EPICz\LIA. 



257 



Precostal vein forked. Costal vein much arched. Subcostal vein branching at a short distance from its base. 

 Discoidal vein arising near the base of tiie branch of the subcostal. Disco-cellular distinct, arched, united 

 with the median vein very near the base of its outer branch. 



Fove Legs very slender, pectoral, clothed at the sides with long, delicate, silky, white hairs. Tarsi exarticulate ; 

 nearly as long as, and of equal thickness with, the tibia. Fore Legs of the female rather longer than those of the 

 male ; clothed with short scaly hairs, except at the base of the femora beneath, where they are more hairy. 

 Tarsus nearly as long as the tibia, flattened, and obliquely truncate at the extremity ; the terminal one third 

 of the tarsus being articulated into five joints, each armed on the inside with very short spines ; the terminal 

 joint short, and destitute of claws. 



Four Hind Legs moderately long, scaly. The tibia with a few very small spines in irregular longitudinal series. 

 Tarsus more distinctly spined ; the spines on the first joint forming four series ; the second to the fifth joints 

 with lateral rows of short spines, and with numerous spines of irregular size between the rows ; the under side 

 of the last joint nearly destitute of spines. Claws short, much curved, and grooved below. Paronychia with 

 the outer lacinia shorter than the claw ; inner lacinia nearly as long as the outer, and broader than it at the 

 base. 

 Abdomen scarcely longer than the head and thorax united. 



Larva long, cylindrical; head armed with two erect verticillated spines; segments of the body armed witli 

 short spiny fascicles. 



This is a genus composed of moderate-sized buttei-flies, remarkable for the rich contrast of tlicir colours, the ground of the wiuo-s 

 being generally velvet black, with large rcgular-shajied patches of the Ijrightcst orange. On tlic under side the wings are much less 

 striking, the various dark marks being ill defined. Ep. Anca^a difters from the other species in having the fore wings marked by an 

 oblique bar of the most delicate pale greenish blue, the hind wings of the male having a broad fascia of orange whicli is wanting in the 

 female, which sex of a dull brown colour abt)ve with the pale fascia of the fore wings as in the male ; the discoidal cell of tlie fore winws 

 is also marked in the female across the middle with an oblong transverse patch of dark red edged with black lines, and with a lunate mark of 

 the same kind at the extremity of the cell. This species difters from the more typical ones, such as Nimiilius, in having the second bi-anch 

 of the subcostal vein and the upper disco-cellular arising both close together, and by the middle and lower disco-cellular formino- 

 together a regular curve. This species difters in the extent of the pale markings in the male, sometimes occurring with a very broad 

 orange bar across the hind wings occupying nearly the whole of the base, whilst sometimes it is much narrower, having one third of 

 the base of the wings black. The specimen in the British Museum from Mexico, figured in our Plate XXIX. under the name of E. 

 Aglaura, differs only from the ordinary males of Anca;a in having the pale band of the fore wings very slightly narrower, in havin"- a 

 small pale oblique mark near the tip of the fore wings (as in the female of Ancasa), and in having the orange mark of the hind wino-s 

 confined to the costal portion of the disc. Even if permanent in these characters, I can only regard it as a geographical variety of E. Ancaja. 



Epicalia Nyctimus has the orange marking on the upper surfiice of the wings formed into a nearly equally broad oramre bar extendino- 

 obliquely across all the wings. The palpi are longer in this species than in the others, and the extremity of the fore wings is angulated, 

 although much less so than in E. Pierretii (Plate XXIX. f. 4.) 



The males of Ep. Acontius are remarkable for the peculiar dilatation of the inner margin of the fore wings and of the costal margin 

 of the hind wings, the subniedian vein of the former being furnished on the under side with a very wide fascicle of delicate hairs nearly 

 a third of an inch in length, lying close upon the lower disc of the wing, the corresponding space of the upper surface of the hind wing 

 having the scales much larger, and arranged in ridges. The observation of the insect in a state of nature will alone explain the use of 

 this singular structure. 



The Lakva of Ep. Acontius, figured by Stoll, is long, cylindrical, and of a green colour, the under surface and sides of the body 

 and legs being dark yellow ; the head is black, with two large white spots, and with two long, straight, erect, verticillated, and pointed 

 liorns ; the second and following segments of the body are also furnished with several short, spinose, black spines. It feeds on the 

 tamarind tree, and is transformed into a perpendicular chrysalis, which Stoll has omitted to figure. 



The larva of Ep. AncKa resembles the former, but it is green, with a reddish streak along the sides of the body ; the head dirty 

 yellow, with two erect yellowish horns, more spinose than in the former ; and each segment of the laody has a tuft of green spiny 

 hairs. It feeds on the citron tree, and is transformed into a suspended chrysalis of a green colour, the butterfly appearing in about ten 

 days. 



I have not seen the three manuscript species of M. Boisduval, at the end of the genus. E. Cerambus may, however, prove to be 

 identical with the variety of Ep. Ancaja named Aglaura. 



The species are exclusively natives of the hotter regions of the New World. 



EPICALIA. 



1. Ep. Nvctimus Westw. MS. 



Mexico, Guayaquil, Venezuela. B.M. 



2. Ep. PiEBUETii E. Douhleday MS. 



Doubl. Westw. &; llewitsoti, Gen. D. Lep. pi. 2.9. f. i. 

 Bolivia. B. M. 



3. Ep. Autinoe. 



Nymphalis Autinoe Godart, Enc. M. ix. p. 410. 

 Para. B. M. 



4. Ep. Acontiu.s. 



Pap. Acontius Linn. Mant. Ins. 1.537. (1775), (nee Syst. 



Nat. II. p. 106. n. 12.). 

 Pap. Antiochus Fahricius, Sysl. Ent. 480. (1771), Sp. 



Ins. II. p. 53. n. 253., Mant. Ins. ii. p. 2(). n. 269., 



Ent. Syst. in. pi. 1. 44. n. 154 ; Drury, 111. exot. Ent. 



III. Appendix pi. 7- f. 3, 4.; Donovan, Ins. Cliina, pi. 



37. f. 2.; Goilt. Enc. M. ix. p. 410. igfi. (Nyinplialis A.) 

 Papilio Eupalenion Cramer, pi. 143. f. B.C. (1782); 



Stoll, Sujipl. Cram. pi. I . f. 8. (larva) ; Lucas, H. N. 



Lep. exot. pi. 72. f. 4. 

 Catonephele Eupalemiena Hilbn. Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 40. 



n. 34y. 

 Brazil (not China, as stated by Fabricius, &c.). B.M. 



5. Ep. NuMii.ius. 



Papilio Nuniilia Cramer, pi. 8. f. 3. F. 



