MELANITIS. By H. Fruhstorfee. 
361 
Easily seperated from its congeners by the almost complete failure of white bands of both wings which appear 
more or less covered with slate-gray, especially in the Ac?- As in all Ragadia the $ has paler, more rounded 
wings than the A- 
R. annulata Sm. (= melita Stgr.) (90 e) is closely allied to melindena Fldr. from the Southern Philip- annulata. 
pines and differs from all described forms in its excessively broad black distal border and the narrow median 
band of both wings. The up. s. of $ is of a yellowish white throughout with only a little discal stripe 
seen though by transparence, annulata is also distinguished from crisilda by the row of eyespots un. s. h. w. 
being nearer the outer border, moreover only two, instead of three of said eyespots (median), lie in the same 
patch of yellow. Kina-Balu, North Borneo. 
R. melindena Fldr. takes the place of crisilda in the Philippines. Is very close to the above species melindena. 
but differs in the subbasal bands un. s. h. w. being shorter, reaching only to the middle of wing, and up. s. 
similarly by the rudimental median stripes of $$. Line of eyespots more complete and homogeneous than in 
annulata. Everywhere in Mindanao from June till October and December till February. A darker race is 
reported from Camiguin de Mindanao and Sarangani. 
R. crisia is the commonest and best known species and is found in every part of the Macromalayan 
region, where it occurs in four not not very sharply divided geographical races. — crisia Hbn. (= makuta crisia. 
Horsf.) (90 e) the typical form is found, so far as my observations go, exclusively in West Java, where I 
found it plentifully in the woods of the Bay of Palabuan which were dripping with wet, yet it flies too 
in the chalk hills of Southern Preanger up to 1600 ft. altitude, crisia is the most broadly stiped with black, 
but is yet the most uniform of the group with a preponderance of yellowish bands. It appears too that the 
chain of eyespots on un. s. consists of larger eyes more richly provided with silvery pupils than in the other 
forms. — minoa subsp. nov. from N. E. Sumatra. Common everywhere in the plains and on the mountain minoa. 
spurs up to 1000 ft.; not to be found in the lofty woods but everywhere in the new copses where grass 
still grows. Very abundant in nutmeg gardens, for these offer in addition to the rich grass the half shades 
of the nutmeg trees. Flies feebly near the ground, settles frequently and by preference on the bare earth or 
on dead leaves and in spite of its jerky irregular flight is easily netted. This species is strongly inclined to 
vary with regard to the depth of ground colour up. s. and the breadth of the dark bands un. s. The up. s. 
is however darker than hi crisia and is rather of a smoky brown than of a yellowish white colour, the bands 
too of un. s. are yellowish rather than white. There occurs a variety or form (pallida subsp. or form, nov., pallida. 
90 e) exclusively on the Battak Mts. in West Sumatra which is very close to crisia but has taken on a pale 
whitish gray colour especially on up. s. of h. w. — siponta subsp. 7iov. I have before me species from Perak siponta. 
in the Lingga Archipelago and from the Natuna Islands. Smaller than crisia and minoa, a black-gray colour 
encroaches on both wings up. s. and on the un. s. of h. w. the yellowish delimitation of the eye-spots is 
narrower in the Ac?- ■— umbrata subsp. nov. from Borneo exhibits the darkest smoky brown coloring of up. umbrata. 
s.; the $9 are larger than in minoa and siponta, the black bands of un. s. are somewhat narrower and more 
sharply marked. N. and S. E. Borneo, and, too, in my collection from Pontianak. 
R. luzonia is the northern representative of an insect from the Philippines whose membership to the 
crisia group is disputed. Semper opines that it should be seperated and 1 have not material enough to enable 
me to judge. — luzonia Fldr. differs chiefly from crisia in the vertical striping of both wings and the chain luzonia. 
of eyespots h. w. runs straighter, the latter is seen more clearly in transparence and is composed of larger 
eyes. F. w. with a yellow median stripe, h. w. with a pale yellow expanded approach to the black eyespots. 
U 11 . s. of both wings with broad sharply defined median band. April to June. Only from Eastern Luzon and 
the island of Polillo lying just in front of it. - — mirsdoraoa Semp. from N. E. Mindoro, flies in December mindorana. 
and January and differs from luzonia in that the double pupilled eyespots are surrouded by a common yel¬ 
low periphery, beyond which each eye seems to be separately ringed. — crohonica Semp. is nearest to the crohonica. 
Javanese crisia but has smaller eyespots and the $ is almost entirely white up. s. From Eastern Philippines, 
Leyte, Panaon, Samar. Apparently rare, from May to November. 
Genus: Mivliiiaitis F. 
Structurally characterized by the uncommonly short middle discocellulars of f. w. and the nondistended 
principal veins. Eyes naked, palpi broad, hair thick and pressed down, spurs of middle and hind legs split. 
Fore and middle discocellulars of h. w. of nearly the same length, the third discocellular pushing out beyond 
furcation of median veins. Larva never varying from common type, green, rather thicker in the middle. 
Head with two horns. Pupa green, rather long, thicker in the middle and with truncated head end. Generic 
organs extremely primitive, uncus without lateral clasps, valve long, a narrow distal with obtuse end, long 
and thickly bristled. Uncus with a sharp point as in the Eumenis group. 
IX 
46 
