The Life of Animals | Polyura Athamas | Upperside black. Fore and hind wings with a discal broad transverse area from below vein 4 in fore wing to vein 2 on hind wing, a moderately large spot in interspace 5, a minute preapical dot beyond in interspace 6 on fore wing, and a subterrninal row of spots with two or three spots beyond them on the tornal angle of the hind wing, pale yellow, sometimes with an ochraceous, sometimes with a greenish tinge.
Underside with the discal transverse area and spot in interspace 5 as on the upperside; base and costal margin of the fore wing to apex, and base and dorsal margin of the hind wing broadly lilacine brown, on fore wing with two small black spots near base. Bordering the transverse discal area on the inner side, where it is margined with black lines, and above, is a broad chocolate carved band, continued more narrowly along the outer side of the discal area; beyond this on the fore wing is a concave series of dusky black lunules, on the hind wing the band itself is traversed by a line of obscure pale lunules ; finally on the hind wing there is a subterminal series of internally white-bordered black spots followed by an obscure ochraceous terminal line, and above the tornal angle a slender transverse black line from vein 1 to dorsal margin
In South India there are two well distinguished forms, the one corresponding to the spring form of North India, but with the band less broad and representing most likely the dry-season brood, respectively a form that inhabits dry districts, and the second having the band narrower and the underside brighter in tint. In Burma broad-banded, pale specimens occur also, besides narrow-banded ones
"Messrs. Rothschild and Jordan in their monograph of Charaxes and allied Prionopterous genera divide the forms of athamas occurring within our limits into two subspecies (1) E. athamas athamas, the Northern and Eastern race, with three seasonal forms; and (2) E. athamas agrarius, the Southern Indian and Ceylon race, with two seasonal forms.
