Zoological Illustrations, Volume 3: or, Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting AnimalsSwainson, William
Science
Zoological Illustrations, Volume 3: or, Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting Animals
Swainson, William
Animals -- Pictorial works
This is another Brazilian species, much more frequent than the last. In
Cramer, at pl. 146, g. is figured an insect under the name of _Ceculus_,
which no author appears to have quoted; but which (miserably inaccurate as
it is), I have no doubt the artist intended as a representation of this
insect; particularly as Cramer's description, though short, is very
applicable. The colours beneath are uniform dark brown; the thorax, legs,
and base of the wings, whitish; near the exterior margin of the superior
wings is a small white dot, and two others on each side of the middle
segments of the body.
* * * * *
Pl. 133
[Illustration]
THECLA Macaria,
_Chesnut-spotted Hair-Streak._
* * * * *
GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 69.
* * * * *
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_T. alis supra fuscis; anticis ad basin caeruleis, infra ferrugineis,
punctis 2 mediis nigris ornatis; posticis infra castaneis, antice
pallidioribus, maculo nigro ad basin ornatis._
Wings above brown; anterior blue at the base, beneath ferruginous, with
two central black spots; posterior beneath chesnut, paler on the fore
part, with a black spot near the base.
* * * * *
I have selected this insect as one of the rarest among a vast number of
species of this elegant tribe, collected during my travels in Brazil. Two
specimens of the male, and one of the female insect, were captured in the
woods near Pernambuco, in lat. 8deg 12' S.
The male insects, in the majority of the _Hair-Streaks_, have either a
velvet or eye-like spot in the middle of the anterior wings, adjoining
their outer margin; these spots are without lustre, and frequently appear
as if caused by being rubbed: the colours, likewise, on the upper surface
of the wings in the males, generally differ from those of the females.
Wings brown; anterior, with the half next the base blue; central spot
blackish, enclosing an obscure eye-like spot margined with grey, the pupil
black with a white dot. Posterior wings two-tailed; exterior tail very
short, interior lengthened; anal angle two-lobed, margin whitish. Anterior
wings beneath, pale chesnut brown, tips chesnut; in the middle are two
black dots, one of which is small; above these are three others, which form
a short transverse line united to the margin. Posterior wings beneath, dark
chesnut; with two central blackish dots in the middle; below are two
undulated brown lines, parallel to the posterior margin; the anterior
margin pale, with a large black dot near the base; anal angle, clouded with
grey and tipt with a black spot: another spot is also at the base of the
exterior tail. In the female, all the wings above are brown, with a pale
blue base; but the under surface, except in being paler, resembles that of
the male.
* * * * *
Pl. 134
[Illustration]
STROMBUS exustus,
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