198 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



of the Heliconidae of the Amazon region. In it he first brought 

 forward his ingenious tlieory of Mimicry — a theory which, under 

 the able interpretations of Wallace and Fritz Miiller, and in more 

 recent times, under the impetus of the zeal of their numerous disci- 

 ples, has yielded so much that is of interest to scientific men. 



The Heliconidae are, above all, creatures of the forest, and Bates 

 found that the number of species increases as one travels inland 

 from the Lower Amazons towards the eastern slopes of the Andes, 

 so that the hot Andean valleys near Bogota, or in Ecuador, contain 

 perhaps the greatest number. In their range they are restricted to 

 the Tropics of the New World. Only two species, Dircenna klugii 

 and Heliconius charitonius, extend so far north as the extreme South- 

 ern States of the United States, and none of thein are found much 

 furtlier south than 30° S. Lat. 



Bates and Felder first saw that the Heliconidae were naturally 

 divided into two distinct groups. One, the Danaoid Heliconidae, 

 consists of about twenty genera, all more or less closely related, and 

 evidently an offshoot from the great universal family, the Danaidae, 

 members of which are found in both Hemispheres. The other group, 

 the true Heliconidae, is composed of two closely related genera, Heli- 

 conius and Eueides. They are allied in structure to the Acrae- 

 idae and hence their name, Acraeoid Heliconidae. Schatz and Rober 

 ('85— '92, p. 105) say of the Acraeoid Heliconidae: — They are an 

 offshoot of the great family iSTymphalidae, which have undergone a 

 remarkable development in the length of the fore wing, and in this 

 respect have been developed in a direction parallel with the Danaoid 

 Heliconidae. In their structure, however, they are quite distinct 

 from the Danaoid group. 



Schatz has proposed a new classification for the Heliconidae. He 

 finds that the genera Lycorea and Ituna, which Bates included among 

 the Danaoid Heliconidae, are veiy closely allied to the Danaidae, he 

 therefore says that Lycorea should be placed among the Danaidae, 

 while Ituna is clearly midway between the Danaidae and the Dana- 

 oid Heliconidae. Schatz proposes the name " Xeotropidae " for the 

 Danaoid Heliconidae. However, I think the name " Danaoid Heli- 

 conidae," being older and more descriptive of their relationship, 

 should by all means be retained. In this paper I shall follow Bates's 

 classification, and include among the Danaoid Heliconidae the twenty 

 genera: Lycorea, Ituna, Athesis, Thyridia, Athyitis, Olyras, Eutre- 

 sis, Aprotopos, Du-cenna, Callithomia, Epithomia, Ceratinia, Sais, 



