270 
EUPLOEA. By H. Fruhstorfer. 
chloe. 
margarita. 
marseuli. 
brahma. 
dejeani. 
splendens. 
irawada. 
klugi. 
illustris. 
imperialis. 
regalis. 
of Hong-Kong and the adjacent mainland, passes in collections as superba Herbst., alopia Godt. and sinica 
Moore. The last name refers to a form without pronounced double row of white submarginal dots on the 
hindwing, whilst alopia Godt. shows the maximum of white decoration, with still more extended light blue, 
white-centred transcellular and submarginal spots on the forewing than are shown in the figure. The ?? are 
subject to the same variations, and that independently of the season, for at the end of October 1899 1 took 
in the cemetery at Hong-Kong a ? with a white double row of spots on the hindwing above together with 
others without a trace of these spots. For the rest no two specimens are alike, in particular the spot before 
the apex of the cell on the forewing may be small, as on the figure, or 3 or 4 times as large. Also the 
discal spots of the forewing vary from light violet to dark blue, but a brilliant light metallic blue reflection 
is common to all. The c? butterfly smells slightly, the anal scent-pencils are dark yellow and very complicated, 
consisting of two rosettes, one very long-stalked with several long radiating hairs and the other a small, 
extremely delicate star at the tip of a somewhat lighter colour. According to Walker the larva, lives on 
Strophanthus divergens, a climbiug-plant of the family of the Apocyneae, on which the golden pupa also 
hangs. The larva is also occasionally found on imported oleander. The butterflies were repeatedly observed 
in groups of several hundreds, fluttering round the tops of flowering trees in the late afternoon. The true 
midamus L. extends to Tonkin and even to Central Siam, where 1 still took examples which could scarcely 
be distinguished from those from Hong-Kong. hr Tonkin and Siam, however, midamus no longer predominates, 
but only occurs casually as an aberration. — That form of midamus which is common in the whole of Indo- 
China must be called chloe Guer., though better known as margarita Btlr. (84 a). It appears that cldoe 
(margarita) is an intermediate form, which occurs in January-February, whilst I have taken midamus in 
November near Haiphong in Tonkin. The ? of chloe bears no white subcostal or discal patches on the fore¬ 
wing, moreover the discal blue spots are as a rule much less developed than on our figure. As marseuli 
Moore an individual aberration has been described from Saigon in Cochinchina, without white markings on 
the hindwing as in chloe and at the same time with conspicuous submarginal dots on the hindwing. brahma 
Moore is an extreme dry-season form, in which in both sexes both the blue and the white irroration on the 
forewing are absent or reduced to a minimum and the dots on the hindwing are also somewhat reduced. 
Described from Moulmein, but occurring everywhere in Tenasserim and Siam. — dejeani Mayore is an interesting 
melanotic local form, which approximates to brahma , as the almost unspotted forewing shows, but the hindwing 
is adorned with strikingly large double row of white dots, dejeani is, however, especially characterized by 
having the metallic sheen confined to the basal half of the forewing and dark steel-blue (instead of light 
blue). Malay Peninsula, from Pelak in my collection, according to Moore also occurring on Sumatra. But 
the latter locality, which rests on examples in the Boisduval collection, is very questionable. — splendens Btlr. 
from Nepal, is a well differentiated subspecies, characterized by the narrower forewing, and the constant absence 
of the white dots on the upperside of the hindwing, which though present beneath are much reduced. The 
light blue reflection similar, extremely intensive, recalling that of Stictoploea harrisi. splendens varies slightly 
according to the locality, the forewing in the Sikkim-cfcf showing broadly diffuse, whitish-dusted transcellular 
strigae, in Assam-cTcf (irawada Moore), on the other hand darker blue, more rounded patches. According to 
Niceville splendens is extraordinarily rare in Sikkim, only occurring in the Terai and the lowest outer valleys 
of the Himalayas from April to November, but it is said to be somewhat ^commoner in Bhotan. 
E. klugi, in contrast to the Chinese-Further-Indian midamus L., is more of an Anterior-Indian collec¬ 
tive species, which is broken up into more sharply separated local forms, but in the centre of its range, in 
Assam, shows an even greater capacity for individual variation than midamus-cliloe. Some extreme klugi- 
forins approach those of chloe ,*) but they may be distinguished by the constant absence of the white and 
violet discal spots on the underside of the hindwing and by the more rounded wings. The cfcf are still 
further recognizable by the shorter, more rounded sexual stripes of the forewing and by a deep androconial 
cavity on the underside of the forewing, which is not found in the varieties of midamus. According to 
Moore klugi ascends northwards to Bhamo in Upper Burma, whilst in the south at Moulmein it is replaced 
by the Further Indian crassa. According to Bingham it also occurs on the Nicobars, but if the locality is 
correct, we may expect from there a still unnamed geographical form. Concerning the habits it is only 
known that in January and February it settles on sunny sandy river-beds near the edge of the water, in 
order to imbibe the moisture; but during the rainy season it prefers open places in the forests and foot¬ 
paths through the jungle. The new generation begins to appear in March, but in April and May it is 
commonest and freshest in appearance. 1 myself observed them in Siam always in groups on flowering 
shrubs which hung down over sandy river-banks. Moore figures as klugi a form with a large white spot 
before four blue-white ones beyond the cell and a row of very large wedge-spots inside a row of distinct 
white marginal dots on the forewing. — In illustris Btlr. all the cellular and circumcellular strigae are 
absent, on the other hand the anterior spots are extremely well developed, in imperialis Moore on the con¬ 
trary the submarginal patches are most prominent. In regalis Moore the latter are very distinct on the 
*) and especially also Salpinx leniostictos leniogonys Btlr. 
