336 MORPHO, By H. Fruhstorfer. 



on the head, the much darker green ground-colour, the absence of the white abdominal ring and the presence 

 of whitish yellow lines before the margin of the wing-cases. The collective species splits up into two local races : 



hercules. hercules Dalm., originally described from Rio de Janeiro, but also occurring in Minas Geraes and Espiritu Santo. 

 Upper surface more grey-green than in examples from more southern localities. Upperside of the forewdng with 

 two rows of submarginal yellow dots, of wliich the proximal are considerably broader than the antemarginal. 

 Patch before the apex of the cell narrow, dark green, subobsolete. Cell black-green. Discal area glossy dark 

 green. Distal border broad, deep black. Base of the forewing dark, of the hindwing somewhat lighter sea- 

 green. Under surface: forewing bearing two very large rounded ocelli between the medians and two much 

 smaller ones between the upper radial and the upper median. The proximal median spots narrow, irregular. 

 Discal spot black. Cell with two very broad wliite longitudinal bands, posteriorly confluent. Hindwing predo- 

 minantly red-brown with silver-wliite mechan band about 3 mm. in breadth. 3 anal ocelli with black iris. 



diadema. Length of the forewing 90 mm. and upwards. Espiritu Santo to Rio de Janeiro. — diadema Fruhst. (69 a). 

 Upperside of the forewing with two rows of submarginal yellow dots, the proximal row only in the $ essen- 

 tially broader than the antemarginal. Patch before the apex of the cell very broad, sharply defined, yellow- 

 green. Cell dark oHve-green. Discal area dull olive-green. Distal border broadly brown-black. Under surface : 

 forewing with only two, very large, circular ocelli between the medians, the upper sometimes wanting. A 

 third, small diffuse ocellus between the radials is sometimes present. The proximal, triangular median spots 

 somewhat smaller than in M. richardus (p. 337), larger than in hermles. Cell with 2 isolated white, posteriorly 

 pointed spots. Hindwing in the ^ predominantly whitish grey with the basal part light brown, in the $ grey- 

 white, marbled with light brown. Median band 5 — 6 mm. in breadth. 3 anal ocelli, of which the distal, with 

 light brown iris, is occasionally obliterated. Length of the forewing: 75 mm. or above. Larva according to Dr. 

 WiLHELM MtJLLER On a Menispermca, gregarious, in the last stadium occasionally resting in masses of over 

 a hundred individuals, one beside another, on the trunk of the trees up which the food-plant climbs. They 

 remain quiescent during the day, only feeding at night. Ground-colour somewhat brown-red with a lighter red- 

 yellow dorsal stripe and numerous spots of the same colour, almost fused into a lateral stripe. Head yellowish, 

 with long bristles. Pupa with weak edges to the wing-case, green, not transparent, partially marked with 

 white and covered with a wliite mealy coating wliich can be rubbed off. 



M. theseus apparently replaces hercules in Central America and the Andean region. It is less constant 

 than hercules, inclining to geographical and probably also to climatic variation, has somewhat narrower wings 

 than hercules and is distinguished from all other Morphids by the long, pointed teeth of the liindwing. — 



nraios. aratos Fruhst. (66 c), the most northerly subspecies, inhabits Honduras and like all its Central American aUies 

 is among the greatest rarities of the fauna of their region. I have only received one example, which Wittkugel 

 found during about 10 years' collecting near San Pedi'o Sula in Honduras. Ground-colour of both wings 

 above and beneath paler than in its nearest ally, M. justitiae Godm. d; Salv. from Guatemala. On the upper- 

 side of the forewing the third inner (proximal) submarginal row of dots (which is especially strongly expressed 

 justitiae. in justitiae) is obsolete. — justitiae Godm. <k Salv. has the yellow transcellular spot on the forewing more than 

 three times as broad. The submarginal crescents of the liindwing are more elongated; the black colouring of 

 the distal part of tlie hindwing extends to beyond the middle of the wing. Under surface red-brown instead 

 of grey-yellow as in nraios. Ocelli of the hindwing more filled in with black. The locality "Mexico", which 

 aqiiarius. GoDMAN and Salvin recorded from an old example from coll. Druce, has not been confirmed recently. — aqua- 

 rius Btlr. designates a well differentiated form, which occurs from Costa Rica to Panama as a subspecies, but in 

 Colombia is still found as an accidental or seasonal variety together with the name-type theseus at Muzo, 

 400 — 800 m. aquarius has the basal area on the upperside of both wings chalky or milk-wliite, the original 

 brown ground-colour confined to the submarginal region. The tliird (proximal) row of spots on the forewing, 

 which stands on a light brown ground, assumes a blue-grey colouring. On the hindwing the pronounced yellow 

 patches of aratos and ju.stitiae disappear almost completely. The under surface is distinguished by a whi- 

 tish violet postmedian area proximally to the ocelli, which is absent in theseus. Transitions to theseus are not 



theseus. rare in Colombia. — theseus Deyr. is the Colombian typical form, found in Muzo and in so-called Bogota con- 

 signments, which it is well-loiown really come from the low-lying country, just as the so-called Darjeeling 

 collections were likewise not made at Darjeeling, but in the hot valleys of the Testa. Ground-colour brown 

 inclining to oHve-green, base only quite faintly suffused with whitish. Cell black-brown at the extremity and 

 with an inconspicuous whitish spot before the apex. Forewing with only two distinct rows of yellowish patches. 



Ihiasus. Under surface red-brown with purple gloss, in places reddish ochre-yellow. — thiasus subsp. nov. is based 



on examples from coll. Staudinger with the upper surface darkened throughout, brown-black. Colombia, more 



amphitrion. exact locality not ascertainable. — amphitrion Stgr., from Chanchamayo, South Peru, has the forewing much 



elongated, with the cell blue-grey. ^,^ also occur with the upper surface suffused with blue-white throughout. — 



susarion. SUS&non subsp. nov. is the most southern Andean branch-race, with somewhat darkened upper surface and of smaller 



yaritanus. size than the Peru race. Bolivia, apparently not rare. — yaritanus stibsp. nov. constitutes the transition from 



theseus to aratos &ndaquMrius. It agrees with aquarius in the extended milky blue basal tinge on the upper surface 



