HOBAGINM 
7 
Imago. —Male. Uppersicle cyaneous-blue. Forewing with a patch of white outside 
the end of the cell, divided into 4 by veins 2, 3 and 4, the upper piece the smallest, 
the spot below vein 4 small; the costa with a black band, narrow at the base, in¬ 
creasing in width outwards, occupying the whole apical space beyond the white patch, 
and broadly down the outer margin. Hindwing with the costal area broadly blackish, 
a narrow macular, outer marginal black band, terminal black line, anteciliary bluish- 
white thread ; tails black, tipped with white. Cilia of both wings black, tipped with 
white on the hindwing and at the hinder angle of the fore wing. Underside pale 
ferruginous-brown, with a pinkish-tint. Forewing with the hinder marginal space 
below r the sub-median vein white, a broad wdiite band with dark brown edges crossing 
the wing, from the white hinder space to near the costa, its inner edge passing just 
outside the end of the cell, fairly erect, somewhat sinuous, its outer margin inwardly 
oblique from vein 4, narrowing the upper end of the band to a point below the costa, 
terminal line dark brown. Hindwing with a narrower band in continuation, edged 
inwardly with dark brown, somewhat diffuse on its outer side, the band somewhat 
constricted in its middle, extending from the costa (where it is broadest) down to the 
first interspace, where it is angled and runs inwards in a straight black line, with some 
metallic blue-green spots on it ; two similar spots below the angle, and three or four on 
the abdominal margin above the anal angle, a black anal spot, a black spot in inter¬ 
spaces 1 and 2, each with a metallic blue-green spot attached to it; marginal line dark 
brown, a wdiite thread inside it. Cilia of both wings white, containing a medial brown 
line. Antennse black, ringed with white ; head and body above and below concolorous 
with the wings, abdomen whitish beneath and at the sides. 
Female. Upperside paler and duller blue, the discal white patch on the forewing 
larger, more complete and usually oval-shaped. Underside as in the male but paler, 
and the wdiite bands broader. 
Expanse of wings, $ $ 1 t 2 q- to 1 T ^ inches. 
Larva, feeds on the leaves of Coriaria nepalensis, is shaped exactly like that 
of viola , Moore, and is furnished wdth the same number of processes, but the colour is 
different, some parts being green, and others brown. 
Pupa, attached by the tail only, with no medial girth, is short and very thick 
for its length, anteriorly light green, the wdng cases dark brown, the abdominal 
segments also brown, on the back of the sides and the body green. (Mackinnon and 
de Niceville.) 
Habitat.— Northern India. 
Distribution. —The type is labelled “ Himalayas.” Elwes records it from the 
Karen Hills and Shan Hills ; Mackinnon and de Niceville from Mussuri; we have it 
from Sikkim and from the Khasia Hills; de Niceville records it from Kulu, Deyra Doom 
Kumaon, 3,200 feet elevation, the Pilebhit Terai, Jorehat Assam and Orissa. 
