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Show 190 MR. SALVIN ON ORNITHOPTERA VICTORIA. [Mar. 1, Mr. Salvin, on behalf of Mr. F. D. Godman, exhibited a pair of Ornithoptera victoria, the male of which had been hitherto unde-scribed. These specimens had been obtained at the end of May 1886, by Mr. C. M . Woodford, at North-West Bay, Maleita Island, one of the Solomon group. The female had been known many years, having been described by the late G. R. Gray from a specimen obtained by John MacGillivray, but the locality where it was captured was not recorded. The hind wings of the female were more produced than is usual in this section of Ornithoptera; and this had led to the suggestion that O. victoria might prove to be the female of O. tithonus, de Haan ; but the description which follows this note shows that 0. tithonus differs widely from 0. victoria, not only in colour but also in several remarkable points of structure. The cell of the primaries was very peculiarly formed, being very wide towards its distal end, the middle and upper discocellular nervures being very long ; the lower discocellular was also long, but was ranged in line with the sections of the median as in true Papilio; the second and third sections of the median, especially the latter, were very short, so that the short median branches and the median itself beyond the cell lay very close together. The cell of the secondaries was very long and narrow, though normal in the female. Mr. Salvin read the following description of the male insect:- The wings are deep black ; the primaries, except the costa, have a large patch of golden green, the outer margin of which is irregular and ill-defined and reaches to within a quarter of an inch of the end of the cell; towards the apex is a large subtriangular golden patch ; parallel to the inner margin and near the anal angle is an elongated stigma similar to that of 0. priamus and its allies. The secondaries, almost from the costal margin to beyond the cell, are rich golden green, the distal part of the cell being black, though the nervures closing it are green. There are also three contiguous submarginal golden-green spots, whereof the two nearest the anal angle have a large central patch of golden yellow. Beneath, the wings are shining golden green, with the nervures, margins, a large subtriangular patch over the end of the cell of the primaries, a series of submarginal spots at the end of each secondary nervure, and two lunate spots on either side of the lower radial of the primaries black. The antennse and prothorax are black; the abdomen ochraceous grey, with a double row of spots on either side and a ventral median line black. The primaries are narrow, with hardly any perceptible anal angle, the outer and inner margins meeting in a continuous regular curve. The secondaries are elongated and narrow, and the inner margin deeply incised ; the elongated hairs of the inner margin are pale yellow. Mr. Godman also sent a specimen of a male Ornithoptera tithonus from the island of Waigiou for comparison; and it was at once obvious how very distinct this species and O. victoria were. Mr. Woodford, who captured these specimens, had made a large |
