ERGOLIS. By H. Fruhstorfer. 
455 
logies in colour and markings, their mimicry of allied or distant species, the apparent absence of leading cha¬ 
racters and the presence of innumerable individual variations. Yet it appears, that, in contrast to the Danai- 
dae and Amathusiidae, there is a certain amount of divergence in the male clasping organs, which gives a key 
to the sifting of the material, towards which one has hitherto been so helpless. Albinism and melanism are 
frequent among the indo-australian Nymph alidae. In one genus ( Euripus ) both these anomalies are found 
running parallel to each other, and in both sexes. 
In the matter of male tertiary sexual organs on the wing membrane, the Nymphalidae are poorly equip¬ 
ped in comparison with the families hitherto mentioned. The anal pouches of the Papilionidae with their 
strongly scented down, the anal hairtufts of the Daliaidae and Pieridae, not to speak of the rich furniture 
of the Amathusiidae, all are wanting. Even the hair tufts on the liindwings, present in the neotropical Agrias 
and Prepona, have vanished, excepting in one genus Prothoe. The genus Terinos is still most noticeably equip¬ 
ped, and the scanty garniture of modified scales on the nervures of our european Argynnis is repeated in the 
indo-australian relatives of this group and in the peculiar Ergolis. It is known of the Eut.haliidae, especially 
the Adolias, that they emit a fragrance recalling orange blossom (Haase), and I have myself noted, that next 
to Discophora, the common Adolias dirtea of Java and A.aeetes from Celebes exhaled a strong scent of Viola 
odorata, and some Cethosia are perfumed. 
The difference in the neuration of the two sexes of the genera Terinos and Cethosia is remarkable, yet 
the divergence is inconsiderable in comparison to that in Hyantis and some Culapa *). 
A satisfactory systematic succession of the genera presents great difficulties, and becomes at once illu¬ 
sory if we rely exclusively upon one leading character only, even if elsewhere sufficient, as the shape of the 
larva, or the sexual organs; and all the more so, since neither the early stages nor the clasping organs are per¬ 
fectly known to us. Niceville attempted to utilize the blanching of the subcostal nervures as a fundimental 
character, yet this experiment was frustrated by the obstinate variation among four, otherwise closely allied 
genera. Yet the order followed in the Butterflies of India, Burmah and Ceylon Vol. II (1886) appears to be, 
at least in part, the most natural, and since it agrees in general with the simpler conditions of the aethiopic fauna, 
as Aurivillius has explained, it is used in the following work as a guiding line. A further fact of some weight 
is, that both authors place the apparently most primitive species at the bottom, and take the higher organi 
zed as the last of the series. Finally there is the relationship with the Satyromorphae, which has led to the 
separation of the Penthema group from the Limenitidi, and its inclusion among the lower satyroid genera. The 
investigators of the future have still a wide field for emendation, as well as for the exercise of their sagacity and 
logic. On the other hand, with the homologous and universal distribution of the Nymphalidae we appear 
to know already all the existing genera, and await only the discovery of the innumerable local forms from 
the island world of the Malay Archipelago, especially of the Philippines, and the trabantes of Sumatra, 
Celebes and New Guinea. 
The material for the illustrations was taken, with few exceptions, from the collection of H. Frtjh- 
storfer (Geneva) in which also the types of the newly described forms are preserved, excepting in so far as 
specimens required, for comparison are in the collections of the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt or in that 
on the Natural History Museum in Berlin. 
Tribe I; Biblinae Bsd.**). Costa vein basally swollen. Distribution in the aethiopic and neotropical 
regions. 
1. Genus: Ergolis Bsd. 
The indian representatives of the bicontinental genus differ only slightly fron their african relatives 
in the atrophied nervures closing the cell of the forewing, in the transverse vein of the cel! in the liindwings 
being absent in the and only rudimentary in the $$, and in the straighter, not downwardly curved subme¬ 
dian, at least in E. ariadne as compared with the aethiopic E. enotrea. Costal vein basally strongly inflated, 
anterior discocellular very short, almost atrophied, the middle vein strongly curved, and the very long lower 
discocellular only seen in the ^ as a very fine line, in the $ as a slight depression. Precostal of the hindwing 
bifid, with elongate distal apex. The larva, discovered by Horsfield in 1829, belongs to the Vanessa type 
and has two dorsal rows of sharp, finely branched spines. Pupa with two points on the head and dorsal excre¬ 
scences. Larva on Ricinus communis and on an evil smelling creeper of the genus Tragia. The tertiary sexual 
characters form an essential distinction of the genus; they differ in each species and thus offer good means for 
determination, The Ergolis inhabit the whole oriental region with offshoots to the Moluccas. The wealth of 
Celebes, with four species, is remarkable. -— The Ergolis are sun lovers, therefore they avoid the woods, and are 
*) Compare also the diagnosis of the genus Argynnis. 
**) In the neotropical region the Biblinae are represented by the genus Cystineura. 
