Publ. 24. XI. 1919. THEOREMA; TRICHONLS; THECLA. By Dr. M. Dratjdt. 745 



E. debora Hbn. (146 a) is the largest representative of the genus, above deep velvety-black mth dehora. 

 green, metallic, submarginal cuneiform spots, which are on the forewings longer, on the hindwings shorter 

 and more triangular ; metallic-blue stripes are found yet subcostally, in the cell and along the submedian. Beneath 

 unmistakable by the numerous greenish-golden spots, which are silvery-blue in fresh specimens as in the figured ^. 

 — The carmine, black-belted larva lives gregariously on an Amaryllis standing in the water. The butterfly 

 flies m Mexico and Guatemala. 



E. minyas Hhn. (= toxea Godt.) (146 a, b) is smaller, the forewing with a blue, black-veined disc being minyas. 

 of a very variable extent, the hindwing with golden-green, small cuneiform spots in front of the margin. Abdomen 

 beneath orange-red. Widely distributed and common from the south-western part of Texas to Brazil. — We 

 introduce the very imposing and extensively lustrous-blue Costa Rica-form by the name of : costaricensis form, eostaricen- 

 710V. (146 b). — On the contrary, the more southern specimens from the Amazon etc. have particularly the *''^' 



$ above almost without any green at all; they may be named brasiliensis jorm. nov. hra.nliemis. 



E. atala Poey (= toxea Gray nee Godt.) (146 b; c as toxea) is smaller and duller, the hind wings nearly afala. 

 entirely black with smaller, more blue marginal spots. Beneath the silvery-green macular bands of the hind- 

 wings are developed more proximally, costally more bent, the red inner-marginal spot mostly larger. The 

 extension of the blue above also varies here greatly in the different specimens. From Florida and Cuba. 



2. Genus: Theorema Hew. 



Neuration almost like in debora, but the cell of the forewing is somewhat broader, the 1st subcostal 

 vein placed nearer to the base. The hindwing exhibits a small tail at the lower median-vein. In the ^J the forelegs 

 are not so very spinous. 



Th. eumenia Hezv. ($ = titania Strecker) (146 b, c) is a magnificent species, the cj above of a eumenia. 

 radiant peacock-blue, warming into green towards the margin, with a broadly black costal area of the hind- 

 wing; the $ is black, on the forewing with a bluish-green submarginal band and a white apex, on the hindwing 

 with greenish-golden marginal spots. Beneath the dull-black hind wings exhibit 4 greenish-silvery macular 

 rows in front of the border, the c? an opalescent blue stripe in the cell of the forewing and between the median 

 veins. Known from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia, but so far everywhere ex- 

 tremely rare. 



Th. dystnenia spec. nov. (153 a) resembles above somewhat the £". debora; velvety-black, towsu'ds dysmenia. 

 the margin with an indigo-blue lustre, on all the wings with submarginal, greenish-blue silvery spots receding 

 somewhat at the apex of the forewing. Beneath dull-black with darker veins and a narrow, greyish-white distal 

 margm growing broader towards the apex on the forewing. The ^J is not yet known and is presumably above 

 more extensively blue. Described according to a 9 from the Upper Rio Negro (Colombia) from the Coll. Fassl. 



3. Genus: TrichoniiS Heiv. 



Robustly built, head lai'ge, eyes naked. Costal margin of the forewings at the base strongly convex, 

 distal margin uniformly rounded, proximal margin of the forewings in both sexes very convex, covering a polished 

 spot of the costal half of the hindwing. On the forewing the subcostal is 2-branched. Hindwings round, with 

 a short cell and a very convex costal margin. 



T. theanus Cr. (146 b) is above and beneath light greenish-blue, above with a black distal margm; iheanus. 

 the polished spot is reddish-brown, so is the inner-marginal part of the forewing beneath, as far as it is covered 

 by the hindwing. This quite uncommonly rare species seems to be known only from Guiana. 



4. Genus: Tliecla F. 



A multiform genus of very small to medium-sized butterflies, the chief mark by which they are disting- 

 uished from the other genera being the more or less produced, often indented, pointed or rounded anal angle 

 of the hindwing. Another characteristic is the development of the tails found in most of the species. In case 

 there is only one tail, it is situated at the lower median vein and appears only in very rare case^ as a direct 

 prolongation of this vein, but is much rather placed mostly nearly rectangularly to it in the direction of the 

 anterior angle, being, however, sloping upwards close behind its rise, so that it nevertheless retains the 

 direction of the vein. If there is a second tail, its place is at the upper median vein and it is smaller. 



The main characteristics regarding the general exterior, the habits and so on has already been told 

 in the Preface (p. 740 ff .). According to our present knowledge it is not yet possible to classify the genus com- 

 prising more than 800 described species and being certainly not to be delimited uniformly, according to definite 

 principles. Whether the method of the secondary sexual characteristic marks already proposed by others 

 and continued by Couevoisier, will attain its object, seems still to be doubtful to us. The scent organs, 

 being a somewhat relatively recent discovery, are easily influenced and variable and are often present 



V 94 



