Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Diurna. Family: Lycænidæ? Steph.
Genus. Erycina, Fabr. Latr. God. Papilio (Dan. Fest.), Drury.
Erycina Menetas. Alis chermesinis, limbo tenuissimo nigro, margine antico et externo anticarum latiori, flavoque maculato, posticis triangularibus. (Expans. Alar. 1 unc. 3 lin.)
Syn. Papilio (Pleb. urb.) Menetas, Drury, App. vol. 3. (1783.)
Hesperia R. Tacitus, Fabr. Ent. Syst. III. 1. p. 308. 168. (1793.)
Erycina Tacitus, Enc. Méth. ix. p. 588. Donovan Nat. Reposit. 4. 134.
Habitat: "Brazil, Mr. Bonifas, 1776" (Drury's MSS.). Surinam (Fabricius).
Upper Side. Antennæ black. Front of the head yellow. Thorax black, with two yellow streaks at the base of the wings. Abdomen dark brown. Half of the superior wings black, beginning at the shoulders, and running to the external edges, on which are seven cream-coloured spots variously shaped. The other half of these wings is scarlet, without any marks. Posterior wings entirely scarlet, edged with black.
Under Side. Palpi cream-coloured. Breast and abdomen light yellow. Legs black, but underneath pale yellow. Wings coloured as on the upper side. Margins of the wings entire.
Mr. Donovan has lately published figures of the upper and under side of this butterfly (which closely resemble each other) in his Naturalist's Repository. These figures do not however represent the peculiar character of the posterior pair of wings, neither is the author correct in his chronological account of this species, as Drury's account and figure were published ten years previous to the Entomologia Systematica, in which work alone of Fabricius is the species mentioned. I have consequently retained the specific designation imposed by Drury, and adopted by the authors of the Encyclopédie Méthodique.