456 
ERGOLIS. By H. Fruhstorfer. 
found exclusively in gardens, by the wayside and on the borders of plantations. Their flight is low, floating, 
and they are by no means shy, so that they are found near human dwellings, especially where the Ricinus 
plant is cultivated, or has run wild. — Uncus delicate, hook shaped, with sharp point. Valve short, narrow, 
basally straight, with fine apex and densely setose. 
a) Speculum on the upperside of the hindwing covered with reddish brown modified scales. The black 
brand on the underside of the forewing velvety, not entering the cell. 
E. ariadne is the commonest species, distributed from India northwards to Formosa and southwards 
over Macromalayana as far as the Islands of the Flores group and Celebes. The species is somewhat constant, 
only slightly inclining to the formation of local races, and even the seasonal forms are not greatly differentiated. 
A tenacious white subapical spot on the forewing in both sexes is characteristic for ariadne and the next species 
ariadne. ariadne L. the type of the name, comes from Java, where, up to about 600 m it is one of the commonest species 
met with on the borders of the coffee plantations. Specimens from East Java are rather smaller than those 
from the West, and the influence of the dry climate makes itself felt in the bleaching of the reddish colouring 
and the disappearance of the black longitudinal lines on the upper surface. Larva, according to Horsfield’s 
splendid figure, black with red spots and yellow lateral stripes. Head with two elongate, finely branched 
processes, dorsum with two rows of yellowish, also branched spines. Pupa reddish grey with angular wing- 
sheaths.—From Lombok come specimens with unusually sharply defined longitudinal bands and reddish brown 
rufotaeniaia. colour between them, this is rufotaeniata Fruhst. -— Further east, on the small Sunda Islands and in southern 
gedrosia Celebes the specimens are habitually smaller than the Java form, and darker coloured, gedrosia subsp. nov. 
(107 b). Piepers states, that gedrosia is very common at Jeneponto on the swampy plains near the sea, and 
pallidior. less common at higher elevations. Probably also on Kangean. -— pallidior Fruhst., originally based on the 
dry form with obliterated longitudinal black lines on all wings, and of which only the submarginal remain distinct 
for half their length; it is in general larger than the javan ariadne, and known on the underside by the fiery 
red-yellow median band on the hindwing. Type from Assam, but spread throughout the southern slopes of the 
Himalayas and east overthe indo-chinese Peninsula. Larva on the ground creepers Tragia cannabina and 
involucrata, chiefly black with whitish dorsal stripes, very restless, they move the head while crawling. Pupal 
rest 10 days. Imago common everywhere, especially in Tonkin, where they remain in the neighbourhood of 
minor ata. the village gardens. — minorata Moore (107 b) is a smaller race with more prominent and closer black bands 
on the upper surface, occurs in much the same form throughout South India, but the type from Ceylon. — 
indica. indica Moore from Calcutta, Madras and the Nilgiris, is a little larger than minorata. — alternus Moore refers 
alternus. £} ie p lsu } ar race f rom Hainan, near pallidior. It is considerably smaller than the specimens from Formosa, 
has the under surface uniform red-brown with very indistinct black wavy lines, and without the distal grey 
tint which is so characteristic of the indian and formosan specimens. 
b) Speculum on upper surface of hindwing as in a), the velvet patch on under surface of fore wing en¬ 
ters the cell. 
E. merione has the contours of the wings rounder than in the preceeding species, the white subapical 
spot on the forewing is not so obstinate as in ariadne, remaining constant in the only. The yellowish to¬ 
ned ground colour of ariadne gives place to a deeper red-brown, the longitudinal lines on the upper surface in- 
merione. crease and are more crowded, merione Cr., the name-type, comes from the coast of Coromandel, and is one 
of the commonest butterflies of the Canara district, and, unlike ariadne, takes to the woods. The larva lives 
iaprobana. on the same creepers as those of ariadne, but is always green, instead of black with dark brown stripes. -— ta- 
probana Westw. (107 c) can only be separated from the type with difficulty; but it appears, that the Ceylon 
specimens are constantly smaller than the south indian merione, and darker in colouring. Moore says there 
are two seasonal forms in Ceylon, that of the dry season being, as usual, paler than the of the wet season 
form figured by us. The imago goes from the plains up to 2000 m and is nowhere scarce, being found both in 
tapestrina. the open country and in the woods. — tapestrina Moore (107 a as merione) is the oldest name for the north in¬ 
dian local form, described from Dehra-Dun; it goes along the southern slopes of the Himalaya from Simla to 
Sikkim and Assam, tapestrina is founded on relatively small, pale yellow-brown specimens of the dry form, 
the $$ (107 a) of which are remarkable for the light grey longitudinal bands on the underside. In Sikkim 
pharis. tapestrina is more common than ariadne. According to Moore it ascends to a height of about 5000 m. -— pha- 
ris subsp. nov. is based on the dry season form of the Further India race, and can be at once distinguished from 
the indian tapestrina by the brighter colouring of the upper surface, on which light yellow zones alternate 
with almost black-brown, producing markings recalling the Melitaeae. The wet season form was noted by 
Bingham, who described Tenasserim specimens as darker, so that they 
