MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 



489 



FIG. 614. Acrcea antiitn. 



genera, Helicowius and Eueides. They are nil peculiar to the American continent. 

 "The prevailing ground-color of the wings of these insects is deep black, and on this 

 are depicted spots of crimson, white, and bright green, in different patterns according 

 to the species. Their elegant shape, showy colors, and slow, sailing mode of flight, 

 make them very attractive objects, and their numbers are so great that they form 

 quite a feature in the physiognomy of the forest, compensating for the scarcity of 

 flowers." One species, II. ckarithonia, in which the wings are black with greenish yel- 

 low markings, is very abundant in Florida. 

 This genus is shown in the plate opposite 

 p. 120 of this volume. 



The Acraeinae has but two genera witli 



~ 



about eighty-five species,, the^ typical genus 

 Acrcea being for the most part composed 

 of African insects with semi-transparent 

 wings, of reddish brown colors, marked 

 with black spots, of an endless variety of 

 pattern. They are nearly all rather small 

 insects, few being above three inches in width. The caterpillars are spinose and the 

 chrysalides also are furnished with short spiny processes, many of them being marked 

 with golden spots. Some of the species from the west coast of Africa are very beau- 

 tiful, shades of red of various degrees of intensity prevailing amongst them. 



The Brassolinre are like Morpho, but with brown wings, Brassolis and Opsi- 

 phanes having very short bodies, with the antennae thickened at the tips, especially in 

 the females. Caligo contains some very large insects, C. eurylochus or the "owl- 

 butterfly," as it is sometimes called, being common throughout South America, Its 

 expanse of wings is sometimes nine inches, and when they are folded by the insect in 

 a state of rest, the large ocelli at base of secondaries look like a pair of eyes of some 

 small species of owl, thus, no doubt, protecting the insect from the attacks of. birds and 

 other enemies. C. uranus has a brilliant bar of orange transversely across the wings. 

 The Brassolinae are all natives of America and the West India Islands. 



We now approach a group of Nymphalidse, which contains some of the largest and 

 at the same time the most beautiful of Lepidopterous forms, and which, though not 

 numerous, either in genera or species, is full of interest to the student of nature. The 

 MorphinaB have the wings large, with a groove in the secondaries for the reception of 

 the abdomen, which is short, and, considering the size of the wings, remarkably small. 

 The nerves at the base of the primaries are greatly developed, the wings are rounded 

 in the outline, the discoidal cell of secondaries always open, and the antennas almost 

 hair-like, or, at least, very slightly thickened at this extremity. The wings beneath 

 are adorned with ocelli, generally of large size. 



It is somewhat singular that the Morphinae should be found only in the East 

 Indian Islands and the warmer portions of the American continent, the whole of 

 Europe, Africa, and the most of the main land of Asia possessing no representative of 

 the tribe. They thus naturally divide themselves into two sections, that of the East 

 Indian Archipelago, for the most part, containing smaller and duller-colored insects 

 than the group inhabiting Brazil and Central America. 



The true Morplios are, as has been said, found mainly in Brazil, only two or three 

 species reaching as far north as Mexico. Notable among these is a large white one, 

 with rather small brown ocelli, viz., M. polyphemus, which is a native chiefly of the 



