AGERONIIDI; ECJTIMA. By Uv. A. Seitz. 535 



to tlie lateral line, darker. On the second thoracal ring there are 2 long branched sj)ine«, on the one beyond, as 

 well as on the third and the last al)doniinal rings there are spiny knobs; on Populus. Pupae brownish (in the 

 beginning greenish), the wing-jiartitions darker, the abdominal ])ait lighter: the dorsal appendage yellow isii- 

 biown. The butterfly is distributed especially in the western part of North America, more common in the 

 mountains, esjjecially in the Rocky Mountains, its range extending in the United States from Montana and 

 Nebrasca to the we.stern coast. 



L. arthemis. iSimilar to the preceding, though quite different on the under surface being dark hiown 

 traversed by the white band, N\ith orange clots in the wing-cell and before the margin. The ordinary foini 

 arthemis Driinj (= lamina F.) (109 e) has very broad white bands, resembling thus somewhat on the uj)])('r urihimi^:. 

 surface ireiflemeyeri as well as certain forms of the Old World. — In the foi-ni proserpina Edw. (109 e), however, pi-Dsniihin. 

 the white bands may be obliterated, in rare cases even disappear altogetlier, « hereby great likeness with astycuKix 

 is created, especially when there is also an increase of the blue colour on the hindwings. In that case, hov\ever, 

 the orange-red submarginal spots on the under surface of the hindwings mostly shine through to the upper 

 surface, in some cases even creating a simultaneous increase of the yellowish-red colour, which has led to the 

 denomination of rufescens Ckll. proserpina is also mostly considerably smaller than nstyanax. — Egg green, n(fcsrr)i--. 

 larva, when grown U2J, dark brown (rarely olive-green), with a white dorsal saddle on the fifth to eighth 

 abdominal ring. The thickened second thoracal ring bears no branched spines like the preceding forms, but 

 two truncated cones being spinose above, the seconrl abdominal ring is tuberous as well as the last but one. 

 It lives on Crataegus, Salix and probably also on other plants. The butterfly flies on roads near wet ])laces, is 

 often common in Southern Canada and the Northern United States to tiie south as far as Pennsylvania, but 

 is absent in the whole west. According to Holland it reaches altitudes of 2500 m. 



K. Group Ageroniidi. 



This is one of the most peculiar groups of day-butterflies confined exclusively to America. The main 

 group Ageronia {Peridromia) is supi^lied with an organ of sounds, a peculiar kind of rattling or clattering, which 

 belongs to the most energetic sounds created by insects. A rattling Ageronia flying over the road even attracts 

 the attention of the passers-by and in the silent woods I was able to hear the noise from a distance of 40 paces 

 without listening intently. The butterflies, therefore, have the popular name of ,,rattlets" or ,, clatters" (in 

 Brazil: ,,Matraca"). The rattling noise is heard as soon as a butterfly catches sight of another one, but also 

 in the pursuit of invaders into the district of impatiently waiting males. Another peculiarity consists in the 

 upper surface of the Ageroniidi exhibiting a lichenoid or trunk-brown protective colour, while the under surface 

 often has l)right, glaring colours, such as hemochrome, crocus-yellow etc. f'onsistent with this is also the atti- 

 tude while being at rest, about similar to that of a Bonrmia; the butterfly sits with flatly spread \\ings clinging 

 to a trunk and never claps the wings together above the back, like the other day-butterflies. There are often 

 dozens of Initterflies sitting on one trunk. When being chased \\\^, they furiously whirl round the truid; and 

 then generally settle on that side of the tree being opposite to the ])ursuer"s. When flying away they glide along 

 silently, but sometimes they were flying around me with a rattling noise, when I was standing in an open space. 

 and when I kept quiet, they settled down on my grey suit with their heads down and their wings spread out. 

 — The organ by which they create the sounds, was of course first searched for in the veins. In the very much ratt- 

 ling A. feronia there is, however, no thickening of the veins found in the basal part of the wings, but the 

 forewing shows the discocellulars thickened to a strong, horny listel, just like the median and the radials at 

 the place where they are joined with the discocellulars. On the under surface of the wings, the connecting 

 2)i)int of the upper discocellular with the subcostal may be raised to a veritable knob which must certainly be 

 suspected to be degenerated in such a peculiar way by the transformation into an instrument. In opposition 

 to this fact, Reverdin on examining the genitals, has recently discovered an organ consisting of 2 spiny points, 

 at the abdominal margin of Ageronies, in which he suspects the creator of the sounds. — The larvae, as far 

 as is known, live on Dalechampia-species: they exhibit 2 thin, slightly bent horns on the head and on the back 

 single spines developed at the end to branched spikes; the pupa itself has on the head two long divergent appen- 

 dages (hare's ears), but otherwise no conspicuous appendages. The butterflies are fond of resting on the ti'ees 

 of avenues and on the palmtrces bordci'ing the roads, on Orefidoxa l)eing widely sjircad in the trojiical .\mcrican 

 pleasure-grounds, on Embauba-trees and Bombax. 



51. Genus: Ectiiua DU. 



Pretty small brown butterflies with white band of the forewing and lichenoid markings, beneath without 

 glaring colours. The first subcostal vein of the forewings branches off immediately before, the second behind 

 the cell-end; the upper discocellular is quite short, the middle one curved, the lower one stunted. The most 

 conspicuous parts in the butterfly are the very long middle- and especially hind-legs the shins of whic^h, 

 as well as the femurs and tarsi are very much elongated. By stretching these legs the butterfly resting head 

 downwards on trunks, raises the anterior body, while the distal margins of the wings are closely appressed 

 to the bark of the trunk. The larva of the forms greatly ]'esend)ling one another, lives on Dalechampia; 



