MORPHO. By H. Frfhstorfer. 339 



it now follows, pursuing its way quietly and steadily, with the powerful wings scarcely quivering. It looks 

 then like a narrow silver-blue stripe, in the vestal purity of its delicate wliite colour, wliich froin the middle 

 towards the costal margin changes into a light blue, posteriorly into black. The silver-white and brown of 

 the under surface, however, present an excellent copy of large withered leaves covered with mildew at the 

 veins, the similarity indeed being so great when it is resting in the shade of the branches that at Villa Bella 

 Dr. H.\HNEL once took a newly emerged example hanging on the pupa for such a withered leaf, until to 

 his amazement he proved it to be a living form. According to Michael (Iris 1894, p. 197) cisseis flies in 

 every month, thus all the year round. — At Iquitos and Yurimaguas on the Upper Amazon cisseis-obidonus 

 is replaced by plianodemus Heii\, the forewing of which in rare cases still bears traces of the heeiibd colouring pluuiode- 

 and is in part somewhat brown-yellow with the marginal area ou\y slightly l^luc. But examples with green- '""*• 

 blue meiUan band seem to be the commonest, this colour sometimes distally changing to olive-green or greenish 

 brown and towards the base to light blue and white. In the $ the shades of colour are less ill-defined and 

 there occur pure and uniform light, dark, steel- and green-blue tinged specimens, to which it may be left 

 to others to give special names. The under surface agrees completely with our figure fi7 c, although it is 

 only exceptionally that the apical ocelli of the hind wing are accompanied jDosteriorly by a small accessory 

 eye-spot, as in the example from which the figiuv was drawn. Dr. Haiinel calls phanodenms a kingly form 

 and compares it, in its cpiiet, peaceful and ghost-like flight, to the tutelary genius of the secret of the forest. 

 Hahnel was only able to obtain pJianodemus by erecting a sort of scaffolding of bamboos, which he set up 

 to a height of about 5 m. in the line of flight of the Morphids. In order also to secure the phanodemus 

 which came up from behind a mirror was fixed on the parapet of his tower, which indeed was not often 

 successful, l)ut when it was, gave all the greater satisfaction. — polyidos siibsp. nov. has a very broad black poiyklos. 

 distal margin to the forewing, increasing in width from the costal margin to the anal angle, but the sub- 

 marginal patches are only slightly indicated. The cell of the forewing contains only a few yellowish iiatches, 

 the median band itself much narrowed. Hindwing basally pale yellow, distally lightly dusted with greenish. 

 Under surface as in hecuba obidomis, except that the ocelli of the liindwing are somewhat smaller. From 

 Itahapa Yarita in Venezuela, collected by Veaz. Type in coll. Staudingee in the Berlin Museum. 



Group Morpho F. (= Leonte Hbn.). 



Spet'ies with metallic gloss on the upper . surface; upper d'scocellular short, middle strongly convex iiroximally, 

 lower concave distally, in the obtuse angle directed towards the anterior median. Cell of the forewing considerably 

 widened towards the apex. Uncus and its lateral clasps relative y sle:.der, valve distally spined. 



M. laertes is the best known of a small group of species which differ from all their allies in the chalky, 

 milky or silvery white ground-colour, laertes may be easily known by the connected chain of narrow, oblong, 

 ocellated median sjiots on the underside of the liindwing, which have mostly only indistinct white pupils and 

 washed-out yellowish bordering. The bluish white colouring is brought out very well in the figure. The 

 upper surface resembles the figured underside, except that the forewing continues narrowly margined with 

 black to about the middle of the median area. Hindwing with some elongate black anteterminal and more 

 distinct submarginal patches, laertes only inhabits the provinces of Rio de Janeiro and Espiritu Santo and 

 is very common both at Rio and Petroijolis from January to March. Larva in nests on various forest-trees. 

 It was first figured by Bitrmeister. Arrangement of the bristles according to Dr. Wilhelm MtJLLER as in 

 Morpho hercules. Two sharply differentiated local races: laertes Druce (= epistroj^his Hbn. [jjro parte] $, iph- lacrlcs. 

 itus Fldr. 9) (68 c), ralatively small, apical patch on the forewing above narrow, as also the black curved spot 

 at the apex of the cell; $ %vith sharply defined black-brown submarginal crescentic spots on the underside 

 of the liindwing. All the markings yellow-brown, the intramedian ocelli of the forewing strongly marked, 

 rounded, 9 bright yellowish green, with mother-of-pearl gloss. — eutropius subsp. nov. Larger than laertes, eutrophcs. 

 ground-colour both above and beneath more blue-green. Forewing with the apical patch more than twice 

 as broad, the black hook at the cUscocellular more strongly marked. Hindwing in both sexes further with a 

 subterminal series of intraneural striae, united into a median and an anal undulate band; under surface 

 with the markings blackish instead of yellow-brown. The intramechan eye-spots of the foremng and the 

 chain of ocelli on the liindwing more indistinct, narrower, their component parts more isolated. Espiritu 

 Santo, rare. 



M. catenarius Perry is the oldest name for the species which is widely distributed in collections under atUnarius, 

 the name of epistrophis Hbn., and wliich differs from laertes in having the row of ocelli on the liindwing round- 

 ed instead of elongate, and also placed further apart. In addition most catenarius have the distal border 

 of the forewing adorned with isolated black spots, not united into a band, and extending to the anal angle. 

 The 99 arp 'lot like the ,^,^, as in laertes, but decorated more plentifully with brown spots on the under sur- 

 face and more cUstinct submarginal undulate bands on the upper surface. There are some 9 examples, however, 

 wliich in the markings approximate to those of the J. In Santa Catharina, particularly in the more ele- 

 vated localities in the neighbourhood of Theresopolis and on the Alto-Uruguay, there occur commonly together 

 with light 99 also examples in wliich on the underside of the hindwing, especially about the cell and in 

 the submarginal region, the ordinarily separated brown bands are broadly diffused, so as to form grotesc£ue 

 figures and extended undulate bands: = 9-f- marmorata Fruhst. In such examples the black distal bordering marmorcda. 



