3* 



A comparison with the greener varieties of urvilliana 

 gives a very close resemblance between the colours of the 

 costal longitudinal bands of eumcsus and urvilliana, if 

 placed side by side in the same light. The silvery opales- 

 cent sheen of the two species, viewed obliquely, is also 

 very similar. In the order of colour transition we should 

 have the following arrangement : pegasus, aruana, 

 eumaius, urvilliana (greener-blue form), urvilliana 'purple- 

 blue and violet forms), crcesus, and lydius. Probably 

 the aruana form, considered biologically, is the oldest in 

 time ; but this is a question to be considered by 

 Prof. Weismann. Of course this arrangement appears to 

 dethrone Priamus from its position as the type species of 

 the group ; but this result would often follow, if we 

 only knew the life-history of many other families and 

 genera of insects. It may be useful in this place to record 

 the following results, when the species named above are 

 viewed from a table placed opposite the light. If eumceus 

 and the greener form of urvilliana are seen side by side, 

 the costal discal band of eumaius will be exactly the 

 colour of that of urvilliana viewed in the normal position 

 and light, but the colour of the remainder of the hind 

 wings will be identical with that of pegasus ; the hind 

 wings of urvilliana will, however, have changed very 

 little. In the same position and light all the wings of the 

 violet form of urvilliana will be of a uniform sordid silver 

 grey ; of pegasus the upper wings will be a deep copper 

 red, and the lower a coppery black green ; of lydius a light 

 orange and very warm olive green ; of crcesus an uniform 

 orange green ; of aruana, the costal band a warm copper, 

 the rest of the wings a green approaching that of pegasus, 

 with a suffusion of the copper tint. The black areas of 

 each species are generally shot with either silvery or 

 coppery sheen. Of the other forms such as Priamus and 

 its allies I will speak in another section of this work. 



? . Wings on both surfaces tawny brown, richer on the 

 underside. Primaries with a subquadrate oblique patch 

 within the discoidal cell sordid white, the pseudoneura 

 quite visible ; without the cell are eight elongate separated 

 marks of the same colour, the first within the third and 

 fourth subcostal branches ill-defined in outline, short and 

 acuminate, the second shorter and broader, the third a 

 long hastate mark filling one half the space between the 

 nervules and containing a cuneiform spot ; the fourth is 

 shorter, with a larger cuneiform spot ; the fifth consists of 

 three white spots of different forms, widely separated by 

 the brown ; the sixth is divided into two of unequal size ; 

 the seventh is divided into a long hastate and an irregu- 

 lar-shaped small mark ; the eigth is twin-spotted, with a 

 faint spot higher up ; the exterior margin with small 

 whitish scalloped spots. The sordid colour is caused by 

 the white being all covered with grey scales. Secon- 

 daries with the submargial band white and very broad, 

 occupying the greater part of the disk between the 



nervules ; four divisions, — or those bounded by the second 

 subcostal and the third median branches, — containing 

 midway a rnoderately-sized orbicular tawny-brown spot, 

 the upper one being the largest ; each of these divisions 

 is sinuate at the outer end, the indentations being most 

 numerous in the upper two, and all are pointed or acu- 

 minate at the ends nearest the cell. Between the first 

 and second subcostal nervules is a separated sinuate spot 

 or a portion of the white band cut off by the brown of the 

 wing ; below the black orbicular spots the white becomes 

 more tawny, and between each of the divisions are indi- 

 cations in ochre of the trigonal yellow marks of the 

 underside ; the lunations of the outer margin tawny 

 yellow-white. 



The undersides of the primaries differ little from the 

 upper ; the same may be said for the secondaries, except 

 that between the costal nervure and the first subcostal 

 branch is a small dark yellow irregular-shaped spot ; a 

 small orbicular black spot in the white between the sub- 

 median nervure and the third median branch, and the 

 white beneath all the black orbicular spots contains a 

 yellow acuminate mark filling most of the space from the 

 spot to the sinuate border, the lunations of the exterior 

 margin being also yellow ; neuration well defined above 

 the black. 



Head. — Eyes dark brown, margined with tawny white ; 

 antenna? dark brown ; articulations 54 each. 



Thorax. — Above tawny brown, with a narrow green- 

 ochreous longitudinal stripe ; beneath, lateral crimson- 

 scarlet spots occupying much of the space above and on 

 each side of the legs, the remainder tawny brown. 



A bdomen. — Above greenish-ochreous white ; subdorsal 

 brownish ochreous-yellow, with strong black articulations 

 and five lateral black dots. 



Length of costa 102 millim. ; antennae and abdomen 

 each 37 millim. ; head and thorax 25 millim. • measure- 

 ment of the legs cannot be given, as they are imperfectly 

 represented in the specimens from which the species is 

 described. 



From the foregoing it would appear that the pattern is 

 of the same type and well within the limits of the varia- 

 tions in the species aruana ; and this insect might easily be 

 taken as a female var. of that species. In the case of the 

 male it would be impossible to make a mistake. 



Hah. Aru Islands. 



I am indebted to the Hon. L. Walter Rothschild for 

 the pleasure of describing and figuring this beautiful new 

 species, from his superb collection. 



