Puhi. IS. !V. 19U,. PREPONA. By H. Frtthstorker. ' 553 



Then follows Colombia with 10, the Amazon district and Central Ameiica with !) sjMK'ies eaeh. Paraguay has 

 5 or 6, and the Antilles only 3 or 4 species. 



On the whole we are already acquainted with the Prej)oiia-^\wv'w<, although enormous distiicts, espe- 

 cially those of the affluents of the Amazon River and some Brazilian Piovinces and especially the Antilles, 

 are still to be explored. The number of the local races being still hidden in these regions, however, will probably 

 increase yet considerably in the next decades, when the geographical and commen^ial opening up of these regions 

 will have made further progress. 



All the Prepona bear hair-tufts on the hindwings, the colour of which varies according to the group 

 of species. By this hair-tuft the genus differs fi-oin the Indo- Australian Cknra.res. In the frequent blue species 

 the hair-tufts are parallel to the surface of the wings, in some species, especially the variegated ones, howevei-, 

 they are raised steep and shaggy, as in P. laertes, the Agrias. Godman and Salvin make use of the colour of 

 the sexual tufts as a mark of separation for the groups of species. When considering only the Central Ameri- 

 (•an species, this separation is also easily carried out. In some Brazilian species, however, we meet already 

 within the species itself forms with grey, yellowish and black haii'-tufts. 



But on the whole, the examination of the easily attainable species resulted in the fact that the two 

 groups of species separated by Godmak and 8alvin by reason of the colouring of the scent-tufts, are also ana- 

 tomically sharply separated. Thus an insignificant mark being in other genera systematically useless in every 

 instance, offers in the Prepoim a precious hint for the great anatomical difference of the sexual organs. On 

 the comparative examination of the clasping-organs, the surprising result arrived at was that the species with 

 black hairtufts, in spite of their extremely similar scheme of markings and the homogeneousness of the colou- 

 ring on the upper surface, exhibit considerable differences in the structure of the sexual organs. But the above 

 more variegated species of the genera bearing yellow hair-tufts, are so very divergent in their colours that they 

 have so far been distributed upon two genera, and are so congruent in the structure of the sexual organs that 

 we must, as it seems, attach a specific importance to c^uite insignificant marks, such as the changes of the 

 jK'i-iphery of the valve, in order to hai'monize the specific difference which is so conspicuously manifested in the 

 exterior, also with that of the sexual organs. As for instance, the structure of the species hitherto circu- 

 lated as Agrias sardanapilus and clnudia is hardly to be distinguished from that of the Prepona laertes and 

 oniplrile. We may, therefore, suppose that the darker and more plainly marked species of the Prepona demo- 

 phon-groiiii are already consolidated, while the variegated species of the Prepona laertes-HerieH are still in full 

 evolution. According to what has been said so far, it is not to be wondered at, if it turns out that the species 

 bearing likewise yellow tufts and having hitherto been comprised by the name of Agrias, belong to the Prepona 

 laertes-group. Dr. Schatz once mentioned the entire uniformity of the veins in ,, Agrias" and in Prepona. The 

 examination of the clasping-organs having resulted in their analogy with Prepona. the name of ..Agrias". was 

 in future to be degraded to the denomination of a group of variegated Prepona, unless we attribute more im- 

 ])ortance to the more slender form of the larvae of the Agrias. 



We, therefore, have to distinguish anatomically: 



A. A rcli(ii'(iiircijiiiiii. I'm ns willi a rliil iiiii\is, fienoiallv laniiiiilVmii, spiiii'b ss. vi-?i(ral appi'iiflai^o. Typi': I. ilinta- 

 l,hn,l I.. 



H. I'l-cpana (Aijriiin). I'licus with a pci uliar, spiiird v.iilral ap]ic-ri<laj;c r(Si'iiil)liiin llic l'I(i\\i-r-hfads (iltlic sprcii s 

 n\' ]ilaiits ['hyteuma. Type: /'. Itirrtcs Him. 



The shape of the valves and the uncommonly strong and long pvnis show an analogy to the Apadiridi. 

 but this is again restricted by the shoit saccus. 



According to the colouring of the antennae, there ai'e also two groups of forms to be distinguished: 



A. Antennae red: Anaeornorp/ia. 



B. Antennae black: Prepon-i. 



A. Group of Species Anaeoniorpha (Rothschild, Nov. Zool, 1S9() t, 13 f 1). 



Veins like in Prepona, the first subcostal veins free, not united as is Anaea. 



P. splendida Rothsch. (I03e) from the Rio Cachyaco, resembles beneath a Prepona meander (lllc) xpinnlUhi. 

 with a lighter basal half and a dark-brown distal zone separated by a black line. Costal as far as near the 

 wing-centre white; above deviating from all the Prepona by the cell of the forewing being suffused with blue, 

 the magnificent longitudinal band traversing also the cell of the hindwing. The forewing is characterized 

 by three blue transcellular maculae. Habitat Peru. 



V 70 



