Page:Fossil butterflies.djvu/27

Rh marked by two large diagonal light patches, whose; interior edges are well defined, but whose exterior are powdered at their confluence with the darker parts; one of these patches crosses the subcostal interspaces at a little distance beyond the cell, and reaches from the subcostal to the median nervure; the other crosses the middle of the outer half of the cell and covers a great part of the basal half of the lower median interspace; while a third roundish patch, united with it, occurs near the middle of the medio-submedian interspace. The two diagonal patches have their inner distinct edges nearly parallel and straight, following lines which run at neurjy right angles to the costal margin; in this respect they agree with the diagonal disposition of markings upon the upper and under surface of some species of Zophoessa (Pl. II, figs. 3, 11) and Lethe (PI. II, fig. 9), while the nature of the broad patches themselves may best be compared to such masses of color as we see in Neorina Lowii (Pl. II, fig. 13) and some other species; the marginal markings of the hind wings and the submarginal spots are common to very many Oreades, but the nature and disposition of those of Neorinopis and the disparity of their character on the two wings arc best seen on a comparison with the types we have already alluded to, and which are represented on the plates. The small round pale spots accompanying larger dark ones on the fore wing may be seen in Neorina Lowii, though the relation of the two is different from what we see in Neorinopis, while the greater importance of the ocellus in the lower median interspace of the hind wings finds an exaggerated counterpart in Neorina Loivii. In general, the design of the fore wings approaches that of Neorina Lowii more nearly than that of the upper surface of any other butterfly I have seen, although there is a distant resemblance to the markings of Antirrhsea and Anchiphlebia, as Butler has remarked, as well as toward certain species of Zophoessa. The markings of the xipper and under surface of butterflies have nearly always some and often a close relation to each other, and therefore we may reasonably look at the under surface of living insects to find the nearest counterpart to our fossil; in this respect the under surface of Lethe Dyrta (Pl. II, fig. 9) may well be studied, where in a lighter submarginal band we find a series of spots, in the principal interspaces, far from the border; these are ocellated instead of double as in Neorinopis; there