PubL 2. in. 1921. VILA. By Dr. A. Seitz. 465 



horns crowned with a star at the end; on Tragia vohi))ilis; when at rest it keeps the anterior and posterior 

 parts raised. Pupa green or grey-brown, with a slight rosy admixture, compact, with the edges of the wings 

 projecting as in Ergolis, hut otherwise not so smooth as the latter. The butterfly has an elegant but not rapid 

 flight and very commonly rests on bushes; in Bahia T frecpiently found the insects enmeshed in the horizontally 

 placed webs of a large spider, in which numbers perish. — • As no district is known where more than one 

 form of Didonis occurs, all are probably merely representatives of a single species. The most northerly is 

 aganisa Rdv. (9-1 f), with the forewing uniform dark brown: the scarlet band runs in a zigzag from the apex aganisa. 

 to the anal angle of the hindwing and cuts off the distal-marginal part of the hindwing ; from ^lexico to Central 

 America. — pasira Dbl. <£• Hew. has the scarlet band placed nearer to the distal margin of the hindwing and pasira. 

 broken up into separate red spots by the very thick veins. The distal part of the forewing is much lighter. 

 It fhes in Guiana and is only to be regarded as a transition to the t\'j3ical hibUs. — biblis F. ( = hji^eria biblis. 

 Cr., thadama Godt.) (94 f) hkewise has the forewing lighter at the distal margin: in it the scarlet band follows 

 throughout the curve of the distal margin of the hindwing, leaving only a narrow black border free. Tiiis is 

 the usual form, is distributed from Colombia to beyond Central Brazil and is still very common in Rio Janeiro 

 and Sao Paulo. — nectanabis Fruhst. has the scarlet band darker red above, beneath the band of the hindwing nedanahis. 

 is much narrower than in North Brazihan specimens ; Rio Grande do Sul. — sisygambis Fruhst. is said to be sisytfambis. 

 larger than Brazilian specimens, the red baird of the hindwing beneath is more strongly narrowed and sprink- 

 led with black scales than in the preceding form. — laticlavia Thieme, which R. Haensch discovered on the upper laticlaiia. 

 Rio Negro, has the broadest scarlet band of the forms ; this becomes quite especially broad in the middle of the 

 distal margin, where it extends so far basal that its proximal edge becomes convexe towaixls the base, whilst 

 otherwise it is concave. — The species belongs to the Ergolids. 



C. Group: Ergolidi. 



'To this group, which is typically represented in Asia and Africa hy Erciolis. Euryiela and Biblis, and which has been 

 variously called Ergolidi, Eurylelini or Biblini, belongs already the genus Didonis just dealt with, and only by mistake this 

 paragraph stands after instead of before that genus. According as the habits, the nexu-ation or the life-history is put in the 

 foreground, the group is somewhat differently defined. The 3 American genera which certainly belong here (Didonis, 

 Vila, Cystineura) have also been further separated as ,,Dido7iidi". AiuuviLi.irs gives first importance to the inflated base of 

 the veins of the forewing (especially the subcostal), according to which a fuither series of American genera should be included 

 e. g. Bolboneura sylphis, named from this peculiarity and formerly merged in the genus Temenis. Libythina and Aniiqonis, 

 concerning who.se life-history we still know almost nothing, would connect the group with Eunica a,\\dL Litnicia with the E'/jica'i- 

 idi. Until we know the larvae, wliich will no doubt here prove quite characteristic, it is llseles^ to waste many words on 

 the affinities of thes^e groups. Whilst on the one hand the ontiie agreement in the habits of Ergolio and Didonis and (he 

 .striking sinxilarity of Cyslinciira ieleboas and Neptidopsis (which is not. only superficial) argues in favour of a anion of the Old 

 World genera into one subfamily with the corresponding genex'a of the New World, on the other hand Rei'Ter separates the two 

 and .idvocates a closei association of Ergnlis with the Vanessidi. If is, however, very striking that all the larvae which are known 

 of Byblia (Africa), Ergolis (Asia) and Didonis (America) live on one and the same food-plant, the evil-smelling Tragia. When 

 in conjunction with such unusual morphological conditions as the .swelling at the base of the costal, the natuie of the larval 

 spines (spines on the head very long, a crest of spikes at the end of the spines, etc.) and the like, we find further agreement 

 in an otherwise luuisual food-plant, a close systematic connection between these geographically remote genera seems very 

 Ijrobable. 



18. Genus: Vila Ky. 



As Vila is one of the comparatively few butterfly genera of which I have never observed an example 

 in the open, I am not in a position to s^y anything as to its bionomics. According to its affinities (it is closely 

 connected with the Ergolis-Didonis group) one would expect a darting or sailing flight with the wings held 

 horizontally ; but on account of an unmistakable tendency to mimic certain Ithomiids it would appear that an 

 alternately fluttering and jerkj^ flight, so as to complete tlie illusion, would be more advantageous for the insect. 

 — The genus consists of 6 rather nearly allied forms, which all (except one) have the upper surface of the \\ings 

 predominantly dark with vitreous white patches and bear an orange-coloured arcuate line on the under surface. 

 All the species seem to be rather rare and are only received in Europe in single specimens. Tlieir proper habitat 

 is the watershed of the Amazons, from which they extend northwards to Guiana and southwards to Peru. — 

 The Vila species have a moderately broad head with thick, naked eyes, palpus about the length of the head, 

 with the 2nd segment thickened and the Srd somewhat hollowed ; antenna half the length of the costa, gradually 

 and slightly thickened at the end; the body is slender, on the thorax are whitish bands and spots, as in a 

 Pantoporia; wings enthe-marghied, broad with rounded distal margin. Tlie neuration similar to that of Cy- 

 stineura, on the forewing the cell is closed, the subcostal in the ,^ swollen at its base into a thick cyst. Cell of 

 the hindwing open. — Concerning the early stages nothing is known. 



V. azeca Dbl. <& Hew. (95 c). Forewing with broad white cell-wedge, subapical oblique band and white azeca. 

 streak between the median veins; hindwing with hj-alinc white costal area. Under surface with orange-ycillow, 

 dark-edged marginal stripe. Bolivia and Peru. 



V 59 



