The Butterfly Book Part 26

_b.u.t.terfly._--Small b.u.t.terflies, with elongated fore wings, the hind wings with the outer margin rounded, slightly crenulate. The head is small; the palpi are very delicate and thin, scantily clothed with scales. The costal vein of the fore wing is much swollen near the base.

The subcostal vein of this wing sends forth two branches before the end of the cell. The upper discocellular vein is lacking; the middle discocellular is short and bent inwardly; the lower discocellular is almost obliterated, and reaches the median vein at the origin of the second median nervule. In the hind wing the cell is open, and the two radial veins spring from the same point.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 102.--Neuration of the genus _Cystineura_.]

_Early Stages._--Very little is as yet definitely ascertained as to these.

But one species is found within the limits covered by this work. Seven species have been described, all of them inhabiting Central or South America.

(1) =Cystineura amymone=, Menetries, Plate XXIV, Fig. 7, ? (Amymone).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The fore wings are white on the upper side, dusted with gray at the base, on the costa, the apex, and the outer margin. The hind wings are gray on the basal area, pale yellowish-brown on the limbal area, with a narrow fuscous margin. On the under side the markings of the upper side reappear, the gray tints being replaced by yellow. The hind wings are yellowish, with a white transverse band near the base and an incomplete series of white spots on the limbal area. Expanse, 1.50 inch.

The early stages await description. The insect is found about Brownsville, Texas, and throughout Mexico and Central America.

Genus CALLICORE, Hubner

(The Leopard-spots)

_b.u.t.terfly._--Small-sized b.u.t.terflies, with the upper side of the wings dark in color, marked with bands of s.h.i.+ning metallic blue or silvery-green, the under side of the wings generally more or less brilliantly colored, carmine upon the primaries and silvery-white upon the secondaries, with the apex of the primaries marked with black transverse bands and the body of the secondaries traversed by curiously arranged bands of deep black, these bands inclosing about the middle of the wing circular or pear-shaped spots. All of the subcostal nervules in this genus arise beyond the end of the cell. The costal and the median veins are swollen near the base. The cell in both the fore and hind wings is open.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 103.--Neuration of the genus _Callicore_.]

_Early Stages._--Very little is known of these.

This genus numbers about thirty species, almost all of which are found in South America, only one being known to inhabit the United States, being found in the extreme southern portion of Florida, and there only rarely.

(1) =Callicore clymena=, Hubner, Plate XXI, Fig. 5, ?; Fig. 6, ?, _under side_ (The Leopard-spot).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The wings on the upper side are black, the primaries crossed by an oblique iridescent bluish-green band, and the secondaries marked by a similarly colored marginal band. On the under side the primaries are crimson from the base to the outer third, which is white, margined with black, and crossed by an outer narrow black band and an inner broad black band. The secondaries on this side are white, marked about the middle by two large coalescing black spots, and nearer the costa a large pear-shaped spot, both ringed about with black lines.

Beyond these black rings are two black bands conformed to the outline of the inner and outer margins of the wing, and, in addition, a fine black marginal line. The costa is edged with crimson. Expanse, 1.75 inch.

+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXI | | | | 1. _Timetes coresia_, G.o.dart, ?. | | 2. _Timetes coresia_, G.o.dart, ?, | | _under side_. | | 3. _Timetes petreus_, Cramer, ?. | | 4. _Timetes chiron_, Fabricius, ?. | | 5. _Callicore clymena_, Cramer, ?. | | 6. _Callicore clymena_, Cramer, ?, | | _under side_. | | 7. _Eunica monima_, Cramer, ?. | | 8. _Eunica monima_, Cramer, ?. | | 9. _Hypolimnas misippus_, Linnaeus, ?. | | 10. _Hypolimnas misippus_, Linnaeus, ?. | | | | [Ill.u.s.tration PLATE XXI.] | +--------------------------------------------------------------+

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

The Leopard-spot is found occasionally in Florida, but quite commonly in the Antilles, Mexico, and Central America.

Genus TIMETES, Boisduval

(The Dagger-wings)

_b.u.t.terfly._--The palpi are moderately long, thickly clothed with scales, the last joint elongated and pointed. The antennae have a well-developed club. The fore wings and the hind wings have the cell open. In the fore wing the subcostal vein, which has five branches, emits the first nervule well before the end of the cell, the second a little beyond it, and the third and fourth near together, before the apex of the wing. The third median nervule of the hind wing is greatly produced and forms the support of the long tail which adorns this wing.

Between the end of the submedian vein and the first median nervule is another lobe-like prolongation of the outer margin of the wing. The b.u.t.terflies are characterized for the most part by dark upper surfaces, with light under surfaces marked with broad bands and lines of varying intensity of color. They are easily distinguished from the b.u.t.terflies of all other genera of the Nymphalidae by the remarkable tail-like appendage of the hind wing, giving them somewhat the appearance of miniature Papilionidae.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 104.--Neuration of the genus _Timetes_.]

_Early Stages._--Nothing of note has been recorded of their early stages which may be accepted as reliable, and there is an opportunity here for study and research.

There are about twenty-five species belonging to the genus, all found within the tropical regions of America. Four species are occasionally taken in the extreme southern portions of Florida and Texas. They are all, however, very common in the Antilles, Mexico, and more southern lands.

(1) =Timetes coresia=, G.o.dart, Plate XXI, Fig. 1, ?; Fig. 2, ?, _under side_ (The Waiter).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Easily recognized by means of our figures, which show that this creature deserves the trivial name I have bestowed upon it. In its dark coat and white vest it gracefully attends the feasts of Flora.

Expanse, 2.50 inches.

So far as I am aware, nothing reliable has been recorded as to the early stages of this insect. It is occasionally found in Texas.

(2) =Timetes petreus=, Cramer, Plate XXI, Fig. 3, ? (The Ruddy Dagger-wing).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The upper side of the wings is accurately delineated in the plate. On the under side the wings are pale, with the dark bands of the upper side reproduced. Expanse, 2.60 inches. It occurs in southern Florida and Texas, and elsewhere in tropical America.

(3) =Timetes chiron=, Fabricius, Plate XXI, Fig. 4, ? (The Many-banded Dagger-wing).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Easily recognized by means of the figure in the plate.

Like the preceding species, this is occasionally found in Texas. It is very common in Mexico, South America, and the Antilles.

Genus HYPOLIMNAS, Hubner

(The Tropic Queens)

_b.u.t.terfly._--Eyes naked. The palpi are produced, rising above the head, heavily scaled. The antennae have a well-developed, finely pointed club.

The fore wings have stout costal and median veins. The subcostal throws out five nervules, the first two before the end of the cell, the third midway between the end of the cell and the outer border; the fourth and the fifth diverge from each other midway between the third and the outer border, and both terminate below the apex. The upper discocellular vein is wanting; the middle discocellular vein is bent inwardly; the lower discocellular is very weak, and, in some species, wanting. The cell of the hind wing is lightly closed.

_Caterpillar._--The caterpillar is cylindrical, thickest toward the middle. The head is adorned with two erect rugose spines; the segments have dorsal rows of branching spines, and three lateral rows on either side of the shorter spines. It feeds on various species of malvaceous plants and also on the common portulaca.

_Chrysalis._--The chrysalis is thick, with the head obtusely pointed; the abdominal segments adorned with a double row of tubercles. The thorax is convex.

This genus, which includes a large number of species, reaches its fullest development in the tropics of the Old World, and includes some of the most beautiful, as well as the most singular, forms, which mimic the protected species of the Euploeinae, or milkweed b.u.t.terflies, of the Indo-Malayan and Ethiopian regions. In some way one of the most widely spread of these species, which is found throughout the tropics of Asia and Africa, has obtained lodgment upon the soil of the New World, and is occasionally found in Florida, where it is by no means common. It may be that it was introduced from Africa in the time of the slave-trade, having been accidentally brought over by s.h.i.+p. That this is not impossible is shown by the fact that the writer has, on several occasions, obtained in the city of Pittsburgh specimens of rare and beautiful tropical insects which emerged from chrysalids that were found attached to bunches of bananas brought from Honduras.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 105.--Neuration of the genus _Hypolimnas_.]

(1) =Hypolimnas misippus=, Linnaeus, Plate XXI, Fig. 9, ?; Fig. 10, ?

(The Mimic).

_b.u.t.terfly_, ?.--On the upper side the wings are velvety-black, with two conspicuous white spots on the fore wing, and a larger one on the middle of the hind wing, the margins of these spots reflecting iridescent purple. On the under side the wings are white, intricately marked with black lines, and black and reddish-ochraceous spots and shades.

?.--The female mimics two or three forms of an Oriental milkweed b.u.t.terfly, the pattern of the upper side of the wings conforming to that of the variety of the protected species which is most common in the region where the insect is found. The species mimicked is _Danais chrysippus_, of which at least three varietal forms or local races are known. The American b.u.t.terfly conforms in the female s.e.x to the typical _D. chrysippus_, to which it presents upon the upper side a startling likeness. On the under side it is marked much as the male. Expanse, ?, 2.50 inches; ?, 3.00 inches.

_Early Stages._--What has been said as to the early stages in the description of the genus must suffice for the species. But little is as yet accurately known upon the subject.

The range of _H. misippus_ is southern Florida, the Antilles, and the northern parts of South America. It is not common on this side of the Atlantic, but very common in Africa, tropical Asia, and the islands south as far as northern Australia.

Genus BASILARCHIA, Scudder