36 NATURAL UlSTOJiY. 



rather long, and are generally of some shade of fulvous, with black spots, or black with white 

 or yellowish markings ; and the hind wings are either striated or spotted with black at the 

 base beneath. Although these Butterflies are not closely allied to the European Fritillaries, yet 

 they completely replace them in Africa, resembling them not only in colour and appearance, but 

 also in the spiny larvae. The fore wings of several species of A crcta are more or less transparent ; 

 in others the wings are entirely opaque. In Actinote the wings are always opaque, and destitute 

 of the black basal spots so conspicuous in Acrcea, but the hind wings are always strongly striated, 

 at least on the under surface. The colouring, too, in one section of this genus is very dissimilar 

 to that of Acrcea, being bluish-black, with the centre of the fore wings pink or red, this colour 

 sometimes extending to the base. 



The Heliconince are a group of South American Butterflies, much resembling the Acrceince in 

 structure, but their wings are much longer, and are generally rounded at the extremity. Their closed 

 wing-cells will prevent their being confounded with the typical Nymphalince, and although some of them 

 closely resemble the American Danaince, which were formerly classed with them, the submedian 

 nervure of the fore wings is simple in the Heliconince, and double in the Danaince. Their caterpillars 

 are spiny, like those of the A crceince, and many of them feed on different species of passion-flower. 



The genus Heliconius includes a great number of beautiful species. Some are black, with 

 a large red blotch on the fore wings. Sometimes this is the only marking, as in //. melpomene; 

 but in other species the hind wings are rayed with red, or marked with a basal stripe of yellow 

 or white. In other species the fore wings are marked with yellow, and the hind wings are red, 

 or banded with red. //. charithonite, the commonest species in the West Indies, is black, with 

 yellow stripes on the wings ; other species are black and fulvous, spotted or banded with yellow, 

 and many of these resemble some of the larger opaque species of American Danaince, both in colour 

 and markings. 



The species of Heliconius vary from two to four inches in expanse, and the antennae are long and 

 slender. The only other genus of this sub-family (Eueides) has much shorter antennae, and the 

 species, which are generally black and tawny, varied with dull yellow, seldom exceed an inch and a 

 half in expanse. 



The great sub-family of the Nympkalinrr, which comprises about 130 genera of Butterflies, 

 exhibiting every variety of colour and pattern, differs from all the foregoing groups, except the 

 Morphince, by the discoidal cell being open, or imperfectly closed, either in all the wings or in 

 the hind wings only. 



The first two genera, Colcenis and Dione, are long- winged South American Butterflies, the 

 caterpillars of which feed on passion-flowers, vanilla, and other tropical plants. They resemble the 

 Heliconince considerably in size, shape, and habits, and form a very good connecting link between 

 these and the Nymphalince ; and some entomologists regard them as more properly belonging to the 

 former sub-family. The species of Colcenis are fulvous above, more or less banded with black. On 

 the under surface they are either coloured as above, or are indistinctly marked. One species 

 (Colcenis dido) is of a most beautiful green, with black markings above, and brown and silvery 

 markings below. Dione juno resembles the genus Colcenis in shape, but most of the species of the 

 former genus have much shorter and broader wings. They are rich fulvous, spotted or veined with 

 black, and the hind wings and the tips of the fore wings are literally covered with large silvery spots 

 beneath. 



The East Indian genus Cethosice includes a number of closely-allied and very similar species, 

 which may be distinguished at once from any other Butterflies by their elegant festooned black and 

 white markings, especially on the under surface of the hind Avings. They somewhat resemble 

 Danaince, being tawny above, with black, white-spotted borders, and some species appear to mimic 

 Danais chrysippus, &c. 



The true Fritillaries are well known to all collectors of Butterflies. The genus Argynnis is well 

 represented throughout the Northern Hemisphere, but there are none in Africa, beyond the Mediter- 

 ranean district, nor in South America, except one or two small species in the Andes or in Chili. There 

 are six beautiful species in England, all fulvous, with black spots and streaks above, and more or 

 less spotted or streaked with silver on the under surface. ]n the North Chinese A. sayana the male 



