AGTINOTE. By Dr. K. Jordan. 369 



f^^ of nearly all the American and the majority of the Ohl World species the outer claw reduced and mostly 

 almost rectangularly bent. 



Wings always entire-margined, the apex and hinder angle of both wings rounded, especially the anal 

 angle of the hindwing. Scaling very variously developed ; in non-transparent wings the scales are toothed at 

 most in the distal part of the wing and on the veins, but in Planema the underside of the hindwing witli 

 the exception of the base bears toothed scales; in transparent species the scales are reduced in luimber and size 

 and are either rounded and upriglit, or narrow, forked or hair-like. The veins bear oil the under surface long, 

 stiff bristles, at least in the abdominal region of tlie hindwing. The upper radial vein (with the exception of 

 A. inirifiva) in both wings arising near the anterior angle of tlie cell or stalked witli tiie subcostals, 2nd dis- 

 cocellular curved, cell of tlie hindwing closed. 



In this description no notice is taken of tlie African Pardopsia punctatissitna, wliicii is not a true Acraeid. 

 Cf. vol. XIII, p. 288, pi. 53 a. 



The larvas bear 6 rows of spines, which are adorned w itli stiff simple bristles. The head is hairy, but has 

 neitiier spines nor horns. Tliey are mostly gregarious until siiortly before inipation and many Actinote species 

 feed on lower plants and slirub-like herbs, especially Eupatorium and allied Composites, as well as Mikania, 

 Evalus, Veronia, Boehmeria, etc. The pupa is likewise very characteristic; it is straight, almost cylindrical 

 or dorsally convex, between thorax and abdomen only quite slightly constricted, and as a rule chalk-white; 

 on the wing-cases black stripes corresponding to the neuration of the wings and on the dorsum two rows of 

 spines, which commonly vary according to the species. 



The butterflies are found especially on clearings and at the edges of woods and some species allied to 

 A. thalia sometimes occur in such abundance that they hang on tlie bushes in countless numbers. Such forms 

 are often so sluggish that when placed on the hand they remain there or if shaken out of the bushes slowly 

 crawl up into them agaiii (Seitz). Other species on the contrary fly singly and many so high above the ground 

 in the tops of the trees that they are difficult to catch. 



The distribution of the Acraeids in America is peculiar. They occur from Mexico to Buenos Aires and 

 South Brazil, but the species are by no means uniformly distributed. The mostly dense-scaled blue forms 

 with red-yellow, yellow or white markings, are all confined to the Andes; not one of the numerous species 

 of the abana, hylonome, neleus and ozomene groups descends to the lowlands east of the Andes or occurs in the 

 mountains east of the Orinoco or in South-East Brazil. On the other hand the thalia group has its centre of 

 distribution in South-Eastern Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, and the large Amazon region, from Para to 

 Iciuitos, otherwise .so rich, produces only one or two species of Actinote and these are forms of the thalia group. 



1. Genus : Actinote Hhn. 



The American Acraeids differ from the Old World forms in the structure of the wings. In all the spe- 

 cies the veins on the underside of the hindwing are covered with stiff bristles and the upper submedian is 

 developed proximaUy as a fold and distally as a vein and bristled like the other veins; the 1st subcostal 

 of the forewing always arises proximaUy to the end of the cell, whilst the common stalk of the other 4 arises 

 from the angle of the cell; the 1st radial is placed cpiite near to the subcostal stalk or branches off from it. 

 In the only Old World Acraeid in which the upper submedian of the hindwing is developed distally as a vein, 

 A. mirifica, the 2nd palpal joint is inflated and the subcostal of the hindwing has a much more proximal 

 position than in Actinote. The wings of Actinote have neither the punctiform markings nor the marginal curves 

 which are found in the majority of the (Jld World sjiecies. 



According to the structure of the wings as well as the' habitus Actinote splits up into two sections, 

 one of which is composed of several natural, sharply differentiated groups of species. The differences between 

 the species are commonly very slight and in many cases it is not yet possible, in tiie absence of sufficient 

 material, to come to a satisfactory conclusion as to the specific right of the forms. The study of Actinote is 

 rendered still more difficult on the one hand by the often very strong individual and geographical variability 

 and on the otlier by the reniarkal>le uniformity of the copulatory organs. The larvae and pupae, which, however, 

 are unfortunately only known in a few cases, seem often to show more striking specific characters than the ima- 

 gines. 



Section I. On the under surface the space between the costal margin and costal vein in the distal half 

 of the forewing is scaled, not adorned with numerous bristles; ^^hindwing always with a central row of bristles 

 in the cell; all the bristles on the veins of the fore\\ing and at the distal margin forked. — Confined to the 

 Andes south of Bolivia and the' Sierra de Merida of Venezuela; only one species in Central America, which is 

 distributed northwards to Mexico. 



.Subsection 1. Under surface o£ the biiidwint; with numerous long, scattered bristle.s l)etween the veins. 



a) abana Group. 



Only tliree species show this peculiar clothing. 



