2O 



notice of Messrs. Bates and Wallace in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of Para. The former writes of them as follows, in 

 the first chapter of his "Naturalist on the Amazons : " One 

 day we made our first acquaintance with two of the most beau- 

 tiful productions of Nature in this department, namely, the 

 Hdicopis cupido and H. endymion. A little beyond our house 

 one of the narrow green lanes which I have already mentioned 

 diverged from the Monguba avenue, and led, between enclo- 

 sures overrun with a profusion of creeping plants and glorious 

 flowers, down to a moist hollow, where there was a public well 

 in a picturesque nook, buried in a grove of Mukaja palm-trees. 

 On the tree-trunks, walls, and palings, grew a great quantity of 

 climbing Pothos plants, with large, glossy, heart-shaped leaves. 

 These plants were the resort of these two exquisite species, and 

 we captured a great number of specimens. They are of ex- 

 tremely delicate texture. The wings are cream-coloured ; the 

 hind pair have several tail-like appendages, and are spangled 

 beneath as if with silver. Their flight is very slow and feeble ; 

 they seek the protected under surface of the leaves, and in 

 repose close their wings over the back so as to expose the 

 brilliantly spotted under surface." 



THE SILVER-SPOT BUTTERFLY. HELICOPIS ACIS. 

 (Plate XXXIX. Figs, i, 2.) 



Papilio acis, Fabricius, Spec. Ins. ii. app. p. 504 (1781). 

 Papilio gniduS) Fabricius, Mant. Ins. ii. p. 64, no. 607 (1787). 

 Rusticus armatus gnidus, Hiibner, Samml. Exot. Schmett. i. pi. 



101 (1816 ?). 

 Papilio endymion, Cramer, Pap. Exot. iii. pi. 244, figs. C, F 



(1779); Stoll, Suppl. Cramer, pi. iv. figs. 55, b (1787). 

 This is the largest and darkest species of the genus, and is 



