512 



PAPILTONID^. 



Genus ORNITHOPTERA. 



Ornithoptera, Boisduval, Faune de I'Oceanie, pi. iv. fig. 1 (1832) ; Doubleday, Gen. 

 Diurn. Lep. i. p. 3 (1846). 



" Head large. 



" Eyes large, round. 



" MaxiUre of moderate length. 



" Lahictl palpi closely pressed to the forehead, short, obscurely triarticulate, covered with long 

 hairs, the basal and apical joints very small, especially the former, which is barely 

 discernible. 



" Antennce very long, gradually clavate ; the club arched, slightly tapering towards the apex. 

 " Tdoeax very stout, the prothorax very distinctly developed. 



Anterior wings powerful, elongate, triaugular; upper discocellular nervule about equal iu 



length to the space between the two discoidal nervules ; third median nervule mostly 



thrown off exactly ojiposite the end of the cell; median and submedian uervurcs connected 



by a baseo-median nervule. 

 " Posterior wings small in proportion to the anterior, subtriangular ; the costa slightly rounded ; 



the outer margin rounded, dentate ; precostal ucrvure two-branched, the inner branch bent 



downwards and united to the costal nervure. 

 " Legs strong, elongate. Anterior tibiae with a very stout spur. Tarsi with the first joint 



about equal in length to the rest combined ; fourtli joint shortest ; second, third, and 



fifth nearly equal. Claws simple, strong. 



" Abdomex elongate, stout, the last sagment always furnished in the males with two very large 

 valves. 



" Larva tuberculate ; the tentacula contained in a fixed bifid sheath. 

 " Pupa stout, slightly arched, tuberculate ; head bifid. 



" The species composing this genus are so closely allied to Fajn'lio, that 

 the propriety of separating them seems almost questionable. In the larva 

 state they differ in having an external forked sheath for the prothoracic 

 tentacula. The perfect insects have the prothorax more developed ; the 

 abdomen larger, longer, and very deeply grooved below, and the valves of the 

 last segment far larger than in any species of Papilio. 



" 'J'he larvae, of which the discovery is due to ])r. ircnsficld, resemble those 

 of Tliais and of some Pajiilioncs in being tuberculatcd. The pupa has the 

 peculiarity of not being surrounded by a transverse band, but sustained by a 

 silken thread on each side, attached to a small lateral tubercle." {JJouhle- 

 day, I. c.) 



