ACTINOTE.—HELICONIUS. 143 
and San Gerénimo (F. D. G. & O. 8.), Polochic valley (Hague); Nicaragua, Chontales 
(Belt); Costa Rica (Van Patten); Volcan de Irazu and San Francisco (Rogers) ; PaNnaMa, 
Chiriqui, Veraguas (Arcé, Champion). 
This is a common widely-ranging species in Mexico and Central America, being 
found from the southern parts of the former country to the State of Panama. Females 
of it are subject to some variation in the extent of the yellow spots of the pri- 
maries; and one from Mexico, in which these marks were unusually developed, was 
described by Mr. Reakirt as A. orizava; but we do not see any grounds for considering 
the Mexican race distinct. Males are very uniform in their colour; but one specimen 
we have from Nicaragua has a few yellow scales in the middle of the primaries. 
Actinote nox frequents scrubby woods, of elevation varying from 3000 to 5000 feet ; 
and the two sexes, originally described by Mr. Bates as distinct species, may be seen 
flying together, often in considerable numbers. Its allies in South America are 
A. ozomene of Colombia, and an undescribed species from the State of Antioquia, 
which has the base of the primaries beneath rufous instead of pure yellow. 
‘Our figures are from typical specimens, the male from the Polochic valley, and the 
female from Dueiias. 
Subfam. HELICONINA. 
HELICONIUS. 
Heliconia, Latreille, Hist. Nat. Crust. Ins. xiv. p. 108 (1805). 
Heliconius, Felder, Wien. ent. Monatschr. vi. p. 79; Bates, Trans. Linn. Soc. xxiii. p. 553. 
This is one of the largest and most characteristic genera of the Butterfly-fauna of 
Tropical America, the number of described species it contains now exceeding 100. In 
structure the whole of these are exceedingly similar, both as to the neuration of the 
wings and also the form of the legs; but great diversity exists in the shape of the 
wings and in the pattern of their coloration. A satisfactory arrangement of the various 
species is hardly possible, as the groups into which the most marked forms may be 
separated are blended by intermediate species, so as to obscure the characters of demar- 
cation. We have nevertheless attempted to sort the species which we here treat of 
by the pattern of the wings; but this arrangement is only approximately a natural one. 
Twenty-seven species are here included as inhabitants of Central America and 
Mexico, the larger proportion of which are peculiar to the country. Eight species 
only are also found outside our limits; and of these seven belong to the northern parts 
of South America, and H. charithonia is also common in the West-Indian Islands. 
The secondary sexual male organs in Heliconius are of a complicated character, and 
not easily comprehended from specimens that have been once dried. So far as we can 
see from an examination of several species, there is great uniformity in the arrangement 
