I have figured this insect, principally because it will fully illustrate the first section (a.) in the arrangement of this beautiful family proposed at plate 92. The two divisions there adopted, after the manner of Linnæus, (Græci et Trojani) I am fully aware, are purely artificial; but the facility this distribution will give to the student, in searching after a particular species, is so obvious, that it need hardly be pointed out.
PAPILIO Nerius.
Generic Character.—See Pl. 92.
Specific Character.
- P. (Gr. Ecaud.) Alis nigris, fasciâ communi maculisque viridibus; posticis dentatis breviter caudatis; his subtùs fasciâ subargenteâ, marginali, nervis divisâ. Godart.
- P. (Gr. Ecaud.) Wings black, with spots and a common band of green; posterior wings dentated, obsoletely tailed, beneath with a silvery marginal band, divided by the nerves.
- P. Nireus. Fab. Sys. Ent. 3. p. 36. Godart Ency. Méth. 9. 1. p. 48. Drury 2. pl. 4. fig. 1. 2. Cramer, p. 187. A. B. (mas.) pl. 378. F. G. (fem.)
I have only had the opportunity of examining the individual from which the figure was taken. It is a male, having the anal valves rather lengthened and obtuse, with a small hook between them, which projects from the last segment of the abdomen. This circumstance proves the error of Cramer, in having mistaken the sexes of this species, both of which he seems to have figured. That which I apprehend is the female (Cramer, pl. 378, fig. F. G.) I have not myself seen. The blue-green on the upper surface of the wings is very resplendent and changeable, and the palpi and thorax beneath are covered with numerous whitish spots.
On the under side of the inferior wings, near their base, is a paler band, rayed with the nerves, and in some lights shining with a pale silvery reflection.
Mr. Smeathman sent this species from Sierra Leone, in Africa, to Mr. Drury. The locality, therefore, of India, given by Linnæus and Fabricius, must be incorrect.