Publ 15. IX. 1912. 
NEPTIS. By H. Frtjhstorfer. 
609 
f 
■» 
it resembles yerburyi, but with median band 
below altitudes of 3800 ft., and very scarce. 
strongly tapering behind. 
North-East and West Sumatra, not 
N. jutnbah. Great uncertainty prevailed until lately about the various forms of this interesting 
species, since all English authors considered specimens from Ceylon identical with those from the South of 
India and the Andamans. But a close study of the material contained in the British Museum and in my own 
collection lead me to the conviction that jumbah should be separated at least into 4 local forms. This view 
could indeed be no more strongly supported than by the figures Moore himself gave us of the larvae, of which tho¬ 
se bred at Kanara (Lep. Ind. PI. 272, fig. 1) greatly differ in colouring from those found in Ceylon (fig. la), 
the former having the head red and the dorsal stripes green upon a yellowish ground, whereas nalanda from Cey¬ 
lon has the head and the dorsal stripes unicolorous brown. I do therefore not hesitate in establishing the follow¬ 
ing subspecies: jumbah Moore, distinguished by the extensive white spotting on forewing and the broader jumbah. 
mesial bands on hindwing from the much darker Ceylon form nalanda, which has the bands not only greatly 
reduced in width but generally also dusted with fuscous. In all subspecies of jumbah we notice one common 
characteristic distinguishing them from all the other Neptis species, namely a brown subbasal dot on the under 
surface of the hindwing, which latter moreover is of a peculiar pale coffee-brown shade, while the forewing 
displays the same black streaks as we find in Phaedyma. jumbah is very common at Calcutta, whence it ranges 
over the whole of eastern and southern India, being found even near Cachar, Rangun, in Upper Tenasserim 
and even in the Mergui Archipelago. In the Nilgiris it ascends to an altitude of 5000 ft. Niceville reports 
its flight to be stronger and swifter than that of any other Neptis species found near Calcutta. The larva has been 
found upon 13 different plants belonging to the Malvaceae, Sterculiaceae, Tiliaceae, Rhamneae, Leguminosae 
and Urticaceae. — nalanda Fruhst. (125 e) differs from jumbah in having the white spots on forewing greatly nalanda. 
reduced in size, on hindwing the wliite subbasal band one third narrower and the under surface dark brown. 
Its flight is slow and it always alights with expanded wings. Like jumbah it is subject to seasonal Dimorphism, 
the dry-season form being recognized by the broader white bands and the paler colouring of the under surface. 
Found in the wooded districts of Ceylon, from the low-lands up to about 4000 ft., most abundant in February 
and March. — amorosca Fruhst. deviates from the other forms of jumbah in having all spots and bands, parti- amorosca. 
cularly the median band on hindwings, very much broader; the under surface is of a paler and more uniform 
colour than in jumbah, but darker than in nilgirica from the South of India. Hindwings have the postdiscal 
spots below the white median band dark red-brown instead of black; the white submarginal bands are narrower 
than in the other forms, the strigae beyond the cell of forewing red-brown and not black. Andaman Islands. -— 
binghami Fruhst. from the Nicobars where it is very scarce, is described by Bingham as follows: ‘Upper surface binghami. 
shows on forewing in the discal row only 5 spots instead of 6 as in ophiana Moore, the small dot in the inter¬ 
vening space being absent. Under surface dark chocolate-brown, the postdiscal markings on forewings very 
broad and diffuse, upon a ground of fuscous. Hinclwing: Terminal margin beyond the postdiscal row completely 
and heavily laved with bluish-white and traversed by an outer, postdiscal and a subanal series of black 
lunules’. binghami is the form of the rainy-season, approaching in its markings, in contradistinction to the 
other South Indian subspecies, the North Indian ophiana, but still maintaining its melanotic insular character 
in the chocolate-brown colouring of the under surface. Nicobars, only 1 $ known. Type in British Museum. 
N. pryeri (Vol. I, p. 175) is separated into 4 local forms: pryeri Btlr. (Voh I, pi. 53 b), type from pryeri. 
Shanghai, found throughout Japan, Korea and part of the Coast Provinces. -— andetria Fruhst. (126 c), occur- andetria. 
ring in a few places of the Amur-Region whence it was sent to me by Dr. Moltrecht of Wladiwostok, is of small¬ 
er size and characterized by the almost complete absence of the submarginal band on hindwing. — arbore- arboretorum. 
torum Oberth., from Szetchuan differs from the Japanese pryeri in the diminished white markings; on the other 
hand the under surface has the anteterminal region more richly dusted with white. Found between Ningpo 
and Mupin. -— jucundita Fruhst., discovered by H. Satjter, approaches in size andetria and is characterized by jucundita. 
the more delicate and roundish instead of oblong components of the white bands and macular rows. The 
under surface displays its melanotic character in the heavier subbasal spots of black and the deeper brown 
ground-colour. Found in Formosa at altitudes of 4000 ft., very rare, only 1 known. 
N. divisa Oberth., a delicate and interesting "species, resembling the European N. lucilla, but differing divisa. 
in having the entire cell filled with white, divided by four lines. Also underneath it is very much like 
lucilla, but without the short wliite subbasal stripe. From Tseku, at an altitude of about 6000 ft., Yunnan. 
N. zaida, an interesting species, has the forewings distinctly rounded, ground-colour black-brown 
with pale yellow or ochreous bands. Cellular streak not divided by an incision before the apex; subapical spot- 
large, outwardly convex, notched on inside; intramedian spot nearly circular. Hindwing with oblique subbasal, 
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