﻿POMPEOPTERA MAGELLANUS. 



Ornithoptera Magellanus, Felder ; " Wien. Ent. Mon." VI., p. 282, n. 31 (1862). 

 Papilio Magellanus; Felder, "Verh. z. b. Ges. Wien." p. 291, n. 27 (1864). 



„ „ 3 ?. Felder, " Reise Nov. Lep." I., p. 14, n. 7, t. 5, f. a. (3), b. (?). (1865). 



Ornithoptera Magellanus; Wallace, "Trans. Linn. Soc." Vol. XXV., p. 41 (1866) 

 Pap. Magellanus; W. F. Kirby, " Syn. Cat. Diurn. Lep." p. 519 (1871). 

 Orn, Magellanus; Oberthiir, "Cat. Raisonne de Pap. de la Coll. de Ch. Oberthiir," p. 32 (1879). 

 Ornithoptera Magellanus; W. F. Kirby, Cat. of Coll. Diurn. Lep., formed by the late W. C. Hewitson, p, 1 (1879). 



„ „ Fickert, " Ueber die Zeichn. der Gattung Ornith.," in Zoolog. Jahr. b. (1889) p. 740, 743 3, 744 «, 



,, „ " Semper, Phillip. Tagfalter," p. 264, n. 385 (1891). 



„ Haase, " Untersuch. iib. Mim." p. 29 (1893). 



„ „ W. F. Kirby, " Bird- Winged Butterflies of the East," in Nature, Vol. 51, p. 255 (1895). 



Troides Magellanus; Walter Rothschild, " Novitates ZoologicEe," Pt. vii., Vol. II., p. 232, n. 26 (1895) 

 0. Magellanus; W. F. Kirby, "Handbook to the Order Lepidoptera," Vol. II., p. 265 (1896). 

 Ornithoptera Magellanus; Dr. Fr. Walker, "Oriental Entomology," Pt. II., p. 15. (No date published.) 



This species is sui generis, the most remarkable of 

 butterflies in its colour arrangement, whether in the male 

 or female. The Xanthochroic species of Ornithoptera 

 are represented in Magellanus by the hind wing having 

 attained apparently the maximum area of undivided pure 

 rich yellow,— that is to say, undivided except by the very 

 black veins on the upper and under surfaces, so far 

 as the 6* is concerned, while the broad submarginal band, 

 and the discocellular and discal area of yellow in the S 

 are equally conspicuous on the upper surface of the hind 

 wings. Only this rich graduated golden yellow can be 

 seen when the insect is viewed in a box, or even in a 

 strong direct light ; but if we place the insect nearly on 

 the level of the eye and examine it opposite the light, the 

 whole of the hind wings will be transfigured : the yellow 

 will have given place to the most splendid iridiscence of 

 blue and emerald green, with a faint golden sheen towards 

 the hind margin—the blue ranging from silvery and azure 

 to ultramarine, with just a suggestion of a rosy tint. If 

 the insect be viewed on the same level against the light, 

 the yellow gives place to a nearly uniform area of gradua- 

 ted emerald green. Some of the S. American Papilios — 

 i.e., the red °and black species, which I propose to call 

 Ornithopterina furnish on a smaller scale a similar iridis- 

 cence over the crimson patches ; and I remember the late 

 W. C. Hewitson calling my attention once to a lovely 

 Erycinid in his collection which he had just described 

 under the name Eurygona pmclara, in which the orange- 

 red and black wings above appear shot with the most 

 vivid amber and silver blue, when held with its head away 

 from the light — this iridiscence being equally glorious in 

 the black as on the orange surface of the wings — the 

 glory surpassing even that of the Morphos [see his fig. 

 in his " 111. of New Exotic Butterflies," vol. iv, pi. ix of 

 Eurygona, fig, 90.] All the latter, together with the blue 

 Morphos, are found on the S. American continent, where 

 splendid iridiscent butterflies of many genera are very 

 much in evidence ; while P. Magellanus inhabits the Phil- 

 ippines, a group of islands also famous for the diversity 

 and splendour of its fauna. 



So far as my knowledge of this species extends, after an 

 examination of the examples in the Hewitson Collection, 

 the British Museum, the Salvin and Godman collection, 

 the Rothschild, and Mr. H. G. Smith's collections, the $ <? 

 differ very little on either surface from the Felder type 

 which I figure on PI. 67 (figs, r, 2, and ia, 2a) of this 

 work, and again on PI. 68. The 2 is subject to some 



slight variation however, and the iridiscence is found to 

 vary also in intensity from that of the 6* , and also in 

 different examples. 



$ . Anterior wings deep velvety black, shot with a faint 

 silvery sheen ; the nervules stout and intensely black, 

 passing through the discal rays of pale yellow, with faint 

 edgings of pale yellow within the discoidal cell along part 

 of the median nervure, and the discocellular nervure ; these 

 rays are slightly modified by black atoms ; the fringe 

 lunules are thin and white. The posterior wings 

 are rich golden yellow graduated to a slightly redder 

 yellow towards the base ; the veins are stout and very 

 black ; the area of the yellow, when viewed obliquely 

 opposite the light is a splendid iridiscence of silvery to 

 ultramarine blue, and emerald or golden green ; against 

 the light entirely an apple green, emerald, or golden 

 green. The submarginal border velvety black, and 

 indented or lunated inwardly ; no fringe lunules ; the 

 base within the precostal nervure, dark brown ; a number 

 of faint, dark hairs spring from the basal portion of the 

 median nervure on the side nearest the abdominal margin ; 

 from the submedian nervure the whole of the abdominal 

 margin is black, with a sufficient indication of the outline 

 of the fold or pouch, which conceals the androconia. The 

 undersurface of the anterior wings similar to the upper, 

 except that the black is less intense and warmer, and the 

 yellow rays are rather broader and more distinct. The 

 posterior wings are nearly identical in colour and in all 

 other respects with the upper surface ; but the abdominal 

 margin is silvery reddish brown, with the fairly long 

 abdominal fringe still lighter reddish. The scheme of 

 iridiscence is the same as above. The upper wings of this 

 sex have the costa long and not quite so arcuate as in the 

 ? ; the posterior margin is also long (within 4-5ths of the 

 length of the costa) and prominently concave onward a 

 short distance from the apex, the outline also being deli- 

 cately lunate ; the under wings are sufficiently lunate. 



Head and thorax, velvety black ; eyes, dark brown ; 

 pronotal collar, crimson scarlet ; abdomen, yellow, shot 

 with the same iridiscence as that of the wings, with a 

 faint orange-red dorsal longitudinal ray from the base, 

 and black lateral patches accentuating the segments ; the 

 anal valves pearly white, with a triangulate dorsal black 

 mark. The subdorsum yellow with lateral black dots. 

 The pectoral surfaces of the thorax dark brown, with 

 scarlet crimson lateral spots ; legs black. 



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