PREPONA. By H. Fruhstorfer. 565 



surface much lighter ochreous than in the $ of xenagoras. The silvery white spotting which, moreover, varies 



extremely also in the ^^ of both the forms, very large and distinctly pronounced. The (J of P. garleppiana 



being one of the very greatest rarities of the South American Nym])halidac, the sole $ taken in February 1913 



in the North Yungas of Bolivia at an altitude of 1700 m will probably stay unique for a long time. — sphac- siiluirtrrid. 



teria subsp. nov. is a Peruvian race of a smaller habitus, with narrowed blue bands and almost extinct orange 



spots of the fnrewings. Type in the Tring Museum. 



P. brooksiana Godt. replaces P. garleppiana in Mexico. UiJ|)er surface still more gorgeous by an almost imHikskoui. 

 again as broad light blue band, compared to P. garleppiana, reaching besides the costal margin of the forewings. 

 The orange spots longer, though of a more oblong than square shape. The foremost, subapical one is absent, 

 all the maculae of the hindwings, however, are black-pupilled. The under surface ap23roximates that of P. 

 deiphile Godt., being preponderantly reddish-brown and having also the white transcellular spot of the fore- 

 wings in common with deiphile, which is absent in P. xenagoras and P. garleppiana. There are only 3 speci- 

 mens known to a certainty. 1 $ (<^li<? f.vpp) from ('oatepec (Mexi(^o); a second $ in the Paris Museum and a 

 third damaged specimen in the Coll. Schaus. ^Jq have not yet been discovered. 



P. praeneste forms the transition from the genus Prepona to the red species of the geiuis Agrias. 



praenente and its southern vicarious type, P. bucklei/ana, are the sole representatives of their magnificent genu.s 



with red transverse bands of the forewings and a series of red spots on the hindwings. The under surface is 



reddish-brown with a light red median stripe and a black submedian zone of the forewings. The hindwings 



may be unicolorously reddish-brown or exhibit greyish-white decorative spots looking like dewy jDcarls or 



like precious stones mounted therein, praeneste Heir. (113 c) is found as a great rarity in Colombia. There pntcncsic. 



exist cJcJ with white median spots of the under surface of the hindwings, as Hevvitsox and ST.iUDiNGER have 



depicted them. In the latter author's collection of the Berlin Museum, however, I saw also <J(J from the Rio 



Dagua without this decoration: this is privata form, nov., whereas ^(^ from the Cauca Valley always exhibit ]>rivala. 



this decoratioji. — Of the $ we figure (113 b) a form paradisiaca Fossl with a violet lustre on the upper surface /'ororfi.sfHm. 



of the hindwings. There exist, however, also unicolorous $$ without the blue discus of the hind\\ings. A. H. 



Fassl writes about their capture: 



■praeneste seems to fly only in the raing period, as I was collecting here I'or a longer time in the dry period without 

 catching sight of a single specimen; finally I succeeded in taking several specimens, whereat I had also occasion to experience 

 the extraordinary intelligence of the animal in judging a danger. An entirely faultless specimen one day timidly fltw away 

 from the bait up as far as to the crown of an enormously high tree of the primeval forest. I posted myself in a hidden 

 place near by and after about a ciuarter of an hour, I was happy to see the red animal flying quickly down to the ground 

 in large spirals; it inspected, however, most closely the whole surroundings and even came quite near me, but it seemed 

 not to like me, although 1 kept standing still as if made of stone. At last the butterfly sat down on the tip of a twig about 

 10 111 vertically above the bait, so that only the antennae being stretched out forewaid and the head were looking out 

 over the outermost rim of the leaf. In this position the beautiful butteifly viewed the whole surroundings and T thoughti 

 it advisable to retire further back. But it could not resist the strong odour of the bait, and after having been flying for a 

 long time timidly about, it once more settled down on the lure. Now I could easily approach it from the shelter and capture it. 



praenestina subsp. nov., a more southern race which has of late come oftener to Europe than the northern prae- praetic'slina. 

 neste. (^,^ immediately separable from Colombian ^^^ by the band of the forewings being distally considerably 

 broadened and pushing back the violet margin quite close to the middle median, growing broader also an- 

 teriorly beyond the cellule and fully absorbing the red submarginal spot in the anterior median space. — COn- mnjusa. 

 fusa Niep. is a foim belonging to the species, with large subapical spots. From the Chanchamayo in Peru. 



P. buckleyana Hew. (113 b) differs from P. praeneste by the absence of the red intra-radial submargi- huckleyana. 

 nal spots of the forewings in both the sexes. The red maculae of the hindwings are more uniform, broader and 

 are united to a more compact band. Beneath, bucklei/ana is separable from the more northern vicarious type 

 by a silvery white spot before the cell-apex of the forewings. There exist specimens with a white median decora- 

 tion of the hindwings and also without it. ,,The $ of P. buckleyayia is somewhat larger than the (^ of this form 

 and somewhat more subdued blackish-brown in the ground-colour. All the markings being purple-red in the 

 (J are light scarlet (thus not orange-brown as in the $ of praeneste); the red bow of the forewing in its inner- 

 most part brightened up whitish. Instead of the deep violet reflection of the ^, we notice in the 9 ^ large spot 

 of a light blue gloss spread over each of the discal parts of the wings, which, in the forewing, extends 

 towards the apex somewhat over the red bow leaving in the hindwing a broad black margin of about 7 mm free 

 after the red baud. The under surface greatly resembles that of the ^; the silvery spots are also especially 

 distinct. The shape of the wings also similar as in the (J somewhat broadly stretched and thereby, as every- 

 body knows, distinctly differentiated also from P. praeneste being looked at as the original form, so that, without 

 counting the differences in the markings, with respect to the very different shape of the wings, P. buckleyana 

 may be considered as a jJi'oper species *). The $ of buckleyana may justly be called the most beautiful of all 

 the Nymphalidae existing. The peculiarly light-blue reflection, especially where it is spread over the delicate 

 pink-red, is of such a magnificent effect that no other butterfly, not even the most beautiful Agrias, can be com- 

 pared with this animal. ,,I captured the sole, extremely rare and beautiful sjjecimen here in the densest primeval 

 forest of the mountains, after having been searching for it in vain for several months at the captm'ing-place 

 of the (J(j^ of this form. A fortnight after having written the article above, I succeeded in captm-ing the 



*) Uncus relatively short, its clubs, however, broader, more compact and more sharply armed than in any other 

 of the species examined hitherto. 



