TAENARIS. By H. Frtihstorfer. 
419 
T. phorcas is the natural continuation of the preceeding species on the Solomon Islands and the Bis¬ 
marck Archipelago. It is easily distinguished from catops in the ground colour of all the wings being black 
instead of white, and abdomen grey or brown in place of yellow. Ocellar aberrations appear to be rare or ab¬ 
sent; the ocelli vary little in size, both among themselves and in the geographical races. The latter are not 
sharply defined and the collective species unites in its own forms all their characters in every possible combi¬ 
nation. Yet, as with the subspecies of the western catops, several local forms can be separated by their general 
appearance. The larva is known, very handsome black, white and red streaked, and lives in communities 
on a low species of palm. Usually 5 or 6 are found together on the leaf or stem. They are sluggish, are co¬ 
vered with fine white hairs, and only leave the food-plant, for pupation. The pupal rest lasts 14 days, phorcas phorcas. 
Westiv. (= anableps Voll.) (100 d, lettered umbonia ), probably first received from Neu-Mecklenburg, since 
specimens from thence agree best with the author’s figure. Anal ocellus on the hindwings more or less enclosed 
in the black distal colouring. The anal eye-spot on the under surface stands clear on a white ground, and 
the exterior border is not continued as far as the anal angle. — uranus Stgr. is considerably darker; in it the anal uranus. 
ocellus is enclosed in the almost deep black terminal border both on the upper and under surfaces. The white 
median area on the hindwings smaller, that of the forewing pushed further towards the anal angle by the 
outward advance of the dark basal scaling. Neu-Pommern. The from Neu-Lauenbourg are not quite iden¬ 
tical with those from Neu-Pommern, but have the anal angle of the hindwing again more extensively pure white. 
-—- umbonia Fruhst. is a very dark local race, with almost deep black forewings, in which the whitish anal spot umbonia. 
is scarcely visible. The white spot on the hindwings reduced still more than in phorcas Westw. and represented 
only by a small crescent above the anal ocellus. The anal ocelli on the hindwings above are dark ochre-yellow. 
Expedition Bay, Neu-Hannover, Type in British Museum. — faroria subsp. nov. inhabits Faro, Alu, and farona. 
differs from the other species of atesta in the British Museum from Ugi, Aloa, Maleia and Ulava, in the almost 
complete disappearance of the white spots from the fore wings, which are covered with brown-grey in farona. 
The anal border of the forewing is also broadly grey-brown, whereas in phorcas it is still pure white in the 
anal angle, i. e. the white spot fills the entire angle. The white on the hindwing is also reduced, so that the 
brown-black terminal border approaches the yellow ocellus, which does not stand free as in phorcas. The white 
median spot on the underside of the hindwing is so restricted, that it only occupies the space between the 
anterior and the anal ocellus. Type in British Museum. — atesta Rbl. is the most melanotic extreme of atesta. 
the species; it is characterized by the entirely nigrescent forewings, and in the $ by a much narrowed post- 
discal white zone on the hindwings. Judging from my specimens from Shortland Island, it has also the 
smallest ocelli. Ribbe says it is found especially in the southern Solomon Islands. 
• 
T. scylla Stgr. (= doherty Sm.). A distinctive species, uniting the character of phorcas with that of scylla. 
onolaus. It has the rather uniform grey wings and the yellow abdomen in common with onolaus , and the same 
colouring of the under surface of the wings as in phorcas. But in scylla the white median area is not restricted 
to the disc, but extends in a broad band from the costal margin to the anal angle. Beyond the anal ocellus 
an ochre-yellow distal band is very distinct, especially on the upper side of the hindwings, and does not exist 
in this position in any other Taenaris. scylla was described from Kordo by Statjdinger, and from Korrido by 
Grosse-Smith. But Kordo and Korrido are only different names for the same chief town and harbour of Misore 
Island (,,Schouteneiland“ of the Dutch); this island is a true El Dorado for peculiar highly developed Lepidop- 
tera of the Papuan Region. There fly the marvellous Troides priamus kirschi Oberth. the unique Ideopsis 
inuncta hewitsoni Kirsch and other rare species. 
T. onolaus is here re-introduced, as the oldest name for the species known in collections under the more 
recent title of honrathi, one of the most variable of the Taenaridae. The ground colour of the wings varies from 
whitish to slate-grey; the hindwings may have a pure white, a slightly yellowish or a mouse-grey basal 
portion. The anal ocellus on the hindwing is always complete on the upper surface; the yellow ocellar ring 
is sometimes spread out into a broad patch, yet, in the same local form, it may be only proximally indicated 
or may be suffused with blackish. The size of the eye-spots varies from little more than punctiform to an 
imposing disc, as does also the centre, which is always whitish violet or blue. The two ocelli on the underside 
of the hindwing are sometimes alike, and may be as small as in tainia (101 b); more frequently the anal ocellus 
is larger and often proximally diffused (auriflua Fruhst.). Accessory ocelli are almost always present; four out auriflua. 
of 30 specimens of both sexes have even anal ocelli on the underside of the forewing (= sidus Stich.). But sidus. 
I have also a £ which has two more apical eye-spots on the forewing, besides that in the anal angle, and on 
