3A 



Genus ORNITHOPTERA, Boisduval. 



Section Priamoptera, Rippon. 



The general characters of this section in the $ $ differ 

 little, if at all, from those of the other Ornithoptera. In 

 colour however we have a striking change, which 

 renders them very prominent even among the members 

 of so splendid a genus. This difference extends to every 

 part of the insect. The silky black is nearly the most 

 intense black to be found in nature.* The abdomen is 

 more intensely lemon yellow, or orange lemon, than in the 

 green forms ; indeed they have a brilliancy of colour that 

 is perfectly indescribable, whether by the pen or brush. 

 The abdominal fringe is always very prominent, and looks 

 remarkably like the fur of some vertebrates, or even the 

 lighter varieties of human hair. The colour surfaces of 

 the wings above are either purple, violet, blue or blue and 

 violet, or greenish violet, orange chrome or lemon, or 

 golden orange, and copper tints ; indeed there is every 

 possible gradation to be met with in the examination of 

 a large number of examples of the 3 species at present 

 described. Urvilliana belongs to the purple — lydius and 

 crcesus to the orange, series. O. eumceus evidently takes 

 the place of a transition species from ORNITHOPTERA 

 to Priamoptera, thereby linking the two together by 

 means of itself and aruana. On the under surfaces, while 

 the general pattern is always similar to that of Orni- 

 thoptera, the warm golden greens are replaced by much 

 blue or purple blue on all the wings in the vars. of 

 urvilliana : in lydius and crcesus by a more orange green, 

 or orange without the green tinge. A peculiar feature 

 also in lydius is the large surface of pure orange or lemon 



•The most intense and absolute black (that is a black that seems to absorb all the 

 rays of light) is found on the blossom of the papilionaceous flower of the broad bean, 

 Faber vulgaris, Lindley ; one of the edible leguminosas. The white of the same flower 

 is also the purest to be found in nature. 



yellow on the upper parts of the hind wings in lydius, and 

 is a lesser degree in crcesus. These are the same on both 

 surfaces, are not diluted by other coloured scales of black, 

 orange, or copper, and are almost semi-transparent. 

 Minute spots or dots of a similar character and texture 

 are found on nearly all the species of Ornithoptera, but 

 sparingly and unobtrusively ; in Priamoptera they attain 

 their maximum. The thoracic longitudinal stripe in 

 lydius is quite of a metallic appearance. 



The 2 2 of the purple species urvilliana, though they 

 vary much in marking, are all remarkably light in colour — 

 the smoky brown often causing them to look as if they 

 were faded ; but with the one exception at present known 

 they have a general resemblance to the H of other 

 species. That exception is in lydius, where a sordid 

 white on the primaries and sordid yellow on the secon- 

 daries occupy most of the area of the wings, and gives 

 the appearance of a huge acreoid or danaoid insect. This 

 arrangement is the same on the under surfaces. The 

 form of the upper wings differs also considerably from that 

 of its congeners. Such an abnormal character suggests 

 to us the possibility of lydius being a Dimorphic species, 

 probably with another ? of the ordinary type of pattern, 

 and if so it might ultimately be found that crcesus is 

 favoured in the same way. The abdominal fringe is 

 always shorter, and an abundance of long hairy scales 

 is always found on the upper parts of the hind wings, as 

 in ORNITHOPTERA proper. 



The type of this section is 0. lydius, Felder, a descrip- 

 tion of which will be found on the next page. 



