MAYER: COLOR AND COLOR-PATTERNS. 199 



Scada, Mechanitis, Xapeogenes, Ithomia, Aeria, Melinaea, and 

 Tithorea. The Acraeoid Ileliconidae will then consist of the two 

 remaining genera, Heliconius and Eueides. 



Staudinger ('Si-'SS) records 453 species belonging to the Danaoid 

 group, and 150 belonging to the Acraeoid group. 



Nearly all that we know concerning the early stages of the 

 Heliconidae is due to Wilhelm Miiller ('86). He gives figures and 

 more or less complete descriptions of the early stages of Dircenna 

 xantho, Ceratinia eupompe, Ithomia neglecta, Thyridia themisto, 

 Mechanitis lysimnia, and also of Heliconius apseudes, H. eucrate, H. 

 doris, Eueides Isabella, E. aliphera, and E. pavana. Bates ('62, p. 

 596) says that he raised the larvae of Heliconius erato and Eueides 

 Ij^bia. Schatz and Rober ('85-'92) figure the larva and pupa of 

 Ceratinia euryanassa. Edwards has given a detailed account of the 

 early stages of H. charitonius. 



Miiller found that the larvae of the Danaoid group feed on various 

 species of Solanum, while the genera Heliconius and Eueides feed 

 upon the Passifloreae. The larvae are conspicuously colored, and 

 often gregarious ; they seem to take but little pains to hide them- 

 selves during the chrysalis stage, for Miiller says that he has seen 

 the silver-spotted, white chrysalids of Heliconius doris hanging in 

 great numbers in the near neighborhood of the larval food plant. 

 The mature insects also furnish a good example of what Wallace 

 ('67) designated as " warning coloration," for their tawny orange 

 and black wings are very conspicuous as they sail slowly around in 

 circles, settling at freqiient intervals in their lazy irregular fiiglit. 



Bates was the first to call attention to the circumstance that they 

 often possess a rather strong and disagreeable odor, and in 1878 

 Fritz Miiller confirmed this observation for a number of the Heli- 

 conidae. He found, for example, that the genera Ituna and Ilione 

 have a pair of finger-like processes near the end of the abdomen, 

 which can be protruded and then emit a rather disagreeable odor ; 

 and he also found that the Acraeoid Heliconidae, especialh' the 

 females, possess a disgusting odor. Seitz ('89), however, examined 

 about fifty species of Heliconidae and found that many of them 

 appear to have no odor. For example, he says that Heliconius 

 eucrate and Eueide dianasa have no odor, but that so7iie S2)ecimens 

 of Heliconius beskei, and Eueides aliphera have a horrid odor. 



Whether they are odorous or not, it would seem that the Heli- 

 conidae have but few enemies to fear, for not one of the many 



