338 MORPHID^. 



the discoidal vein, and arising at a very shoi't distance from the base of the preceding branch ; lower 

 disco-cellular vein wanting, so that the discoidal cell is long and open. Median vein with its first branch 

 arising opposite to the first branch of the postcostal ; second branch arising at a considerable distance beyond ; 

 the third branch curved, and approaching to the middle of the discoidal vein (PI. A. f 4., hind wing of Morpho 

 Perseus). 



Fore Legs of the male very small and delicate, and thickly clothed with hairs forming a brush. Fore Legs of the 

 female much longer and rather thicker, scaly. Tibia much shorter than the femur. Tarsus longer and 

 thicker than the tibia, especially towards the tip, well articulated ; tlie articulations indicated by different- 

 coloured scales ; third and fourth joint with minute spines at the sides beneath ; fifth joint minute, destitute of 

 claws. 



Four Hind Legs long and strong. Femur curved. Tibia equal in length to tlie femur, armed above with 

 numerous small spines placed irregularly, and with a row of larger spines on each side beneath ; tibial spurs 

 moderate-sized. Tarsus nearly equal in length to the tibia, thickly armed with fine spines, those on the under 

 side arranged in several rows. Ungues strong, hooked, and acute. Paronychia large, bifid ; the outer 

 division slightlj' curved, setose ; inner division nearly straight, small. Pulvillus moderate. Terminal joint of 

 the tarsus armed above with long seta;, extending beyond the claws. 

 Abdosien small, furnished with small tufts of hair at the extremity in the males. 



Caterpillar long, cylindrical, spinose ; fore segments furnished with tufts of hair; tail bifid. 

 Chrysalis short, very much swollen, not angulated ; head-case bifid. 



Tliis is, perhaps, the most splendid group of insects in the entire series of the Diurnal Lepidoptera. It is impossible to conceive any 

 thing more brilliant tlian the changeable tints of blue, jiurple, and violet, which adorn the upper surface of tlie wings of M. Adonis, 

 Rhctenor, and, aljove all, the new species, M. Cypris. Under the rays of a tropical sun, the flight of these beautiful creatures must be 

 an enchanting sight. The structure of the scales of the wings, by which these rich effects are produced, has been carefully studied by 

 M. Bernard Deschanips {Annales des Scic/ices Naturcllcs, February, 18.35). Those of M. Telemaehus are of large size, each marked 

 with as many as a hundred striic, composed of exceedingly minute cylinders, giving the scale the appearance of the strings of a harp or 

 piano. Those of M. Menelaus have long been a favourite test-object with our microscopists (see ilr. Bowcrbank's memoir on this 

 subject, Entomolnpical jSIu/jaziiie, vol. v. p. 300.). 



The insects of this genus are at once distinguished from those of the preceding genera of the present family by the different 

 arrangement of the branches of the postcostal vein of the fore wings, and especially by the great length of the middle disco-cellular 

 vein ; the antenna3 are also much shorter ; whilst they are at once distinguished from Pavonia, and the remainder of the genera of 

 the Morphida^ by the open condition of the discoidal cell of the hind wings, and the slenderness of the body. 



The arrangement of tlie veins of the wings described above .appears to me to occur throughout the whole of the genus, notwithstanding 

 the difference in the form of the wings of many species ; the only variation which I have found being in a male specimen of !M. 

 Telemaehus in my collection, in which the fir^t branch of the postcostal vein of the fore wings is abbreviated, not extending beyond 

 the anterior extremity of the discoidal cell ; it does not, however, unite with the costal vein, but is gradually attenuated and lost. 



The wings vary very considerably in form in the different species. In M. Rhctenor and its female (jNI. Andromachus), the fore 

 ones are long and almost falcate ; in others they are broader, with the apical margin more or less emargiuate ; whilst in M. Hclenor 

 and Laertes they are more regularly triangular. From the great rarity of many of the species, and the diversity of the sexes, much 

 confusion has arisen respecting several of these insects. Thus, the insect which has been considered as the female of M. Anaxibia is in 

 fact the male of M. Hecuba. In the following list, I have had the experienced assistance of Dr. Boisduval, in placing together several 

 of the suj)posed species, which a careful examination of Cramer's figures, or better still, if possible, of the insects themselves, will, I 

 think, be found to confirm. It is with the view of rendering the iconography of one of the most beautiful of the species, ]\I. Cytheris, 

 complete, that I have obtained the h)an of the female (the only known specimen of that sex) from Dr. Boisduval's collection, the male 

 being already figured in his Species (jemral des Lcpidopferes, and by Iliibner. It was also the more interesting to figure this female, as 

 it scarcely differs in form, colours, or markings from the male, which are of a slightly richer blue, with the ocelli of the under sm-face 

 scarcely visible through the wings from above ; whilst the allied new species, M. Hebe, has the sexes totally unlike each other, as is 

 also the ease with several other species. 



Madame Merian has figured the transformations of four species of this genus. Those of AI. Achilles and Telemaehus are represented 

 in her plates 7. and 68. They represent long cylindrical larvaj, with several erect spines on each segment, and with the fore segments 

 furnished with small tufts of hair ; the head is bifid on the crown in the latter sj)eeies, but appears simple in the former ; the tail is 

 forked in both. The chrysalids are very short, thick, not angulated, and with the he.ad bifid. M. Lacordalre has confirmed the 

 correctness of jMadame Merian's observations as regards the transformations of M. Achilles, except that the perfect insect appears in 

 fourteen days (which is the ordinary period for jiupatiou of the great majority of Lepidoptera in Guiana), instead of five weeks, as 

 described by Madame Merian (namely, from Api'il 20th to May 26th). This is the more important, because the figures given by 

 Madame Merian of the larvaj and pupa? of M. Menelaus and Nestor are very different, not only from the preceding, but also from each 

 other ; although those two supposed species are but the sexes of one species. She represents the larva of M. Menelaus with the head 

 armed with two short upright horns, each segment of the body with three long acute spines, and the tail simple ; whilst the cluysalis is 

 represented as angulated, furnished on the back with a long curved horn, not suspended, but girt round the body with a thread. The 

 caterpillar of M. Nestor is represented as quite simple, as well as the pupa, which is also not suspended, but girt. Madame INIerian has 

 evidently, in both these cases, mistaken the caterpillars and chrysalids of some other large butterflies, probably belonging to the genus 

 Papilio, for those of these species of Morpho. 



