188 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. vol. xii, 



TROPAEA Hiibner. 

 [Tropaea Hubner, Verz. bek. Schmett. (1822?), p. 152.] 



[Tropaea] luna differs [from Actias] in the shorter, broader, wings; antennae pectinated to 

 tip; palpi shorter; front with large scales; fore wing with outer edge only slightly longer than 

 inner ; tails inclined to be longer than in Actias; lines faint. [From some notes which were never 



completed.] 



TROPAEA LUNA i Linne). 



Plate XV; XVI; XVII, fig. 1; L, figs, 3, 4; LXV, figs. 1 {luna), 2 (azteca), 3 (didynna); LXXIV, fig. 3. 

 [Bombyx luna Linne, Syst. Nat., Ed. X, I (1758), p. 496.] 



Imago. — Eight c? , eight ? . Head and body white or pale yellowish ; at the base of the 

 antenna and on the extreme side of the head pink-red-brown. A continuous costal deep reddish- 

 brown or lilac band on the fore wings passing across the front of the thorax, behind the white 

 collar. Fore wings somewhat falcate, varying a little in this respect; uniformly delicate pale 

 pea green, varying to pale yellowish or white. Very faint traces of an extradiscal line parallel 

 with the outer margin, which in most cases (in 7 out of 12) is wanting. This line is divided 

 into about seven long slight scallops, one in each cell. 



Ocellus connected by an oblique brown stalk with the reddish brown costal band; this stalk 

 follows the common stalk of veins II 3 and II 4 , arising from the main vein II, and is about as 

 long as the ocellus is wide. (In two ? it fails to reach the ocellus, ending at the origin of veins 

 II 3 and II 4 ; sometimes it grows slightly wider toward the ocellus, but more frequently narrows 

 toward the ocellus.) It is brown at base; the black extension of the black inner edge of the ocellus 

 extends forward to the base of vein II 4 ; the pink ring of the ocellus unites and sends a pink-red 

 dash into the middle of the stalk, while a shorter line arises from the yellow ring of the ocellus. 

 The ocellus itself is rounded oval, and, as in all others of the group (Actiasiae), it extends from 

 vein II to IV (cubitus); it is constant in size and coloration; the vitreous center is narrow oval, 

 varying in width, but at the most not more than three times as long as wide, and situated on the 

 distal side of the discal vein, which is not visible; it is edged externally with white. A narrow 

 pink-red ring, which is narrower externally than on the inside, which is situated next to the vit- 

 reous area. Beyond on the outer side is a broad yellow semicircle which extends forward along 

 the outside of the distal end of the stalk to the origin of vein II 3 , and this semicircle is edged 

 externally with either white or brown, the latter edging containing on the outside a few white 

 scales. The inside half of the ocellus is formed of four bands; next to the innermost red band is 

 a yellow one, then a very narrow steel blue curved line situated within the limits of the rather 

 wide black semicircle. (In all the group the discal vein is on the inside of the vitreous spot.) 

 T. luna has the most specialized ocellus in the group when we add also the stalk. 



Ocellus of the kind wing larger than that of the fore wings and nearly perfectly orbicular; 

 the vitreous area slightly larger than in the fore wings; the white and yellow semicircles much 

 wider than in the fore wings; the outer linear black line is more distinct, also edged externally 

 with whitish scales; the inner side as in the fore wings, but the black portion is wider. 



The hind wings are invariably scalloped (not so in Graellsia isabellse and Tropaea selene, 

 though in some examples they are). The tails are wide, of the same width throughout, not being 

 contracted in width in the middle, and the tip is well rounded. 



Fore and hind wings of exactly the same delicate pea green. The outer edge of the fore 

 wings is pink red (winter form), this hue extending from the II 2 cell to the second IV cell, the 

 red border being narrowly edged with yellow scales; apical region straw yellow. In some exam- 

 ples the yellow scales of the fringe are wanting. In others (summer form) the border and fringe 

 is yellow. Hind wings yellow at the apex, pink red from vein II 4 to base of the "tail." The 

 latter is concolorous with the wing, with no tendency to pink or brown (as is seen in Tropaea and 

 Argema). In both wings there is a faint delicate turquoise-green shade on the edge of the wings. 



Under side of the wings considerably paler than above; ocelli much less distinct, the stalk 

 obsolete; there is no yellow semicircle on the outside, the yellow being replaced by white scales. 

 The costal region of the fore wings is white, the extreme edge pink red or all pale pink. 



