CYRENIA. HADES. 435 



Gemis XVI. HADES. 

 Hades Westwood MS. 



Body small : wings large, rounded, of a uniform black colour above. 

 PIead small, very finely hairy, the hairs forming a small tuft below the antennae. 

 Ei/es moderate-sized, naked. 

 Labial Palpi very minute, compressed, not extending beyond the hairs of the face and not visible from above, 



finely hairy beneath, obtuse at the tip. 

 Antennw not more than two fifths of the length of the fore wings, slender ; joints indistinct, not ringed with white ; 

 terminated by a long, gradually formed, slender club, the tip of which is also gradually attenuated. 

 Thorax small, moderately liairy. 



Fore Wings large, triangularly ovate. Costal margin strongly arched along its whole length ; apical angle obtuse. 

 Apical margin strongly convex, entire, about two thirds of the length of tlie costa. Inner margin about the 

 length of the apical, slightly convex. Postcostal vein with its first brancli arising before the anterior extremity 

 of the discoidal cell ; second branch arising at about the same distance beyond the cell as the first is in advance 

 of it ; postcostal vein itself slightly angulated at a short distance beyond the origin of the second branch (where 

 the upper discoidal arises) ; third branch of the postcostal, very short, and arising quite close to the tip of the 

 wing. Upper disco-cellular vein obsolete : middle one arising rather before the middle of the length of the 

 wing, curved, directed obliquely towards the apical margin: lower disco-cellular slightly longer than the middle 

 one, but straight, and nearly transverse, closing the discoidal cell about the middle of the wing, by its junction 

 with the third branch of the median vein, at about the same distance from its origin as exists between the 

 first and second branches. 

 Hind Wings rather large, nearly regularly oval, entire ; the base of the costal margin not angulated nor dilated, 

 as in many of the adjacent genera. Costal margin regularly curved. Outer margin rounded, entire ; anal 

 angle rounded. Anal margin forming a moderate groove for the reception of the abdomen. 

 Fore Legs of the female (specimens of tliat sex only iiave hitherto been observed) very short, thick, and scaly. 



The femur slightly hairy ; and the tarsi thickly scaly, and scarcely armed beneath with short spines. 

 Four Hind Legs short, rather thick, strongly scaly. Hind femora rather shorter than the middle ones, finely 

 hairy beneath. Tarsi thick, scaly, almost destitute of fine spines. Claws and their appendages very small. 

 Abdomen (of the female) but slightly larger than the thorax. 



I have established this genus on the examination of a single individual of the female sex of a large and remarkable species, which I 

 find it impossible to associate with any of the other groups of Eiycinidas. In its general form it somewhat approaches the Nccyrix, .as 

 well as in the rounded entire form of the wings ; but the singularly uniform style of colouring, and the arrangement of the wing veins, 

 at once remove it from that group, as well as from Lyropteryx, with which the longitudinal pale streaks of the under side of the outer 

 half of the wings present a certain degree of relationship. On the under side, the wings are still further distinguished by having an 

 orange-coloured patch at the base of each. 



The species was brought by Mr. Dyson from Colombia, and is in the rich collection of W. W. Saunders, Esq., who has, with his 

 usual liberality, placed the whole of his collection of butterflies at my disposal for the purpose of enabling me to render the |)resent 

 work more perfect than I could otherwise have ventured to hope that it would have been. 



The generic name is given in allusion to the uniform black colour of the upper surfece of the wings. 



HADES. 



1. Hades Noctula. 



Hades Noctula Westw. MS. u. sp » ; Dimbl. IVi-Hw. i^ 

 Hmits. Gen. D. L. pi. 7'2. C 3. 

 Colombia. Mus, Saunders. 



* H. alis supra nigris, cyanco parum cinctis. ciliis albis : subtus cnncoloribus apice parum pallidioribus, omnibus basi macula aurantia ; posticis pone medium 

 albo longitudinaliter obscure lineatis ; lineis per paria in medio alic convergentibus. Exp. alar, antic, unc. 2|. 



October 1 185 1. 5 X 



