NYMPHALINAE: BASILARCHIA ASTYANAX. 281 



broad, conspicuous l:)iind of white scales, narrower on the terminal joint, runs along 

 the outer anterior border of the two terminal joints, extending to tlie very tip ; all of 

 these white portions liave blaclc liairs scattered among tliem. Tongue blacl< ; i^apillae 

 (61 : 33, 53) as long as tlie widtli of one maxilla, compai'ativcly stout, about three times 

 as long as broad, the apical filament nearly cylindrical, al)out lialf as long as width of 

 papilla. 



Tiiorax blackish brown above and below, sometimes, especially beneath, with an 

 olivaceous tinge; on tlie sides beneath, next the base of all the wings, a minute white 

 spot, situated between the origin of the costal and subcostal nervures ; a short, slen- 

 der, longitudinal, white streak next the insertion of the median. Middle and hind 

 coxae witli a very large patch of soft, pale, bluish gray hairs over dark brown ones; 

 middle and hind trochanters white ; under surface of femora with a few pale scales ; 

 fore tibiae and tarsi white anteriorly, blackish brown posteriorly ; middle and hind 

 tibiae and tarsi blackish brown, tarsi a little paler beneath; spines black; claws dull 

 dark luteous, I'eddisli at tip. 



Wings above velvety indigo black, with a lustre varying from dark ricli purplish 

 blue to dark olive green, the apical third of fore wings — usually ( $ ) or to a less extent 

 if at all ((J) — tinged with dull slate brown. Fore icings entirely resembling in form 

 those of B. arthemis, but differing from those of B. archippus in their more curved costal 

 and outer margin. Third superior subcostal nervule arising midway between the second 

 and fourth superior branches ; the fourth at nearly three-quarters the distance from 

 the origin of the second to the tip of the wing. A submarginal roAV of hoary blue or 

 greenish spots, one in each interspace, smaller aud usually paler above, becoming 

 transverse luuules below ; midway between these and the border, usually more conspic- 

 uous on the lower than on the upper half of the wing, there is a poAvdering of similar 

 scales, occasionally obsolete, in transverse streaks; following close upon the submar- 

 ginal row, in the two lower subcostal and in the median interspaces, is a series of 

 rusty or tawny, roundish spots, sometimes large and distinct, sometimes obsolete; at 

 the origin of the fourth subcostal nervule there is a minute, sometimes obsolete white 

 spot, and above and below it, in the adjoining interspaces, are large, triangular white 

 patches, together forming a row parallel to that next the margin ; on the costal border, 

 al)out three-fifths the distance from the base, there is occasionally, especially in the 

 female, a long powdery white dash, following the costal border, but not attaining the 

 costal edge. In the lowest two interspaces, in almost direct continuation with the 

 row of reddish spots, but a little further inward, is a transverse series of hoary blue 

 or green patches, sometimes indicated by a slight touch in the interspace next succeed- 

 ing, and sometimes continued as a narrow and ordinarily very faint band of similar 

 spots, parallel to the outer border and connecting directly Avith the subapical row of 

 white spots just mentioned; occasionally, especially in the female, a slender transverse 

 streak of rusty scales marks the extremity of the cell. Fringe black and Avhite in 

 nearly equal alternate patches, the white rather more prominent, the black at the nervure 

 tips, the Avhite of the medio-submedian interspace divided by black. Hind icings wholly 

 resembling those of B. arthemis, but diftering from those of B. archippus in having the 

 outer border pretty strongly crenulate, more strongly arched, and either slightly ($) 

 or pretty conspicuously ( J ) produced at the upper median interspace. First median 

 nervure originating farther from the base of the wing than the last subcostal nervule. 

 A double submarginal row of large, broad, pale blue or pale green lunules, very distinctly 

 separated by the nervures, and one row as distinctly from the other, the inner row a 

 little the larger ; f oUoAving these is as broad a belt of velvety black, narrowing at each 

 end, and especially Ijelow ; then a belt, of variable width, of pale purplish blue, or 

 pale olivaceous green spots, distinctly separated by the black nervures; usually they 

 are squarish and as broad as long, sometimes reduced to mere transverse stripes, but 

 sometimes, on the contrary, have their interior border inconspicuous or unrecognizable 

 by the greater or less suffusion of the adjoining parts of the wing with the same color 

 — to some extent almost to the base ; occasionally they are marked along their exterior 

 border with a row of small, rusty, roundish spots ; area next the inner border dark 

 slate gray ; fringe as on the fore wings. 



