NYMPHALIS DECIUS.
Plate [VI]. fig. 1, 2.
Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Diurna. Family: Nymphalidæ, Swains.
Genus. Nymphalis, Latr. Papilio (Nymph. Gemmat.), Drury.
Nymphalis Decius. Alis supra fuscis, fasciâ communi albâ; posticis caudatis, ad angulum ani rufis ocellis duobus. (Expans. Alar. 3 unc. 3 lin.)
Syn. Papilio Decius, Cram. pl. 114. A. B. Fabr. Ent. Syst. III. 1. p. 67. No. 210. Herbst. tab. 56. f. 112. Nymphalis D., Enc. Méth. ix. p. 363. Donovan Nat. Repos. 4. 109.
Habitat: Sierra Leone (Drury). Interior, near the Gold Coast (Donovan).
Upper Side. Antennæ black. Eyes, head, thorax, and abdomen brown. One-third of the superior wings next the body brown; apical half brownish black. These two colours divided by a white band or bar, which, beginning at the anterior edges, crosses these wings, and runs half way down the posterior ones, being edged with blue. Posterior wings furnished with two tails, the lower part of them being of a dark orange; next the body brown, and next the upper corners almost black. There are also two small eyes on these wings; one near the abdominal corners, the other at the middle of the external edges.
Under Side. Palpi and tongue yellow brown. Breast and abdomen brown. Legs next the body brown, the extreme joints almost white. Wings next the body brown for about half an inch, when they suddenly become white, and gradually alter in colour to a blueish, and then to a dark brown all along their external edges, where the inferior wings have several small spots and eyes. Wings dappled with an innumerable quantity of small streaks. Wings angulated.
Mr. Smeathman states that this species was taken at a considerable distance from the coast, and that it is exceedingly scarce.