Heliconiinae (the Heliconians) 
us that birds and other animals observeu by him invariably re¬ 
fused to eat these butterflies, although they swarm in the forests; 
and he vainly endeavored to induce a monkey which was very 
fond of insects to eat them, the creature revealing by his grimaces 
that they were extremely distasteful to him. Mr. Wallace believes 
their immunity from attack is owing to a “ strong, pungent, semi¬ 
aromatic, or medicinal odor, which seems to pervade all the juices 
of their system.” 
Genus HELICONIUS, Latreille 
The description of the subfamily applies to the genus sufficiently 
well to obviate the necessity of a more particular description, as 
there is but a single species in our fauna. 
(i) Heliconius charitonius, Linnaeus, Plate VIII, Fig. 5, $ 
(The Yellow-barred Heliconian; The Zebra). 
This insect is a deep black, the fore wings crossed by three 
bands of yellow: one near the apex; another running from the 
middle of the costa to the middle of the outer margin; a third 
running along the lower edge of the cell, and bending at an 
obtuse angle from the point where the first median nervule 
branches toward the outer angle, at its outer extremity followed 
by a small yellow dot. The hind wings are crossed by a some¬ 
what broad band of yellow running from the inner margin near 
the base toward the outer angle, which it does not reach, and by 
a submarginal curved band of paler yellow spots, gradually 
diminishing in size from the inner margin toward the outer angle. 
There are also a number of small twinned whitish spots on the 
margin of the hind wing near the anal angle. The body is black, 
marked with yellow spots and lines; on the under side both 
wings are touched with crimson at their base, and the hind wings 
have some pale pinkish markings near the outer angle. 
The caterpillar feeds upon the passion-flower. The chrysalis, 
which is dark brown, has the power when disturbed of emitting 
a creaking sound as it wriggles about, a property which is re¬ 
ported to be characteristic of all the insects in the genus. This 
butterfly is found in the hotter portions of the Gulf States, and is 
rather abundant in Florida, in the region of the Indian River and 
on the head waters of the St. Johns. It ranges southward all 
over the lowlands of Mexico, Central America, and the Antilles. 
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