592 
CHERSONESIA. By H. Fruhstoreer. 
eastern Himalayas to Burmah, Tenasserim, the Malay Peninsula, Siam, Tonkin, the Great Sunda Islands as far 
as the Philippines and the Sula Archipelago. In Sumatra, where we find within a narrow space five distinct 
species, the genus is most richly developped. The larva which was described by B. Hagen has the same pale 
green colour as the leaf of the food-plant, which it resembles the more, as it is marked with a pale reddish 
median stripe mimicking the midrib; thus one must look sharply in order to find it although it sits entirely free 
in the middle of the leaf. It is provided with 4 long, moderately stiff spines of which two are at the head, one 
which is feebly curved, at the fifth and a larger one curved in the shape of the letter S at the last but one seg¬ 
ment. The spines are broadly black at the ends, reddish at the base, those at the head black down to the 
mandibles. On the sides the larva is marked with alternating pairs of lighter and darker stripes running 
obliquely in forward and downward direction. The slender and strikingly ornamented pupa is light green 
provided at the head with two long, antler-shaped, brown excrescences and a similar larger one at the back, 
all of which augmented by some further brown jags and lines gives it a most odd appearance. The food-plant 
is a low-growing shrub having large, thin, pale green leaves with reddish mid-rib, called by the Malays “Muda 
Selej” and frequently cultivated for the sake of its leaves, which when finely cut, are added to the opium used 
in smoking. Hagen supposes it to be some species of Uvaria, although he never saw it blossoming. The 
pupal state lasts only 6 days, this short duration being probably not rivalled by any other butterfly. Hagen 
found the larva once on a low ficus-shrub (whose rough leaves serve the Malays in the place of emery-paper), 
20 together, whereas generally they live by themselves. Of its manner of living we know very little. The 
chersonnesia are easy to capture, as they have a weak flight and are mostly found on the umbellate blossoms 
of a Sambucus- like shrub in company with Neptis hordonia Stoll and various Erycinidae, particularly Zemeros 
emesoides Fldr., for which they may often be mistaken. “The chersonesia are confined to the forest; being 
feeble they rest mostly with out-spread wings on the under surface of leaves, which habit may often pro¬ 
tect them from their enemies. They are never seen to fly high up in the air nor to frequent wet spots in the 
road as their nearest allies, the Cyrestis love to do. Still I have occasionally observed Chersonnesia-CC 
circling rapidly around some moist spot in the road; in the manner of their flight they strongly resembled 
dragon-flies hovering in the air without visibly moving their wide-spread wings, so that I thought of quite diffe¬ 
rent game, until I had them in the net“. This small genus had formerly been united with Cyrestis, but was 
justly separated by Distant. From Cyrestis it is distinguished by the shorter, less prominent palpi, whose last 
joint is at the most only one quarter as long as the middle joint; also the tuft of hair at the back is less pro¬ 
minent. But. the chief difference consists in that only one subcostal nervule branches off before the end 
of the cell, and that the fifth subcostal runs to the apex of the wing, whereas in Cyrestis it terminates below 
it. Both cells are open and the precostal of the h. w. branches off far beyond the subcostal vein. 
visa. C. risa Dbd. (121 e) found from the Kumaon Himalaya to Tonkin, shows a distinct seasonal Dimorphism, 
the light form corresponding to the dry winter-season and the dark one to the wet-season. Martin found 
during the months of January until April in Sikkim only the light form, upon which the original description was 
based, having the interspaces between the first pair of meridional stripes darker; the submarginal band which 
is marked with a very distinct blue-violet ornamental line is adorned on either side with a number of very 
distinct light yellow triangles, which are most conspicuous on the h. w. On the f. W. the submarginal band 
has, near the costal margin and between the second and third median nervule, a roundish pale yellow patch. 
Both wings have the anal area lilac-coloured, closely resembling ihyodamas which is found in the same regions. 
There is no trace of an ocellate chain but a distinctly double anal ocellus. The $ is hardly any larger, but 
much paler than the C, having the outer margin of the f. w., which in C is pretty straight, visibly convex. The 
dark summer-form displays but traces of the yellow triangles, the blue ornamental line has changed to black 
transiens. and the anal angle is less richly coloured; moreover it is as a rule larger in size: transiens Mart. 
(121 f, from a $ from Tonkin (June), also occurring in Annam, where I collected it in November). Specimens 
of the dry-season from Siam are somewhat inferior in size to risa ; the ground-colour is much lighter and more 
richly spotted with white than in the lightest Sikkim specimens of risa. On the h. w. the submarginal band 
is paler violet. On the under surface the whitish tracts are more heavily irrorated with violet than in Sikkim-J^. 
cyanee. Occurs in January at elevations of about 1000 ft. -—- cyanee Nicev. from Sumatra and Borneo (Kina-Balu). 
Much smaller than risa, having the ground-colour darker and the interspace between the inner pair of meridion¬ 
al stripes covered with black; the third meridional stripe is much broader, but shows a tendency to become 
indistinct and to shade into the ground-colour, whereas in transiens it appears quite sharp. All violet shades 
are lacking and the submarginal band on the h. w. has a broad black middle line; two distinct anal ocelli. 
On the f. w. the second meridional stripe is marked with two fine black lines which apparently close the cell, 
and between which the ground-colour is devoid of any black shading, a feature which is very characteristic 
