204 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



LEPIDOPTERA. NYMPHALIDiE. 



APATUEA. 



Generic Distinctions. — Antennm long, with an egg-shaped club ; 

 'pal;pi long, and projecting beyond the head, where they meet and 

 form a kind of beak; the basal and terminal joints of nearly 

 equal length, the intermediate one very long ; wings somewhat 

 triangular, edge of the primary pair nearly entire, the others 

 slightly scalloped. 



Apatura Iris. (Plate VIII.) Purple Emperor. Surface 

 of the wings dark brown, changing, as the light shines on 

 it, to a very rich purple ; this brilliant colour is not seen in 

 the female, whose wings are of a paler brown. In both sexes 

 there are four patches of white on the upper wings, inter- 

 rupted by the nervures ; the hinder wings are traversed by 

 a band of white, a tawny streak running round them near 

 the margin, and the inferior pair have a black spot sur- 

 rounded by a red ring; on the under side, the superior 

 wings are rust-red, with a large ocellus near the hinder 

 angle, and two black spots near the base; the hinder por- 

 tions of the under wings are greyish, with a faint undulating 

 brown line near the margin ; all the wings have the white 

 marks similar to those of the surface. The caterpillar is 

 pale green, with a yellow stripe down the outer side of two 



