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URANIIDAE; CHRYSIRIDIA. General Topics by Dr. A. Seitz. 
1. Uraniidi : Ethiopian and neotropical. 
2. Alcididi: Oriental and Papuan. 
3. Nyctalemonidi: Oriental and Papuan. 
4. Sematuridi : American. 
Some of these tribes were regarded as families. The Ethiopian tribe, Uraniidi, is divided into two very closely 
allied genera, one of which ( Urania ) being purely neotropical has been dealt with in Vol. VI. Its patria is 
remarkably remote from the flying district of its African allies, and in the whole intermediate region no connect¬ 
ing form has been discovered. Considering the striking exterior of the members of this tribe it is rather 
improbable that any further form will be discovered in future. This most conspicuous genus ( Chrysiridia) 
exhibits the most splendid lustrous colours known in lepidoptera, on a jet-black ground, and these magnificent 
colours are in accord with an elegance of shape conferring on the insect a gracefulness ,,evidently intended by 
nature 1 '. The triangular forewings show rather straight margins, the hindwings are frequently provided with 
tails which are narrow, but expanded by a broad border of fringes. The larvae are rather stout, cylindrical, 
pale yellow, with smaller and larger black spots, behind and in front dark, covered with dispersed long hairs 
which are thickened at the ends, whereby they look like nails. In a reticulate web on the ground they change 
into a rounded pupa without any corners and edges, yielding the imago either after four weeks or much later 
- according to the season — . The imagines flv around Magnoliae and Mango-trees already early in the morning 
after sunrise, sometimes in great numbers and settle on leaves, with their heads turned downward and their 
wings spread (A. Reuss), so that the sun shines brightly upon their metallic colours which, however, according 
to the observations made by A. Reuss, are not so distinctly exhibited owing to their flying mostly very high, 
when the lepidopteron appears as a dark silhouette. According to A. Reuss, the lepidoptera of Chrys. croesus 
are of an entirely periodical occurrence, so that they may suddenly appear in numbers in districts where they 
had been looked for in vain for years. Migrations which were frequently observed in the allied genus Urania, 
have not yet been noted of the Ethiopian species. The flight of the Chrysiridia is described by Reuss to be 
nimble and graceful, after few short strokes of the wings the imago glides along floating to great distances; in 
the net it behaves calmly and dies on its thorax being slightly pressed. Nevertheless it is difficult, owing to 
the delicateness of the appendages of the wings, to obtain quite intact specimens, and many of those contained 
in collections have been restored. 
1. Subfamiliy: Uraniinae. 
Imago large and magnificent, flying in the daytime. Forewdng with 1 inner-marginal vein. Vein 5 a 
little above the centre of the cross-vein, 6 + 7 stalked. Hindwing without frenulum, with but 1 inner-marginal 
vein, vein 5 from the centre of the cross-vein, 8 freely from the base, with a small precostal spur. 
1. Genus; CJarysiri«liit Hbn. 
Antennae filiform, palpi long and thin, proboscis present. Forewing broad. Veins 3 and 4 from the 
same place, 8 and 9 close together, 10 absent, 11 present. Hindwing with 3 long and 3 short tails. Veins 3 
and 4 slightly separated, 6 and 7 more separated. Type: madagascariensis Less. 
mcidagas- Chr. madagascariensis Less. (-- ripheus Cr.) (67 f). Almost black with a green marking of a metallic 
cctncnsis. j us -( ;re on the forewing. In the centre a Y-shaped band, the exterior branch of which is mostly somewhat 
separated. At the costal margin, proximad to it. numerous thin lines as far as the lower edge of the cell. In 
the marginal area relatively few though strong rows of spots. On the hindwing the median band is in front 
mclania. bluish-green, in the middle green, at the anal angle broad reddish-violet. — melania Obth. The distal area of 
both wings contains very few green spots. On the hindwing the otherwise white margin of the tails is grey and 
lacicvirens. partly somewhat black. laetevirens Oberth. has a more extensive and more yellowish-green, instead of bluish- 
green marking, but it is always separable from the following species by the more spotlike marking in the mar¬ 
ginal area. 75—95 mm. Ail the forms only from Madagascar. — Larva 6 cm long, 7 mm thick, with long spatulate 
black hairs. Head and body yellow and with black spots. It lives on a kind of Omphalea (Euphorbiaceae). 
croesus. Chr. croesus Gerst. (67 f) is extremely similar to the preceding species. The marking on the forewing 
is more bluish-green. In the distal area of the forewing there are numerous long and narrow net-shaped lines 
instead of the spots; also in the hindwing above the reddish-golden anal spot narrow green streaks in the 
nigrescens. marginal area. — nigrescens Pfeiffer is the form of croesus corresponding to the madagascariensis-iovm melania. 
90 —105 mm. East Africa. As the imago only flies near Mango-trees and cocoanut-trees, the larva is presumed 
to live on either of them. 
