OCR Text |
Show 1880.] MR. A. G. BUTLER ON INDIAN BUTTERFLIES. 149 Chundrabagha valley at 9000 feet elevation in wooded valleys; flying with a floating flight amongst trees near water. 9. MELITAA BALBITA. Melitcea balbita, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1874, p. 268, pl. 43. fig. 5. Northern slopes of N.W. Himalayas, Chundrabagha region. L.YCENID.E. Amongst the Lycaenidae Dr. Watt has obtained both sexes of Lyccena ariana, Lampides dipora, Thecla syla, T. icana, the female of T. birapa and T. odata ; also examples of Chrysophanus kasyapa, Deudorix selira, Ilerda androcles, I. tamu, and I. sena. Of these, the most interesting is the female of Thecla icana of Moore, which is of a dark smoky brown above, with two bright ochreous spots placed obliquely beyond the discoidal cell of the primaries ; it is rather larger than the male, measuring 1 inch 8 lines in expanse. PAPILIONID^E. PIERINAE, Bates. 10. T E R A C O L U S T R I P U N C T A T U S . (Plate X V . fig. 4.) 3 . ldmais tripuncta, Butler, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 221, pl. 17. fig. 9. 5 . Above very like the female oiT. fulvia, but only three cream-coloured spots on the apical area of primaries above, and the marginal spots of secondaries larger and confluent; one or two blackish dashes on the disk upon the subcostal and discoidal interspaces. Primaries below bright sulphur-yellow, washed with saffron upon the costa, apical area, and external border; the internal area white; discoidal stigma large and grey with black margin; seven spots across the disk, the first five ferruginous, the last two black, the third and fourth considerably more elongated than the others, the last placed further from the margin; seven marginal squamose blackish spots; fringe rose-red: secondaries bright saffron-yellow, washed upon outer border with rose-red; a small discoidal ocelloid spot and a discal series of seven spots in a subfalciform series, ferruginous: body below cream-coloured, sprinkled with saffron-yellow. Expanse of wings 2 inches. Nilgherries, above 6000 feet; flying on grassy slopes near streams. In the absence of specimens of this species in any available collection, it has been supposed to be no more than a slight variety of T. fulvia of Wallace; a comparison of the female above described with the type specimens of Wallace's species proves that I was fully justified in separating it as a perfectly distinct species, the coloration of the under surface in T. fulvia being creamy and consequently quite unlike T. tripunctatus. I have slightly altered the name so as to adopt the orthodox adjectival termination. |