INSECTS 



4i7 



sion on the head resembling a lantern. Tropical American butterflies are specially 

 notable on account of their numbers, their beauty, and in many cases their Large 

 size. They are further remarkable for the number of families by which they are 

 represented ; no less than thirteen families out of sixteen recognised in one of the 

 older classitications occurring in the region, to which three of them, namely the 

 Brassolidce, Heliconiidoi, and Eiirygonidai, are entirely restricted, while a 

 fourth, the Eurycinidoe, is found elsewhere only in North America. Moreover, in 

 families occurring in other parts of the world, the South American forms are 

 often quite different from the rest, as in the case of the Danaidce, which are 

 brightly tinted instead of being of a sombre type of colour. Some of the 



iV 



SURINAM LANTERN-BEARER. 



Heliconiidce mimic species of the Danaidce, which are believed to be unpalatable 

 to birds. Very striking are the large and handsome butterflies of the exclusively 

 tropical genus Morpho, the typical representative of the family Morphidce, of 

 which the other genera are Indo-Malay. The species of Morpho are conspicuous 

 on account of the splendour of the blue on the upper surface of the wings of some 

 of the species, such as M. rhetenor of Amazonia, which looks almost like a bird 

 when on the wing, and M. cypris of Colombia. Other species displa\', however, 

 a different coloration, M. hecuba of Guiana, represented in the annexed illustration, 

 being brown and tawny : its expanse of wing is 7 or 8 inches. 



Among moths it must suffice to refer to the magnificent diurnal species of the 

 genus Urania, which are specially interesting on account of being represented by 

 vol. n. — 27 



