TiELicons. 19 



of the leaves. It is a black Butterfly, measuring about two 

 inches in expanse across the rounded wings; and Messrs. God- 

 man and Salvin remark on its resemblance to Morphcis eJiren- 

 bergii, Hiibner, a species belongmg to the Nyinphalince^ which 

 inhabits similar localities. On the under surface, H. noctula 

 has a red patch at the base of the wings, and there are traces 

 of grey radiating lines at and between the extremities of the 

 nervures on the hind-margins of all the wings. 



The genus Methonella includes one or two broad-winged 

 species, measuring two inches, or rather less, across the wings, 

 which are black, with the centre more or less filled up with 

 fulvous. The hind-wings are rounded, and strongly dentated. 



gp:nus helicopis. 



Ilelicopis, Fabricius in Illiger, Mag. Insekt. vi. p. 285 (1807); 

 Westwood, Gen. Diurn. Lepid. p. 423 (1851). 



The present genus is regarded by Schatz and Rober as some- 

 what intermediate in its characters between the Euselasiince and 

 the Lemoniincc^ though with preponderating affinities towards 

 the former. The antennae are long and slender, ringed with black 

 and white, and terminating in an oval club, pointed at the end, 

 and the front legs are much shorter than the others, and clothed 

 with short hair in the male, and with scales in the female. The 

 fore-wings are short and broad, and the hind-wings are as long 

 as the fore-wir.gs, and throw out long tails at the ends of all the 

 nervules, that in the middle median nervule being the longest, 

 and curved outwards. The colours are black, fulvous, and 

 creamy-white, and the under side of the hind-wings is orna- 

 mented with metallic spots. The larva is thickly clothed with 

 soft hairs, and the pupa is attached by the tail, and a belt of 

 silk round the middle of the body. 



These were among the first Butterflies which attracted the 



c 2 



