THAUMANTLS. By H. Frtjhstorfer. 
437 
described from Distant’s figure. Recently doubledaii chersonesia has been found in Tenasserim from whence 
Niceville first announced it in 1899 from the Ataran Valley (March). — Finally, under the name of anaxilla (maxilla. 
I described another race, the type of which is also in the Berlin Museum in coll. Staudinger, and was taken 
by Dr. Hagen on Bangka Island. $ with much narrower, shorter lighter blue longitudinal bands, which in con¬ 
trast with nicevillei, are also considerably narrowed on the hind wings, and are more noticeable there from their 
light violet colouring. 
Z. Iuxeri Hbn. was the first described species of the genus, rediscovered by me after a long interval Iuxeri. 
in the year 1891, first in eastern Java, later also in the vicinity of Sukabumi and Wynkoops Bay in West Java 
in large numbers. The butterflies extend from the woods near the coast up to about 600 m, their time 
of flight being during the monsoons, from January to the end of March. They linger mostly on the borders of 
the Watercourses, and were attracted in moderate numbers by banana baits. The sexual dimorphism is more 
pronounced than in doubledaii, since in Iuxeri even the show no trace of violet or blue colouring, but have 
a dark brown ground colour, on which is a nearly chalk-white band of finger’s breadth, transcellular and ex¬ 
tending to the middle of the fora wing, behind it are a few whitish or yellowish spots, distributed as in doubledaii. The 
distal area of the hindwings has a slight, but bright yellowish tone. The underside is similar to that of nicevillei, 
chiefly grey-brown, with a little rather darker shading and very small ocelli. The <$($ diverge from all known 
Zeuxidiae in the very short, light blue band on the hindwings which barely passes the middle of the wing, but is 
very broad on the costa. The band on the forewings is slightly whitish towards the costa and in the middle, 
the periphery is bordered with darker violet, then gradually passes into a full blue-violet then into the dark 
cacao brown ground colour. Both sexes are, as a rule, very constant, and the appearance of accessory ocelli, 
which is not uncommon in nicevillei (prodigiosa Fruhst.), occurs only in two among some hundreds of speci- prodigiosa. 
mens. Doherty discovered this species also on Bali, to which it has undoubtedly spread from Java. ■— 
succulenta Stick., the type of which is now in my collection, is a distinct subspecies, of deep velvet black ground- succulenta. 
colour. The band on the forewing is light azure blue instead of violet, as also the apical spot on the hindwing. 
In continuation of the blue marking, the discal area of both wings has a deep azure blue iridescence when viewed 
sideways. Underside somewhat darker than in Iuxeri from Java, witli more conspicuous anal ocellus on the hind¬ 
wing. North-east Sumatra, certainly very rare, as only one specimen is known. 
Specific group Amaxidia Stgr. (= Moera Hbn. preoccupied). 
S with white accumulation of scales in the large speculum on the underside of the forewing. Hind¬ 
wing with broad framing of androconia, two hairtufts on each side of the submedian cell, but without scent 
apparatus. 
Z. aurelius is probably that species in which the tertiary characters have the most conspicuous develop¬ 
ment, and on the hindwings there is scarcely any large space unoccupied by them, and even on the upper 
surface of the forewings when normally extended in the dd, there is visible a white, obliquely placed 
androconial patch, which decorates the bare membrane of the wing like a jewel. Three local forms are to 
be noted; aureliana Hour. (103 b) first known from south-east Borneo. It is the smallest form, and already aureliana. 
in North Borneo we find a larger subspecies, euthycrite subsp. nov. with darker blue subapical bands on the euthycrite. 
forewings of and more richly white marked $$, with a considerable greater expanse. •—- aurelius Cr. aurelius. 
is among the giants of the asiatic tropical butterflies, having an expanse of sometimes 145 mm in the £ and 
110 in the <$. The $ is decorated with a brighter blue apical spot, approaching nearer to the base of the 
cell than in aureliana. The $ has an almost thumb-broad, white oblique bar on the forewings, in which 
also the submarginal spots are confluent. On the hindwings the white marking before the anal lobes is wanting. 
17 AS and 11 $$ in my collection from West Sumatra, near Padang Pandjang vary but little. One $ 
from the Malay Peninsula has a somewhat reduced white marking on the forewings Martin states, that aurelius 
goes up the hills to about 4000 feet, but in north-east Sumatra it is the rarest Zeuxidia. 
12. Genus: Tiiaiiiuaiitis Hbn. 
To this genus belong some of the most beautiful Indian butterflies, which are not far behind the 
south-american Morphidae in their splendour, but whereas Morpho, true children of the sun, fly only at the 
hottest time of the day, the Thaumantis never leave the twilight of the primeval forest ( odana ) or only fly 
at and after sunset, and rest with folded wings ( lucipor, noureddin). Like Melanitis and Mycalesis, they eagerly 
seek fallen, over-ripe fruits, e. g. rotten figs and the small green fruit of the sugar-palm (Arenga saccharifera 
Lab.) and in search of such tit-bits they enter the villages of the Natives, which are surrounded by the woods, 
and seek nourishment on their refuse heaps. The SS have on the underside of the forewings a large smooth 
