Zoology.-^ NATUllAI. HISTORY OF VICTORIA. {_Imects. 



Plate 198, Figs. 1-4. 



PYRAMEIS ITEA (Fabr.). 



Australian Admiral Butterfly. 



[Genus PYRAMEIS (IIubn.) :<CYNTHIA (Fabr.). (Sub-kingdom Articulata. Class 

 Insecta. Order Lepidopteia. Section Rhopalocera. Family Nyinphaliiia;. Sub-family 

 Nymphaliua;.) 



Gen. C/iar. — Head raodcratclj' broad, densely hairy; eyes olosely covered with fine short 

 hairs; palpi long, converging at tips; second joint elongate, thickened beyond middle, with 

 long hairs on upper and outer sides, scaly and with fine down below; terminal joint large, 

 compressed, acuminate, .and slightly downy. Antenna; rather long, club .abrupt, flattened, 

 elongate ovate, terminal joint minute, pointed. Tliofa.K large, densely hairy, especially on 

 breast and back of mctathorax. Fore, innif.^ a little narrowed and produced at upper outer 

 angle; costa only slightly arched ; outer margin sinuate, concave about middle ; inner margin 

 nearly straight; costal nervure ending about middle of costa; first and second sub-costals 

 rising close together, a little before end of discoidal cell ; third sub-costal arises about one-third 

 from cell to apex, and ends at apex; upper disco-cellular nervure obsolete, middle one very 

 sb.ort, and third or lower disco-cellul.ar nervule very long, nearly obsolete (replaced by a sulcus 

 in the wing, indicated by dotted line in our pl.atc), ending on third median nervule near its 

 origin, so Jhat discoid cell seems open or nearly so. Hind iihiujh bro.ad ; costal nervure slightly 

 arched, prominent at base j hind margin dentate-sinuate, lobes on first and third median ncrvules 

 larger than the rest ; ;vnal angle well marked ; inner margins meeting to form a deep groove to 

 a little beyond end of abdomen, beyond which they .are notched and divergent; costal nervure 

 extending to apex; discoidal cell very short, closing lower disco-cellular nervule, long, oblique 

 (dotted in our plate), joining median nervure at origin of its second nervule ; internal nervure 

 reaching end of inner marginal groove. Fore kqs of male very densely covered and fringed 

 with hair, especially on tibia and tarsus ; of female simil.ar, but with five indistinct articulations, 

 spinous beneath, and hairy, chiefly on basal portion. Middle and hind taifi long, stout, sciily ; 

 tibia; with two inner and one outer row of spines, terminal spurs long; tarsi very spinosc at 

 sides and below; terminal claws stout, curved. Abdomen short, thick. Larra elongate, with 

 rows of rigid spines set with bristles; head and next segment without spines. Pnpa stout, 

 angulated, tuberculated on back of abdomen ; head bluntly bifid ; surface gilt in spots and 

 patches. Cosmopolitan.] 



Description. — UPPER SURFACE. — Head, palpi, thorax, -and abdomen 

 blackish, covered with dense, dark, rich brown hairs. Antennae blackish-bi'own, 

 tipped with tawny. Anterior loing: Basal portion of a rich, lig'ht, rusty yellowish- 

 brown, bounded about midde of discoidal cell by a narrow black band concave 

 outwardly, arching' from costa to origin of first or lower median nervule ; beyond 

 this the wing-, obliquely crossed by a large oval spot of a rich cream colour, extending- 

 from costa to sub-median nervure, and from origin of first median nervtile to origin 

 of second median nervule ; beyond this to apex and inner margin black, with three 

 white spots, the inner one largest, tinged with cream colour, divided by two nervules 

 a little nearer large cream spot than tip of wing, and extending- from costa to second 

 or lower discoidal nervule; secoud smallest, narrow, arched, nearer to tip than to first 

 spot, traversed by one nervule ; third spot oblong, in space between third or upper 

 median nervule and second or lower discoidal nervule, and half-way between first 

 spot and margin ; fringe with small white lunules between nervules. Posterior wing .- 

 Basal portion, as in anterior wing, rusty yellowish-brown, dense scales and long hairs, 

 the hairs on channel f deflected inner edge very long- and of a lighter mouse-colour 

 brown ; beyond this the disc, bright rusty chestnut, a broad anterior and narrower 

 outer marginal space brownish-black, with a row of narrow white lunules in the 

 fringe at edge between the nervules ; a curved row of four round black spots, with 

 small blue centres within the black margin on the disc, and a narrow light lunate 



Vol. H.-Decad« XX.-3.-. [ 361 ] 



