OCR Text |
Show 1893.] MR. E. Y. WATSON ON THE HESPEEIIDJE. 125 1. Genus ISMENE. (Plates I. figs. 14, 15, 16; II. figs. 11, 1 2 ; III. fig. 18.) Ismene, Swainson, Zool. 111. vol. i. pi. 16 (1820-21). Type, cedipodea, Swainson. Antennae: club very robust, about twice as long as shaft, terminal portion tapering to a fine point and curved into a crescent, never bent into a hook. Palpi as already characterized. Fore wing: inner and outer margins subequal; cell slightly more than half the length of costa ; vein 12 reaching costa almost opposite end of cell; veiu 5 equidistant from 4 and 6 ; upper discocellular minute, middle and lower discocellulars subequal, almost erect; vein 3 three times as far from base of wing as from end of cell; vein 2 three times as far from end of cell as from base of wing. Hind wing : cell very short, only reaching about one-third across wing; vein 7 twice as far from 8 as from 6; discocellulars very faint, slightly outwardly oblique; vein 5 well developed; vein 3 just before end of cell; outer margin sinuate but not distinctly lobed. Hind tibiae slightly fringed, and with two pairs of spurs. The above diagnosis is from a Javan female of typical cedipodea, and applies to the females of all other species of the genus. In the males of all the species the hind tibiae are m u c h swollen, and have a long tuft of hairs affixed near the proximal end on the upperside, beneath which, along their outer edge, they are clothed with large rounded scales. This character is most fully developed in mahintha, and least of all in harisa, the other species showing a gradual transition between the two. In typical cedipodea the male has a very prominent rounded patch of appressed scales on the upperside of the fore wing, owing to which the lower margin of the cell is strongly curved upwards, and vein 3 arises near the base of the wing and very close to vein 2. O n the hind wing vein 8 is very short, and runs upwards to the costa at a short distance from the base, and, just beyond it, the costal margin is folded over on the upperside. Vein 7 is much as in the female, but vein 6 is strongly curved downwards. The folding over of the costal margin on the upperside gives the wing, as seen from beneath, the appearance of being strongly arched at base and then cut away obliquely to just beyond vein 7. The above characters occur only in males of typical cedipodea from Java and Borneo. In the Indian species, which has hitherto been considered to be identical with cedipodea and which I propose to rename ataphus, the veins of the fore wing are distorted as in cedipodea; but the costa of the hind wing is not folded over, and the neuration of that wing is much as in the female. The other species of the genus vary considerably in the male mark of the fore wing, which is sometimes very prominent and sometimes entirely absent, and there is also considerable variation in the distortion of the veins of the fore wing. However, the character of the swollen hind tibiae is invariably present and the females are inseparable, so I have considered it very unadvisable to form new |