LYCOEEA. By i?. Haensch. 115 



Neotropical region. They occur in open localities in the primeval forest. Their fhght is irregular. The larvae 

 are similar to those of the Danainae; they are said to live on Solaneae. 



2. Genus: I^ycorea Dbl. rf; Heiv. 



Large, stately, bright-coloured butterfhes, mostly of yellow-brown ground-colour, with blackish margins 

 and streaks, as well as yellowish bands and spots and also white marginal dots. The species have all the same 

 scheme of markings, which is also repeated in many genera of the Ithomiinae, and of which I will therefore 

 here give a general description, afterwards referring to it for short as ,,L2/corea-habitus". The figure oiLijcorea 

 haJia Hbn. on pi. 31c may serve as an example. The ground-colour is mostly a peculiar reddish yellow-brown. 

 The apical half of the forewing is black-brown with an oblique band formed of yellow spots, which crosses the 

 apes of the cell, and with one or several yellow subapical spots. From the black-brown apical part 3 streak- 

 like projections run towards the base: one along the median, the others along the costal and hindmargin. On 

 the disc of the hindwing there is an oblong, band-like, blackish loop, open towards the base, from the costal 

 margin towards the apex and then back to the inner margin. The oblong space enclosed by this loop is often 

 yellow in a number of species from certain districts. The distal margin of the hindwing is black-brown and mostly 

 has above and beneath a row of white submarginal dots. This scheme of colouring can be recognised again 

 in most Lycoreas and many Ithomiids, though the pattern is often somewhat altered, the yellow being replaced 

 by brown or the black sometimes covering almost the whole hindwing. 



The Lycoreas are feeble fliers, prefer the edges of the roads and open places and are fond of visiting 

 flowering shrubs, where, as they hang on the flowers, they can scarcely be distinguished from the similar 

 Melinaea and Meclianitis. 



Unfortunately very little is yet known as to the larvae. Boisduval mentions that they have flexible fleshy 

 appendages, which are arranged in pairs on some of the segments, also that they are similar to those of the 

 true Danaids and likewise live on Asclepiadeae. According to Guppy some at least of them are similar to those 

 of Tithorea, with only 1 pair of appendages on segment 2 and live also on cacao and on a plant similar to 

 caoutchouc. 



L. eva F. Markings as in the figured form concolor (31 c), but the forewing has on the discocellular eva. l^-""'^ 

 the typical yellow oblique band, which at the costal margin encloses a blackish spot. In eva and the allied 

 forms the cell of the hindwing is only short, as the lower and middle discocellulars form only a very obtuse angle. 

 This form occm'S in the north-east of South America, especially Guiana. — The figured local form concolor Stgr. concolor. <■ — ' 

 (31c) differs from the nymotypical form in the absence of the yellow transverse band on the forewing, which also 

 occurs in manj' Ithomiids, e. g. Hirsutis melanina, Melinaea chincha, Ceratinia bicoloi-a, Meclianitis deceptus, etc. 

 All these forms occur, like concolor, on the eastern slopes of the Andes, in Peru and Ecuador. — pasinuntia Cr. pasinuntia. 

 This form is differentiated from eva in that the dark distal margin is merged together with the posterior half 

 of the band-loop into a large spot, as in the figure of ceres. Is found in the same localities as eva, and tran- 

 sitions also occur. 



L. ceres Cr. (31c) is distinguished from the similar pasinuntia by the longer cell of the hindwing. Further ceres. *— — ' 

 the yellow obUque band of the forewing is only half as broad at the costal margin and encloses no black spot 

 there: also the band is not joined to the 4. subapical spot. This form comes chiefly from Guiana. — The variety 

 with typical L?/corea-habitus I call fasciata form. nov. In it the loop and the distal margin of the hindwing are fasciata. >— 

 separated by the yellow-brown ground-colour, as in eva. Appears to occur especially in the north-west of South 

 America. — demeter Fldr. is a dark brown local form from Cuba and Haiti. It has a yellow macular oblique demeter. (_^,^ 

 band like halia and 8 — 4 yellow subapical spots. A similar dark form of fasciata occurs on the Lower Amazon 

 near Manaos. — The larva of ceres is according to Guppy whitish with black head and segments and oblique, 

 approximated hook-shaped spots. On the 2. segment is placed a pair of long, flexible appendages. In the 

 full-grown larva the colour from the 4. segment onward is yellow. The egg is conical, flattened, yellowish, 

 with numerous ceU-like depressions. The larva is hatched in about 6 days. 



L. cleobaea Godt. (31b). In this species the yellow transverse band of the forewing is broken up into deobaea. ^ 

 3 spots, sometimes also the disc of the hindwing is yellowish. It was described from the Antilles, but is also 

 abundant in the north-west of South America to Bolivia. — In Central America, especially Honduras, it appears 

 mostly in the form atergatis Dbl. (& Hew., in which the yellow subapical spots of the forewing are very large, atergatis. U' 

 the 4. being united with the middle spot of the oblique band. — ■ pales Fldr., from the Upper Amazon, has very pales, i— — 

 small yellow spots and patches in the blackish apical part of the forewing, and the normally yellow spot at 

 the apex of the cell has assumed the yellow-brown ground-colour. — cinnamomea Weym. is an interesting rare cinnamomea 

 form from the Upper Amazon with mahogony-brown ground-colour. The markings are similar to those of 

 atergatis, but the yellow subapical spots of the forewing are very large and extend from the apex to the black 

 spot at the end of the cell, which is somewhat larger than in eva. Apparently very similar dark red-brown 

 forms occur both of eva and of atergatis. The first may be recognised by the short cell of the hindwing and 



