550 PREPONA. By H. Fruhstorfee. 



leilia. A. leilia Edw. (110 A c) from Arizona has on the hindwings a row of, and on tlie forewings 2 eyespots 



anfonia. with white jjupils. — antotiia Edw. (110 Ac) is smaller with a lighter and more variegated ujiper surface owing 



to numerous light spots. 



argus. A. argus Bates (109 b) from Guatemala and Honduras greatly deviates from the preceding species 



by the very much cut out distal margin of the forewings and by quite a different scheme of markings. It varies 



somewhat, especially the yellow band of the forewing is inconstant, being sometimes more prominent than 



armilla. in the figured specimen. Specimens with a distinct yellow band, occurring in both the sexes, are called armilla 



Fruhst. Seems not to be common. 



M. Charaxidi. 



We have bvit little to add to what has been said about this group in Vol. 1 p. 108 — 69 and Vol. XIII. p. 122 — 23. 

 The butterflies mostly exliibit an uncommonly clumsy, strong thorax, bearing the very thick and strong flying-muscles. The 

 antennae are always ciuite gradually thickened to a moderate club, but have a strong shaft. The abdomen often adheres 

 to the powerful thorax only like a small appendix. The flight is very powerful, though not elegant, rumbling or tumbl- 

 ing, with long-striking" flaps of the wings, quite dissimilar to the flight of the Apaiuridi which dart along with stretched wings. 

 When holding the butterflies, which are generally of a considerable size, between the fingers, they develop great efforts to 

 free themselves, and in the net they mostly flutter furiously about. They disdain flowers, but go on fruit, saps, excrements 

 and baits by which they often get so boozy that one can easily grasp them by the thorax itself with the pincette and 

 kill them by a pressure, whereas otherwise they are extremely timid. They are mostly always of imposing colours, very 

 often with a dark under surface decorated by metal colours. — The larvae, frequently of a. green colour, are nude, granular 

 or with quite short hair; the head mostly exhibits short horns; the neck is often strangulated, the back may rise in 

 pointed protuberances; at the tip of the tail sometimes two knobs, points or long appendages. — The pupae are also quite 

 different froni tho.se of the Apahiridi: not bilaterally compressed, but twisted round, berry-shaped, with mostly quite 

 short abdominal part being shoved together, resembling in the shape rather the pupae of Daiuiidi than those of other Nyni- 

 pluilidae, without any protuberance and points, with quite smooth surface. Except the northern parts of North America and 

 Asia, they are distributed almost over the whole world, except Europe, where they only inhabit the southernmost extremity; 

 their chief range, however, are the tropics of both the hemispheres. Some species are extremely rare and belong to the 

 most highly esteemed objects in collections. (A. Seitz.) 



The Prefona are large and brilliantly coloured butterflies of a black ground-colour and, in the common 

 species, mostly with a metallic-lustrous, bluish-green longitudinal band across both the wings. In some species 

 the wings are transversed yet by a series of yellow submarginal spots, and in two Andine species we notice a 

 red transverse band (similar to that of Agrias) on the forewings. The Prepona evidently replace in South America 

 the palaearctic Charaxes-torm. with which they are so closely allied in the veins that there are but few impor- 

 tant structural marks by which they differ from Charaxes. 



57. Genus: Prepoiia Bsd. 



In Prepona the forewings are mostly drawn forth at the apex, somewhat in the shape of a sickle; the 

 hindwings are never caudate, but always rounded off. The antennae quite gradually change into a slender 

 club. The precostal of the hindwings is from the very bottom bent distally, while in Charaxes it rises in a 

 straight line. The cells of both the wings are closed by a fine posterior discocellular disemboguing on the fore- 

 wings distal from the bifurcation of the medians, on the hindwings proximal from it. The tarsus of the (^(^ 

 is almost as long as the tibia, in Charaxes always shorter. The amazingly close affinity expressed by the 

 structure is also displayed by the shape of the larvae being built according to the same type and differing only 

 in single details; so for instance in the longer tail-fork and the more strongly developed fourth segment, while 

 the three first ones are suddenly tapering off behind the head. On the head there are only two instead of four 

 horns turned hindward. We as yet know very little about the larva, and probably only the larvae of the four 

 most common species are known (demophon, meander, antimache and chrornus. They live, according to 

 v. BoENNiNGHAUSEN on Anonaceae and Abacata-trees. According to A. Seitz (Wiesbaden 1893) they have 

 a curious shape ; behind the head there is a neck-like depression followed by a gibbous elevation, the posterior 

 end of the insect beitig drawn out into two appendages, which are apart when at rest. 



The Pre^ao wffl-Iarvae most remarkably are without spines, i. e. according to modern views, the spines 

 are stunted, whereby this genus shows a certain affinity to Apatura, being also confirmed by the power- 

 ful structure and the blue reflection of the butterflies, by their flight and habits etc. 



Hahnel also mentions (Iris 1890 p. 290) with respect to the affinity to Apatura, that in the' Prepona 

 ,,the A^jatura-type is more distinctly pronounced in the tropics, than in the Apatura themselves, which likewise 

 occur on the Amazon, but are somewhat excelled in the beauty of colours and the size by their northern 

 cousins". 



According to Hahnel (Iris 1890 p. 308) certain Prepona are to be noticed by a vanilla-odour , .occur- 

 ring often in species with a deep, intensive blue". 



The egg of Prepona chrornus Guer., according to Fassl, is of the size of an egg of Sphinx ligustri, being 

 globose, of a shiny white, with many fine pores. The micropyle relatively large and to be seen with the naked 

 eye. The little larva when just crept out is about 2 mm long, of a greyish green; the diameter of the head 

 is larger than that of the trunk which is tapering off backwards. At the third ring there is an elevation 



