ASOTA. By Dr. A. Seitz. 
227 
N. marmorea Wkr. is very much like the dark forms of the preceding species, particularly jusci- marmorm. 
pennis, the body is orange, the wings above with a bright blue reflection. Typical marmorea originate from 
Northern India, Tenasserim and Malacca, and exhibit a brightly white basal part of the hindwing. — The 
form bhawana Moore (27 d) represents the species in the Sunda Islands, but it occurs also in the northern bhuauna. 
parts of Indo-China; here also the basal part of the hindwing is of a dark steel-grey colour with a blue 
reflection, 
7. Genus: Asola Hbn. (Hypsa Hbn.). 
This genus contains by far the greatest number of the Hypsinae. The head is very stout, the forehead 
is broad, posteriorly somewhat broader, rather flat; eyes very large, hemispherical, only towards the antenna 
the periphery is slightly flattened. $ antennae always very much combed, in the different species to a 
variable extent, the $ antennae mostly plain. The palpi with a thin 2nd joint haired like a brush, the 3rd very 
fine, towards the apex thickened. Thorax mostly with rather appressed hair, the shoulder-covers usually 
spotted; the abdomen cylindrical, very uniform, in the $ not very stout, the 7th joint in the $ conical, 
the dorsal plate longer than the ventral plate and covered with long, hair-shaped scales which seem to be pro¬ 
longed at the end of the joint (in caricae the $ has somewhat tuftily prolonged hair at the anal end). The 
forewing is almost invariably dust-grey with a light discal spot being often extended like a wedge towards 
the base; hinclwing orange or white with or without a marginal band; behind the costal an oblong scent- 
spot covered with a fur of thick scales. About 100 forms are known, all of which are confined to the In¬ 
dian region. 
A. caricae Bsd. ( = alciphron Hmps., alcifron Sivinh.) (27 d, e). Tins widely distributed animal occurs caricae. 
only in two forms hardly to be separated geographically, the typical, more northern form found in the col¬ 
lections chiefly from Ceylon and Darjeeling, but in fact distributed over the whole of India and a .great 
part of Indo-China, occurring also very frequently in the Andamans, Formosa, the Sunda Islands, and the 
Philippines. Forewing greyish-brown, at the base orange-yellow with black dots, at the cell-end a white 
spot. The hindwing is orange with a submarginal chain of black spots and similar ones in and behind the 
cell. —- The other form, euroa Rothsch. (= caricae Don. nec F., alciphron Btlr.), from the Papuan district euroa. 
and North Australia, the Moluccas and Celebes, has a somewhat lighter ground-colour, whereby the light 
lines on the veins are less prominent . — ab. purimargo ah. nov. (27 e) from Sumbawa (where also normal purimargo. 
euroa occur) is much lighter, so that the fore- and hindwing are more similarly coloured, the central dot 
of the forewing being scarcely prominent and the antemarginal chain of dots on the hindwing absent.' - 
Larva black, across the dorsum broadly bone-coloured or straw-coloured with a fine dark dorsal line ex¬ 
panded to a knob on the 3rd ring; head red-brown, under surface light brown; on the last ring a pyra¬ 
midal elevation. Pupa blackish-brown, of a very bright lustre. On various trees, mostly gregarious. The 
imago is extremely common and may be beaten out from the bushes, in which it rests on the underside 
of the leaves. 
The variation of tlie caricae is very extensive, ancl if we were to denominate all the aberrations as in Arctia caja 
in Europe, the 1 number of names would scarcely be inferior to that of the caja-t or ms. Two principal marks are conspicuous: 
the inconstancy of the base of the forewing and the spotting of the hinclwing. In specimens from Sikkim the orange 
colouring of the base of the forewing is mostly very scanty, in specimens from Hainan remarkably extensive, but there often 
occur exceptions to it. The spotting on the hindwing varies even in specimens I beat from a bush with one blow of my 
stick. It may be developed to an entirely closed chain of spots before the distal margin, but there may also be only the 
ends of this chain to be noticed, isolated or connected by small clots. A specimen I received from Semper in exchange, 
even has the whole apex of the hindwing darkened. We have denominated only the aberration exhibiting a very much altered 
exterior, owing to the entire absence of all the distal spots on the hinclwing. 
A. plaginota Btlr. (— caricae Wkr. nec F.) (27 e). Larger than the preceding, the forewings very plaginota. 
much more pointed, yellowish-grey, traversed by bright, white lines on the veins, the orange-yellow basal 
spot larger, as well as the discal spot of the forewing, which dies away towards the base, indistinctly de¬ 
fined. Hindwing spotted as in caricae , but the ground-colour lighter yolk-colourecL Assam, Sikkim, Bhutan 
and Tenasserim, to the north as far as South China. — kuluensis Rothsch. differs from typical plaginota by kuhicwsks. 
its light cream-coloured instead of yellow head and thorax; from Cashmir, touching the palearctic frontier, 
but probably not entering into the palearctic region. — strigosa Bsd. represents the species in Waigeu, Aru, xlriyom. 
and New Guinea. The forewings are more brick-coloured with a purple lustre, the veins brightly striped, 
the discal spot of the forewing towards the base prolonged. Hindwings almost or entirely unspotted. — pro- prod ado. 
ducta Btlr. (— strigivenata Sivinh., nec Btlr.) (27 e) has the forewings almost without the white veins except 
the median at most; the basal spot is very light, at the costa more extensive than in plaginota-, a small 
black spot is situate still further towards the margin at the costa than that on the median. The costa mostly 
shows a distinct, bone-white longitudinal stripe. Ceylon and Southern India as far as Hainan. — strigivenata strigicena- 
Btlr. nec Sivinh. (27 f, as strigivena) has a lighter yellow thorax and base of the forewing; from Sikkim 
to the Malayan islands. — stigmatica Rothsch. (27 f) differs from strigivenata by its still paler thorax and digmaUca, 
