560 MR= H. W. BATES ON THE HELICONIDE LEPIDOPTERA 



Para, and north coast of the island of Maraj6. Dr. Eelder describes it as a species, 

 from specimens received from the Upper Rio Negro. 



Var. 2. a. Vicirms, Menetries, Cat. d. 1. Coll. de I'Ac. Imp. de St. Pc^tersbourg, p. 114. 



In this variety the yellow macular belt is placed close to the end of the cell ; the spots 

 are much elongated, and form, with the yellow spot within the end of the cell, a large 

 compact macular patch. 



Para and Upper Amazons. Neither of these varieties shows a tendency to become 

 local, or separate itself from the parent form. 



14. Heliconius Esteblla. 



6 ? . Size, shape, and colour of H. Thelxiope : markings of the hind wing nearly the 

 same as in if. Vesta. Fore wing : above, black, the basal third reddish carmine ; the 

 nerviares bordered with black ; a narrow macular belt, consisting of six light yellow spots, 

 crosses the wing much beyond the end of the cell, nearly reaching the 2nd median 

 branch. Beneath, the same, except that the red at the base of the wing is scarcely 

 sho'svn. 



Hind wing : above, black ; the centre of the cell and six narrow streaks radiating from 

 the base, and running between the nervures, but not reaching the margin, reddish 

 carmine ; the second streak from the abdominal edge has a black mark near the base. 

 Beneath, the same, except that the cell has simply two red streaks, that there is a round 

 red spot between the median and abdominal nervures, and that the costa is yellow at the 



base. 



Body differently marked from S. Thelxiope, the thorax being black, with six distinct 

 rounded yellowish spots and two transverse lines behind. 



This form seems to be intermediate between U. Melpomene and H, Vesta. It agree^ 

 with the latter in the design of the hind wings, but the shape and colour of the wings are 

 diflPerent from it. In H. Vesta the shade of red is always inclining to orange, whilst in 

 H. Estrella it is of the same crimson tint as in IE. Melpomene and Thelxiope. This 

 is most perceptible in living specimens. I look upon JS. Fstrella as a race, or a variety 

 tending to become a race, equivalent to K. Thelxiope and H. Vesta, and to have segregated 

 from the common stock, independently of the other forms. 



I met with it only in the Delta lands of the Amazons ; at Para ; and on the northern 

 coast of the island of Maraj6. 



15. Heliconius Vesta, Cramer. 

 Papilio Vesta, Cram: Pap. Exot. t. 119. f. A. 



This species is very abundant, and widely distributed, being found at Surinam; 

 Cayenne ; along the whole course of the Amazons, up to the Andes ; in Bolivia, and at 

 Cuenca, to the west of the Cordillera. It is further removed than H. Thelxiope from 

 S. Melpomene, differing from both in colour and in the shape of the hind wings, their 

 outer margin being less rounded : the yellow marks of the thorax are the same as 

 those of K. Estrella. The yellow spots of the fore wing vary in the same way as in 

 JI. Thelxiope. 



