Wings uniform blueish-black, with a slender white margin. Head and top of the body bright red.
Hesp. Zeleucus. _Fab. Ent. Syst._ 3. _pt._ 1. _p._ 346. _no._ 317.
OBS. _Donovan"s Indian Insects_, where that author has figured it by mistake as a native of India.
This insect is the most common (although hitherto unfigured) of a striking natural group belonging to the _Hesperidae_; it has therefore been selected as the best example for the genus I have now formed them into. I have not seen more than twelve or fourteen species, and these were all from different parts of South America, to which I have no doubt the genus is exclusively confined. The club of their antennae is very thick, obtuse, and without any terminal hook. The bright red at the end of the abdomen (improperly called by Fabricius the tail) is most conspicuous in the female, which is also larger and having the wings more obtuse, of which the upper and under surfaces are both alike.
The insects of this family fly with amazing rapidity (as is shown by the thickness of their thorax, and the sharpness in the make of their wings), generally frequenting openings of thick woods and alighting on leaves where the sun strikes: I seldom saw them on flowers. Their wings when at rest are half expanded in a horizontal direction. Their metamorphosis is unknown.
This individual species is scarce in the northern parts of Brazil, but common in the southern provinces.
Pl. 34
[Ill.u.s.tration]
COLIAS G.o.dartiana.
_G.o.dart"s Colias._
GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 5.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_C. (Foem.) alis flavescente-fulvis, anticis supra margine punctoque rotundato medio nigris, subtus argenteo rufo 3-fisso, posticis subtus puncto gemino argenteo margine nigro, uno quadrato; palpis productis._
(Female) Wings fulvous-yellow; anterior above with the outer margin and round central spot black, which beneath is silvery rufous and three-cleft; posterior beneath each with two silvery spots margined with black, one of which is quadrangular. Palpi lengthened.
An inspection of a vast number of insects of this genus, with the possession of nearly all the species noticed by authors, convinces me that the insect now figured is perfectly distinct from any other. It is in the cabinet of Mr. Haworth, who obligingly lent it me for comparison and description, and is the only individual I have hitherto met with. The prolongation of the palpi, which is even more obvious than in _C. Statira_, is alone a specific distinction; and the form of the spots both on the upper and under side differs very much in character from that insect, with which it has the most affinity. It may be the _Papilio Drya_ of Fabr.
(omitting his references); but his description, whether intended for this insect or any other, is so vague that I can see no advantage in retaining it. Of the two bright silver spots beneath, one is oval, the other larger and quadrangular.
I have named it in honour of M. G.o.dart, the intelligent coadjutor of M.
Latreille in the entomological part of the _Encyclopedie Methodique_.
Pl. 35
[Ill.u.s.tration]
MITRA bifasciata.
_Double-banded Mitre._
GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 23.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_M. (Div. 1.) testa laevi, castaneo-fusca concolore, anfractu basali fasciis duabus angustis flavescentibus, spira unifasciata apertura laevi._
Sh.e.l.l smooth, uniform chesnut-brown, with two narrow yellowish bands on the basal whorl, and one on the spire; aperture smooth.
Voluta caffra. _Martini_ iv. _tab._ 148. _fig._ 1369.
_Knorr._ _vol._ v. _tab._ 19. _fig._ 4, 5.
Seba Pl. 49. fig. 21, 22, 41.
This most elegant sh.e.l.l has been figured from one of the specimens that belonged to the late Mr. Jennings, who was well known to spare neither expense nor a.s.siduity in procuring the most select and matchless specimens of every species; so much so, indeed, that such as are known to have been in his possession generally bear a higher price. One of these is now in my father"s cabinet, the other in that of Mrs. Bolton, of Storr"s-hall, Windermere. I have seen both, and they appear equally fine.
I cannot help considering this as a distinct species from _Mitra caffra_ (_Voluta caffra_ Linn.), with which it has. .h.i.therto been placed only as a variety: it is much larger, the volutions more convex, but compressed on the suture, and the whole sh.e.l.l (except near the point) perfectly smooth: the beak or channel likewise, which in _M. caffra_ is short and nearly straight, is in this lengthened and recurved. The mouth is very narrow (occasioned by the outer lip being thick and slightly inflexed) and smooth within, the terminal volutions slightly plaited, and the base of the sh.e.l.l grooved.
The figures of Knorr and Martini are very bad, and give no correct idea of the sh.e.l.l, except its colour.
Pl. 36
[Ill.u.s.tration]
ACHATINA perversa.
_Reverse Achatina._
GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 30.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.