PRECIS. By Dr. A. Seitz. 461 



H. Splendida Rothsch. (94 d), from Peru, seems to be a rare species and was only recently discovered, splendida. 

 Ill it the brown -yellow is extended over the entire upper surface, which produces a certain similarity to Jle- 

 galura peleus (= petrea, Ddf). Tliis is heightened by the straight, stalk-hke tail of the hmdwiiig, the length of 

 which is further increased by a sLnus in the distal margin near the extremity of the radials. This gives the 

 hindwing a somewhat distorted appearance, which renders misidentification impossible. 



13. Genus: Precis Hbn. (Junonia Hbn.) 



The Precis species are characteristic butterfhes of the hot regions and hke CatopsUia are the first to 

 meet the traveller in a tropical countiy; only Anartia is ec^ually prominent in America. In Africa and East 

 India CatopsUia and Precis play much the same role as Pieris, Gonepteryx and Vanessa in the north of Europe. 

 The egg is almost spherical, with longitudinal ribs, the larva short and strongly spined; liorn.s on the head may 

 be present, but are sometimes wanting. The larvae live free on Labiatae and Acanthaceae, on Justitia, Vitex, 

 Antirrhinum, Achyrhantes, etc. The pupae have the anterior part rounded and differ from those of F«?(e.ssa in the 

 absence of large points on the head ; so far as I remember, they have no metaUic spots. In the butterfly the distal 

 margin of the forewing is feebly angled at the end of the upper radial, the subcostal .5-branched, the branches 

 at then origin almost equidistant. The lower cUscocellular is wanting on the forewing, so that, as the hindwing 

 also has no transverse vein, both cells are open; on the hindwing the costal is strongly curved. The shape of 

 the wings varies in the Old World species to such an extent that even the course of the veins is somewhat 

 modified by it; with the fall of the leaf the under surface begins to become leaf-lUie, the large eye-spots dis- 

 appear and are replaced by leafdijce markings: the mickib of the leaf is copied by a stripe from the costal 

 margin of the forewing to the anal angle of the hindwing, which is produced Uke a leaf-stalk (cf. figure 

 of the underside of P. almana, vol. I, pi. G2 a, also many figures in vol. IX, pi. 116 — 117, as weU as vol. 

 XIII, pi. 51 *). The size of the eye-spots on the upper surface varies quite considerably even m specimens taken 

 at the same place and on the same day, and there is also great variability in other directions. The butter- 

 flies are without exception common, except at the extreme limits of their range ; they migrate, sometimes gre- 

 gariously. 175 forms have been described hitherto, of which only 14, which perhaps are all only forms of one 

 species, are from America. The former separation of the genus Junonia has not been found tenable. 



P. lavinia. In America it is possible that only one, but very variable, species of Precis occurs, which 

 again is merely the western representative of the Old World villida, while villida itseK is nearly related to many 

 forms of orithija which are distributed over the whole of South Asia (vol. I, pi. 62 b). Of the American forms 

 many are geographical, such as a small form with the upper surface entnely orange-yellow, which the dealers 

 call livia Stgr. (94 d) and in which I think I recognize Felder's vestiiia; for this no locahty is given, but it is Uvia. 

 described as not unlike a small vellida {= villida). This similarity also holds if we compare it with one of vestina. 

 the villida forms distributed in North Australia and in many of the South Sea Islands, which are likewise 

 predommantly yellow-red above. It occurs in BoMvia and seems to be a mountain butterfly. — The North 

 American coenia Hhn. (94 e) also is nothing more than a form of lavinia, with the band of the forewing very coenia. 

 pale, very unevenly forked, and the upper eye-spot of the hindwing unusually enlarged, coenia is a very common 

 butterfly in the south of the United States, extends northwards to New England and southwards over the whole 

 of Central America and the larger West Indian Islands to Colombia. — lavinia Cr. (94 d) has been split up lavinia. 

 into a large number of forms, which, however, for the most part represent nothing more than accidental and 

 individual aberrations. The typical lavinia Cr. (= evarete Cr., fhrtea F., larinia F., es'ra F., cortez Hbst.) is 

 characterized by blue-green, but dull reflection on the upperside, particularly in the ^, in which the band 

 of the forewing shows all degrees of development and which differs constantly from coenia in the- smaller 

 peacock eye-spot between the radial veins. Out of a swarm of this butterfly which I met with at Palermo, 

 on the La Plata, I caught many hundreds of examples, from which tlie most diverse series of forms can be 

 picked out, ranging from those with the upper surface entirely didl brown (= genoveva Cr.) to those with the genoveva. 

 wings almost uniformly blackened above and beneath (= ab. infuscata Fldr.) (94 e). — ab. negra Fldr. is larger infuscala. 

 than the North Brazihan form, occurs as far as Guiana and has tlie wings broader and more rounded ; it is also "<^ff™- 

 found, however, in the extreme south, where in Uruguay together with small, pointed-winged specimens larger, 

 broad-winged examples occur almost at the same season. — ab. zonalis Fldr. has the forewing more produced zonalis. 

 and the reddish submarginal band on the upperside of the hindwhig is almost entirely obsolete. — ■ ab. pallens palleivs. 

 Fldr., from Venezuela, is almost exactly Uke a dull-coloured genoveva, but has more distinct gloss on the upper- 

 side of the hindwing, and on tlie forewing the spots of the band placed in the cell are vei-y much hghter than 

 in Surinam lavinia. — ab. divaricata Fldr. is likewise very near to genoveva, especially on the under surface, divaricaia. 

 but is there paler, more yellowish in tone, and the band in the distal part is strongly constricted below the 

 fork. — ab. incarnata Fldr. is similar, l»ut the band of the forewing, on the contrary, is mucli widened and incarnata. 

 somewhat reddish in tone. — ab. constricta Fldr. has the forewing grey-brown, the distal band narrowed, con- conslricta. 

 stricted in the middle, the proximal arm of the fork narrower than in genoveva, the lower eye-spot of the 

 hindwing enlarged; from Colombia. — hilaris Fldr., from Paraguay, is probably the nearest to t^^i^ical lavinia, hilaris. 



*) Concerning the seasonal dimorphism of Precis cf. AuElviLLlus in vol. XIII, p. 227 of the "Macrolepidopteia." 



