MORPHO BUTTERFLIES 



69 



Morphos, some of which measure seven inches in expanse, 

 are generally confined to the shady alleys of the forest. 

 They sometimes come forth into the broad sunlight. 

 When we first went to look at our new residence in Nazareth, 

 a Morpho Menelaus, one of the most beautiful kinds, was 

 seen flapping its huge wings like a bird along the verandah. 

 This species, however, although much admired, looks dull 

 in colour by the side of its congener, the Morpho Rhetenor, 

 whose wings, on the upper face, are of quite a dazzling 

 lustre. Rhetenor usually prefers the broad sunny roads 

 in the forest, and is an almost unattainable prize, on 

 account of its lofty flight ; for it very rarely descends 

 nearer the ground than about twenty feet. When it 

 comes sailing along, it occasionally flaps its wings, and 

 then the blue surface flashes in the sunlight, so that it is 

 visible a quarter of a mile off. There is another species 

 of this genus, of a satiny-white hue, the Morpho Eugenia ; 

 this is equally diflicult to obtain ; the male only has the 

 satiny lustre, the female being of a pale-lavender colour. 

 It is in the height of the dry season that the greatest 

 number and variety of butterflies are found in the woods ; 

 especially when a shower falls at intervals of a few days. 

 An infinite number of curious and rare species may then 

 be taken, most diversified in habits, mode of flight, 

 colours, and markings : some yellow, others bright red, 

 green, purple, and blue, and many bordered or spangled 

 with metallic lines and spots of a silvery or golden lustre. 

 Some have wings transparent as glass ; one of these 

 clear wings is especially beautiful, namely, the Hetaira 

 Esmeralda ; it has one spot only of opaque colouring on 

 its wings, which is of a violet and rose hue ; this is the 

 only part visible when the insect is flying low over dead 

 leaves in the gloomy shades where alone it is found, 

 and it then lo5ks like a wandering petal of a flower. 



Moths also are of great variety at Para ; but most of 

 them are diurnal in tlxeir time of flight and keep company 

 with the butterflies. I never succeeded in finding many 

 moths at night. In situations such as gardens and wood 

 sides, where so many are to be seen in England, scarcely 

 a single individual is to be found. I attribute this scarcity 

 of nocturnal moths to the multitude of night-flying in- 

 sectivorous animals, chiefly bats and goat-suckers, which 

 perpetually haunt the places where they would be found. 

 On the open commons a moth is seen fl3^ing about in broad 



