Zoological Illustrations Series II/Plate 126
LEILUS Brasiliensis. Sw.
LEILUS Braziliensis.
Brazilian Emerald Butterfly.
Sub-Generic Character.
Wings when at rest, horizontal, slightly expanded; posterior furnished with acute tails. Palpi short, porrect; the last joint nearly naked, projecting beyond the head, but shorter than the second joint. Tibiæ of the anterior feet, spined in the middle: claws very small. Antennæ filiform, thickened in the middle; the tips bending outwards, but not uncinate. Sw.
Specific Character.
Wings black, varied with lines and bands of golden green: posterior wings tailed, the green spots round the margin divided and insulated; the tails black, with a narrow white edge.
In Mus. Britt. Nost.
This species, hitherto confounded with that peculiar to Surinam, is found only in Brazil; but its precise geographic range, in that vast empire, has not been correctly ascertained. We had the pleasure of capturing several specimens in Lat. 8, 24, S. in the vicinity of Pernambuco, where great numbers appear during the early weeks of May, and again in June.
On refering to our journals, we find the following note. "Papilio Leilus.—Great numbers of this insect were flying during the whole of the morning, past Aqua Fria (Pernambuco), in a direction from north to south: not one deviated from this course, notwithstanding the flowers which were growing around: they flew against the wind, which blew rather strong, and near the ground, but mounted over every tree or other high object which lay in their course; yet their flight was so rapid, that I could not capture a single specimen. They went singly, and near fifty or sixty must have passed the spot opposite the window, before mid-day: they continued to pass for three or four days in this manner. 12th June, 1817." Now it is clear that these insects could not have come from so far north as Surinam, where only the other species is found; and they certainly do not migrate to the more southern latitude of Rio de Janeiro. As we have never seen this species in the London Cabinets, we have deposited a specimen in the British Museum, that our entomologists may become acquainted with the structure of the feet.