2S6 



NATURE 



[January lo, 1695 



species), and with the hind wings pale beyond the middle, 

 and crossed by a row of black spots ; the pale part of the wing 

 is whitish within them, and brownish, or yellow, beyond. The 

 sides of the thorax are generally bright scarlet under the wings, 

 and the abdomen is generally yellow in the males, .and brown 

 in the females. These green species are not found in the Malay 

 islands, but throughout all the Moluccan and Papuan islands, 

 as far as Au'itralia : though many of the most remarkable are 

 very restricted in their range, being confined to one or two small 

 islands. 



Sometimes, as in the male of T. arrtiana, Felder, a narrow 

 green stripe runs along the median nervure and its branches, in 

 the male. In certain lights the green of the fore wings exhibits 

 very remarkable changes of colour to yellow, coppery-red, or 

 blue ; the copper-red is mo5t conspicuous in T. Pegasus, 

 Felder, from New Guinea, and the blue in T. Eumaiis, Rippon, 

 from the .\ru Islands. 



FiCS. 3. i. — Troititi KichnwmiiaimaAt, two varieties). 



T. Eumaus leads nson to T. Urvillianus, Gucrin-Mcni'ville, 

 from New Ireland, from whence several specimens were ob- 

 tained during the voyages of the Coi/iiille and the Astrolabe 

 between 1820 and i8jo; but no more were brought to Kuropc 

 for fifty year«. They were named after the famous French 

 Admiral, Dumont d'Urville, a worthy successor of our own 

 (Japlain Cook ; and who subsequently perished, with his wife 

 .md orly son. in the great accident on the Versailles Railway, 

 r>n May 8, 1842, one of the most terrible and fatal of all on 

 record. 



In the male of T. Urvillianus, all the portions of the wings 

 which arc green in other >pecie'i, are of a deep blue ; hut with 

 an iridescence or opalescence in various lights, showing green or 

 coppery. T. Urvillianw has lately been found in New Guinea, 

 New Ireland, Duke of Vork Island, and the .Solomon Islands. 

 The bntlcrny doe< not a|>pcar to I'C difficult to capture, as Mr. 

 Gervaie F. Malhcw, K.N., frequently found them descend to 



NO. 1315, VOL. 5 l] 



low bushes; and he also obtained the larva, which is black, 

 with carmine tentacles, and fleshy spines, the latter tipped with 

 black ; about the middle of the body is an oblique white stripe. 

 It feeds on a species of -Xristolochia, sometimes quite close to 

 the ground. 



From T. Urvillianus, we may pass on to other remarkable 

 species. One is T. Crasus, Wallace, from the island of 

 Batchian in the Moluccis. Here the green or blue of the species 

 we have already mentioned is repKaced by a brilliant golden 

 orange, shading into green in certain lights. Mr. Rippon treats 

 T. Craius and Urvillianus as a separate see/ion {/'riim^'plera) 

 of Ornithoplera (which name he retains for the /V-wwK.f-group) ; 

 but they can hardly be considered sufficiently distinct from the 

 others to rank as a separate ^cwwr, as he himself admits. 



.\fter T. Crasus we may place T. LyJius, FcUler, which re- 

 places that species in the island of Gilolo or Ilalmaheira, one of 

 the Northern Moluccas, not far frooi Hatchi.an. Here the sub- 

 costal band on the wings of the male is of a very deep coppery- 

 red ; but both in this species and in T. Crasus, the only other 

 mark on the fore wings, except a short dash at the base of the 

 inner margin, is the very large oval brown sexual blotch. The 

 hind wings are of a rather paler colour than the band of the 

 fore wings, and varied with yellow. The female of /". Crasus 

 does not differ much from the ordinary females of the I'riamus- 

 group, but that of T. Lydius is black, with the cell, and two 



K11,. J.— ;■ ',..:. V ii uftntoftiiia (feiiKile). 



complete rows of long spots, concave at the extremity, and Ihe 

 inner row vc-ry large, between the nervures beyond the cell. 

 The hind wings are of a yellowish-brown, with the base, 

 nervures, a suhmarginal row of mostly connected spots, ami 

 another on the hind maigin. black. 



From the genus Truidis, we pass on loamther splendid grouji, 

 .'Eth'oftera (Rippon), in which the male has apparently no 

 masses of raised scent-producing scales on the wings, and the 

 hind wings are verv long. Intermediate between Troides Crasus 

 tmiK .Elheoplera Vidori.,-, the type of .AV/;j-.'//<;a, stands .-E. (?) 

 Tilhonus (De Ilaan), from New Guinea, a buttciHy which 

 remained unique in the Lcyden Museum fur fifty years. The 

 fore wings of the male, which are seven inches in expanse, are 

 black, with three changing green and yellow bands, two united 

 at the base, the first running narrowly along ihe subcislal 

 nervure, and much widened before reaching Ihe apex of the 

 wing ; the second, broader at the base, extending along the 

 lower part of the cell, and growing bro.ider beyond as it curves 

 towards the hind margin ; Ihe third runs along the inner margin, 

 nearly to the hinder angle of the wing. The hind wings arc 

 varied with green and golden-yellow, and are narrowly bordered 

 with black. There are three black spots on the hind wings on 

 the upper side, and more beneath, as well as on the hinder part 

 of the fore wings ; the abdomen is yellow, with some black 

 spots above on the sides, towards the extremity. 



