Zoological Illustrations Volume Iii Part 2

_Male._ Anterior wings angulated, brown, with a central band and hind margin yellow; posterior beneath yellowish marbled with grey, base with 4 fulvous spots.

_Female._ Anterior wings entire, above brown, with a central band and hind margin whitish; all the wings beneath whitish marbled with grey; base of the posterior with 4 fulvous spots.

Pieris Crisia. _G.o.dart. En. Meth._ _p._ 197. _Male._ _Drury_, _v._ 3.

_pl._ 37. _f._ 1. 2?

The extraordinary difference existing between the s.e.xes of exotic Lepidoptera, and particularly among the b.u.t.terflies, (_Papilionidae_ Lin.) is a subject which hitherto has received but little attention; nor am I aware of any entomological writer who has described those characters which absolutely distinguish the s.e.xes: characters which, I am persuaded, will hereafter be found of the first importance in a natural arrangement of these insects. But in the prosecution of this desirable object, the naturalist, as far as regards foreign Lepidoptera, will have to encounter serious obstacles; many individuals must be examined of each species, and some of these dissected. It falls to the lot of few to pursue their inquiries in the native regions of these insects. Collections in this country are very few, and some of these are not always open to the scientific labourer; neither can specimens be sacrificed for dissection, where there are not more than two or three individuals of a species.

This is in general a very rare insect; observed for the first time by Dr.

Langsdorff and myself early in June (the tropical autumn), in a wood adjoining the Organ Mountains at Rio de Janeiro. From its local abundance, we were able to ascertain the s.e.xes. The two upper figures are of the female, and the lower of the male insect.

Pl. 125

[Ill.u.s.tration]

PAPILIO Nerius.

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 92.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_P. (Gr. Ecaud.) Alis nigris, fascia communi maculisque viridibus; posticis dentatis breviter caudatis; his subtus fascia subargentea, marginali, nervis divisa._ G.o.dart.

P. (Gr. Ecaud.) Wings black, with spots and a common band of green; posterior wings dentated, obsoletely tailed, beneath with a silvery marginal band, divided by the nerves.

P. Nireus. _Fab. Sys. Ent._ 3. _p._ 36. _G.o.dart Ency. Meth._ 9. 1. _p._ 48. _Drury_ 2. _pl._ 4. _fig._ 1. 2. _Cramer_, _p._ 187. A. B. (_mas._) _pl._ 378. F. G. (_fem._)

I have figured this insect, princ.i.p.ally because it will fully ill.u.s.trate the first section (_a._) in the arrangement of this beautiful family proposed at plate 92. The two divisions there adopted, after the manner of Linnaeus, (_Graeci_ et _Trojani_) I am fully aware, are purely artificial; but the facility this distribution will give to the student, in searching after a particular species, is so obvious, that it need hardly be pointed out.

I have only had the opportunity of examining the individual from which the figure was taken. It is a male, having the a.n.a.l valves rather lengthened and obtuse, with a small hook between them, which projects from the last segment of the abdomen. This circ.u.mstance proves the error of Cramer, in having mistaken the s.e.xes of this species, both of which he seems to have figured. That which I apprehend is the female (Cramer, pl. 378, fig. F. G.) I have not myself seen. The blue-green on the upper surface of the wings is very resplendent and changeable, and the palpi and thorax beneath are covered with numerous whitish spots.

On the under side of the inferior wings, near their base, is a paler band, rayed with the nerves, and in some lights s.h.i.+ning with a pale silvery reflection.

Mr. Smeathman sent this species from Sierra Leone, in Africa, to Mr. Drury.

The locality, therefore, of India, given by Linnaeus and Fabricius, must be incorrect.

Pl. 126

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CONUS vitulinus, _var._

_Orange Fox Cone_,_Brown-tipp'd variety._

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 65.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_C. testa fulva seu fusca, fasciis 2 interruptis ornata; spirae brevis, levatae, conicae, maculatae anfractibus concavis, subgranose striatis; basi granosa, alba._

_Var. testa flavescente, fasciis obscuris, subalbidis ornata; basi rufa. (Fig. nos.)_

Sh.e.l.l fulvous or brown, with 2 interrupted white bands; spire short, elevated, conic, spotted, volutions concave with subgranulated striae; base granulated, white.

Conus vitulinus. _Brug._ _p._ 648. _Lamarck. Ann._ 15. _p._ 265.

_Knorr._ _vol._ 5. _tab._ 1. _fig._ 4 (_optime_). _Dillwyn_ 377.

_Lam. Syst._ 7. _p._ 467. 55.

Var. Sh.e.l.l yellowish, with obscure whitish bands; the base rufous.

I received this very uncommon sh.e.l.l from the Island of Amboyna; and although in size and colour it is widely different from the usual appearance of _C. vitulinus_, I have no hesitation in considering it as a remarkable variety only of that species.

_C. vitulinus_ in general is a small sh.e.l.l. The best representation of it I have seen is given by Knorr; an author not in general very accurate in his figures. It varies considerably in colour, and approaches very near to _C.

vulpinus Lam._ from which it princ.i.p.ally differs in having an elevated, though short, spire, instead of one nearly flat: the base is granulated, and generally white; _C. vulpinus_ also has the body whorl carinated and thickest round the upper margin, whereas, in _Vitulinus_, it is gently swelled in the middle.

M. Lamarck is, I think, mistaken in the synonyms of this sh.e.l.l, which is represented in the _Ency. Meth._ plate 326, fig. 2 and 4.. The sh.e.l.l at fig. 8. appears to me as the granulated variety of _C. vulpinus_.

Inhabits the Asiatic Ocean.

Pl. 127

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CONUS Maldivus,