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(ORDER—LBPIDOPTBRA.
PLATE XLII.
SECTION—DIURNA. FAMILY—HELIOONIID^.)
F I G U R E 1. ^^ ;
HESTIA lASONIA. WESTW.
Hestia alis sub-elongatis albis, nigro maculatis et venosis ; anticis tertia parte basali cost£e nigra, macula magna
obliqna nigra per aream discoidalem extensa, serieque macularum siibovalium pone medium alse cum raargine
apieali haud parallela (anticis propioribus ai-e£c discoidali); posticis macula ovali nigra in medio are® discoidalia ;
oninibusque ad apicem maculis ovalibus inter venas aliisque majoribus clavatis alternatis.
Hestia, with the wings rather elongate, white, spotted and veined with hlack ; the anterior with the costa for one
third of its extent from the base black, with a large black oblique spot extending across the discoidal cell, and a
row of somewhat oval spots, variable in size, beyond the middle of the wing, not parallel with the apical margin (the
spots towards the costa being nearer to the extremity of the discoidal cell); tlie hind wings with an oval black spot
in the middle of the discoidal cell; all the wings having a row of elongate oval spots along the apical margin
between the veins, which latter aj-e marked at the exti-emity with an alternating series of larger spots, which are
clavate next the middle of the wing.
Expansion of the fore wings, S-| inches.
Inhabits the Island of Ceylon. In the Collection of R. Templeton, Esq., R.A. (also in the British Musemn).
OBSERVATIONS.—The two species of this genus, figured in Plate 37, ^RILL be at once perceived to
differ from the one here represented in the position of the row of spots beyond the middle of the fore
wings; in the former species, these spots form a nearly straight row, but in the present species, as well
as in I-I. Lyncea, they form an angiilated line, those nearest the fore margin of the wing being nearer"
to the body of the insect. How far this may be a good specific character, must be left for time (or,
more properly speaking, the possession of an extensive series of specimens of these insects from different
localities) to determine. It is doubtless, in some degree, dependent on the form of the apical angle
of the w-ing, and this form of the wing, as a specific character, cannot at present, I believe, be fully
relied upon. That the form of the wing varies in some butterflies according to the localities of the
individuals, is unquestionable j and if this should be ascertained to be the case here, I think it may
possibly be followed by the discovery that all the supposed species of Hestia are only so many local or
geographical sub-species of one real species.
F I G U R E 2.
FAMILY—SPHINGIDÍB . )
(SECTION—ORBPUSCULAMA.
SPHINX (ACHERONTIA) LETHE, WESTW.
Sphinx alis anticisfuscis plumbeo irroratis, nigroque variegatis etundatis, basi apiceque luteoferrugmeoque magis
varus, stigmate parvo albo, undulis albis seu albidis pone medium ad costam magis conspicuis ; alis posticis fulvis.
^.^jiio giiocia, ure laLo imtiaiü lerrugmeo oarDaque mgi'icanti gríseo
parum irrorato ; abdomine supra fusco, segmentis in medio plúmbeo maculatis, lateribusque luteo maculatis •
pedibus latis, fulvo annulatis.
Sphinx with tlio fore wings brown, irrorated withleaden-colom-ed scales and variegated with hlack markino-s, and
undu atec streaks ; the base and especially the exti-enuty of the wmg>orevaried withluteous and ferruginous, stigma
small and wli.te, a double series of white or whitish undulations beyond the middle of the wing, more conspicuous