PANDEMOS. MESENE. 44] 



Genus XXI. MESENE- 



Mesene Boisduval MS., E. Doubleday. 

 Emesis and Lemoniades MACUi.ATiE p. Hiibnet: 

 Erycina p. God'. 



Body rather long and slender. Butterflies of small size, gaily coloured, often of a red colour, with dark margins to 



the wings. Males with the fore wings more elongate-triangular than the females. 

 Head small, finely hairy ; rather broader in the males. 

 Uyes rather large, naked. 

 Antenna' very slender, rather more than half the length of tlie fore wings, finely annulated with white ; terminated 



by a distinct, not much elongated, gradually formed club, bent inwai'ds, the apex subobtuse. 

 Labial Palpi minute, compressed, curved at tiie base, the apex but slightly porrected beyond the hairs of tlie 

 face, finely hairy beneath ; the tip rather acute. 

 Thorax short, oval. 



Fore Wings rather large: those of the males more elongated and subtriangular ; those of the females more ovate- 

 triangular, with the apical margin convex. Costal margin scarcely arched ; apical angle subobtuse. Costal 

 vein extending to about the middle of the costa. Postcostal vein with three branches ; the first and second 

 arising near together, before the anterior extremity of the discoidal cell, the continuation of the postcostal being 

 slightly angulated at the extremity of the cell ; third brancli arising about halfway between tlie cell and the apex 

 of the wing. Upper disco-cellular vein either obsolete or very short : middle and lower disco- cellulars of 

 nearly equal length, very slender, transverse, closing the cell at about half the length of the wing, uniting with 

 the third branch of the median vein at a little distance beyond its origin. 

 Ilhid Wings triangular-ovate. Outer margin rounded, entire ; anal angle sometimes slightly angulated. Costal 

 vein extending to about two thirds of the length of the costa. Precostal short, oblique, directed outwards. 

 Postcostal arising much nearer the wing than the precostal, curved at the base, branching at a moderate 

 distance from the base. Upper disco-cellular oblique, arising at a short distance beyond tlie base of the post- 

 costal branch : lower disco-cellular rather longer than the upper one, transverse, uniting with the third branch 

 of the median vein, at a short distance beyond its origin, closing the discoidal cell near the middle of the wing. 

 Fore Legs of the male moderately short, and moderately clothed with long stiff hairs. Femur short. Tibia and 

 tarsus of nearly ecpial length, and simple. Fo)'e Legs of the female not much longer than those of the male, 

 slender, and scaly. Coxa elongate. Femur considerably longer than tlie tibia, which is scarcely so long as 

 the tarsus, which is well articulated; the two terminal joints gradually attenuated. 

 Four Hind Legs moderately long, slender, and scaly. Femur of the middle legs longer than that of the hind 

 legs, and curved. Tibite rather thickened in the middle. Ungues and their appendages minute, and covered 

 above by the projecting scales of the last joint of the tarsus. 

 Abdomen small and elongated. 



This is a rrciuis of small pretty species, the ground colour of the wings of which is generally red or orange, with dark-coloured 

 borders, varying in width. The females have the extremity of the fore wings not so much elongated as the males, so that they are of 

 a more ovate form in the former sex. In M. Pharea the wings of both sexes on the upper side are coloured alike, but on the under 

 side the male has nearly the whole of the fore wings of a brovm colour ; whereas in the female both sides of the wing are nearly ahke. 

 Papilio Telephus of Cramer, which is also referred to this genus, differs in the male having the wings above bhiok, the fore ones spotted 

 with white, and the hind ones with a broad orange central fascia; wdiereas the insect which appears to me to be its female (and whicii 

 agrees witli it in the markings of its under surface, except that it has the hind wings not so strongly marked witli bluish grey,) has the 

 ground colour of the wings above orange dotted with black, the fore wings being marked with white, as in Cramer's male, the outer 

 half being black, and the hind wings with a narrow irregular dark border. Some slight variation also occurs in the species in respect 

 to the place of insertion of the upper disco-cellular vein (and, consequently, in the direction of the slender veins closing the discoidal 

 cell), the upper disco-ceUular sometimes arising close to tlie second postcostal brancli, and in other species further from it. In others, 

 also, tlie first branch of tlie iiostcostal vein anastomises for a very short distance with the costal vein, and is then thrown off to its usual 

 extent. I am acquainted with about a dozen species referable to this genus. 



