195 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



This species, the type of the genus, represents the shorter- 

 winged species of the genus Morpho. It is black, with a broad 

 blue band across the middle of both wings, and has two rows 

 of white spots, converging hindwards, beyond the band of the 

 fore- wings. Beneath, the wings are ornamented with eye-spots, 

 which in the variety figured are produced towards the hind- 

 margin. The hind-wings are also more or less ornamented 

 with white and greenish markings. M. achilles is a common 

 Brazilian species ; and there are many others belonging to the 

 same group, but differing in the amount of blue on the wings. 

 Some of these species are wholly blue, except on the borders 

 of the wings. 



In the broad-winged species of Morpho the females often 

 much resemble the males ; but in those with longer and more 

 pointed wings, they are often very dissimilar, as we have 

 noticed under M. adonis. 



One of the largest Butterflies of South America is M. hecuba 

 (Linn.), from Surinam ; it is brown and tawny in colour, and 

 measures seven or eight inches across the wings. The brightest 

 and richest blue of all is found in the males of Morpho 

 rhetenor (Cramer), from Brazil, and M. cypris, Westwood, from 

 New Granada ; the latter has a broad white band across the 

 blue. M. rhetenor is common on the Amazons, where the 

 Butterflies may be seen flapping their wings in the sun half a 

 mile away ; but their flight is so lofty that Bates was only able 

 to obtain two specimens in eleven years. 



Another very beautiful species is M. sulkowskyi, Kollar ; it 

 is one of the smaller ones, only measuring about three or 

 four inches across the wings, and is of a light iridescent blue, 

 changing into delicate pinks and yellows according to the 

 position in which it is seen. These iridescent colours, so 

 remarkable in some Butterflies, are due to the refraction of 

 light from the edges of the scales. 



