Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Foreign Butterflies.djvu/207

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MARIUS THETIS.
165

the surface traversed by three black narrow lines, running obliquely from the anterior to the abdominal margin: near the base, and between the second and third lines are the rudiments of two others, and the costa is likewise black, as well as the posterior margin behind the middle: the under wings are black along the hinder edge, and likewise the tails, and on the anal angle are a few whitish crescents placed over two black points surrounded by a white circle. The colour of the under side is rusty-brown, glossed with violet and pale green, and across the middle of both wings there is a dark oblique line, having a series of black ocellated spots behind it.

The following description of the caterpillar and chrysalis is given by Stoll:—"The head of this beautifully coloured caterpillar is dull yellow, with two short rays and small spots of black. The head is furnished with two long black spines garnished with short stiff hairs. The first five segments of the body are reddish-brown, spotted with black. The belly is white, and the anterior legs black. The rest of the body is reddish-brown; but from the sixth to the eleventh segment, the back is of a beautiful yellow, and bordered on the sides with short black and white rays. The back is armed with four long spines, the last of which, placed on the eleventh segment, is curved backwards, and very similar to the horns with which most of the caterpillars of the Sphinges are provided. The intermediate and posterior legs are yellow. It feeds on the leaves of the Cashew tree (Anacardium oc-