AGERONIA. 133 



female measures three inches across the wings, and the male a 

 little less. The latter is of a velvety-black colour, with many 

 rows of small blue spots, arranged in two or three rows along 

 the hind- and inner-margins, and along the costa of the fore- 

 wings, the costa of the hind-wings being light brown. The 

 rows of blue spots in the cell of the fore-wings do not extend 

 beyond it, and those on the inner-margin cease at about half 

 its length, leaving the middle of both pairs of wings free from 

 spots, within the sub-marginal rows, from below the costa of the 

 fore-wings, to the inner-marginal spots of the hind-wings. In 

 the female, which we have figured, the whole surface of the 

 wings is covered with larger blue spots than in the male, ar- 

 ranged in rows, more or less parallel to the hind-margins, or 

 to the inner-margin of the fore-wings. A rather broad white 

 band, with a slight yellowish shade and with parallel sides 

 above, but sloping outwards to a point below, runs from the 

 middle of the costa of the fore-wings to two-thirds of the 

 length of the hind-margin. The costa of the hind-wings is of 

 a light brown with some reddish markings. 



The body is black above, spotted with blue, and the under 

 surface in both sexes is of a dull black (greyish-brown along 

 the inner-margin of the fore-wings), and the pectus and base 

 of the fore-wings are marked with several crimson spots ; the 

 hind-wings are marked with a row of large crimson sub-marginal 

 spots, usually obsolete towards the costa, and there is also one 

 on the inner-margin. 



The insect varies a little in the number, size, and arrange- 

 ment of the blue spots of the upper, and the red spots of the 

 under surface, and I have seen no specimens exactly corre- 

 sponding with Cramer's figures. Whether these variations are 

 local, casual, or betoken closely-allied species rather than 

 varieties, can only be ascertained either by breeding, or by 

 the examination of large series from different localities. 



