5 1 6 Notes on Brazilian Entomology. 



be agreeable to the attracted or allured sex: but in the first class the odour of 

 the female is agreable to the male, because it is the odour of his female; while in 

 the second class the odour emitted by the male is agreeable to the female, males 

 with that peculiar odour having been preferred. The two classes may, of course, 

 graduate into each other. 



Colours, whether acquired as an attraction by the males or for the sake of 

 protection by the females, are often transmitted to the opposite sex ; with sexual 

 odours of butterflies this seems but very seldom to be the case. 



I shall not enter into minute descriptions of the odoriferous organs l ), nor 

 mention those very numerous species, which, though evidently possessing such 

 organs, emit odours too faint for human noses ; the only object of this paper being 

 to state that there are a large number of male butterflies provided with special 

 organs for the production and emission of peculiar odours. 



Butterflies. 



Family i . Nymphalidae. 



Subfamily i. Danamae. 



A. Danais group. 



Danais Erippus, Danais Gilippus*), Lycorea [sp. ?] and Ituna Ilione have 

 a pair of finger-like hollow processes at the end of the abdomen, into which they 

 can be retracted, they bear a tuft of black hairs, radiating in every direction and 

 emitting a rather disagreeable odour, when the processes are fully protruded. 

 This odour is extremely strong in Lycorea and Ituna, less so in D. Gilippus, 

 and rather faint in D. Erippus, differences exactly corresponding to the different 

 sizes of the tufts in the several species. The male of Ituna sometimes protrudes 

 his tufts, when he is seized, so that in this butterfly the odour may serve both 

 to repel enemies and to allure females. The well-known "sexual spots", or rather 

 pouches, on the first median nervure of the hind wings of D. Erippus and 

 Gilippus, which are much larger in this latter species, appear to be, by their 

 microscopical structure, scent-producing organs; but as they open only by a nar- 

 row slit, odours could hardly be freely emitted. There is one curious circum- 

 stance, which may perhaps throw some light on their as yet very doubtful func- 

 tion; the scales, though perfectly preserved everywhere else, are often wanting 

 at the entrance of the pouch, as if they had been scoured away by something 

 introduced into the slit. It would be worth while to see whether this be the case 

 with other species of Danais also. Might not the tufts be introduced into the 

 pouches to be impregnated there with odoriferous matter? 



1) A series of papers describing odoriferous organs of various butterflies and moths have been sent 

 for publication to the "Archives do Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro". - = Ges. Schriften S. 555, 559, 

 564, 625, 631. 



2) Kirby (Synon. Catal. of Diurn. Lepid. 1871, p. 7) doubts whether D. Gilippus may not be a 

 variety of D. Erippus. But the caterpillars are quite different; those of Erippus have two, those of 

 Gilippus three, pairs of "tentacles". The microscopical structure of the "sexual spot" of the male also 

 shows considerable differences. 



