^THEOPTERA VICTORIA. 



Omithoptera Yictoriae, Gray, 2 , Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., (1856), p. 7, t. 39. 



„ W. F. Kirby, Syn. Cat. Diur. Lepid, p. 518. (187!). 



„ ,, Butler, Lepidoptera of the South Sea Islands, Proc. Zool. Lond. (1874), p. 289. 



„ „ H. Grose-Smith, Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 19, p. 445. (1887). 



„ „ H. Grose-Smith, Rhopalocera Exotica PI. 1, p. 1. [This is the $ of M. Regime.] 



„ O. Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. (1888), p. 116, p, 4. 



„ „ Dr. C. Fickert, Ueber die Zeichn. der Gatt. Omithoptera, p. 722, <? fig. 2, taf. 21 ; ? fig. 3, taf. 21. 



With the exception of Schocnbergia Paradisea of Pagen- 

 stecher and of the author, this species is one of the most 

 remarkable and beautiful of all the glorious group of the 

 Omithoptera — the $ being most conspicuous by its long 

 narrow upper, and the curiously incised hind, wing, 

 as well as in the arrangement of the veins of the primaries, 

 and of the sericeous $ sexual brand or stigma. During 

 the years extending from 1856, (when Gray described the 

 2 ,) to 1887, the only example known to us was the single 

 type 2 in the British Museum. Up to the latter year 

 no one knew what the $ was like, and no surprise would 

 have been caused if it had been found to be De Hann's 

 remarkable species 0. Tithonus, of which only one 6* (the 

 type) at that time was known to exist in the Leyden 

 Museum. As will be observed in another part of this 

 work, the latter species is not really related to Victories, 

 and must form a part of the genus of which Paradisea is the 

 type. The unique example in the British Museum known 

 to Gray was not in the most perfect condition, having 

 been killed by a charge of small shot, because of the 

 impossibility of getting it in any other way, as Macgillivray 

 explained, its flight being so elevated and rapid. John 

 Macgillivray, the discoverer of the ? sailed in H.M. ss. 

 Rattlesnake and Herald. The former vessel did not 

 touch at any of the Solomon Islands, but the Herald was 

 there in 1854-5. Mr. Salvin, having examined the chart 

 prepared by Captain Denham of the route pursued by 

 the Herald, found that the vessel touched at Wanderer 

 Bay on the South coast of Guadalcanar, and at Makerer 

 on the South coast of San Cristoval, but did not visit the 

 Island of Maleita ; therefore, as no Omithoptera had been 

 found at San Cristoval, he came to the conclusion that 

 it was a practical certainty that the type 2 of Victories, 

 had been found at Wanderer Bay, Guadalcanar. Since 

 then the North side of the island has been visited by 

 Mr. Woodford, who also collected in some other localities 

 of the Solomon group, including the Island of Maleita, 

 and collected a considerable series of the 6* 6* and a still 

 larger number of 2 2 of this species in that locality, and 

 also at Florida Island ; but his first series of the 

 /Ethcoptcra were taken at Wanderer Bay, Maleita, and 

 these proved to be, as Mr. Salvin found, specifically 

 distinct from Victories — though the 2 2 did not appear 

 to differ so much from those of Guadalcanar. 



2 . Described by G. R. Gray : " General colour glossy 

 bronze black, with the two outer rows of irregular-sized 

 spots of pure white, while those at the base of the fore 

 wings are rich king-yellow, but partly pure white outerly ; 

 the anterior margin of the secondary wings narrowly 

 bordered with king-yellow. The under surface like the 



upper ; but the anterior margin of the secondary wings 

 broadly bordered, and some of the spots tinged with rich 

 king-yellow. The head and thorax pure black ; the body 

 ochraceous yellow above, and black along the middle 

 beneath." 



6* . Described by Salvin. " Similar to 0. Regincz, but 

 wings of <? broader ; the sub-apical spot of the primaries 

 smaller and divided into 3 parts by the nervules, and the 

 green of the base of the wings more restricted. 

 The secondaries are almost suffused with the green, except 

 the inner and outer margins ; on the distal half are a few 

 black scales, where, in Regince, the wings are chiefly black ; 

 beneath, the discal green portions of the primaries are 

 broken up by a series of broad black lunules, of which 

 there are only two in Regince, and there is a black spot 

 between the sub-costal and its 4th branch." 



" Cell of the Primaries wide towards its distal end, the 

 middle upper discocellular nervules very long ; lower 

 discocellular also long, but ranged in line with the sections 

 of the median as in true Papilios ; the 2nd and 3rd sec- 

 tions of the median, especially the latter, were very short, 

 so that the short median branches and the median itself, 

 beyond the cell, lay very close together. The cell of the 

 secondaries was very long and narrow, though normal 

 in the 2 ." 



Mr. Salvin's description which follows evidently applies 

 to Regince though intended at the time for Victories. 



" Wings deep black ; primaries, except the costa, have 

 a large patch of golden green, the outer margin of which 

 is irregular and ill-defined, and reaches to within a quar- 

 ter of an inch of the end of the cell ; towards the apex is 

 a large sub-triangular golden patch ; parallel to the inner 

 margin and near the anal angle is an elongated stigma, 

 similar to that of Priamus and its allies. Secondaries, 

 almost from costal margin to beyond the cell, are rich 

 golden green ; the distal part of the cell is black, though 

 the nervures closing it are very green ; there are also 3 

 contiguous sub-marginal golden-green spots, whereof the 

 2 nearest the anal angle have a large central patch of 

 golden yellow. Beneath, the wings are shining golden 

 green, with nervures, margins, and a large sub-triangular 

 patch over the end of the cell of the primaries, a series of 

 sub-marginal spots at the end of each secondary nervure, 

 and 2 lunate spots on either side of the lower radial of 

 the primaries black. 



" Antennae and prothorax black ; abdomen ochraceous 



