296 



MERISTIC VARIATION. 



[part I. 



MORPHO. 



A number of species of this genus, for example, M. achilles, 

 menelaus, octavia, montezuma, &c. are marked upon the under 

 surface of both pairs of wings with large ocelli having four principal 

 zones in addition to the white central spot. Of the zones the 

 outermost is silvery, the next dark brown, the next either red or 

 some shade of yellow. Within this is a band of verv variable 

 width having a deep chocolate colour. When very broad, as in M. 

 montezuma or M. achilles, the inner parts of this band are irregu- 

 larly sprinkled with red scales. The centre is white or bluish- 

 white, some of the scales in its periphery being nearly always 

 distinctly blue. The centre is commonly not circular but is pro- 

 duced (especially in larger ocelli) in a direction at right angles to 

 the crease on which it stands. Fig. 78, I, taken from a normal 

 specimen of M. achilles, shews the usual positions of the eye-spots 

 in all the species whose variations are described below. The ocelli 

 on the fore wing are 3, on the hind wing 4. In speaking of them 

 the letters a, b, c, d, e,f, g are used as shewn in the figure. Between 

 a and b there is a cell normally bearing no ocellus, and between d 

 and e there are two such cells. The spot g as described on p. 90, 

 stands at the anterior side of its cell and not in the middle of it, 

 and a second spot g L may appear behind it in the same cell. 



The following examples are taken from the series in the collec- 



II 



^-7 



Fig. 78. Morpho achilles. Undersides of left wings. I. Normal. II. Specimen 

 wanting the spots a and c on both sides. 



(From specimens in the collection of Messrs Godman and Salvin.) 



