78 



FAMILY SATURNIIU.E. 



GENUS BRAIIM.EA. Walker. 

 Brahmcea Sicanzii, Jig. ;?. 



$ Bralimaea Swanzii, Butler, Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond., p. 11 (Jan. 1871). 



Affinis B. Lucince, differt alis anticis brevioribus, latioribus, minus 

 arcuatis ; fascia centrali alba magis continua, angustiorc ; fasciis ai-ere basalis 

 anticarum multo latioribus ; fasciis a[)U(l apicem solum fiiscis, alitor omnibus 

 nigris; macula tertia anticarum baud olongata, gradatim obscurata, quasi 

 elevata; macula iiltima, anali, baud gciniuala vcl oviformi, ot a fascia centrali 

 interrupta : exp. alar. unc. 0, lin. 2. 



Pantee, Cape Coast (U.s.sfier). Coll. Swanzy. 



This magnificent species is iutciineJiatc between i>. Luclna and li. lunuluia ; it belongs to tho 

 most elaborately ornamented genus of the Saiurni'uhv, and in many of its markings forcibly reminds 

 one of the Argus pheasant among birds ; the disposition of the bands on the basal area of the 

 frontwings produces an effect very siniihir to tlmt seen on the feathers of many pheasants, whilst 

 the submaigitial spots, delicately shaded so as to resemble shells of the genus Ci/prcea, and bounded 

 internallj' by a series of wavy black bars, produce an effect scarcely surpassed bj' the ball-and-socket 

 feathers of the Argus pheasant (See Darwin's Descent of !Man, and Selection in Kelation to Sex, 

 Vol. ii., p. 143, fig. 56). Speaking of the probable development of the ball-and-socket ocelli through 

 the agency of sexual selection, Jlr. Darwin remarks, — " No one, I presume, will attribute the shading, 

 which has excited the admiration of many experienced artists, to chance — to the fortuitous concourse 

 of atoms of colouring matter." " In order to discover how the ocelli have been developed, we cannot 

 look to a long line of progenitors, nor to various closely allied forms, for such do not now exist. But, 

 fortunately, the several feathers on the wing suffice to give us a clue to the problem, and thej- jirove to 

 demonstration that a gradation is at least possible from a mere spot to a finished ball-and-socket 

 ocellus." 



Now, as with the Argus pheasant, the wing of my Bmhmaia, in its several internervular 

 divisions, exhibits a gradation which is a complete key to the development of the egg-like spots near 

 the outer margin ; the anal sjiots of the frontwings and tlie ai>ical .spots of the hindwings remain 



