CATAGRAMMA CONDOMANUS.
PLATE XX. Figs. 1 and 2.
Pap. Astarte, Cramer, Pl. 256, fig. C, D—Nymph. Condomanus, Godart.—Catagramma Condomanus, Boisd.
This genus includes a pretty group of Nymphalidæ, which are mostly of small size, and marked with annular lines of bright colours on the under side of the inferior wings. They are pretty closely allied to Hipparchia, but are natives of the new world. The wings are ample, and all of them rounded on the posterior edges. In the species referred to, the colour of the surface is black, glossed with violet, the upper wings with two wide transverse red bands, one near the base, the other beyond the middle; on the under wings the interior band is continued nearly to the hinder margin. The under side of the superior wings resembles the surface, but the costa is yellow at the base, and a narrow blue line runs along the outer margin. The under wings are black beneath, having a large oval yellow ring on the disk, enclosing three pale blue points and a short yellow streak: behind this ring there is a curved row of blue dots, succeeded by a yellow line running parallel with the hinder border, and not far from it: at the base of the wing there is likewise a yellow streak, and the sinuosities on the hinder edge are white.
The individual figured differs slightly from most other examples, in as much as it has two small white spots on the surface of the hinder wings near the anal angle.
This species inhabits Brazil and Surinam.
CATAGRAMMA PYRAMUS.
PLATE XX. Figs. 3 and 4.
Pap. Pyramus, Drury’s Insects, iii. Pl. 23, fig. 3, 4, (Male); Stoll’s Supp. Pl. 32, fig. 3, and 3 C.
This prettily coloured butterfly measures about an inch and three-quarters between the tips of the wings. The surface is black, finely tinged with violet, with a broad central common band of bright red, not extending either to the costa or hinder extremity. The under side of the upper wings nearly corresponds to the surface, but they are grey at the base and tip, and near the latter there is an undulating blue line: the under wings dark brown sprinkled with grey, with two whitish spots towards the base, without any vestige of a red band, a curved row of ocellated spots behind the middle, and a waved blue line near the extremity.
The female is black on the surface without any violet reflection, and the red band, which is narrower than in the male, does not extend to the secondary wings. This insect is a native of Brazil. We have placed it in the genus Catagramma, without knowing what limits are assigned to the group so called by the continental entomologists, as the name only has yet been published. Perhaps it rather belongs to the division named Hipparchia.