical spots being hardly noticeably bordered by yellow, 
and by considerably broader and lighter discal spots of the forewings, as well as by the more extensive and 
likewise lighter median band of the hindwings. The under surface shows a pale flesh-coloured intramedian spot 
of the forewing, the disk of the hindwing a prominent whitish-grey median area, instead of the narrow, indistinct 
stripe being powdered with violet in rama. South India, type from Shembaganur. Hampson met specimens 
myrrliina. being identical with carma in the Nilgiri Mountains up to 7000 ft. - — myrrhina Fruhst. <$. Larger than myrrha 
Godt. from Java, the red transverse bands of all wings broader, being also particularly prominent on the under 
surface of the forewings. West Sumatra from the surroundings of Padang Pandjang. Very common also in 
myrrha. the Sultanate of Deli. — myrrha Godt. (139 e) occurs rather uniformly in West Java, Bali and Lombok. I have 
not yet seen specimens from Sumbawa where Doherty found the species. The model for our figure originates 
from Lombok where myrrha is not rare up to about 1200 m above the sea-level. The $ has somewhat broader, 
but considerably paler brownish-yellow bands of the hindwings. In East Java appears a dry period-form of 
yawn, a smaller habitus and with consecpiently also narrow bands. -— yawa subsp. nov. being especially remarkable 
by the red-brown basal stripe at the cell-wall either disappearing altogether or remaining merely as a very thin 
streak. It is accompanied by a reduction of the band of the hindwing which stays hardly half as broad as in 
myrrha from the west of the island. East Java, surroundings of Malang, flying time September, promontory 
of the Tengger Mountains. At an altitude of about 4000 ft there occurs on the latter a transition form from 
the narrow-banded extreme of yawa to normal myrrha, so that yawa has to be regarded as the subspecies of 
hecura. the hilly distiicts. Most probably specimens from the Island of Bali belong to the latter race. -— hecura subsp. 
nov. occurs on the Malayan Peninsula where, by its upper surface with dark though somewhat narrower bands 
than in sanguinalis, it forms a transition from the continental principal form to the Macromalayan insular 
bomeensls. races. Distant figured a $ exhibiting nearly twice as broad bands as myrrha from Java or Lombok. -— borneen- 
sis subsp. nov. is the Borneo-race approximating hecura, excelling myrrhina from Sumatra in the extent of 
the red-brown spotting and being distinguishable from the two vicarious types of hecura and myrrhina by its 
larger size. South East and North Borneo. • 
L. geoffroy, the most variable species of the genus and at the same time the only one with hetero- 
morphic sexes. <§ above with greyish-brown to blackish margins, forewings and the anterior part of the hind¬ 
wings light blue or violet, with a magnificent reflection. Forewing with three white subapical spots and in the 
eastern races with broad black tinged veins. Hindwing, as a rule, with a reddish or whitish-grey Libythea- band 
recurring beneath as a greyish-white band. The $ either like the $ of eugenia, sometimes approximating also 
the type without the red median band of the hindwing (139 g), or without any white spots at all on the fore¬ 
wings (139 g 3). The character of the under surface always like in eugenia, though the red-brown cell-spot- of 
the forewing may be covered with grey and the hinclwing predominantly greyish white or preponderantly 
marbled in violet. In the Small Sunda Islands a dry period-form is noticed with expiring white spots of the 
forewings and a greyish brown distal border of the hindwings. Early stages unknown. The butterflies prefer 
dried up river-beds, but also like to rest on wet rocks, and sometimes, in the dry season, they gather in great 
colonies at wet places on the roads. When being chased up they fly very swiftly and incalculably, so that they 
alompra. are very difficult to capture. — alompra Moore (139 f), the continental branch of the otherwise mostly Austra¬ 
lian species was known from Tenasserim and Luang Prabang, the Laos States, and was ascertained as a novelty 
by myself for Siam. The $ resembles the $ of philippina (139 g) and exhibits no reddish median band of the 
hindwing. Occurring frequently near Muok-Lek, sometimes there were 40 to 50 of the magnificent butterflies 
hauxwelli. to be taken at one swoop. — hauxwelli Moore was based upon GS °f the extreme dry period-form from Tenas¬ 
serim, without the red cell-spot of the under surface of the forewing. ■— geoffroy Godt. (139 g) described from 
geoffroy. Java, but not having been heard of any more for nearly a century, so that Staudinger in his ,,Lepidoptera 
of Palawan “ took their occurrence in Java to be an erroneous statement, in 1889. Captain Holz sent me an 
authentic specimen from the Tengger Mountains in East Java, which was found together with L. narina Godt. 
The $ corresponds with our figure of a $ from Timor. I myself saw geoffroy in Lombok flying at an altitude 
of about 600 m in May and June, but I was not able to capture any of the timid, small animals keeping 
among the rubble-st-ones of a mountain-brook. A number of specimens from Wetter and Sumbawa resemble 
