470 HYPOLIMNAS; HISTORIS. By Dr. A. Seitz. 



When I started the butterfhes up by beating and they flew round the bush before setthng again, it was scarcely 

 possible to distinguish pekus in flight from the swarm of Colaenis etc. 



clevcliea. M. eleuchea Hbn. (= pellenisCrorf^.) (96 e). Pretty similar to the preceding, but darker fox-red, more 



strongly marked with black, and abundantly distinct in the shape of the forewing, which is much shorter 

 and has a short tooth below the apex. From the south of the United States (Texas, Florida) and the Antilles; 

 not rare on Cuba. 



E. Group: Hypolimnadidi. 



If the ITyiJolimiiaJids are not reckoned directly to the Vancssidi, but are separated from Anuriia and Victoriiia, which 

 nearly approach iihe Vanessids, they have scarcely to be considered in the American fauna, as their sole repreFentative has 

 certainly been accidentally introduced. We therefore i^lace it here by itself. 



21. Genus : Hypoliniiias Hbn. 



The only species found in America is H. misippus, Avhich is here rare, but in Africa and South Asia 

 cjuite common and mimetically adapted to the Danaids occurring there. Hence it is dealt with fully elsewhere 

 (vol. IX, p. 545, and vol. XIII, p. 212) and, as it has also reached the Palearctic Region in Syria, it is figured 

 in the first part of this work. 



misi'p'pus. H. misippus L. (vol.1, pi. 60c). The I'eader is here referred to what has been said m vol. I, p. 195, vol. IX, 



p. 547, and vol. XIII, p. 213. (J black with white discal area with blue reflection on both wings ; the $-form found 

 in America is the one figured in vol. I, pi. 60 c, as the typical $-form of misippus, diocippus Or., a mimic of 

 Dnnais chrysippus. The butterfly is still rare in America and has been found in quite isolated localities; thus 

 in widely distant parts of North America (New York-Florida), on the Antilles and in northern South America. 

 No doubt pupae have been repeatedly imported, and as the larva lives on field-produce (Batatae) and the species 

 runs through the whole cycle from egg to imago in only some 4 — 5 weeks, it has succeeded in gaining a firm 

 foothold. The flight of H. misippus is quite unlike that of other Nymphalids, which often have a darting or 

 sailing motion, on the contrary it resembles the irregular flight of the Danaids, which the female mimics, 

 just as the other mimetic Hypolimnas that of EupJoea. 



F. Group: Gynaeciidae. 



This group of butterflies approximates in some degree to the Vanesaidi and at the same time to the nearly allied JI;/- 

 poliinnadidi. As far as they are known the larvae are strongly spined, the pupae have points on the head and often also pe- 

 culiar teeth on the dorsum, the butterfhes are most conspicuous by the peculiar scheme of markings on the under surface, 

 wheie this is not softened into a leaf-like pattern. There are scarcely a dozen forms, which are divided into genera, all con- 

 fined to America, there often common and sometimes so general that they may be described as characteristic butterflies of 

 a South American land-scape. Sometimes butterflies of this group are seen flying along at great elevations, all in the same 

 direction, apparently migrating. 



22. Genus: Hiistoris Hbn. 



To this genus is assigned a large butterfly, common in almost the whole of South America, which about 

 corresponds with Doleschallia of the Old World. The sole species is so characteristic that a description 

 is almost supei'fluous. 



H. orion F. (= danae Cr.) (104 e). Very large, forewing produced at the apex and hindwing at the 

 anal part. Above black-brown with orange disc to the forewing, this orange colour beyond the cell reaching 

 nearly to the distal margin, before the apex of the forewing a white costal spot, the hindwing light-margined. 

 Under surface leaf-like. From the south of Florida, where, however, it is probably only an immigrant, 

 the species is distributed over the West Indies and Mexico through Central and South America as far as Argen- 

 tina and it extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. — The larva is thick and fmn, with short bran- 

 ched spines and two short spinose clubs on the head, yellow-brownish to greenish with dark brown transverse 

 markings on the segments. The pupa is laterally much flattened with sharp dorsal ridge, lilcewise yellow- 

 brownish to wood-coloured, and has two long horns on the head. The butterfly does not visit flowers, but 

 drinks at wet places on the road and especially at sugar, sap and fruit, where it rests head downwards, always 

 with the wings closed, but when in danger dashes away with very powerful, though not very elegant flight 



