Part 18

The Marius butterfly is a native of Guiana and Brazil. The colour of the upper side is tawny, varying somewhat in the shade according to the sex, the surface traversed by three black narrow lines, running obliquely from the anterior to the abdominal margin: near the base, and between the second and third lines are the rudiments of two others, and the costa is likewise black, as well as the posterior margin behind the middle: the under wings are black along the hinder edge, and likewise the tails, and on the anal angle are a few whitish crescents placed over two black points surrounded by a white circle. The colour of the under side is rusty-brown, glossed with violet and pale green, and across the middle of both wings there is a dark oblique line, having a series of black ocellated spots behind it.

PLATE 19.

1. Marius Thetis. 2. Fabius Hippona. Guiana.

Lizars sc.]

The following description of the caterpillar and chrysalis is given by Stoll:--“The head of this beautifully coloured caterpillar is dull yellow, with two short rays and small spots of black. The head is furnished with two long black spines garnished with short stiff hairs. The first five segments of the body are reddish-brown, spotted with black. The belly is white, and the anterior legs black. The rest of the body is reddish-brown; but from the sixth to the eleventh segment, the back is of a beautiful yellow, and bordered on the sides with short black and white rays. The back is armed with four long spines, the last of which, placed on the eleventh segment, is curved backwards, and very similar to the horns with which most of the caterpillars of the Sphinges are provided. The intermediate and posterior legs are yellow. It feeds on the leaves of the Cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale), and transforms into a perpendicular chrysalis of a yellow colour, spotted with black, garnished with black spines on the head, thorax, and back. When the butterfly is about to appear, the yellow colour changes into white.”

FABIUS HIPPONA.

PLATE XIX. Fig. 2.

Pap. Hippona, Fabr., Donovan, Insects of India.--Pap. Fabius, Drury’s Ins. iii. Pl. 16, fig. 1, 2; Cramer, Pl. 90, fig. C, D; Stoll’s Supp. (caterpillar and chrysalis.)

This species presents another remarkable form, bearing some analogy to the preceding, but at once distinguished by having only one tail. The hinder margin of the superior wings is dilated, in the middle, into an acute angle; the same margin of the hinder pair is cut in a square form towards the anal angle, and is furnished with an oblique lengthened tail rounded at the extremity. The caterpillar tapers lightly towards the hinder extremity, and has two short obtuse horns on the hinder part of the head. The chrysalis is very short and thick, and without any angular projections.

The butterfly expands from three to three and a half inches, and is coloured somewhat in the manner of certain kinds of Heliconia. The upper wings are black above with two broad bands, that next the base tawny-red, the exterior one yellow, sinuated and oblique, extending from the costa to the projecting angle on the hinder margin of the wing; near the apex are likewise two or three yellow spots. Posterior wings black, with a tawny-red stripe along the anterior border, and a few white linear marks running transversely along the hinder margin between the tail and anal angle. Beneath, the surface is rust-brown, with pale clouds and transverse bands on the upper wings, and violet reflections on the under pair. Body ferruginous above and brown beneath.

The caterpillar is accurately figured by Stoll, in his valuable Supplement to Cramer’s work. It is of a dull green, with a brown or nearly black ray on the back, and spots and short stripes of the same colour on the sides. The head is black, with green rays; on the upper part are two, and on each side of the anterior part of the first segment, three small rounded yellow spots. It feeds on the leaves of a species of Piperis, but only during the night, concealing itself in the day by rolling a portion of the leaf round its body, in order to protect it from the sun. The chrysalis is greyish, tinged with flesh-colour, and marked with small brown spots.

The insect occurs in Guiana, Brazil, &c.

PLATE 20.

1. 2. Catagramma Condomanus. } } Brazil. 3. 4. ---- Pyramus. }

Lizars sc.]

CATAGRAMMA CONDOMANUS.

PLATE XX. Figs. 1 and 2.

Pap. Astarte, Cramer, Pl. 256, fig. C, D--Nymph. Condomanus, Godart.--Catagramma Condomanus, Boisd.

This genus includes a pretty group of Nymphalidæ, which are mostly of small size, and marked with annular lines of bright colours on the under side of the inferior wings. They are pretty closely allied to Hipparchia, but are natives of the new world. The wings are ample, and all of them rounded on the posterior edges. In the species referred to, the colour of the surface is black, glossed with violet, the upper wings with two wide transverse red bands, one near the base, the other beyond the middle; on the under wings the interior band is continued nearly to the hinder margin. The under side of the superior wings resembles the surface, but the costa is yellow at the base, and a narrow blue line runs along the outer margin. The under wings are black beneath, having a large oval yellow ring on the disk, enclosing three pale blue points and a short yellow streak: behind this ring there is a curved row of blue dots, succeeded by a yellow line running parallel with the hinder border, and not far from it: at the base of the wing there is likewise a yellow streak, and the sinuosities on the hinder edge are white.

The individual figured differs slightly from most other examples, in as much as it has two small white spots on the surface of the hinder wings near the anal angle.

This species inhabits Brazil and Surinam.

CATAGRAMMA PYRAMUS.

PLATE XX. Figs. 3 and 4.

Pap. Pyramus, Drury’s Insects, iii. Pl. 23, fig. 3, 4, (Male); Stoll’s Supp. Pl. 32, fig. 3, and 3 C.

This prettily coloured butterfly measures about an inch and three-quarters between the tips of the wings. The surface is black, finely tinged with violet, with a broad central common band of bright red, not extending either to the costa or hinder extremity. The under side of the upper wings nearly corresponds to the surface, but they are grey at the base and tip, and near the latter there is an undulating blue line: the under wings dark brown sprinkled with grey, with two whitish spots towards the base, without any vestige of a red band, a curved row of ocellated spots behind the middle, and a waved blue line near the extremity.

The female is black on the surface without any violet reflection, and the red band, which is narrower than in the male, does not extend to the secondary wings. This insect is a native of Brazil. We have placed it in the genus Catagramma, without knowing what limits are assigned to the group so called by the continental entomologists, as the name only has yet been published. Perhaps it rather belongs to the division named Hipparchia.

GENUS MORPHO.

The butterflies arranged together under the above name are, in many respects, the most remarkable of any to which our attention has yet been directed. In size they are superior to all the other diurnal lepidopterous tribes, except the Ornithoptera, and many of them rival even that conspicuous group in their dimensions. Although surpassed by many others of their tribe in elegance of form and harmonious blending of colours, they afford examples of as rich tints as are to be found in any other natural objects. The blue which adorns the whole surface of M. Menelaus and Adonis, has a beauty and lustre which it is impossible to witness without admiration. When flying under the blaze of a tropical sun, the brilliancy of the surface, as contrasted with the dark hue of the under side, as they are alternately displayed, must render them very striking objects. Most of them are from South America, but a few occur in the eastern parts of India and the great islands of the adjacent Archipelago.