PM. 31. V. 1912. MORPHO. By H. Fruhstorfer. 337 



and with arato.9 in the very large, roundefl, light (lolire-yellow siil)inargiiial sjjots of the liindwing, and the 

 forewing is distinguished by a hirge bUie-white transceUular spot and very large blue-grey proximal submar- 

 ginal dots. The vnader surface closely approaches the.seus theseus Dei/r. from Colombia in the predominantly 

 red-brown colouring and the extended ochre-yellow areas. Always rare and local. Venezuela. — A further, 

 very rare local race of theseu.s (but smaller than all the others), hitherto treated as a species, is juturna julurna. 

 Btlr., recently captured by Fa.s.SL on the upper Rio Negro at about 800 ni. ; liindwing with long lobes and upper 

 surface a peculiar blue-white, faintly opalescent; distal border rather broadly black-brown and bearing on both 

 wings a row of blue-white submarginal patches and a subterminal doid:)le row of red-brown undulate lines. 

 Cell of the forewing separated from the transceUular white area by a broad, black, nearly triangular spot. — 

 fruhstorferi Rdh. is the corresponding race from the Eastern Andes, of wliich only one ,^ is yet known, clis- p-uhstorferi. 

 covered by Herr Richard H.^ensch at Santa Inez, East Cordillei'as of Ecuador. It differs from juti/rmi. 

 in the chalk-white upper surface without blue or violet admixture and the more ]u-onounced yellowish subapical 

 patches of both wings. Found at an elevation of about 1000 m. 



M. perseus is an extremely variable polychromatic species, resembling a heculxt in miniature and 

 copying its scheme of coloration, perseus with its branches inhabits the whole of Guiana and the Amazon 

 country as well as the Andean region from Colombia to Bolivia, and was recently discovered also in Central 

 Brazil. According to Michael perseus is never seen fluttering round flowers, nor do the butterflies seem to 

 require food or drink. They prefer rather to soar through the spaces of the illimitable forests Uke Morpho 

 hecaha or to float along in unrestricted flight over the tops of the trees in a deep valley. According to Hah- 

 NEL perseus is one of the highest-flying Morphids and on account of its brcjwn under surface, which looks 

 very dark against the light sky, it gives the impression, when flying at a height of 8 — 10 m., of a black- 

 coloured species. Hahxel says that the l)utterflies, which in spite of their lively, jerky movement through 

 the air scarcely flap the wings appreciably, present a charming spectacle, particularly wlien half a dozen or 

 more meet and engage in a sham fight. Almost the whole morning such scenes are repeated, for only to- 

 wards midday, after they have been flying over their wide domain for 2 or 3 hours, do their pinions become 

 weary and they settle again in the shade of the branches on some large leaf, the back turned towards the 

 dark and the eyes towards the open. One rarely finds even a single insect flying in the afternoon and then 

 probably only when luifavourable weather has hindered its doing so in the morning. The butterflies occasion- 

 ally dart down on to yellow Papilio $$ drinking on the ground, undoubtedly taking them for their own 

 9$, which are also frequently yellow, and Dr. Hahnel took advantage of this by fastening pieces of yellow 

 paper in his net, which actually deceived the perseus ,^,^. perseus Or. describes a $ form with the basal part perseus. 

 of both wings light blue, cranieri Kirby is the (J belonging to it, with the blue ground-colour sometimes crameri. 

 somevvliat darkened, metellus Cr. on the other hand designates $$ with an ochre-yellow median band, de- mctellus. 

 ceptively hke the colouring of M. hecuba L., which flies at the same place. All three forms were obtained 

 by Cramer from Surinam. The larva is gregarious, only feeds for a short time and remains quiescent 

 for the rest of the day. At Villa Bella on the Lower Amazon Hahnel took examplas with the upper surfae 

 inclining to bluish or brown, and on the Upper Amazon, judging from the Staxjdinger collection, ^(^ occucr 

 most commonly with ochre-yellow bands tinged with green, at Iquitos ^^^ "'it'i dark green, and ?$ with 

 green-blue median area. There are also light blue $$ (ty[3ical perseus) from Villa Bella in the Berlm Mu- 

 seum. The particular colour is, however, apparently nowhere restricted to particular localities, though Mi- 

 chael oTice bred 12 specimens from the larva on the Rio Madeira, the whole of which were pale grey-green 

 above. — iphiclus Fldr. is a local form from Colondjia with three distinct rows of yellow submarginal patches, iphiclus. 

 whilst in the Amazon specimens the proximal row of dots is only indicated by three or four small scattered 

 spots reaching as far as the middle of the wing. One ^ in my collection, from Surinam, shows indeed only 

 a couple of indistinct patches on the forewing. A $ which Fa.ssl took on the upper Rio Negro at about 

 800 m. is remarkable for an extended light clay-yellow circumcellular area on the forewing, which reaches 

 to the middle of the wing and is there lost, giving place to the pale green basal colouring Hindwing as far as 

 the cell light green, the discal area black-brown. Forewing with three rows of ochre-yellow patches, of which 

 the proximal terminates near the posterior median, the middle is composed of large triangular spots, the rows, 

 except the third (proximal), continued on the hindwing also. Cell of the forewing lightly dusted with greenish 

 yellow along the posterior wall. Under surface a peculiar dull grey-yellow with yellowish median area, two 

 large median ocelli on the forewing and somewhat ill-defined eye-spots on the hindwhig. — scipio Fldr., with .scipio. 

 the incorrect locality "Brasilia meridionalis", which should perhaps read '^Brasilia septentrionalis", is near 

 the form metellus Cr., agreeing with it in the ochreous median area of the upper surface and the washed-out 

 submarginal patches. Habitat without doubt Surinam. — richardus Fruhst. (69 a), from Minas Geraes, differs richnrdwi. 

 most considerably : ^ of indefinite greenish, V of yellowish l)ronze-green c(dour, both above and beneath de- 

 ceptively hke a small M. hercules Dalm. I have only three examples before me, wliich were bred from 

 the larva and killed too soon. Forewing with 3 rows of submarginal yellow dots. The patch before the 

 apex of the cell broadly dull gold-yellow, with scattered black scales. Discal area of the forewing yellowish. 

 Distal margin rather narrow, brown-black, base of both wings light green. Under surface: forewing with 

 four small, elongate ocelli of about uniform size, with narrow black irides. Proximally to the ocelli three 



V 43 



