Part 15

Nymphalis Semire, Latr. & God. Enc. Méth. ix. p. 392.

HABITAT: Sierra Leone.

Upper Side. Antennæ black. Thorax and abdomen yellowish brown. Wings dusky greenish brown, and spotted with round black spots at the base. Anterior having ten distinct spots of a pea-green, of different sizes and forms. Posterior wings with a large central patch of pea-green, which being divided by the tendons appear like six distinct long spots; below this patch is a row of faint reddish triangular spots.

Under Side. Palpi and legs pale yellow. Breast grey. Abdomen yellowish. Wings with the {19}black spots much stronger, and the green spots more distinct than on the upper side. The general colour of the wings is much lighter, with a broadish cream-coloured bar running along the external edges, which, being separated by the tendons of the wings, appear like distinct streaks. Wings dentated.

VANESSA DELIUS.

Plate XIV. fig. 5, 6.

ORDER: Lepidoptera. SECTION: Diurna. FAMILY: Nymphalidæ, Swains.

GENUS. VANESSA, Fabr. Latr. God. Hamadryades, Hübn. Papilio (Nymph. Phal.) Drury.

VANESSA DELIUS. Alis dentatis suprà fulvis basi extimoque fuscis, anticis apice strigâ punctorum alborum; posticis maculâ discoidali oblongâ ocellisque duobus analibus nigris, his extus caudatis, illis falcatis. (Expans. Alar. 2 unc. 5 lin.)

SYN. Papilio (Nymph. Phal.) Delius, App. vol. 3. (1783.)

Papilio N. Eurocilia, Fabr. Ent. Syst. III. 1. p. 79. No. 247. (1793.)

Vanessa Demonica, Latr. & God. Enc. Méth. ix. p. 301. No. 14. (1819.)

HABITAT: Sierra Leone, with the two preceding (Drury). "In Indiis" (Fabr.). America? (Enc. Méth.).

Upper Side. Antennæ black. Thorax and abdomen red-brown. Anterior wings nearly black at the base, and also half of them next the tips, whereon are five small white spots, the middle of them being of a dark orange. Posterior wings also black at the base; each of them is furnished with two tails, the outward ones the longest; the external edges being bordered with dark brown, almost black, and all the middle part of the wing is dark orange.

Under Side. Palpi and legs yellowish. Breast dark brown. Abdomen yellowish. Wings with blackish and dark brown spots and marks, not to be distinctly described. Anterior wings with a broad yellowish bar crossing them from the anterior edges to the lower corners; while the posterior are also remarkable for a blueish patch placed between the outer tails and the abdominal corners.

The locality given by our author is evidently correct, because he was furnished with information respecting its habits by Mr. Smeathman, who stated that it breeds chiefly near open and cultivated spots, or in recent plantations, and sports in the sun like the Acrææ.

PLATE XV.

MORPHO LAERTES.

Plate XV. fig. 1.

ORDER: Lepidoptera. SECTION: Diurna. FAMILY: Nymphalidæ, Swains.

GENUS. MORPHO, Fabr. Latr. God. Papilio (Equit. Achiv.), Drury.

MORPHO LAERTES. Alis subdentatis, utrinque margaritaceo-albis, anticarum fasciâ costali nigrâ, posticis subtus strigâ ocellorum lunulisque marginalibus. (Expans. Alar. 6 unc. 3 lin.)

SYN. Papilio (Eq. Achiv.) Laertes, Drury, App. vol. 3. Esper Pap. Exot. tab. 43. f. 2. Fabr. Ent. Syst. III. 1. p. 84. No. 262. Enc. Méth. ix. p. 444. (Morpho L.)

Papilio Epistrophus, Fabr. Ind. Alphab. to Ent. Syst. p. 124. Donovan Nat. Repos. 4. 143.

HABITAT: Brazil.

Upper Side. Antennæ white. Thorax and abdomen whiteish. Wings blueish white; anterior tipped with dark brown, with half the front edges next the body verged with dark brown, which, at the extremity, {20}joins to a streak about three-fourths of an inch long, running from these edges towards the centre of the wing, near to which is placed two darkish round spots. Posterior wings having a row of dark crescents placed along the external edges, which becomes double near the abdominal corners; and a row of faint whiteish streaks crossing them from the anterior to the abdominal edges, meeting about an inch below the body.

Under Side. Palpi, legs, breast, and abdomen white. Wings coloured as on the upper side. The two round spots on the anterior ones are black; and the row of faint-coloured streaks crossing the posterior ones are here very strong; each streak being white, and placed on a brown ground, edged with yellow. Margins of the wings slightly dentated.

Fabricius, in the Entomologia Systematica, described two butterflies under the name of Papilio (N.) Laertes, No. 226. from Surinam figured by Cramer, and No. 262, from South America, figured by Drury. As the former species had the priority in point of date, Fabricius, in the alphabetical index to that work, altered the name of Drury's insect to Epistrophus. By the establishment, however, of the genus Morpho, comprising the insect figured by Drury, the difficulty is obviated, and as the species is universally known under the name of Laertes, it does not appear requisite to adopt the name of Epistrophus.