176 



MORPHO ADONIS. 

 PLATE XXII. Fig. 1. 



Godart. — Pap. Adonis, Cramer, PI. 61, fig. A, B ; Herbal. Pap. 

 PI. 26, fig. 3, 4 ; Esper. Pap. Exotigues, PL 55, fig. 2. 



As a specimen of that division of Morpho which has 

 the upper wings scarcely or not at all concave on 

 their outer edge, and the anal angle of the under 

 pair prolonged into an obtuse rudimentary tail, we 

 have represented a species of great beauty although 

 inferior in size to many of its congeners, the expan- 

 sion of the wings seldom exceeding three inches and 

 a half. The surface of the male, when seen in cer- 

 tain directions, is of the most brilliant azure-blue, 

 the whole of the exterior margin of the primary 

 wings surrounded with black, and near the apex 

 are two small white spots, the anterior one longi- 

 tudinal, the other orbicular. In the female the blue 

 colour has not such a high degree of lustre; the 

 posterior margin is widely black, and bears two rows 

 of white spots in the upper wings and one row in 

 the under. On the under side the colour is greyish- 

 brown, with several common oblique bands of a paler 

 hue, and three or four oblong ocelli with a white 



