204 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



LEPIDOPTERA. NYMPHALID^S. 



APATURA. 



Generic Distinctions. Antennae long, with an egg-shaped club ; 

 palpi long, and projecting beyond the head, where they meet 

 and form a kind of beak ; the basal and terminal joints of nearly 

 equal length, the intermediate one very long ; wings somewhat 

 triangular, edge of the primary pair nearly entire, the other slightly 

 scalloped. 



APATURA IRIS. (Plate VIII.) Purple Emperor. 

 Surface of the wings dark brown, changing, as the light 

 shines on it, to a very rich purple : this brilliant colour is 

 not seen in the female, whose wings are of a paler brown. 

 In both sexes there are four patches of white on the upper 

 wings, interrupted by the nervures ; the hinder wings are 

 traversed by a band of white, a tawny streak running 

 round them near the margin, and the inferior pair have a 

 black spot surrounded by a red ring ; on the under side 

 the superior wings are rust-red, with a large ocellus near 

 the hinder angle, and two black spots near the base ; the 

 hinder portions of the under wings are greyish, with a 

 faint undulating brown line near the margin ; all the 

 wings have the white marks similar to those of the surface. 

 The caterpillar is pale green, with a yellow stripe down 



