StrBPAMIL? IV.-MOnPHlN^, Bmler. 



Morphhitr, Butler, Cist. Ent , vol. i , p. 3 (i860) ; id-. Kirby, Syn. Cat D. L., p. 115 (1871) ; Morphu^a and 

 Ny)iiph.adidii!{J>art),\^e.%\.\\ooi!i,G'S.\\. D. L., vol. ii, p 332 (1851) ; i1/(7r//i/«(r, Distant, Rhop. Malay , p. 67 

 (1882). 



Body robust, seldom elongate. Head usually small, tufted ; eyes large, prominent, 

 naked ; antenna long, slender, with a slender very gradually formed club ; palpi slender, some- 

 what elongate, erect (or sometimes porrect), the front edge not dilated, clothed in front with dense 

 appressed scaly hairs, at the back with longer hairs grouped in a tuft against the face. Wings 

 broad, ample, but varying in outline ; generally ocellated on the underside. Forewing with 

 the nervures usually simple, the costal nervure sometimes slightly and gradually dilated at 

 the base : discoidal cell short, very broad, completely closed by perfect nervules ; the apex 

 always beyond the origin of the second median nervule ; the first branch of the subcostal 

 nervure long, originating near the end of the cell and often anastomosing with the costal nervure; 

 the remaining branches originating far beyond the cell close together near the apex (except 

 in Xanthotcxnia in which they are widely separated) ; tb.e upper and middle disco-cellular 

 nervules short, the lower very long, outwardly oblique and generally concave. IIlNDWiNG 

 with the discoidal cell partially or entirely open, except in Xanthotania, where it is 

 completely closed by a very slender lower disco-cellular nervule : no prrediscoidal cell ; 

 the discoidal nervnle appearing as a third subcostal branch ; the anal margin broadly channelled 

 and enclosing the entire abdomen. In the male furnished with glands or patches of raised 

 scales or tufts of hair in various positions. FORELEGS of the MALE small, brush-like ; those 

 of the FEMALE larger, longer, and less hairy. 



"Larva: with a more or less developed bifid tail." {Distant, 1. c.) " PuPA : short, 

 thick, cylindrical, or slightly carinated down the back." (IVeslTVood, Gen. D. L., vol. ii, 



P- 332 (1851)- 



The Morphinii: are confined to South America and the Malayan region, extending in India 

 as far as the Indo-Malayan fauna penetrates. The typical genus Morpho is entirely South 

 American, and contains some of the largest and most brilliantly coloured butterflies in the 

 world ; all the other genera are Asiatic. 



Great differences of opinion have prevailed as to the propriety of separating this group 

 into a subfamily ; the original separation was suggested by Doubleday and adopted by West- 

 wood in the Genera of Diurnal Lepidoptera, but with much hesitation ; the group as there 

 defined excludes Amathusia, Zenxidia, and Discophora, which were left with Kallima among 

 the Nympkalince, and includes many American genera now classed as Brassolina: in a distinct 

 subfamily. In 1864, Mr. H. W. Bates, in a review (Journal of Entomology, vol. n, p. 177) 

 of the primary and secondary divisions of the suborder, united the Morphines with the true 

 Nymphalincz, with the remark that «' they exhibit no good character whereby they may be distm- 

 guished from the Nymphalims," and the combined group he defined as having the «' lower disco- 

 cellular nervule, at least of the hindwing, more or less atrophied." In 1869, Mr. A. G. Butler 

 established the group as it now stands, merely remarking that it " includes the genera Morpho^ 

 Clerome, Drusilla, Discophora, Amathusia, Bia, and comes between the Brassolina and Nym- 

 phalincB^' (Cistula Entomologica, vol. i, p. 3). but giving no distinctive features. In this he was 

 followed by Mr. Kirby in 1871 in his Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera. And in 

 1882, Mr. W. L. Distant, in his Rhopolocera Malayana, reverts to Mr. Bates' arrangement 

 and unites them with the Nymphahme, but makes them a separate group, basing the groups on 

 the dilation of the anterior edge of the palpi. 



