MORPHID^E. By H. Fruhstorfer. 333 



6. Family: Morphidae Wes^v. 



This small family embraces the most strikingly characteristic butterflies of South America and the 

 most magnificent of the Lepidoptera. which show the butterfly type in a jjerfection that is only surpassed by 

 theIndo-MalayanOr«*/Ao;:»/enf. The brilliant colouring of the upper surface and the elegant ocelli which nearly 

 always adorn the under make the Morphidae superficially a very distinct, easily recognized group. It is not very 

 easy, however, to separate them morphologically, for in spite of the external differeiaces there are only indefi- 

 nite structural distinctions from the Brassolids, Satyrids and Nymphalids and they form rather a transition from 

 the Satyrids to the Nymphalids, so that they can only with difficulty be maintained as a separate family. Also 

 from the Indian Amathusiids, whicli were formerly united with them, they only differ essentially in their habits 

 and the food-plants of the larvae. All the Morphids agree in the weakly developed thorax, short abdomen, and 

 in an extraordinarily powerful flight, which latter at once separates them from the sluggish Satyrids, Amathu- 

 siids and Brassolids. They share with the Nymphalids the habit of flying in the brightest sunsliine, and 

 structurally the open cell of the hindwing. With the Indian Amathusiids the Morjihids are indeed somewhat 

 allied in having larvae of the same shape, but differ again in the food, as the larva of the Amathusiids feeds on 

 Monocotyledons, that of the Moqahids, as far as is known, exclusively on Dicotyledons. From the bulk of the 

 Amathusiids their Neotropical relatives differ in having two subcostal veins arising before the end of the 

 cell on the forewing, a form of neuration which is only found again quite exceptionally in the Taenarid genus 

 Hyantis. In the clasping-organs, however, the Morphids are highly specialized, and although the general arrange- 

 ment of the tegumen suggests the Satyrids and Brassolids, those of Morpho differ in the extremely massive, 

 unshapely uncus and valve. In some species {Morpho Itercides) the breadth of the uncus actually exceeds 

 that of the valve in the other families and is not equalled even in the Nymphalids. The robust uncus only 

 recurs in the Brassolids (Dynastor darius) and even here considerably less extreme; the valve finds an ana- 

 logy in the Papilionids {Ornithopfera) and in Hestia. The amorphous lateral clasps of the uncus, however, are 

 entirely without a parallel. In the neuration may further be mentioned the fairly similar course of the disco- 

 cellulars and their nearly uniform length. In the nearly straight middle and lower discocellulars the Morjihids 

 and Brassolids contrast with the Amathusiids, in which the lower discocellular is as a rule concave and deeply 

 retracted proximally. The precostal cell of the hindwing may be distinctly developed (Morpho inenehius) 

 or absent (M. catenarius), in the former case providing a further link with the Brassolids, in the latter 

 with the Amathusiids. The median spur of the forewing also, on which Dr. Schatz lays special stress, is 

 variable: eitlier robust, short and pointed or filiform and distally curved, as is found also in the Amathusiids. 

 The size of the cell of the forewing varies in the different groups of species ; it is large in the menelaus, smaller 

 in the hecuha-hercules group. Godman and Salvin in 1881 recognized two subdivisions according to the shape 

 of the hindwing: a) with tailed (hecuba group) and b) with rounded liindwing (cypris group). Between the 

 two stand the members of the aega group with elongate, narrow liindwing. Dr. Schatz divided the species into 

 six subdivisions, according to the scheme of colouring. The coloration of the 40 or so known species is 

 indeed unusually variable and may be pure white or brilliant blue ; between these come the members of the hercules- 

 hecuba group with all gradations from light yellow to dark green and a dull chalky blue. The degree of 

 sexual dimorpliism is quite as variable as the colouring; species occur with the sexes almost alike (kiertes, 

 hecuba, hercules), whilst the rhetenor-cypris group shows astonishing contrasts in colour. It is worthy of note 

 that just those ,^(^ which have the brilliant Morpho colouring (cypris. rhetenor) consort with almost ugly clay- 

 yellow or dull ochreous $?. which still tend to retain the colour of the Brassolids, from which the Jlorphids 

 have probably developed. In a few species, however, transitions also occur. 



The brilliant gloss of the ,^^ is solely a physical phenomenon and is not due to any blue jiigmentation 

 in the scales, but to interference of the rays of light which pass tlu-ough the infinitely thin layers of the scales. 

 The scales themselves are simple yellowish to brownish, or opaque milk-white, extremely resistant in the chlo- 

 ride bath. The eyes of all the Morpliids are naked, the antennae delicate, gradually terminating in a weak 

 club. Apart from a friction-area at the basal part of the inner margin of the forewing no secondary sexual 

 characters are present. One species is said to smell strongly of sulphur. 



The egg of the Morphids is very large, in some species (menelaus) up to 2 mm. in diameter, hemisphe- 

 rical, not sliiny, grey-white and but little transparent. In the species of the achilles group it has a narrow 

 red-brown horizontal ring, in one species (peleides) the surface is rough (Fassl). 



