BRAZILIAN LEPIDOPTERA. 33 



are all males. From the middle of February till the end of 

 March the woods about San Paulo literally swarm with 

 these lovely insects ; sometimes four or five will be seen 

 circling round and round, or lazily flapping their great 

 pearly wings in the bright sunshine, rather sailing than 

 flying. By the end of April they have all disappeared. 

 There is only one brood of this butterfly in the year. 



Larva. 



Subfam. Brassolince. 



XXXIV. — Brassolis Astyra. 



BrassoUs Astyra, Godart, Enc. Meth. ix., p. 457 (1823). 



Boisd. Spec. Gen. Lep. i., pi. 13, fig. 2. Doubleday 



and Hewits, D. Lep. pi. 59, fig. 1. 



Castnia Langsdorjii, Menetries, Nouv. Mem. Mosc. i., p. 192, 



pi. 5 (1829). 



fa, Full-fed, San Paulo, Oct., 1878. 

 h, Taken from web lining flower spathe of species 



of palm. The web contained over four 



hundred caterpillars. 



The caterpillar is social, living in a web spun either in the 

 flower spathe or amongst the leaves of a species of palm. 

 The number of individuals in one web is sometimes 

 enormous. I have found a web spun across a flower spathe 

 containing, as above, over four hundred caterpillars. In the 

 day time they are to be found closely packed within the web, 

 which is very thick and impervious to rain, and at night 

 they pour out and feed. I have seen large palm trees com- 

 pletely stripped of their leaves by this caterpillar. It is 

 full-fed at the end of October and beginning of November. 



Pupa, a, Full-fed, Oct. 17, 1878 ; Imago, 



When full-fed the caterpillar descends the palm-tree, and 



