346 



MORPHO. By H. Fkchstorfbe. 



M. leontius differs from peleules in the broader black distal border, which, particularly on the forewing, 

 is widened to\\ ards the cell and even exceeds in breadth that of peleides cortone Fruhst. Basal part of both wings 

 with some amount of blue-violet gloss, but not so much darkened as in ■peleas. Under surface as in -pelens, but 



leontius. with open band in the median part of the hindwing. Two local forms: leontius Fldr., with the black distal 

 border of the forewing deeply incised proximally. The distal area of the hilld^^•ing more extended than in popilius. 

 Under surface somewhat lighter than in the Bolivian branch-race ; the longitudinal bands purer ^\■hite. Felder's 

 type is an aberrant example vnth. five instead of three ocelli on the forewing beneath and bears the incorrect 



popilius. locality-label: "Bogota"; leontius probably inhabits the Cauca Valley. — popilius Hpffr., described by its 

 author from Bolivia and Venezuela, is likewise still very rare ; my collection contains only one cj, and the $ 

 probably still awaits discovery, 'popilius is characterized by the extremely delicate light blue, but nevertheless 

 brightly glossy upper surface of both wings, which somewhat recalls that of peleides, but shades proximally into a 

 slightly steel-blue, distally into a nearly whitish area, while peleides has a deeper and more uniform blue gloss. 

 A further characteristic is the costally Avidened, but posteriorly narrowed black distal border of the forewing, 

 which is ornamented with five white dots, decreasing in size towards the anal angle. Distal bordering of the 

 hindwing likewise ^vith a slight tendency to become narrower posteriorly, with quite faint traces of reddish 

 patches. Under surface similar to that of our figure, which, however, belongs to another species {vitrea Btlr.), 

 which I at first took for popilius; ground-colour more red-brown; submarginal and median bands yellomsh 

 white, broader, ocelli smaller, ringed with lighter yellow. If popilius really occurs in Venezuela, as Hopffer 

 assumed, the Venezuelan race must differ quite considerably from the name-type from Bolivia, for that a Mor- 

 phid should not have been modified in a locality so remote is, judging from experience of all the allied species, 

 quite out of the question. 



telamon. M. vitrea splits up into two local races: telamon Rob. comes from the Cauca Valley in Colombia and 



approaches peleides Koll. According to its author telamon differs essentially from peleides in its shape : the fore- 

 wing is broader (much the shape of the diagonal half of a square) and the hindwing is nrach rounder. The upper 

 surface is not such a A\-hitisli blue as in peleides and in certain lights has a strongly violet tinge. The dark distal 

 border is of quite uniform breadth on both Mdngs and is not black, but only grey-black and very narrow (scarcely 

 4 mm. in breadth) with very indistinct small light submarginal spots; the basal part of the upperside is not 

 darkened, the costal stripe of the forewing is likewise only grey-black and little conspicuous, and the white costal 

 spot near the discocellular is very small and obsolescent. At the inner angle of the hindwing there is only a 

 small, very obscure red-brown stripe. The under surface is much lighter than in peleides (reddish brown), 

 the forewing has besides the usual three eye-spots also a fourth, small, imperfectly developed ocellus betA\een the 

 upper radial and the last subcostal vein, the light bordering of the eye -spots is much broader and dirty reddish 

 white, the oblique whitish postmedian band is more extended and at the distal angle joins the hght submarginal 

 markings. The yellowish submarginal stripe of the forewing broader, the submarginal mar Icings of the hind- 

 wing reduced and the small dirty reddish stripes in them very little developed. The subapical eye-spot of the 

 vitrea. hindwing smaller than in peleides. Expanse: 118 mm. — vitrea Btlr. (69b, as popilius) has, like telamon, 

 a very narrow black distal border, deeply dentate proximally, a narroA\' white costal spot rumiing out into a 

 fine line towards the base, and three subapical dots on the forewing, the upper surface of both Avings greemsh 

 blue with golden lateral reflections, such as are found in no other species of 3Iorpho. Under surface brown 

 with peculiar dull ohve-green gloss. Median band greenish with bronzy gloss. Ocelli with greenish yellow bor- 

 dering and the pupil sUghtly dotted with red and violet. Bolivia, Province of Yungas. 2 ^^ in coll. Frtjh- 

 STORFER. Length of the forewing 60 — 63 mm. The ? has the black distal border of the forewing much widened 

 and extending in the shape of long teeth along the veins. Somewhat beyond the cell are placed four indistinct 

 white intraneural dots, which terminate before the posterior median. Hindwing about as in peleides Koll. 

 The basal area of both wings moderately broadly blackish with intensive ultramarine reflection. Under surface : 

 ocelli first broadly ringed with greemsh yellow, then with blackish, finally with Ught green, the greemsh border- 

 ing more extended than in the ^, shading somewhat into white towards the costal. Submarginal band only 

 slightly whitish, dusted with green. Hindwing with small, inconspicuous reddish terminal spots. Coroico, Bo- 

 livia, 1500 m. Butler's diagnosis is somewhat meagre and leaves it doubtful whether it refers to the species 

 dealt with here. According to this description the $ has the upper surface variable in colour, blue-green. Base, 

 costal and inner margins of the hind\Aing brown. Distal margin broadly brown. Forewing with a white spot 

 at the end of the cell, bounded by the fu'st subcostal vein. A submarginal row of six A^hite spots at the distal 

 margin. Under surface as in achilles, except that the bands are more greenish and some^^'hat more interrupted. 

 vitrea differs from achillaena in having the brown distal border of the upper surface only about half the usual 

 breadth and the blue colouring more greenish, while the under surface more resembles M. achilles than achillaena. 



M. granadensis, distributed from Central America to Ecuador, is a perfectly valid and well defined 

 species, notwithstanding that Felder suspected he might be dealing with a local form of deidamia and that 

 Staudinger also doubted its specific right, granadensis cannot be a local form of deidamia Hhn. (67 a) since 



