132 
DELIAS. By H. Fruhstorfer. 
submarginal distal margin sends out rays into the middle of the wing. The $$ bear on the wing a certain resem¬ 
blance to Danaids and Pareronia valeria-Q. The fly round high tree-tops and bamboo bushes, but come 
down from their aerial heights in the early morning hours and form an ornament to the landscape on account 
of their numbers, their majestic flight and their large snow-white wings. On Lombok they inhabit elevations 
of 1500—6000 ft. The larvae live in large colonies on various kinds of trees and the pupae after 2—4 weeks produce 
lydia. the butterflies, which emerge early in the day. — lydia Fruhst. (52 d) is a local form with pointed yellow-white 
apical spots on the forewing and narrower black bands on the underside of the hindwing. The cell of the $$ pale 
yellow without black dusting, the wings are more rounded, all the submarginal spots orange-yellow instead of 
light yellow, the distal margin of the hindwing more sharply defined. Taken by Everett on Flores in numbers 
vasumitra. in November. — The race figured (52 d) as oraia I now call vasumitra subsp. now It differs from oraia in the 
darker colouring and the reduced submarginal spots of both wings. Lombok. 
nakula. 
auratilis. 
dtisha. 
erubescens. 
yogini. 
depicta. 
belisama. 
auranticica. 
angaja. 
balina, 
glauce. 
D. belisama, a characteristic butterfly of Java, where it occurs everywhere, is separated on the island 
itself into two geographical races and one alpine, shows a strong tendency to variation and occurs locally in enor¬ 
mous numbers. In the Tengger Mountains once in April whole rows of bamboo bushes along a bridle-path were 
covered with them and when the thicket was struck with the whip literal clouds of butterflies arose, which after 
fluttering about a little while settled again. In the mountains the $2 are commonly taken feeding at the flowers 
of Cinchona (Peruvian bark tree), often in company with Delias crithoe and Prioneris autothisbe, a marvellously 
beautiful sight! The larva lives on a Dioscorea and is very common from December to February. The pupa 
yellowish with brown dorsal projections. — nakula Gr.-Sm. (= vestalina Stgr.) is the smaller East Javan race, 
which is paler beneath in both sexes. The figured (52 d) belongs to an aberration with the upper surface of 
both wings yellowish instead of white (auratilis form, nov.) ; there is a rarer form with uniformly dark ochre- 
yellow upper surface (atisha form, non.) or with reddish tinge (erubescens Stgr.). The $ appears in two principal 
forms, forma nakula Gr.-Sm. (52 e) with dark yellow proximal part (rainy-seasonform) and yogini form. nov. 
with whitish or light yellow basal part on the upper surface, white instead of yellow subapical strigae on the forewing 
and light lemon-yellow under surface to the hindwing (dry-seasonfonn). $$ without red basal spot on the hind¬ 
wing beneath (ab. depicta ab. nov.) are very rare. — The larger West Javan race, belisama Cr. (52 d), is less 
liable to variation. It is especially common in the neighbourhood of Sukabumi at elevations of 2—3000 ft. — 
In the alpine localities of the volcanoes of East Java from 4—6000 ft. occurs aurantiaca Doll. (= belisar Stgr.), 
with brilliant orange-coloured upper surface, large cell-spot on the forewing, and also a handsome extended 
orange-yellow tint at the base of the forewing beneath, whilst the West Javan mountain form, angaja form, nov., 
differs from it in the whitish yellow tinge of the forewing beneath. — balina Fruhst. is a smaller race with broad 
light yellow hindwing without margins above and the apical border more deeply incised. The under surface of 
the forewing is more extended white at the inner margin. Bali. — glauce Btlr. (52 e), described from Borneo, 
a strongly darkened, distinct subspecies of larger size with almost entirely black under surface to the forewing 
which bears only slight traces of white or yellow submarginal spots. The butterflies are commonly met with on 
the tablelands of Sumatra at the brilliant red flowers of Erythinaea (Dadap trees). 
eumolpe. D. eumolpe Gr.-Sm. (58 b) is the representative of the belisama and descombesi group on Borneo, where 
as yet it has been found exclusively on the Ivina Balu at an elevation of about 4000 ft., not being rare. 
zebuda. D. zebuda Heiv. (52 d), the representative of descombesi on Celebes, where it flies almost all the year round 
and ascends from the edges of the woods at the sea-coast to about 6000 ft. The species is distinguished from 
all its allies by having the wings pointed instead of rounded, the above white with the apex broadly powdered 
over with grey-black; the $ grey-brown with large white cell-spot. South. Central and North Celebes. 
diaphana. D. diaphana Semper. above scarcely distinguishable from descombesi, but beneath entirely black 
with abnormally large cell-spot on the forewing and similarly large submarginal patches on both wings. upper- 
surface of the forewing yellowish with black discocellular and black distal margin with yellow spots; hindwing 
white with whitish submarginal patches. The under surface with broad black postdiscal bands on both wings. 
A magnificent, large species, only found as yet in South-East Mindanao, where it is not rare. 
D. aruna, one of the largest and most strikingly coloured species of the genus, inhabits the Papuan region 
and may be broken up into a series of well-defined local races, of which three are already known from the main 
aruna. island of New Guinea, aruna Bdv. (52 c), from Dutch New Guinea, with light yellow basal region on the liind- 
madala. wing above. — madala Fruhst. Distal margin narrower, the ground-colour above orange, whilst on the under¬ 
surface the red costal and discal spot are considerably larger and hence the black distal margin is reduced. German 
New Guinea, where it is not common, always flying singl} r , mostly met with in July in open woods. The butter¬ 
flies are fond of visiting the flowers of Jambosa, on which they have been found even at elevations of 1000 ft. 
irma. (Hagen). —irma Fruhst. (53 b) is the darkest known race; H beneath almost entirely black, also above with 
broader margins than inferna. The upper surface of the $ is often still darker than in the figure. Milne Bay, 
