BY J. C. MOULTON. 
209 
70. M. zitenius Herbst. rufinus Fruhst. 
Borneo; India to Tonkin and south to the Greater 
Sunda Isles, Lombok, Sumbawa. 
Subfam. 8 . Elymniin®. 
71. Elymnias panthera Fab. labuana Staud. 35 
Borneo ; Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Nicobars 
to Engano, Bali. 
72. E. dara Dist. dara List. 
Borneo (Mt. Kinabalu, British North Borneo and 
Sarawak) ; Palawan, Java, Sumatra and Burma. 
78. E. nigrescens Butl. nigrescens Butl. 36 
Borneo; Formosa and Tonkin south to the Malay 
Peninsula, Sumatra, Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumba, 
Timor. 
85 The eight males in the Sarawak Museum come from North Borneo. 
From the colouring of the upper side they may be referred to five different 
forms:—(i) with pale marginal band entirely absent in fore wing, but well- 
developed in the hind wing; (ii) similar, but pale band twice as broad in 
hind wing; (iii) similar to (i), but faint trace of marginal band in fore 
wing culminating in noticeable pale streak below costa ; (iv) bands on both 
wings very indistinct; and (v) pale bands on both wings narrow but 
conspicuous. 
Even in this short series some suggest intermediate stages, and I do not 
doubt that a long series would provide small gradations between all the 
above forms. The band in (ii) is pale dull gold, in the others yellowish 
white lightly washed with brown. In such a variable species it seems 
unsafe to separate the Bornean form from typical pantherina, which is 
referred by Fruhstorfer to the Malay Peninsula. In any case Fruhstorfer’s 
alfredi as a geographical race from South-east Borneo must go, as it occurs 
on Kinabalu with labuana. He differentiates two forms of female: (i) 
“with dull, but extensive red gloss on the fore wings ” = pantherina, and 
(ii) “ with much narrower, darker yellow-brown submarginal region of the 
hind wings, which is also covered with brown scales ” = alfredi. 
86 Shelford regards hecate as a distinct species. Fruhstorfer suggests it 
is the hill form or dry-season form of nigrescens. Shelford has already 
pointed out that it occurs in low country with nigrescens , and the capture of 
specimens in November and February preclude the idea of a dry-season form. 
I regard it as an extreme form of nigrescens, but inseparable as such, since 
there are specimens before me giving a complete gradation from it to the 
typical form. 
Fruhstorfer distinguishes three female forms; pseudagrina with sub¬ 
marginal spots predominantly white, edela with submarginal spots blue, 
and virilis with red distal borders to both wings and without white spots. 
Sarawak specimens show intermediates, so I prefer not to burden our list 
with further names. The naming of distinct forms, which are never 
connected by intermediates, is useful; but where there is room for doubt as 
to which form an individual ought to be referred, it seems to me infinitely 
preferable to abstain from naming those forms altogether, however far 
apart the extremes of a gradation may be. Suffice it that they belong to 
one species ; and it is not always easy to make sure of that! 
