552 MR. H. W. BATES ON THE HELICONIDE LEPIDOPTERA 



7. Melin^a Pabdalis. 



Mechanitis Maelus (part), Hewitson, Exot. Butt. Mechanitis, fig. 9. 



Mr. Hewitson considered this form to be a variety of M. Maelus : both were very 

 abundant at Ega, and I did not find them to intermingle ; it will be better, therefore, to 

 keep them apart. The two sexes are alike in colours, as in the vast majority of the Heli- 

 conidcB. I did not meet with M. Pardalis at St. Paulo ; but at Tabatinga, 80 miles further 

 west, it again occurred, not however under precisely the same form as at Ega, but in a 

 modified state, the yellow crossbelt and the spot at the hind angle of the fore wing having 

 become of the same dark orange-brown hue as the rest of the wing. The same trans- 

 formation of colour takes place in many species of Selicouida in travelling from east to 

 west, and I am inclined to think it is due to the direct action of the physical conditions 

 of the localities on the early states of the insects. 



8. Melin^a Mnasias, Hewitson. 



Mechanitis Mnasias, Hewits. Exot. Butt. Mechanitis, fig. 5. 



Pound at Para, where it is rare. The species mimics most accurately in colours the 

 Ceratinia Ninonia, var. Barii. 



Genus Tithorea, Doubleday. 

 Doubled, and Hewits. Gen. Diurn. Lap. p. 99. 



1. Tithorea Harmonia, Cramer. 



Papilio Harmonia, Cram. Pap. Exot. t. 190. f. C. 



Tithorea Megara, Doubled, and Hewits. Gen. Diurn. Lep. pi. 14. fig. 2. 



Cramer's figure was made from an aberrant example, in which, as frequently happens 

 in the Heliconidce, the black central stripe of the hind wing is partially connected with 

 the hind border ; on this account Doubleday and other authors have passed it over, and 

 given a new name to the species. The figure, however, is a very fair one, and recogni- 

 zable by the tricuspid termination, on the outer border, of the fore-wing central yellow 

 crossbelt, which distinguishes the species from all others. It is found pretty generally 

 throughout the Amazon region, in the moister parts of the forest, and in company 

 with Melincea Mneme, Mechcmitis Folymnia, &c. 



2. Tithorea Cupabina. 



6 ? . Size, shape, and general coloration of T. Harmonia. Fore wing : above, with 

 the basal half orange-tawny, the outer edge of this colour running very obliquely from 

 the middle of the costa to the outer margin ; this is followed by an irregular and oblique 

 clear yellow belt which crosses the costal part of the end of the cell and terminates in an 

 obtuse point in the middle of the outer margin ; the apical part beyond the yellow belt is 

 black, and is crossed in the middle by three yellow spots ; the basal third of the costa, 

 the median nervure to the 1st branch, and the whole of the hind margin are bordered 

 with black, besides which there are three black spots on the disk of the wing, namely, a 

 triangular one in the middle of the cell, one across the end of the cell, and one between 



