CATAGRAMMA. 115 



was one of the first insects which attracted the special atten- 

 tion of Wallace and Bates near Para, and Dr. Wallace records 

 his subsequent disappointment when, on laying down his col- 

 lecting-box for a few moments in the verandah of the house 

 where they were staying, he found it already full of ants, and 

 several of his specimens destroyed. 



Some of the smaller species of this group are fulvous or 

 yellowish-fulvous above, with black tips to the fore-wings ; one, 

 Peria /amis (Cramer), which does not measure more than an 

 inch and a quarter across the wings, is brown above, and 

 dull yellow, with transverse black lines and intermediate spots, 

 below. It is widely distributed in the north of South 

 America. 



GENUS CATAGRAMMA. 



Catagramma, Boisduval, Spec. Gen. Lepid., i., pi. 9, fig. 2 

 (1836); Doubl., Gen. Diurn. Lepid., p. 243 (1850); 

 Schatz, Exot. Schmett., ii., p. 147 (1888). 

 Type, Catagramma pygas (Godart). 

 There are a great number of middle-sized or rather small 

 Nymphalina in Tropical America, distinguished by the absence 

 of spines on the first joint of the tarsi in the female, and by 

 the spiny larvae. Many of these are adorned with the most 

 beautiful colours and patterns, and among them the genus 

 Catagramma and its immediate allies hold a conspicuous 

 place. 



Most of these species are of a velvety-black, with blue, green, 

 crimson, or ochreous bands and markings on the upper sur- 

 face ; but three of the more important genera can be readily dis- 

 tinguished by the markings of the under surface alone. Thus, 

 Callicore, Hiibner, is black above, generally with a blue or green 

 band across the fore-wings, and a border of the same colour to 

 the hind-wings. The under surface of the fore-wings is red, with 



