Its. 



HELK'ONIUS. By Dr. A. Seitz. " 381 



The black apical area encloses numerous small sulphur-yellow spots arranged in two rows and continuing 

 somewhat on the rufous discal area. Hindwing with a series of isolated black spots crossing the middle of the 

 wing ; the apex black, with a light tear-shaped spot. — A very similar form, novatus 5«Y. (= illustris Weym., novaius. 

 spadicarius Weeks) {l'2Wj from Bolivia and Peru, lias the brown-yellow ground-colour paler, rather dull ochreous, 

 and the black markings of the forewings partl^y reducetl. giving way to a sulphur-j'ellow band. Hindwing pre- 

 cisely as in ?nua. — In leopardus Weyni. (73 a) from Bolivia the oblique band of the forewing is quite broad, leopardus. 

 brillant lemon-yellow and fairly well defined, sharply contrasting w ith the duller, more chestnut-brown ground- 

 colour. — ab. subnubilus (S7/(7(. from Peru, and ab. obscurior *S7/(7^ from Bohvia, refer to darker .specimens subnubit 

 suffused with fuscous, such as are known among all the yellow-brown species of Heliconius; such melanisms obscurior. 

 are especially common and pregnant- among the various forms of narcaea, without, however, having received 

 any special names. 



H. urania Mull. (= pasithoe Cr., hecale F.) (73 a). :This easdy recognizable species is referred to in the vmnia. 

 three latest works under its three s^aionyms. ^Iuller gave this name to a Heliconius which is unmistakably 

 recognized from his figure, and which camiot be confounded with Linne's Papilio urania (a Tenaris). For that 

 reason we follow Weymee. Two forms are known, both black with a dull white, black-spotted band crossing the 

 forewing and with three whitish subapical spots. The ty^iical form of Guayana has the groundcolour above 

 coal-black, whereas in fulvescens Lathy (73 a) from Demerara the inner half is suffused with brown. This species julvescens. 

 is one of the less common Heliconius. 



H. aristiona. It is doubtful whether the 20 forms described all belong to one and the same species, 

 the greater nund:)er of them being distinctly separated geographically. This seems less to depend upon the 

 climatic conditions of their home than upon the models which they find there, that is to say upon the outward 

 appearance of the Danaid species which occur in the same locality. The typical aristiona Hew. (73 d) comes from aristiona- 

 Bolivia and Peru, being only found, although not everywhere, where the exceedingly common Melinaea mo- 

 thone (32 e) occurs; there we find also Mechanitis decepttis, HyjMScada fallax (38 c), Ceratinia semifulva (34 d), 

 Eresia murena (91 c), a very simUar lampeto-iorm of the genus Eueides etc. ; indeed in some localities the majority 

 of all the more common butterflies look like H. aristiona, and it is only after their capture that one realizes that 

 but few of them really belong to that species. Very similar to this quite unmistakable, typical aristiona is the 

 form bicolorata Btlr. (= peruana Hpffr.) (73 d), likewise from Peru; the black apex is cut off pretty straight bicolorata. 

 from the rufous discal area, and the brown colour reaches the termen in cell 1 and 2 (between submedian 

 vein and the median nervules). — splendida Weym. (73 d). Like aristiona, but with the base of the forewings and splendida. 

 the apex of the hindwings dusted with dull chestnut-brown; from Bolivia. — timaeus Biff. (73 d) from Peru timaeus. 

 resembles in the forewing aristiona typica. being somewhat more profusely spotted with black ; but the hindwing 

 is not black, but brown-yellow, with an incomplete band similar to that found in the forewing, and an equally 

 interrupted series of median spots, both obsolete before the apex. — phalaris Weym. (73 e), fi'om the Brazilian pUcdaris. 

 Rio Madeira, has the entire hindwing deep black, only the apical area being brillant lufous whereas the apex 

 of the forewing is laved with rufous just from the tip inwards. — In seraphion Weym. (73 c) from Iquitos seraphion. 

 the apex of the forewing is black, with a yellow-brown subapical band, sharply .separated from the likewise 

 yellow-brown discal area by a black oblique band. On the hindwing a black median band separated from the 

 black termen by the yellow-brown ground-colour. This is undoubtedly due to the influence of certain forms of 

 Heliconius belonging to other groups flying in the same locality, giving rise to such a great similarity that when 

 flying neither can be distinguished from the other. — arcuella Druce (73 c) from Ecuador is quite similar, but arcuella. 

 more brillant yellow; in its markings it almost exactly coincides with the following aurora, oidy the apex of the 

 forewing is quite different. — aurora Bat. (73 b) would be like aristiona, were it not for a lemon-yellow aurora. 

 oblique spot in the apex of the forewing which gives it an entirely different look. — elegans Weym. (73 c) from elegans. 

 Peru, Bolivia and Amazonas, possesses likewise the lemon-yellow apical streak; but this is not separated from 

 the brown-yellow apical area by a broadly black band, but gradually sha.des into it, only a few black scales 

 occasionally indicating their line of contact. From aurora it is easily distinguished by having on the hindwing 

 the black median band separated from the black termen by a streak of the yellow-brown ground-colour. — 

 euphrasius Weym. (73 b) from Colombia and Ecuador probably does not belong here, but rather to the next euphrasius. 

 following group. Forewing like that of novatus, but lacking the apical spots; the hindwing is traversed from the 

 anal angle to the middle of the costal margin by a dirty brown band, leaving the base of the hindwings as well 

 as a large spot in the lower half of the same wing suffused with black ; also the forewing obscured with sooty black. 

 — lenaeus Weym. (73 e) from Ecuador, Peru and Colombia has the forewings marked as in euphrasius, but lenaeus. 

 the ground-colour is yellow-brown, not suffused with black, the lemon-yellow band is narrower, the black 

 discal spots smaller, the submedian band greatly reduced. The hindwings, however, are quite different, uniformlj' 

 yellow-brown, occasionally traver.sed by a dark median row of dots, which give it a suprising resemblance to 

 Melinaea zaneka (32 e) which also flies in Ecuador. In exactly the same way the form tarapotensis Riff, from 

 Tarapoto coincides with its model Melinaea tarapotensis Haeyisch, a form of Mel. menophiUis (32 e) flying -in 

 the same locality; the base of the hindwings is adorned with rows of black dots, which, however, onlj- reach to 



