8362 



Insects. 



10. N. ^ENEOFASCIELLA, II- S. (Fr.) 



Capillis atris, antennarum conchula argentea; alis anterioribus 

 nitidissimis aureis, basi, ante fasciam argenteam et apice purpu- 

 reis aut purpureo-cyaneis, ciliis apice griseis. Exp. al. 2j — 2f 

 Iin. 



Herrich'Schceffer, v. 353, 110. Frey, Tin. 376, 9. Linn. Ent. 

 xi. 388, 13. 



Unquestionably one of tbe most beautiful species, recognisable by 

 tbe purple or blue colour of tbe base and of tbe anterior margin of tbe 

 silver fascia. The frontal tuft is deep velvety black ; the rather large 

 eye-caps are shining yellowish silvery ; the antennae in both sexes 

 have more than half the length of the anterior wings ; they are black- 

 ish, above with a yellowish white tinge ; the palpi are silvery white ; 

 there is no pale cervical tuft. The thorax is shining brassy ; the ab- 

 domen and the belly silvery gray ; the legs externally blackish ; the 

 extreme tip of the anus is yellowish gray in the male, brownish yellow 

 in the female. The anterior wings are long and little expanded pos- 

 teriorly ; the base is purple violet, often with a more or less decided 

 blue gloss [" kornblumeblau," the blue of the corn bluebottle (Cenlau- 

 rea Cyanus) ] ; exactly in the middle is a vertical fascia of the same 

 colour, but sometimes of a much brighter blue, so that the purple- 

 brown or violet ground colour is often almost entirely covered with 

 the blue scales, and is only visible at the inner margin ; it borders the 

 silver fascia, which it scarcely equals in width, and is sharply defined 

 towards the base ; the space between it and the base is bronzy golden, 

 and as broad as the width of the wing in that part. The silver fascia 

 is nearly at three-fourths of the length of the wing ; it is vertical, very 

 broad, not sharply bordered externally, and changes here gradually 

 into brassy golden and then into the purple-violet tip of the wing, so 

 that the commencement of the latter, according to the light in which 

 we view it, appears either entirely brassy golden or violet. The entire 

 disk has a metallic splendour, w T hich is very decided on the golden 

 ground, and on the silvery fascia. The cilia are purple violet at their 

 bases, brownish in the middle, with faint golden gloss; at the tips they 

 are pale blackish gray. The latter colour is also that of the posterior 

 wings and their cilia, as also of the under side of all the wings, though 

 with rather a darker shade. 



This species, which we at first took for new, since it did not agree 

 with Frey's description, is, according to a written communication of 



