166 RHOPALOCERA. 
Subfam. NY MPHALINA *. 
METAMORPHA. 
Metamorpha, Hiibner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 43 (1816). 
Colenis, Section III., Doubleday, Gen. Diurn. Lep. p. 149. 
The butterfly usually known as Colenis dido presents so many differences from the 
species with which it is usually placed that we think it ought to be regarded as 
belonging to a distinct genus. To this Hiibner’s name Metamorpha may be applied, 
a title originally proposed for VM. dido and two other species having a slight colour- 
resemblance to it, viz. the species now known as Victorina steneles and V. sulpitia. 
These latter we now remove from this association, and reserve Metamorpha for M, dido 
alone. 
As already pointed out by Doubleday, the first subcostal nervure is thrown off before 
the end of the cell. The tarsi of the front legs of the male are very short, being not 
more than one third the length of the tibia ; and both femur and tibia are rather stout. 
Besides these characters, the secondary sexual organs of the male present peculiarities. 
The harpagones are bilobed, with a long recurved hook on the lower lobe on each side, 
the upper lobe being blunt. The tegumen is much as in Heliconius, with two points, 
an upper decurved and a lower recurved one. This latter portion of these organs is 
very similar in true Colenis as now restricted. 
At present, so far as we know, WM. dido is the sole representative of this form, a 
common tropical American insect having a wide range, as given below. 
1. Metamorpha dido. 
Papilio dido, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 782*; Cram. Pap. Exot. t. 196. f. E, F’. 
Metamorpha dido, Hibner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 43°. 
Colenis dido, Bates, Journ. Ent. ii. p. 186°. 
Alis nigris viridi maculatis ; subtus ut supra, sed colore nigro pagine superioris rubiginoso argenteo tincto. 
Hab. Nicaracva, Chontales ( Belt, Janson); Panama, Lion Hill (M/‘Leannan).—SovutTa 
America, from Colombia to Brazil. 
This is a very peculiar insect, both in its style of marking and coloration, differing 
widely in these respects from all other species of the genus with which it has hitherto 
been associated. It has an extensive range, being distributed generally throughout 
* As already stated (anted, p. 113), we omit the subfamily Morphine from Mr. Bates’s Nymphaline (Journ. 
Ent. ii. p. 177); but in other respects we treat this group of Butterflies as he has done, and we also follow him 
in the consecutive arrangement of the genera. As to the classification of the subfamily itself, we regret that we 
are obliged to relinquish any attempt to do more than follow in the old lines. As Mr. Bates well observes, any 
satisfactory subdivision of the Nymphaline must necessarily involve an examination of the representatives of 
these butterflies wherever they are found throughout the whole world; and as they are everywhere numerous 
both in genera and species, such a task is far beyond the scope of our present work. 
