March, '03] entomological news. 87 



As yet I have no female of thoosa. 



Sum of distinctive characters of M. thoosa, as compared with M. 

 polyphermis. lyarger size; greenish tinge; strong, deep, black 

 apex of forewing ; great reduction in size and number of ocelli 

 on under surface ; immaculate under surface of hind wings. 



Described and figured from a male, one of a number taken 

 at San Juan Evangelista, Vera Cruz Province, Mexico, and 

 sent to me by Mr. E. K. Harvey, of Los Angeles, Cal. 

 Thoosa is probably only a variety of polyphemus, but it seems 

 more worthy of a varietal name than var. hma, being more 

 distinct in appearance, and not intergrading, as does lu7ia, be- 

 sides coming from the Eastern Coast of Mexico, while hma 

 flies with polyphemus in the Central and Western parts. I 

 well know that among the Satyridae and allied families the 

 ocelli show a great tendency to vary in size and number and 

 I do not base my claims upon this point ; but I do claim that 

 Satyrus alope and pegala, Morpho polyphemus and var. Iu7ia, 

 and many others, are respectively no more distinct than M. 

 polyphemus and M. thoosa. Mr. Otis W. Barrett during a col- 

 lecting experience of a number of years near Cuernavaca and 

 Tacubaya, Mexico, never saw this form, though he took poly- 

 phemtis and luna in numbers. Thoosa seems confined to the 

 coast region from Vera Cruz Province, South, while the other 

 two seem to belong to the Central and Western part of South- 

 ern Mexico and south into Central America (?). 



It appears desirable at first to name this variety in honor of 

 Mr. Harvey, who captured them, but it is perhaps better to 

 give a name which suggests affinities ; and so I have chosen 

 thoosa to represent the relationship \.o polyphemus, that Cyclops 

 being the son of Thoosa and Neptune. The name has been 

 used twice already, but applied to representatives of widely 

 remote families, and in each case is a synonym ; thus Etiploea 

 thoosa Hubn. is E. rhadamanthus Fabr. and Anthocaris thoosa 

 Scud, is a female of A. Sara Bdl. Morpho polyphemus Dby.- 

 Hew. shares its specific name with a Maniola, an Eiiptyehia 

 (Satyridae), two Lycaenas and a Saturnian; and besides Morpho 

 hma Butl. we have Pierella luna L. (a Satyrid) and Actiasluna L. 

 Polyphemus and its allies belong to the Laertes group of the 

 genus Morpho containing the following known forms : 



1. Morpho laertes Dru. Rio Janeiro. 



var. iphitus Feld. Locality unknown ; described in Reise Novara 

 Lep. Ill, p. 457, n. 761; and seems, as indicated there, a variety 

 of laertes, or of epistrophis. 



2. Morpho epistrophis Hubn. So. Brazil and Uruguay. 



{catenarius Perry). 



3. Morpho polyphemus YVct-'^.-W^sN. Central and West Mexico and Cen- 



tral America, 

 var. luna Butl. ibid, 

 var. thoosa Smyth. Vera Cruz ; East Coast Me.xico. 



