MYCALESIS. By H. Frtjhstorfer. 
332 
The larva of horsfieldi Moore will only accept rare grasses from the edges of woods; it is somewhat 
more slender than that of mineus and tan-yellow. The larvae of janardana Moore are sluggish, let themselves 
fall directly they are touched and feign death; they resemble certain leaf-slugs and when full-grown measure 
35 mm.; the butterfly emerges in the afternoon between 2 and 3 o’clock after about 11 days of the pupal stage. 
Structurally the distinguishing character of the genus consists in the short, transversely cut off cell, 
and the long lower discocellular of the hindwing, which is sometimes weakly curved proximad. The latter 
terminate as in Lethe , beyond the furcation of the upper and middle median ( mnasicles) or before it ( visala .), 
i. e. basally, or directly at the furcation, yet this character is only of secondary importance. More important 
is the position of the subcostal veins of the forewing, by which, like the African, the Asiatic Mycalesids can 
easily be separated into two subgenera or genera, according to the importance which is attached to the differences 
in question, namely species with two veins arising before the end of the cell and those with one only. From their 
African relatives (Mycalesis s. str.) the Asiatic species are easy to separate by the lower discocellular of the 
forewing being proximally curved, not straight, and by the hairy eyes; but from the otherwise almost identical 
Henotesia, with which they agree in the hairy eyes, only by the longer upper discocellular of the hindwing. 
An important distinguishing feature of almost all the Mycalesids, especially the African species, consists 
in the highly developed secondary sexual characters, which misled Moore into the erection of 22 genera. Yet 
it is just in the Asiatic Mycalesids that these organs are especially subject to wide variation and they are so 
susceptible to external influences that they differ even in the seasonal forms of one species and are graduated 
from subspecies to subspecies in the separate races of the Philippine Archipelago. In making preparations of 
the neuration, however, both the androconia and the hair-pencils resist the action of the chloride, whilst the 
non-modified scales disappear absolutely. Lieut.-Colonel Manders has established that the yellow, hair-like 
appendages ( processus) on the upperside of the hindwing of perseus and polydecta are placed immediately behind 
the origin of the subcostal. They mostly stand out as a tuft among the scales of the wings and are extended 
like a fan upwards and outwards to the oval depressions which are further described below. They are formless, 
but solid (so far as can be seen on a magnification of 950 diameters), run out gradually to a point and are pro¬ 
bably chitinous in their construction. 
Of the oval depressions mentioned above, one is placed at the submarginal of the forewing beneath, 
the other occasionally below, but more commonly above the subcostal of the hindwing above. In perseus 
and polydecta these depressions are black and consist of very densely massed scales with uniformly rounded 
ends. That all these spoon-like structures only indicate depressions in the surface of the wings is evidenced 
by the fact that these scales are not all in focus at once in the microscope. In some examples of perseus and 
■polydecta these impressions have a dark iridescense, some are of deep blue, others again of light blue colour, 
the intensity of the colour varying according to the angle of light. Even when magnified the scales show only 
slight striation, but in all cases the ends are uniformly rounded. There is nowhere any glandular structure, 
but it is noteworthy that only the ends of the yellow hairs are placed in the depressions. In the structure of these 
appendages there is nothing to give a clue as to their functions, neither can it be assumed that they serve 
as stridulating organs, for then the scales or hair-like appendages would have to be in some wise dentate in 
order to produce the sound, but this is not the case. 
For the division of groups in our arrangement the secondary sexual organs have been employed, because, 
being easily recognizable, they offer a convenient means of differentiation, whilst from differences of neuration 
we only achieve the object more laboriously. Moreover in Culapa the structure of the hindwing is even more 
variable than in Lethe, so that the use of these characters would cause confusion rather than order. 
In one group ( Virapa) even the stalk of the radials is deflected by the scent-cavity of the hindwing, 
offering a distinguishing character which would appear important if it did not fail in the $$ of the same species. 
The clasping-organs afford further clues, but the time at my disposal at the moment is not sufficient to allow 
of my investigating these thoroughly. From the slender material before me, however, it seems quite conceiv¬ 
able that the species could be separated into groups according to the widely varying shape of the valve. Moreover 
the uncus possesses a character which finds no analogy among the other Satyrids, its clasps being in some species 
longer than its apices, and not curved upwards as in Satyrus, but downwards. The valve may attain the same 
dimensions as in some Ypthima , being more than twice as long as the uncus, with strongly upcurved, hook¬ 
shaped tip ( mnasicles ), or remain short and medially thickened with finely dentate lamellae and long bristles 
before the chitinized tip [visala). The uncus also may attain an abnormal length — be as thin as a needle and 
project beyond the angled, distally thickened valve [Lohora Moore). 
Subgenus Culapa Moore. 
Under this name (which dates from April 1879) must be united all those Indo-Australian species which only differ 
from the African Henotesia in the longer upper discocellular of the hindwing, but have in common with this the hairy eyes and 
the proximally curved lower discocellular of the forewing, by which they are distinguished from Mycalesis . with the lower dis- 
