490 



NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



west coast, where it flies lazily over the glades and forest-like swamps of that district. 

 This species is at present rare in collections. The Brazilian forms are mostly bright 

 metallic blue above, brown beneath, with the ocelli arranged around the margins of 

 the wings. They are, many of them, incomparably beautiful ; and in their flight through 

 the glorious tropical vegetation of the forests, they attract the eye of every traveller, 

 and become to him one of the chief charms of his wanderings. Mr. Bates says : " It is 

 a grand sight to see these colossal butterflies by twos and threes floating at a great 

 height in the still air of a tropical morning. They flap their wings only at long 

 intervals, for I have noticed them to sail a very considerable distance without a stroke. 

 . . . Morphos are amongst the most conspicuous of the insect denizens of tropical 

 American forests; and the broad glades of the Villa Nova roads seemed especially 

 suited to them, for I noticed here six species. The largest species of M. cisseis 



measured seven and a half inches 

 in expanse. Another smaller kind, 

 which I could not capture, was of 

 a pale silvery blue color, and 

 the polished surface of its wings 

 flashed like a silver speculum, as 

 the insect flapped its wings at a 

 great elevation in the sunlight." 



M. cipris, a prize long coveted 

 by entomologists, has of late years 

 been taken in considerable quan- 

 tities in Bogota and Venezuela. 

 The male of this fine species has 

 the wings of a dazzling brightness, 

 of a shade of blue to which no 

 other epithet than that of " celes- 

 tial" can be applied. The female, 

 however, is of a dull yellow color, 

 with markings of brown, and a 

 bluish sheen. This sex is still ex- 

 tremely rare, and good examples 

 are sold for enormous prices. M. 

 kertes, common around Rio Jan- 

 eiro, is of a very delicate shade of 

 bluish white, with black markings 

 on the costa. The most variable 

 species is M. achilles, which passes 

 into no less than sixteen forms, known by as many distinct names. Thirty-five species 

 of Morplio are known. 



The next sub-family, Elymniinse, contains but one genus and twenty-six species. 

 It is distinguished by having the wings very much produced at the apex, by the 

 absence of ocelli, and by the curiously marked under surface of most of the species. 

 They are inhabitants of the Old World, and many of them mimic the Danainas in 

 color and general facies. The transformations of the genus have not been observed. 



Placed next to the Danainas, by modern authors, is the extensive sub-family 

 SatyrinaB or " wood-nymphs," as they are familiarly called. They are for the most part 



FIG. 615. j\forpho neoptolemus. 



