638 MESOSEmA. By Dr. A. Sbitz. 



II. Group, (ewreewe- Group). 



Distal half o f t h e wings with 3 parallel transverse s t ripe s. 



ticsti. M. nesti Hew. Differing fnmi acuta by the characteristic mark of the group and the forewing being 



in the (J only slightly stretched forward, but not ending into a curved point. Beneath exactly as in the follow- 



steli. ing species, but in this the point of the wing is not anymore bent forward. Guiana. — steli (124 d). The 



central eye-spot is above distinct only on the forewing, oblong-triangular with 2 or 3 white pupils. Amazon 



giganiea. and Orinoco. Stichfl calls large Amazonas-specimens of steli gigantea. Rare. 



jmfli. M. putli S'p. nov. (124 d). Border of the forewing round, the shadowy stripes parallel to the border 



are, therefore, in the distal part of the wings also cuived, not straight like in steli and 7iesti\ eye-spot of the 

 forewing round, otherwise like the latter. From Huancabamba; tyjje in the Tring Museum. 

 }iiticeUa. M. macella Hew. (= marcella Meng.) (124 d). Very similar to lyutli, smaller, more distinctly striped, 



the 4 stripes at equal distances from each other, not unecpial as in ■putli. The round eye-sjjot of the forewing 

 is more distinctly prominent. From Teffe (Ega) on the Amazon; before me also from Guiana. 

 cuiiienc. M. eumene CV. (= hiphia Hbn.) (124 d,e). ^ above blackish, $ greyish-brown, with a three-dotted 



central eye-spot, in the distal half of the wings 3 transverse bands the one of which at the border is mostly split 

 in two by an enclosed light line. Beneath there is mostly under the central eye-spot on each wing another 

 eye-spot showing sometimes through above as a shade. From Guiana the range extends over the Amazon 

 District as far as Ecuador, Pera, and Bolivia, at some places not rare, often flying together with similar Eup- 

 tychia, (coelestis-, /terse-group). In typical emnene (from Guiana) the very intense, steel-blue reflection of the 

 j'iria. forewing extends as far as the median vein; in furia Stich. (124 e) from the Amazon it extends behind the cell 

 (tttahia. of the forewing almost as far as up to the costal margin, in attalus form. nov. flying in the same countries as 

 the preceding, but at other places (Guiana: Nouveau Chantier; Amazon etc.), the blue reflection does not 

 erinnya. reach the median. — erinnya Stich. (124 e) from Peru and Bolivia is larger, paler, the distal bands more remote; 

 eurythmia. the reflection like in the preceding; • — in eurythmia Stich. it is absent nearly altogether, so that the ,J of it 

 looks above like steli; Amazon. The form attalus was denominated here only because also the other devia- 

 tions in the extent of the blue reflection have been denominated, what we would otherwise have had to cancel. 



III. Group, (ulricifornies, mevaniiformes Stich.). 



(J above blue, $ brown or blue, the latter a 1 w ays w h i t e - b a n d e d ; beneath 



always b r o w n. 



vlrica. M. ulrica Cr. (= renatus F., ulricella Hbst., ultio Hbn., tisis Godt. rosina Cr. [^], lampi-osa Stick., 



loruhama Stgr. [$]) (124 e). cJ above black, with a blue reflection and a central eye-spot hardly noticeable 

 in the dark ground. 5 brown with a distinct eye-spot of the forewing and a white median band. The ^ varies 

 in size and blue lustre (in specimens from Villavicencio more steel-blue, in those from Cayenne more ultra- 

 marine), furthermore, the transverse stripes of the greyish-brown under surface may l)e closer together or 



nu'.'i.m.la. farther away from each other, they may be more faded or more distinct. In the form messala Hew. (124 e) 

 a whitish oblique band appears, being above sometimes more distinct, almost like in loruhama. sometimes 

 scarcely in marks of whitish dispersed small scales, beneath, however, always distinct. In the $ the white 

 band may be only half as broad as in the figured specimen (as for instance, in Cayenne), sometimes still broader 

 (larnprosa Stich.). The butterfly inhabits the whole northern part of South America from Guiana and Colombia 

 to Peru and Bolivia, but it occurs only sparsely and very locally. 

 asa. M. asa Hew. (124 e, f). (^ black, above with a blue reflection, but the distal margin of the wings and 



the apical part of the forewings broad blac^k. The $ (= frequens Btlr.) has only on the forewings a white oblique 



mycene. band. Nicaragua as far as Colombia. — niycene Hew. (124f) is hardly separable from asa; according to its 

 author, it is more greenish-blue and the eye-spot of the forewing stands more in the blue part of the wing, 

 while in typical «.?« in the black part. On our figure, however, it is just the greenish-blue animal (from Cachabe 

 in Colombia) which has the position of the eye-spot of at-a, whUe the violettish-blue one has that of mycene 

 which ought to be ,, green'" according to Hewitson. The differentiation is, therefore, untenable. Stichel inserts 

 yet between the two forms another one, asopis, from Panama, with a more copious black coloiu' of the forewing, 

 the hindwing with a discal transverse streak; $ larger, lighter tluin asa $. The butterflies fly in the dense 

 forest and are in some districts common. 



mcsfieiii. M. messeis Heio. (124 f). To the figured $ belongs a ^ looking almost like atroculis of whicii \\e figure 



the (^ (124 f): but here also the distal stripe of the forewing extends with a short part into the hindwing, like 



atroculis. in the much larger tosca. — atroculis Btlr. is of com'se only an insignificant deviation, while tosca Stgr. (]24f) 



exhibiting besides stronger black markings, may quite well be specially denominated. Typical ntesseis originate 



iniiona. from the Amazon, tosca from the Upper Amazon (Pebas and Sao Paulo do 011iven9a). — amona Hew. has in 



the (J not the black dot below the eye-spot of the forewing, as tosca has, and amona comes from Bolivia, not 



/(////((. from Pebas. — junta Stich. (,124 g) forms the transition to the following species which might very well fit into 



