Genus Mechanitis 
The caterpillars are smooth, cylindrical, ornamented with rows 
of short fleshy projections. 
The chrysalids are short and stout, suspended, and marked with 
golden spots. 
There are numerous species belonging to this genus, all natives 
of tropical America. The only species said to be found within 
the limits of the United States occurs, if at all, in southern Cali¬ 
fornia. It is, however, probably only found in the lower penin¬ 
sula of California, which is Mexican territory. No examples from 
Upper California are known to the writer. 
(i) Mechanitis californica, Reakirt, Plate VIII, Fig. 2, $ 
(The Californian Long-wing). 
The original description given by Reakirt in the “ Proceedings 
of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia,” vol. v, p. 223, is as 
follows: 
“ Expanse, 2.45-2.56 inches. Fore wing above, brownish-black; 
a basal streak over the median nervure, and two rounded spots 
near the inner angle, orange-tawny; of these the outer is the 
largest, sometimes the inner is yellow, and sometimes both are 
nearly obsolete; a spot across the cell near its termination, much 
narrower than in M. isthmia, and in one example reduced to a 
mere dot on the median nervure; a more or less interrupted belt 
across the wing from the costa to near the middle of the outer 
margin, and an oblong subapical spot, yellow; in the specimen 
just mentioned there is an additional yellow spot below the 
medio-central veinlet. 
“ Beneath the same, suffused with orange-tawny at the base 
and the inner angle, with a row of eight or nine submarginal 
white spots along the outer margin. 
“ blind wing above, orange-tawny, with a broad mesial band, 
entire, and a narrow outer border, from the middle of the costa to 
the anal angle, brownish-black. 
“ Beneath the same, a yello\y spot on the root of the wing; a 
band runs along the subcostal nervure from the base to the mar¬ 
gin, where it is somewhat dilated; immediately below its termina¬ 
tion, a mark in the form of an irregular figure 2, usually with the 
upper part inordinately enlarged ; between this and the base, on 
the central line of the band above, three small subtriangular spots; 
all these markings blackish-brown; a submarginal row of seven 
white spots on the outer margin. 
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