346 THE WOELD OE LIFE 



As a few examples, the Callitliea sapphira of the Amazon 

 is of a soft, celestial blue that the finest lobelia or gentian 

 cannot surpass. The grand Oenithoptera Amphrisius, and its 

 allies has the hind wings of an intense yellow with a silky 

 lustre, while 0. Prianius and many allied species are richly 

 adored with metallic green, deep orange, or violet-blue. 

 Papilio Ulysses of Amboyna equals in size and colour the 

 splendid blue morphos of South America ; while these latter 

 not only present us with every shade of blue on insects of 

 the largest size, but in Morpho cypris, and several allied 

 species exhibit an intensity of colour and of metallic sheen 

 that is equal to the highest efforts of nature in this direction 

 on the caps or the gorgets of humming-birds, on the glittering 

 shields of the Epimachidse of ^N^ew Guinea, or on such precious 

 gems as the emerald, the sapphire, the ruby, or the opal. 



The exquisite combinations of brilliant colour and endless 

 variety of pattern to be found among the small Lycsenidae 

 and Erycinidse of both hemispheres must be passed over; as 

 well as the somewhat larger Catagrammas whose diversified 

 upper and under sides are a constant delight; while the vast 

 groups of the Heliconidse and Danaidse, inedible to most birds 

 and lizards, are often rendered conspicuous by bold contrasts 

 of the purest white, yellow, or red, on a blue-black ground. 



Some Extremes of Insect-Coloration 



There are some examples of tropical butterflies in which 

 nature may be said to have surpassed herself, and to have 

 added a final touch to all the beauty of colour so lavishly dis- 

 played elsewhere. These are to be found in a few species 

 only in both hemispheres, and are therefore the more remark- 

 able. The largest butterfly to exhibit this form of colour is 

 the Ornithoptera magellanus, from the Philippines, whose 

 golden-yellow wings, when viewed obliquely acquire the chang- 

 ing hues of polished opals, quite distinct from any of its 

 numerous allies which possess the same colour but with what 

 may be termed a silky gloss. In the same part of the world 



