Part 13

This insect affords an example of a pretty extensive and beautiful group which is strikingly characterised by the prevalence of a peculiar colour and uniformity of design in the markings. The ground colour is a rich chestnut-brown, varying considerably in the intensity of the shade, the wings widely margined on the outside with black, more or less interrupted with white spots; the black colour sometimes running along the nervures in a broad stripe. They are common both to the old and new world, and many of them are very abundant. E. Plexippe occurs in the East Indies and China, also in the islands of Java, Ceylon, &c. and often appears in great plenty The colour is light chestnut-brown, approaching to fulvous, the whole external border of the wings with a broad black band, dilated at the apex of the superior pair so as to occupy the whole angle; this band bears two rows of small unequal white spots, and the black space at the summit of the upper wings has a broad oblique band of pure white, angular on the edges, and formed by the confluence of five spots; between this and the middle of the costa is a small group of white spots: all the nervures black and dilated. The under side differs in having the space between the white patch at the apex of the upper wings and the external margin ashy-brown; in having the ground colour of the inferior-wings pale fulvous, and the nervures of the same wings narrowly edged with white. The abdomen is nearly of the same colour as the wings; the thorax, breast, and head black, punctured with white; antennæ black, the extremity of the club rust-red.

GENUS IDEA.

The above genus is of very limited extent, comprehending only four species. They are, however, somewhat remarkable insects, both on account of their size, and the manner in which their colours are distributed. The wings are slightly transparent and of a greyish white, with black stripes running along all the nervures, and occasionally forming blotches on the surface. The nearest approach to this mode of colouring among other tribes is presented by certain species of Euplœa, and particularly by Pap. dissimilis, which on this account, has been termed the Idea-likeness butterfly. The most conspicuous of its generic characters are the slenderness of the antennæ, which are so slightly thickened towards the apex as to appear nearly filiform, and the elongated oval form of the wings: in other respects Idea nearly conforms to the genera with which it is associated. The palpi have the terminal joint minute and conical, the second long and thickest in the middle, the radical one net half its length. The tarsal division of the anterior legs is dilated, and furnished with two or three unequal spines.

PLATE 10.

1. Idea Agelia. 2. Idea Daos. Java. Borneo

Lizars sc.]

IDEA AGELIA.

PLATE X. Fig. 1.

Pap. Idea, Linn. Fabr. Cramer, Pl. 193, fig. 1, A, B, and pl. 362, fig. D.--Donovan’s Insects of India.

Varying in size from upwards of six inches across the wings to nearly four and a half. The surface is of a greyish white, with the nervures and posterior border black; the latter sinuated internally, and divided by a series of large spots of a whitish colour, and generally an oval shape; between each of the nervures, and beyond the middle of the wing, is a longitudinal black stripe: the primary wings are moreover marked rather before the middle with four irregular black spots, the anterior one on the costa, the other three forming an abbreviated arched band. The under side does not differ materially from the upper, but the black stripes are rather broader, and there is a large irregular patch in the discoidal cell. The body is whitish with a black line along the back, the thorax having two black central lines and two short transverse ones at their extremity: the breast is marked with oblique black lines, and a row of dusky points runs along each side of the abdomen: antennæ black.

The insect is a native of Java, Amboina, and other Asiatic islands.

IDEA DAOS.

PLATE X. Fig. 2.

Boisd. Spec. gen. Pl. 24, fig. 3.

This delicate and handsome species is much the smallest, the expansion of the wings not being quite four inches. The ground colour is dusky white, with two remote rows of rounded spots, another at the extremity of the discoidal cell, and several smaller ones on the costa beyond the middle. The abdomen is entirely whitish, the thorax with two connivent black rays on the back and numerous black spots anteriorly: antennæ black.

It is said by Dr. Boisduval, to whose excellent work we are indebted for a knowledge of it, to be a native of Borneo.

GENUS HELICONIA.

This beautiful genus is easily recognized by its peculiar aspect, as well as by the more precise characters which it affords. The anterior wings are long, narrow, and entire, and the hinder pair often recede considerably from the abdomen, which is long and slender. The breadth of the insect, therefore, when flying, always greatly exceeds its length. No lepidopterous insect is ever entirely without scales, but in a section of this group, they are so few and minute as to leave the wings perfectly transparent. The palpi rise obviously above the head; the second joint is greatly longer than the first, and has a long tuft of hair near the apex, the terminal one is also a good deal produced. The antennæ are, at least, double the length of the head and thorax, and thicken gradually at the extremity. The anterior tarsus is considerably dilated and slightly dentated; claws simple. Such of the caterpillars as have been described, differ remarkably from each other, and some of them seem to have no analogy with those of the neighbouring groups. This discrepancy, in connexion with some others in the perfect insects, has already led to the separation of certain groups from Heliconia as it was formerly constituted. The larva of H. Euterpe is robust and depressed, with a series of long fleshy lobes on each side; that of H. Calliope short and cylindrical, clothed with slender spines and tufts of hair: these species form the genus Nerias, although they are too dissimilar to be associated with propriety. Others are smooth (H. Psidii), and some are covered with very long white hairs (H. Ricini). In these circumstances, it is not likely that a natural arrangement of this pretty group will be effected until we become better acquainted with the caterpillars, very few of which have hitherto been examined. Chrysalis invariably suspended by the tail only.

These insects, as has been already mentioned, are confined to America and the West India Islands, the larva subsisting on the different kinds of Passifloræ, a beautiful tribe of plants well known to be likewise peculiar to the new world. They seem to be represented in India, as Dr. Horsfield remarks, by the genera Euplœa and Idea.

PLATE 11.

1. Heliconia Erato. 2. H. Cynisca. 3. H. Sylvana.

1 Surinam. 2 Guiana. 3 Surinam.

Lizars sc.]

HELICONIA ERATO.

PLATE XI. Fig. 1.

Godart.--Pap. Erato, Linn.--Heb. Ricini (Mas.), Fabr.---Pap. Amathusia, Cramer, Pl. 177, fig. F.

Extent of the wings about three inches; the ground colour deep black. Upper wings with three diverging rays of deep red at the base, the inferior one longest and extending rather beyond the middle; not far from the extremity of these rays there is a large discoidal patch of sulphur-yellow, unequally divided into two parts by a black bifurcated nervure; beyond this, near the apex, is a series of contiguous spots of the same colour, varying from two to five. Under wings with six deep red rays extending from the base towards the hinder margin, and behind the place where these terminate, an arched row of small blue spots. The colour beneath is dark brown; the upper wings marked nearly as on the surface, except that the costa at the base is alone tinged with red; under wings with eight diverging pale-red lines, and a row of whitish marks parallel with the hinder margin. Body black; the sides of the thorax and abdomen marked with small yellow spots. In the beautiful variety figured, the red lines on the secondary wings, as well as the discoidal nervure, are bordered with a narrow stripe of shining blue.

This species is a native of Surinam, where it occurs not unfrequently.