Pubt S. vn. 1913. MORPHO. By H. Fruhstorfee. 363 



in motion and the magnificent play of colours of the upper surface is perfected by the silvery decoration of the 

 under. When the ^^ come upon an open track thej^ follow it impetuously, as if to give free scope to their 

 powers of flight. The $$ awake much later than their suitors, as a rule not until towards midday. Their 

 fhght is then, however, not continuous like that of the light-winged cJc^*, but sluggish, aimless, heavy, as if in 

 a dream, and it alternates Mith frequent pauses for rest, quite in the manner of some lost, frightened crea- 

 ture, driven by unconscious impulses. But when they have paired and are disturbed by the collector an in- 

 teresting scene ensues, the huge $ flutters heavily about mth its inert partner until it has again obtained 

 a foothold. The rose-tinted iinder surface of the $, with its large ocelli, contrasts with the much darker 

 one of the ^ and is admirably concealed from the prying eyes of enemies in the shadow of the foliage or 

 the confusion of brown, withered leaves. In contrast to rhetenor and the species of the iphimedeia group, how- 

 ever, menelaus keeps nearer to the ground, and according to Dr. Hahkel it even abandons its aimless jerky 

 movements wheii it passes over rivers, in the consciousness of safety which the wet element under it affords. 

 The remarkable impression which the Morphids call forth in European travellers seems to be shared by the*na- 

 tives, only ^^ith this difference, that thej' see in them nothing attractive, but associate them in their ideas 

 with the embodiment of malevolent spirits. According to Dr. Koch-Grunberg (Two Years among the India.ns, 

 Berlin 1910) the large azure-blue butterfly ,,Tataloko", which enchants the eye with its brilliant colouring and 

 looks like a little piece of the sky come down, is one of the most dangerous demons. It has its abode in Yuru- 

 pary Cachoeira, the first and highest of the mrdtitude of falls and rapids in the Rio Caiary-Uaupes, where it 

 brews maJaria in a large pot, so that all who drinlv of the water fall sick. As a matter of fact Dr. Koch 

 had personal experience that malaria does occur on this othermse healthy river above the cataract, in conse- 

 quence of the quite different, white, almost stagnant water there. The mask of the butterfly, which the na- 

 tives put on in the ,,Morpho" dance, is well characterized by the wickerwork mngs, painted with gay pat- 

 terns, which are attached to both sides of the body, and by the curved proboscis composed of Cipo (a climb- 

 ing plant) *). The zigzag marking on the breast of the mask indicates the fluttering of the butterfly. The 

 dancer holds in one hand the symbol of the pernicious activities of his demon, the drinking-cup, on which he 

 beats time vdth. a small stick. — menelaus L. (69 c (^, 71 b $), the name-type, is at the same time the smallest merwlaus. 

 race of the collective species ; the $ was named nestor by Cramer, a iiame which by oversight has been trans- 

 ferred to the o on our plate. As may be seen from the figure, the (J is pale blue, but with extremely in- 

 tensive reflections. The $ has onlj^ quite small white discal patches and the white spots on the discocellular 

 are less developed than hi the other races. Surinam, apparently not very common, as my collector Michaelis 

 during his two visits there only handed over quite a few examples. — terrestris Btlr. is the geographical ierrestris. 

 race from the Lower Amazon, first made known from Villa Nova (the present Villa Bella); its under surface 

 is cinnamon-bro«Ti ^\'ith somewhat more pronounced rows of bronze-green spots proximally to the small ocelli, 

 which in the $ are placed in a white foreground. ^ above already somewhat more broadly bordered with black 

 than menelaus from Guiana; $ ^\dth the subapical patches on the fore wing prolonged and the white transcel- 

 lular band considerably broader and also extending further towards the middle of the wing. From Obidos in 

 mj" collection. As melanippe Btlr. an aberration was described with only one eye-spot on the underside of the melanippe. 

 forewing. — ■ melacheilus Stgr. The black bordering of the (JcJ is already essentially -widened and in the ?, melacheilus. 

 although the proximal decoration of the ocelh on the under surface is considerably enlarged and assumes a light 

 silvery gloss, yet on the upper surface the blue is so much reduced that only a narrow median area of it persists 

 (much as in J/. acJiilles) and the entire basal area is again occupied by the black ground-colour. There is also 

 a corresponding reduction of the white transcellular spot of the forewing. Upper Amazon as far as Iquitos. 

 — occidentalis Fldr. is a further local form, which I formerly regarded as iclf;i*tical with melacheilus, but occidentalis. 

 examples entirely discovered by A. H. Fassl have shown me that both sexes diir.-,r beneath from melacheilus in 

 the broad median bands of both ^vings, which in the $ are bronze-green, but in the $ brilliantly silvery f nd 

 esentaUy widened. The markings of the upperside in the $ indicate a retrogression to the name-tjrpe and 

 occidentalis $ only differs from Surinam examples in its smaller size and the somewhat more pronounced white 

 spots. Base of the win.gs as in terrestris, dark blue with violet reflections, but not black as in melacheilus. Upper 

 Rio Negro from about 800 m. According to Dr. Hahnel occidentalis flies all the year round. — nestira Hhn. nestira. 

 designates the handsome Brazilian branch-race, of which Hxjbnbr figures a (J with dark upper surface and very 

 broad black apical and distal bordering on the forewing. As just such examples occur in Santa Catharina it 

 may be assumed that the type came from the southern provinces of the country. • — Larva according to Dr. 

 WiLHELM MtJLLER with a pattern in the last stadium which betrays the closest relationship to that of Morpho 

 achillides in its first. The light spots in the medio-dorsal line are almost entirely suppressed. Ground-colour 

 of the body Uver-brown mixed with black, two large yellow-green, dark -edged spots in the middle of the dorsum. 



*) Dance-masks of this sort are exhibited in the very rich South American section of the Museum of Ethnology in Ber- 

 lin, of which Koch's celebrated collection constitues not only the mo.st richly coloured but also the best preserved and la- 

 belled part. 



V 45 



