[Illustration FIG. 86.--Neuration of the genus _Coloenis_, slightly less than natural size.]
(1) =Colænis julia=, Fabricius, Plate VIII, Fig. 6, ♂ (Julia).
The upper side is dark reddish-orange, the borders are black, a black band extends from the costa at the end of the cell to the outer margin on the line of the third median nervule; the costal area on the hind wings is silver-gray; the wings on the under side are pale rusty-red, mottled with a few darker spots, principally on the costa, at the end of the cell, and at the apex of the primaries. There are a few crimson marks at the base of the hind wings, and two light-colored lunules near the inner angle of the hind wings. Expanse of wing, 3.50 inches.
This butterfly, which mimics the genus _Heliconius_ in the outline of the wings, is very common in the tropics of America, and only appears as an occasional visitant in southern Texas.
(2) =Colænis delila=, Fabricius, Plate VIII, Fig. 4, ♂ (Delila).
The Delila Butterfly very closely resembles Julia, and principally differs in being paler in color and without the black band extending from the costa to the outer margin of the primaries. This species has nearly the same form and the same size as the preceding, and, like it, is occasionally found in southern Texas. It is very common in Central America and the West Indies. One of the earliest memories of my childhood relates to a collection of Jamaican butterflies in which were a number of specimens of this butterfly, which I have always much admired.
_Butterfly._--Head large, the antennæ moderately long, with the club flattened; the tip of the abdomen does not extend beyond the inner margin of the hind wings; the cell of the hind wings is open; the primaries are elongated, nearly twice as long as broad, with the exterior margin excavated; the secondaries at the outer margin denticulate. The prevalent color of the upper side of the wings is fulvous, adorned with black spots and lines, the under side of the wings paler brown, in some of the species laved with pink and brilliantly adorned with large silvery spots, as in the genus _Argynnis_.
_Egg._--Conoidal, truncated on top, with fourteen ribs running from the apex to the base, between which are rows of elevated striæ, causing the surface to appear to be covered with quadrangular pits.