VAia.VTION OF COLOUR. 



01- 



wings is also blue. Below, it almost exactly resembles Apatura 

 Lavinia, except that there is a shining silvery gloss over both 

 wings, and, like that insect, the female is quite plain, without 

 one particle of the brilliant colours that adorn her mate. 



There are many species belonging to this genus, all of which 

 are tolerably alike. There are two, however, which are worthy 

 of a brief notice. Apatura Agathina is remarkable on account of 

 the bold difference of the sexes as regards colour. The male is 

 very deep purple, while the female is white, speckled with black. 

 Indeed, were it not for the under surface of the wings, no one 

 would think that they could be only the two sexes of the same 

 insect. A curious variation in colour is found in Apatura 

 Cherubina, a native of Bogota. In almost all the Apaturas the 

 wings of the male are either blue or purple, but in this insect 

 they are shining green. 



The beautiful insect which is here figured is a native of 

 Columbia. 



Tlie greater part of both wings is the very deejiest pur])le, so 

 deep, indeed, that except when viewed with a stron^^ lifi-ht it 

 appears to l>e velvety black. Across both wings runs a bar of 



