Faunal Regions 
of the most gorgeous of the papilionine genera is known as Orni - 
thoptera. These great “bird-wing” butterflies are most brilliant 
in color in the male, and in the female attain an expanse of wing 
reaching in some species eight and even nine inches, so that it 
would be impossible to represent them in their natural dimen¬ 
sions upon a page such as that which is before the reader. One 
of these giants of the butterfly family, named Victoria after her 
Majesty the Queen of England, is found in the Solomon Islands, 
and is probably the largest of all known butterflies. One speci¬ 
men, belonging to the author, has an expanse of wing exceeding 
nine inches. Among the strangest of recent discoveries is Orni- 
thoptera paradisea, which is found in New Guinea. The male has 
the hind wings produced in the form of a very delicate and slender 
tail; the upper surfaces of the wing are broadly marked with 
shining green and lustrous orange upon a velvety-black ground. 
The female is black with white spots, slightly marked with yel¬ 
low, being obscure in color, as is for the most part characteristic 
of this sex among butterflies, as well as other animals. 
The Ethiopian Region is rich in beautiful butterflies of the genus 
Callosune, which are white or yellow, having the tips of the an¬ 
terior wings marked with crimson or purple. There are many 
scores of species of these which are found on the grassy park-like 
lands of southeastern Africa, and they range northward through 
Abyssinia into Arabia, and a few species even invade the hot 
lands of the Indian peninsula. In the great forests of the Congo, 
and in fact throughout tropical Africa, the genus Acrcea , com¬ 
posed of beautiful insects with long, narrow wings like the genus 
Heliconius , but for the most part yellow, rich brown, and red, 
spotted with black, abound. And here, too, are found some of 
the noblest species belonging to the great genus Papilio , among 
them that most singular and, until recently, rarest of the genus, 
Papilio antimachus of D.rury, one specimen of which, among a 
dozen or more in the author’s possession, has wings which exceed 
in expanse even those of Ornithoptera victoria , though this but¬ 
terfly, which seems to mimic the genus Acraea , has compara¬ 
tively narrow wings, and they, therefore, do not cover so large an 
area as is covered in the case of the genus Ornithoptera. 
In the Neotropical Region we are confronted by swarms of 
butterflies belonging to the Ithomiince , the Heliconiince, and the 
Acrceince, all of which are known to be protected species, and 
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