Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/323

The insects of Villa Nova are, to a great extent, the same as those of Santarem and the Tapajos. A few species of all orders, however, are found here, which occurred nowhere else on the Amazons, besides several others which are properly considered local varieties or races of others found at Pará, on the Northern shore of the Amazons or in other parts of Tropical America. The Hymenoptera were especially numerous, as they always are in districts which possess a sandy soil; but the many interesting facts which I gleaned relative to their habits will be more conveniently introduced when I treat of the same or similar species found in the localities abovenamed. One of the most conspicuous insects peculiar to Villa Nova is an exceedingly handsome butterfly, which has been named Agrias Phalcidon. It is of large size, and the colours of the upper surface of its wings, resemble those of the Callithea Leprieurii, already described, namely, dark blue, with a broad silvery-green border. When it settles on leaves of trees, fifteen or twenty feet from the ground, it closes its wings and then exhibits a row of brilliant pale-blue eye-like spots with white pupils, which adorns their under surface. Its flight is exceedingly swift, but when at rest it is not easily made to budge from its place; or if driven off, returns soon after to the same spot. Its superficial resemblance to Callithea Leprieurii, which is a very abundant species in the same locality, is very close. The likeness might be considered a mere accidental coincidence, especially as it refers chiefly to the upper surface of the wings, if similar parallel resemblances did not occur between other species of the same two