leilia. 
antonia. 
argus. 
armilla. 
550 PREPONA. By H. FRUHSTORFER. 
A. leilia Hdw. (110 Ac) from Arizona has on the hindwings a row of, and on the forewings 2 eyespots 
with white pupils. — antonia Hdw. (110 Ac) issmaller with a lighter and more variegated upper surface owing 
to numerous light spots. 
A. argus Bates (109 b) from Guatemala and Honduras greatly deviates from the preceding species 
by the very much cut out distal margin of the forewings and by quite a different scheme of markings. It varies 
somewhat, especially the yellow band of the forewing is inconstant, being sometimes more prominent than 
in the figured specimen. Specimens with a distinct yellow band, occurring in both the sexes, are called armilla 
Fruhst. Seems not to be common, 
M. Charaxidi. 
We have but little to add to what has been said about this group in Vol. I p. 168—69 and Vol. XIII. p. 122—23. 
The butterflies mostly exhibit an uncommonly clumsy, strong thorax, bearing the very thick and strong flying-muscles. The 
antennae are always quite gradually thickened to a moderate club, but have a strong shaft. The abdomen often adheres 
to the powerful thorax only like a small appendix. The flight is very powerful, though not elegant, rumbling or tumbl- 
ing, with long-striking) flaps of the wings, quite dissimilar to the flight of the A paturidi which dart along with stretched wings. 
When holding the butterflies, which are generally of a considerable size, between the fingers, they develop great efforts to 
free themselves, and in the net they mostly flutter furiously about. They disdain flowers, but go on fruit, saps, excrements 
and baits by which they often get so boozy that one can easily grasp them by the thorax itself with the pincette and 
kill them by a pressure, whereas otherwise they are extremely timid. They are mostly always of imposing colours, very 
often with a dark under surface decorated by metal colours. — The larvae, frequently of a green colour, are nude, granular 
or with quite short hair; the head mostly exhibits short horns; the neck is often strangulated, the back may rise in 
pointed protuberances; at the tip of the tail sometimes two knobs, points or long appendages. — The pupae are also quite 
different from those of the Apaturidi: not bilaterally compressed, but twisted round, berry-shaped, with mostly quite 
short abdominal part being shoved together, resembling in the shape rather the pupae of Danaidi than those of other Nym- 
phalidae, without any protuberance and points, with quite smooth surface. Except the northern parts of North America and 
Asia, they are distributed almost over the whole world, except Europe, where they only inhabit the southernmost extremity; 
their chief range, however, are the tropics of both the hemispheres. Some species are extremely rare and belong to the 
most highly esteemed objects in collections. (A. SEITZ.) 
The Prepona are large and brilliantly coloured butterflies of a black ground-colour and, in the common 
species, mostly with a metallic-lustrous, bluish-green longitudinal band across both the wings. In some species 
the wings are transversed yet by a series of yellow submarginal spots, and in two Andine species we notice a 
red transverse band (similar to that of Agrias) on the forewings. The Prepona evidently replace in South America 
the palaearctic Charaxes-form with which they are so closely allied in the veins that there are but few impor- 
tant structural marks by which they differ from Charazes. 
57. Genus: Prepona Bsd. 
In Prepona the forewings are mostly drawn forth at the apex, somewhat in the shape of a sickle; the 
hindwings are never caudate, but always rounded off. The antennae quite gradually change into a slender 
club. The precostal of the hindwings is from the very bottom bent distally, while in Charazes it rises in a 
straight line. The cells of both the wings are closed by a fine posterior discocellular disemboguing on the fore- 
wings distal from the bifurcation of the medians, on the hindwings proximal from it. The tarsus of the gg 
is almost as long as the tibia, in Charazes always shorter. The amazingly close affinity expressed by the 
structure is also displayed by the shape of the larvae being built according to the same type and differing only 
in single details; so for instance in the longer tail-fork and the more strongly developed fourth segment, while 
the three first ones are suddenly tapering off behind the head. On the head there are only two instead of four 
horns turned hindward. We as yet know very little about the larva, and probably only the larvae of the four 
most common species are known (demophon, meander, antimache and chromus. They live, according to 
v. BomNNINGHAUSEN on Anonaceae and Abacata-trees. According to A. Srerrz (Wiesbaden 1893) they have 
a curious shape; behind the head there is a neck-like depression followed by a gibbous elevation, the posterior 
end of the insect being drawn out into two appendages, which are apart when at rest. 
The Prepona-larvae most remarkably are without spines, i. e. according to modern views, the spines 
are stunted, whereby this genus shows a certain affinity to Apatura, being also confirmed by the power- 
ful structure and the blue reflection of the butterflies, by their flight and habits etc. 
HaHNEL also mentions (Iris 1890 p. 290) with respect to the affinity to Apatura, that in the Prepona 
, the Apatura-type is more distinctly pronounced in the tropics, than in the Apatura themselves, which likewise 
occur on the Amazon, but are somewhat excelled in the beauty of colours and the size by their northern 
cousins**. 
According to Hanne (Iris 1890 p. 308) certain Prepona are to be noticed by a vanilla-odour ,,occur- 
ring often in species with a deep, intensive blue“. 
The ege of Prepona chromus Guer., according to Fasst, is of the size of an egg of Sphina ligustri, being 
globose, of a shiny white, with many fine pores. The micropyle relatively large and to be seen with the naked 
eye. The little larva when just crept out is about 2 mm long, of a greyish green; the diameter of the head 
is larger than that of the trunk which is tapering off backwards. At the third ring there is an elevation 
