Without being ornamented by rich or vivid colouring, this is, nevertheless, one of the most chastely beautiful little butterflies found in Brazil. I met with it very plentifully in a small wood not far distant from Cashoera, on the western extremity of St. Salvador's bay: to this particular spot it seemed confined, for I never saw a single specimen in any other part of Brazil.
SATYRUS argenteus.
Generic Character.
- Antennæ mediocres, clavo elongato, gracili. Palpi porrecti, compressi, vix recurvi, remoti, pilis ciliatis, longis, hirsutissimi; articulo ultimo elongato, nudo, gracili, acuto. Alæ posticæ orbiculares, integræ, rarò dentatæ.
- Antennæ moderate, the club lengthened and slender. Palpi porrected, compressed, slightly recurved, remote, with long ciliated hairs; the last joints long, naked, slender, acute. Posterior wings orbicular, entire, rarely dentated.
- Generic Types. Pap. Hyperanthus, Galathea, Semele, &c. Lin.
Specific Character.
- S. alis fuscis; posticarum disco suprà flavescente, maculis 2 fuscis fucato, infrà albente, margine postico fulvo, maculis 2 atris guttisque 7-8 argenteis ornato.
- Wings brown; posterior above with a yellowish disk and two brown spots, beneath whitish, the hind margin fulvous, with two black spots and 7-8 silver dots.
No colouring can imitate the richness of the silvery spots on the under wings, which appear embossed, or as if solid drops of silver had fallen on the insect when it first emerged into life. The two sexes are perfectly similar.
The insects of this genus are usually brown, with dark or paler shadings, and eye-like spots on their upper or under wings. They principally inhabit the woods of tropical regions, and the hedge sides and lanes of European countries; this circumstance probably induced Latreille to change their name from Hipparchia (Fabricius) to Satyrus; which, although an innovation on the rules of nomenclature, may in this instance be allowed.