566 AGRIAS. By H. Fruhstorfer. 



second $ of buckleyana differing considerably from the above described specimen by the absence of any blue 

 reflection. We thus have the analogous case as in P. praeneste from Colombia which likewise possesses two 

 different $$-forms, one with plain colours and one (much rarer) with an intensely light-blue reflection which 

 I described as P. praeneste $ ab. paradisiaca once before" (Fassl). The corresponding second $-form of the 

 oli/mpica. Bolivian race with the light-blue gloss on the wings mentioned above was described as olympica Fassl (113 b). 

 elevata. — A most interesting alpine form has been described as elevata Fassl (113 b), with yellow instead of red bands 

 on the upper surface of both the wings. Its author writes about this alpine race: ,,But what struck me, was the 

 uncommonly high habitat of the animal at the ridge of a mountaLii-ciiain of the Cordilleras at an elevation 

 of 2000 m, thus being the highest spot where I ever took P. buckleyana ; all the others originated from altitudes 

 of 700 to 1700 m. It may be possible that this conspicuous, beautiful aberration of the otherwise purple Pre- 

 pona represents a constant alpine form of it. Unfortunately the said habitat is eternally surrounded by fogs 

 and clouds, so that I have little hope to take some more specimens of this new species on further excursions 

 into this deserted, marshy, reedy and entirely impassable district of the primeval forest of the Bolivian high 

 mountains. Moreover, as to the considerable altitude up to which the red Prepona as well as the two forms 

 mentioned first fly which, with their magnificent and variegated up2)er surfaces evidently do not at all belong 

 to the other butterflies surrounding them there, a comparison of the animals when sitting on the ground, results 

 in a most amazing likeness of the combination of colours on their under surfaces, consisting of silvery white 

 dots and streaks on an ochreous, reddish or black ground. I captured, for instance, on a path of 4 km length, 

 which I had constructed myself in the dark primeval forest of the North Yunga of Bolivia in an altitude of 

 1700 m, the following species of butterflies in the course of 6 months: Adelpha saundersi, Prepona buckleyana, 

 xenagoras, garleppiana, Opoptera bracfeolata, Erypfianes zolvizora, Caligo phokilides, Lymanopoda albomaculata 

 and albocincta, several species of Pedaliodes with ,,mildew"-s2Dots on the under surface, Daedahna dinias etc. 

 I wonder whether these white and silvery spots on the under surface of the above-mentioned animals are per- 

 hajjs adapted to the water-di'ops of their home in the alpine primeval forest being eternally damp and dripping 

 with wet ? The Prepona flying 800 m further down in the forest of the hot valleys, in spite of their much 

 greater number of species, do not exhibit one single under surface, being so intensely dark and decorated with 

 silver, nor does any 'Adelpha, BrassoUda or Safyrida show such a consjjicuous homogeneousness of coloiu's on 

 their under surface, as the above-mentioned alpine animals of the same genera" (Fassl). In conclusion I beg 

 to thank Mr. Robert Biedermann of Winterthur for the readiness shown in permitting to have some rare 

 specimens out of his collection — among them also the fu-.st 8 figures of plate 113 — photographed and coloured 

 from the original for our work. 



58. Genus: Agrias Dbl. 



In this magnificent tropical genus, upon which nature seems to have showered all her abundance of 

 most brilliant colours, and which is, therefore, justly called the , .princely race" of the N ymphulidae, we are 

 most surprised to meet a repetition of two genera of not less abundant colours: the GaUithea and Catagramma, 

 except that the .4g'nas-species greatly excel the latter in size and magnificent colours, and only the ^^ of this 

 genus bear a sexual distinction in the shape of a hau--brush on the hindwings. Some of them, like the famous 

 A. sardanapalus, having been fii'st discovered by Bates in the Amazon Valley, are of an absolutely charming 

 beauty, and the contrast of its purple-red forewings beaming through a blue lustre hued over them as if in a 

 violet purple gloss, with the brilliantly sapphire-blue hindwings, is undoubtedly one of the most magnificent 

 sights that nature has ever produced in the whole world of butterflies. By the structure of the organs and by 

 the veins, Agrias is so nearly allied to Prepona that there exist but slight differences between the two genera. 

 Both the subgenera, besides, are interosculating by forms as those already mentioned in Prepona, P. deiphile 

 Godt. and P. praeneste Hew., the larva being very similar, too. 



Agrias differs from Prepona only by the shorter, but otherwise similarly haired and scaled palpi and 

 the weaker and thinner antennae which, without a distinct club, gradually grow thicker up to the point. The 

 forewings are broader, not protracted in the shape of a sickle, the hindwings more rounded. The cells of both 

 the wings are just like in Prepona closed by a fine posterior discocellular. In all the .species, lioMever, there 

 exists a highly developed hair-tuft of the hindwings, being of a rudimentary shape in but some species of Pre- 

 pona. This scent-brush is placed near the origin of the submedian and corresponds with a pocket at both sides 

 of the abdomen, the interior of which is densely filled up with claviform, modified scales. 8uch scent-apparatuses 

 are rare in the Nymphalidae; but we likewise find them in the Prothoe of Indo-Australia, though somewhat 

 less luxuriantly formed. 



The globular egg is almost of the same size as that of Saturnia pyri; yellowish-white, of a subdued 

 gloss and without a visible structure of the surface. 



The small larva creeps out after 8 days ; it is greyish-green, posteriorly tapering in the shape of a wedge 



