410 
THE BUGONG. 
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mate, except that the base of the upper wings is boldly striped with rusty red, and the 
radiating streaks on the lower wings are of the same warm tint. In both sexes the under 
surface is brown, with pale yellow spots on the upper wings, and narrow streaks of pale red 
on the lower wings. The spread of wings is about three inches. 
One species of this genus ( Helicbnia cliaritonia ) is very gregarious in its habits, great 
numbers gathering in some particular spot, and playing about like the gnat assemblies that 
are so common in the summer time. So plentiful are they, that when tired they can hardly 
find a place to rest upon, as crowds are con- 
tinually settling upon the neighboring trees, 
and as continually driving off the crowds 
which have just sat down to rest. 
The last figure represents the Maes^eus, 
a very elegantly shaped butterfly, a native of 
tropical America. The ground color of the 
wings is black, diversified with many bold 
stripes and patches of orange, and a large 
golden-yellow mark across the extremity of 
each upper wing. In the illustration, the 
white patch on the upper wings represents 
the golden-yellow of the insect. 
In the upper left-hand corner of the 
engraving on page 405 is another example of 
this genus. The upper wings of the Lysimnia 
are chestnut at the base, and thence black to 
the tip, with the exception of two bold patches 
of nearly transparent membrane. The under 
wings are chestnut, edged with black, and 
having a jagged black streak across them, 
above which is a transparent stripe. The 
under surface is colored in nearly the same 
manner, except that a row of white spots 
runs around the edge. 
To the same elegant family belong the 
butterflies of the genus Euploea, a good 
example of which is the Midamus. This 
insect strongly reminds the British entomolo- 
midamtts. — Eupicea midamus . gist of the purple emperor, the sober brown 
of the wings changing to rich shining purple 
when the light falls at a particular angle. At first sight, the butterfly appears to 
be quite a dull and inconspicuous insect, its colors being hardly more attractive than the 
simple black and white of the engraving. But if it be moved so that the light falls diag- 
onally on its wings, the dull brown suddenly changes as if by magic into imperial purple 
of a richness exceeding the power of man to imitate, and more than realizes the metamor- 
phosis achieved by the fairy god-mother’s wand. This transformation is confined to the 
upper wings, the lower retaining their simple brown hue. The upper wings are sprinkled 
with some pale spots. The under side is grayish- brown, marked with spots similar to those 
on the upper surface. 
Peehaps tne most interesting of these butterflies is the now celebrated Bugong (Euploea 
hamdta), the so-called moth,” on which the aborigines of New South A ales are in the habit 
of feeding. 
The Bugong is found chiefly upon a range of granite hills called the Bugong Mountains, 
and it is rather remarkable that the insects congregate upon the outcropping granite masses 
