AGRIAS. 191 



bluish-white pupils. Other species are of a rich purple above, 

 either with a nearly marginal pale green band, or with an 

 orange space instead of a green one at the base of the fore- 

 wings. In these the under side of the hind-wings is green, 

 with black spots and lines towards the base (except when the 

 basal half of the wings is red or yellow). One of the hand- 

 somest species is the newly-discovered A. narcissus, Stau- 

 dinger, from Cayenne, which is marked very like a Batesia, 

 being of a rich purplish-blue, with a broad oblique scarlet band 

 on the fore- wings. 



These magnificent Butterflies are most abundant on the 

 western side of North America, towards the head-waters of the 

 Amazons. They are insects of powerful flight, usually settling 

 on trees. Bates has given a graphic account of the habits of 

 his A. sardanapaius, a brilliant blue Butterfly, with the fore- 

 wings scarlet for two-thirds of the length from the base. <; I 

 met with it," he says, "at different points of the Upper 

 Amazons ; always in sunny openings in the primeval forests, 

 in hot gloomy weather between the dry and the wet season. 

 Its evolutions on the wing are similar to those of the Prepofuc, 

 and it is utterly impossible to capture it, except when settled. 

 The first examples I saw were attracted by a sweet sap exud- 

 ing from the trunk of a felled tree, where a large number of 

 Cetoniade Coleoptera were daily congregated. A dense crowd of 

 other handsome Butterflies were assembled on the same tree — 

 Preponcz, Paphi<z [Anace], Siderones, Gyncza'ce, Ectimce, and 

 others ; but the frequent shifting of the eager creatures had 

 rendered the gorgeous Agn'ades unusually wary, so that I was 

 unable to capture them. When found alone, settled on ordure 

 on the pathway, they were less difficult to secure ; but it was 

 only on three or four occasions, during as many years, that I 

 was so lucky as to find the species in such situations." 



These Butterflies are always highly prized by collectors both 



