I have selected this insect as one of the rarest among a vast number of species of this elegant tribe, collected during my travels in Brazil. Two specimens of the male, and one of the female insect, were captured in the woods near Pernambuco, in lat. 8° 12′ S.
THECLA Macaria,
Chesnut-spotted Hair-Streak.
Generic Character.—See Pl. 69.
Specific Character.
- T. alis supra fuscis; anticis ad basin cæruleis, infra ferrugineis, punctis 2 mediis nigris ornatis; posticis infra castaneis, anticè pallidioribus, maculo nigro ad basin ornatis.
- Wings above brown; anterior blue at the base, beneath ferruginous, with two central black spots; posterior beneath chesnut, paler on the fore part, with a black spot near the base.
The male insects, in the majority of the Hair-Streaks, have either a velvet or eye-like spot in the middle of the anterior wings, adjoining their outer margin; these spots are without lustre, and frequently appear as if caused by being rubbed: the colours, likewise, on the upper surface of the wings in the males, generally differ from those of the females.
Wings brown; anterior, with the half next the base blue; central spot blackish, enclosing an obscure eye-like spot margined with grey, the pupil black with a white dot. Posterior wings two-tailed; exterior tail very short, interior lengthened; anal angle two-lobed, margin whitish. Anterior wings beneath, pale chesnut brown, tips chesnut; in the middle are two black dots, one of which is small; above these are three others, which form a short transverse line united to the margin. Posterior wings beneath, dark chesnut; with two central blackish dots in the middle; below are two undulated brown lines, parallel to the posterior margin; the anterior margin pale, with a large black dot near the base; anal angle, clouded with grey and tipt with a black spot: another spot is also at the base of the exterior tail. In the female, all the wings above are brown, with a pale blue base; but the under surface, except in being paler, resembles that of the male.