THE MARSvEUS. 511 



bright yellow traversed by black nervures, and which are adorned by six large oval spots 

 of orange-red. Our well-known Orange-tip Butterfly is a familiar example of a similar 

 gathering of the colour upon the under surface of the lower wins. 



There is a pretty butterfly, called the 

 SPIO, which also belongs to this large 

 family, and may be distinguished from 

 the succeeding group by the angulated 

 front wings. It is a native of tropical 

 America, Java, and India, in all of which 

 countries it is tolerably plentiful The 

 colours of the upper surface are deep 

 black, largely mottled with yellow and 

 orange. The under surface is washed 

 with pale yellow, purple, and brown of 

 various depths. 



ON the accompanying illustration are 

 seen some specimens of a beautiful group 

 of butterflies placed in the family Heli- 

 conia, because their graceful forms and 

 elegantly disposed tints are presumed to 

 render them worthy of the companionship 

 of Apollo and the Muses. No British 

 species belongs to this pretty family. 



The uppermost figure represents the 

 Phono, a native of Jamaica, Brazil, and 

 the neighbouring parts. The wings of 

 this curious insect are almost wholly 

 transparent, the opaque and coloured por- 

 tions being confined to a narrow band 

 round the edge, and a few spots and 

 streaks upon the wings. All these mark- 

 ings are blackish brown, except on the under side, where the edge of the hinder pair 

 of wings is tinged with yellow, and sometimes marked with a series of little white spots. 

 An allied butterfly, the Transparent Heliconia (Helicdnia didphana), so closely resembles 

 this species, that the two are often confounded together. 



The lowermost figure at the right hand is the EKATO, a native of Surinam. In 

 this insect there is always some variation in colour, and the sexes are so different that 

 they might easily be supposed to belong to separate species. In the male the upper 

 wings are rich brownish black with large spots of yellow, and the lower wings are also 

 blackish brown, streaked in a radiating manner with blue, and edged with little oval spots 

 of pure white. The female has the ground colour of the same hues as her mate, except 

 that the base of the upper wings is boldly striped with rusty red, and the radiating streaks 

 pn the lower wings are of the same warm tint. In both sexes the under surface is brown, 

 with pale yellow spots on the upper wings, and narrow streaks of pale red on the lower 

 wings. The spread of wings is about .three inches. 



One species of this genus (Heliconia Charitdnia) is very gregarious in its habits, great 

 numbers gathering in some particular spot, and playing about like the gnat assemblies 

 that are so common in the summer time. So plentiful are they, that when tired they can 

 hardly find a place to rest upon, as crowds are continually settling upon the neighbouring 

 trees, and as continually driving off the crowds which have just sat down to rest. 



The last figure represents the MAKS^EUS, a very elegantly shaped butterfly, a native of 

 tropical America. The ground colour of the wings is black, diversified with many bold 

 stripes and patches of orange, and a large golden yellow mark across the extremity of each 

 upper wing. In the illustration, the white patch on the Tipper wings represents the golden 

 yellow of the insect. 



EPICHARIS.-Pieris EpicKaru 



