TAMYRIS Zeleucus. 



Generic Character. 



Antenna: arcuate, dava terminuU, crassata, lintari, ohtusa, inj'cvmhiis graci- 

 lioi'e attenuata. Paipi in J'ronte convtxc-compi-essi, supra Utigiuan ob- 

 venientes, articulo ultimo miiiutissirno, ciassuio obtusu, upproximante, pro- 

 clivi. Ales breves, sedentes korizontaliter divaricatre. 



Antennae arcuated; the club terminal, thick, linear, obtuse; more slen- 

 der and attenuated iii the female. Palpi compressed convexly on the 

 front of the head, meeting above the tongue; the last joint very mi- 

 nute, thick, obtuse, approximating and bent forward. Wings short, 

 when at rest horizontally divaricated. 



Specific Character, etc. 



r. Alii chalybeis concoloribus, margitw albo; capite apiccquc corporis sangiii' 



neis. 

 Wings uniform blueish-black, with a slender white margin. Head and 



top of the body l)right red. 

 Hesp. Zeleucus. Fab. Ent. Si/st. 3. pt. 1. p. 346. no. 317. 



J. HIS insect is the most common (although hitherto unfigured) of 

 a striking natural group belonging to the IIesperida\ it has there- 

 fore been selected as the best example for the genus I Jiave now 

 formed them into. I have not seen more than twelve or four- 

 teen species, and these were all from different parts of South 

 America, to which I have no doubt the genus is exclusively con- 

 fined. The club of their antennae is very thick, obtuse, and 

 without any terminal hook. The bright red at the end of the 

 abdomen (improperly called by Fabricius the tail) is most con- 

 spicuous in the female, which is also larger and having the wings 

 more obtuse, of which the upper and under surfaces are both 

 ahke. 



The insects of this family lly with amazing rapidity (as is shown 

 by the thickness of their thorax, and the sharpness in the make 

 of their wings), generally frequenting openings of thick woods 

 and alighting on leaves where the sun strikes : I seldom saw 

 them on flowers. Their wings when at rest are lialf expanded 

 in a horizontal direction. Their metamorphosis is unknown. 



This individual species is scarce in tlic northern parts of Br;i- 

 zii, but common in the southern pro\inces. 

 PI. 33. 



