RAP ALA. By Dr. A. Seitz. 
1003 
R. diopites Hew. (160 i). The imago is apparently rather rare, and the descriptions were made diopites. 
according to few specimens. $ and $ above magnificently indigo-blue, with a very slight ultramarine tint, 
the $ with a broader (at the centre of the margin of the forewing about 5 mm broad), the $ with a narrower 
(at the same place 3 mm broad) black marginal band. The under surface shows on the earth-brown ground¬ 
colour a rather distinct marking which is to be seen from the figure. Philippines. 
R. petosiris Hero. ( = pheretima Mr. nec Hew.) (146 b). Both sexes are so well figured from both petosiris. 
sides that hardly anything needs to be added. The copper gloss of the is feeble and ili defined against the 
darker costal area. Peculiar are the dark dots beneath in the cells of the wings. The species flies from Sikkim 
to Burma, and is in some places very common. — Beginning from Malacca, the $ form sequaira flies, in which sequaira. 
the post median transverse stripes beneath are said to be more irregular, the cell-end spots more intense, the 
bluish subanal spot more intense. 
R. pheretima Hew. (= pheretina Piep.) (160 e as pheretina above). This species has also often been pheretima. 
mixed up with others. We have copied Hewitson’s figure of the under surface, which is said to be more closely 
allied to the form utimutis. Moreover, the 3 ,,species“ petosiris, pheretimus and utimutis frequently replace 
each other; only in few places they fly together (at the same time?), so that they are kept yet separated as 
species, and we do not wish to change this. The $ of pheretima has a large discal spot of a light reddish- 
yellow lustre in both wings; on the under surface the cellular spot of the hindwing is so large that it almost 
touches the cell-end spot. Malacca, Sumatra, Borneo. — sakaia Fruhst. is the form from Java; the $ has sakaia. 
a more extensive red discal spot of the forewing; the under surface is lighter, with a more intense gloss, and 
the dots are often divided several times. — The larva is very beautiful, violettish-red, with a dark dorsal line 
and subdorsally with velvety black oblique spots which are posteriorly bordered with silvery white. Sideways 
there are knob-shaped tubercles covered with bristles arranged like a star. It lives in great numbers op a fruit- 
tree (Antidesma). 
R. utimutis Dist. is very closely allied to pheretima, but as it occurs with the latter in Malacca and utimutis. 
Borneo, it is probably a different species. Larger, beneath the arcuate streaks before the marginal area are 
less torn, the spotting is coarser, plainer, the under surface brown. In the typical specimen — if Distant’s 
figure is correct — the hindwing beneath lacks the spot above the cell. Malacca. — guevara Fruhst. (160 e), guevara. 
from Borneo, is somewhat smaller (length of forewing 24 mm against 26 mm). The yellowish-brown discal 
spots of the above are reduced; under surface more greyish-brown instead of dark brown, the transverse 
stripes being blackish-brown. — Very rare. 
R. subguttata Elw. is like the other Rapala- species above dull lustrous violet, with a broad black subguttata 
margin and apex; under surface brownish wine-coloured, the spots as in utimutis, but the transverse stripe 
in the marginal area quite obsolete, shadow-like. Described from the Karen Mts. 
R. nissa Roll. (= subpurpurea Leech) (Vol. I, pi. 72 a). The species varies a great deal, even specimens nissa. 
from quite the same habitat, as for instance ab. maculata Sz. (Vol. I, pi. 72 a) being provided w ith a red spot maculata. 
on the forewing, and it is therefore not easy to separate the form of the Eastern Himalaya extending 
to China and Formosa from the western form (Cashmir, Sikkim), which was tried by Leech. — rectivitta Mr., rectivitta. 
from Assam, is said to have quite straight bands beneath which in nissa from Cashmir exhibit slight irregularities. 
palamera Fruhst. (160 g), on the contrary, shows the transverse bands more distinctly defined than in palamera. 
continental specimens, broader and inside filled with red-brown, instead of uni-coloured brownish-black. Suma¬ 
tra. — odosia Fruhst. is above darker, even still more than Assam specimens of rectivitta, almost black with a odosia. 
slight blue reflection, without a violet tint. In the forewing a reddish spot. Under surface lighter grey than 
rectivitta, but with darker, broader red-brown transverse stripes. Java. - nissa is in many districts common, uissa. 
particularly in the Himalaya. The size of the red spot in the forewing is very variable nearly in all the forms; 
in the type it is entirely absent, but it may also be enlarged (ab. cisniona Fruhst. (160 g) from Tsingtau) or cismona. 
smaller (ab. tacola Fruhst. from Assam). The larva is very similar to that of schistacea (cf. p. 1005) and tacola. 
lives on the Saxifragea Astilbe rivularis. 
R. rosacea Nic. Above quite similar to the form chozeba (146 e), but the blue does not extend so far rosacea. 
towards the margin and the small anal lobe of the hindwing is of a bright yolk-colour. Easily recognizable 
by the bright iridescent pink under surface according to which the insect was denominated. From Sikkim 
and the Khasia Hills. As all the specimens of this form were taken in spring, rosacea has been presumed to 
be the spring generation of another species, perhaps nissa. 
R. buxaria Ntc. This large form — the E has an expanse of 36 mm resembles in the shape a testa buxaria. 
(160 cl as pengata), but above it shows an intense ultramarine reflection. At once discernible by the transverse 
line on both wings beneath being quite straight, and the hind wing neither showing any curve from the costal 
margin to the anal area. It is, like rosacea, somewhat allied to nissa, and occurs in Sikkim and Bhutan. 
R. rhoda Nic. (= rhode Piep.). This species exhibits on the uniformly dusty-grey under surface a rhoda. 
very regular marking, the uniformly curved transverse band of the forewing is finely edged with white, mostly 
on both sides, but in the Javanese form sarata Fruhst. (160 g) often only on the distal border. Here the disc sarata. 
